Acts 3:16 ¹⁶ And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

 While reading Acts 3 the other morning, I was struck by the sentence “Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all”, from the above passage of scripture.

Contextually, Acts of the Apostles 3:16, takes place at the time of an astounding miracle. A man, who was lame from his mother’s womb, is headlined in Jesus’ name, at the Temple, at the end of the time of prayer. The location was packed with people and many of the thousands present, at least knew of the plight of this man.

In an awesome display of faith and the gifts of the Spirit, this lame man walks, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In this context we hear the apostle’s explanation.

First, we find that it is through faith in Jesus name that this man was made well. This is so foundational to our walk with Jesus Christ, for all we received of God’s grace, Holy Spirit empowerment and life transformation comes through faith in His name.

John 1:12-13 ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

 To “believe” means to hold to truth about who Christ was, is and always will be. Salvation is to bring the redeemed into a full knowledge of Christ, who He is eternally, in His incarnation for the purpose of atonement, is His ministry to us now, and His eternal Kingship.

To break it down, to believe in His name, means we believe He is the Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and soon returning King, with all its attached truth.

To “believe” also means we respond to what we believe about Christ, in ways that display what we believe.

In the context of our passage. The lame man, upon hearing about Jesus, through Peter, had to believe that Jesus could heal him. This is demonstrated by how he took the apostles hand, which is an act of faith in Jesus’ name. Peter James and John, had to believe the Lord Jesus could heal this man, even though He had ascended. This is evidenced by Peter’s words and taking the man by his hand and lifting him up.

This miracle occurred because there was faith in Jesus name, that of Healer (Great Physician), faith expressed by all parties. This faith released the power that gave “him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all”

 The phrase “perfect soundness” is interesting because it gives us a holistic view of what Jesus had come to do, through faith in His name. The phrase means “wholeness”. In our context that means physical wholeness, but the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the truth, where we believe, Jesus has come to give us “perfect soundness” in every area of our lives, not only to remove our sins.

It is a tragic and tremendously damaging error, that we in western Christianity have made the messiah’s spectacular universe shaking death and resurrection, mostly and merely about being forgiven, so we can get to heaven. We are comfortable with Christ our Savior, paying the penalty for our sins, so we can be children of God and go to a heaven of our thinking, when dead.

Not only does this diminish the gospel, but it limits our joy in Christ, as well as our ability to truly preach the Gospel of God.

It is a hopeful and joyful endeavor to hope in Christ’s return, yet that hope is to catalyze us to be what God has chosen us in Christ to be, people of “perfect soundness”, in every aspect of our redeemed humanity.

God’s word, in Isaiah’s prophecy, presents us the truth of the wholeness of Christ’s mission.

Isaiah 61:1-3 ​¹ “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; ²To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, ³ to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.”

Many Christians have at least heard the verse one of this passage, which pronounces what Christ came to do to free us from sin and its effects; Yet, it is the following verse which reveal, what Christ has come to give us that we may have “perfect soundness” in the presence of everyone.

Of course this finished with us being “trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD that He may be glorified”. Let us not miss the metaphor.

When referring to trees, think of the mighty old oak trees, which can be seen for miles and not easily knocked over. We are called by God to be like them, but strong and growing strong in righteousness. This righteousness is not made by human effort, but by self-denial and obedience to Christ in us the hope of glory. It is literally us being transformed by His righteousness, to be righteous in practice.

This is possible because of the atonement Christ completed, on our behalf, for the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 53:4-5 ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

You better believe if that is to take place in us, it will take much self-denial, but our God and Father did not make it impossible, but very possible.

 Matthew 5:6 ⁶ Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled.

 Isaiah 53 reveals the extent of God’s design for giving us ““perfect soundness”.

1. He was wounded for our transgression, which is the cleansing of our account from our breaking His moral law.
2. He was bruised for our iniquity, which is original sin inherited from Adam and its effect of bending us away from God’s will.
3. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, which means the enmity (our being His enemies by birthright), was taken out of the way, making peace.
4. By His wounds we have been healed from the effects of sin, spirit, soul and body.

This is inline with God’s word to us in I Thessalonians 5:23.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

What’s the point?

WE WERE MEANT TO LIVE FOR SO MUCH MORE, HAVE WE LOST OURSLEVES?

YES, WE HAVE.

Reading Acts of the Apostles should encourage us to live the fulness of the Gospel, but to most Christians it is a snooze fest where we explain away the miracles, the life transformation, the power and the presence of God. Consider the awesomeness of chapter three of Acts.

Three men and a cripple trust in Christ’s name, and the crippled gets totally physically healed to “perfect soundness in the presence of you all”. After this occurs, Peter preaches and 5000 people repent and place their faith in Jesus name, and all His name means, and begin a walk where they begin to be sanctified to “perfect soundness”, in their own lives.

Do we have the holy Spirit promised to us in the same manner as they? Yes!

Should we not have the same readiness and expectation of God transforming us and empowering His church to live loud, as Peter, James and John? Yes.

Were we not meant to live for more, in Christ, that the world would experience Christ in us, in similar ways, as they did in Acts of the Apostles? Yes!

Are we living for the more that He calls us to, or are we using our faith in Jesus for us, while ignoring we were saved to live only for Him?

As the world grows darker, we will either shine brighter for Christ, or have our flame extinguished in unbelief, there are only two ways to live and die.

In closing, consider the example of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and how thoroughly, God’s work in him brought him to “perfect soundness”.

Acts 6:8 ⁸ And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and signs among the people

Acts 6:10 ¹⁰ And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.

Acts 6:15 ¹⁵ And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

Stephen enjoyed “perfect soundness” in his ministry, his wisdom and mind and his physical appearance to a degree which made him stand out. Yes, the persecutors killed him for this “perfect soundness”, but in the end, Stephen accepted this, because his reason for living was to make His Savior know. Mission accomplished. 

We were meant to live for so much more, like Stephen.

MAY WE FIND OURSELVES!