Acts 3:1 - Exposition

Were going up for went up together, A.V. and T.R. Peter and John. The close friendship of these two apostles is remarkable. The origin of it appears to have been their partnership in the fishing-boats in which they pursued their trade as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. For St. Luke tells us that the sons of Zebedee were "partners with Simon," and helped him to take the miraculous draught of fishes ( Luke 5:10 ). We find the two sons of Zebedee associated with Peter in the inner circle of the Lord's apostles, at the Transfiguration, at the raising of Jairus's daughter, and at the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. But the yet closer friendship of Peter and John first appears in their going together to the palace of Caiaphas on the night of the betrayal ( John 18:15 ), and then in the memorable visit to the holy sepulcher on the morning of the Resurrection ( John 20:2-4 ), and yet again in John 21:7 , John 21:20 , John 21:21 . It is in strict and natural sequence to these indications in the Gospel that, on opening the first chapters of the Acts, we find Peter and John constantly acting together in the very van of the Christian army (see Acts 3:1 , Acts 3:3 , Acts 3:11 ; Acts 4:13 , Acts 4:19 ; Acts 8:14 , Acts 8:25 ). The hour of prayer ; called in Luke 1:10 , "the hour of incense," that is, the hour of the evening sacrifice, when the people stood outside in prayer, while the priest within offered the sacrifice and burnt the incense (see Acts 2:46 , note). Hence the comparison in Psalms 141:2 , "Let my prayer be set before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."