What Does Acts 3:6 Mean?
Then Peter said, Silver and gold I have none, but what I have I give you. In the nature of Jesus the Anointed One of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.THE KEY
With no silver or gold, the man is addressed in Jesus’ nature, and the command calls his body from stillness into movement.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you where lack seems to set a limit: what you do not possess does not exhaust what can be given. In Jesus’ nature, the command names rising and walking as real possibilities for the body. The focus turns from what is absent to movement opening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only money can be given: the speaker gives what he has through the name he invokes.
THE ROOT
ὀνόματι
onomati
GROWS FROM
ὀνομα
The Greek base ὀνομα (onoma) means name and can carry the identity and represented authority of the one named.
“in the nature of” in this verse is onomati. A name here reaches beyond a spoken label to the identity and authority represented by Jesus. The command is spoken in his nature, calling the man into movement through the character Peter invokes.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name, call, or identify
ὀνομάζω
This verb grows from the same name-family, showing that naming makes an identity known.
onomasía: naming or designation
ὀνομασία
This noun shares the name-family and points to the act of giving or using a name.
ἔγειρε
egeire
GROWS FROM
ἐγειρ-
The Greek stem ἐγειρ- (egeir-) means to rouse, awaken, or raise.
“rise up” in this verse is egeire. The command to rise carries the sense of being roused into action, not merely changing posture. The verse joins that awakening to walking, making restored movement visible.
ALSO GROWS
egeirō: to raise, awaken, or rouse
ἐγείρω
This is the verb’s lexical form and holds together the senses heard in the command.
egersis: a raising or rising
ἔγερσις
This noun shares the same Greek stem and makes the act of rising itself explicit.
THE PATTERN
Restoration becomes visible when the body moves from what held it down into standing, leaping, and walking.
Jesus said to him, Rise, lift up your mat, and walk.Paul said with a great voice, "Stand straight upon your feet." And he leapt and walked.Then the limping one leaps like a hart, and the tongue of the mute rings out. For waters split open in the wilderness, and streams in the desert plain.THE THREAD
Jesus said to him, Rise, lift up your mat, and walk.The Greek imperatives for “rise” (ἔγειρε, egeire) and “walk” (περιπάτει, peripatei) recur in both verses. Their shared wording puts bodily movement at the center of each command.
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