Beautiful Gate

Biblical Text

The Beautiful Gate appears only in Acts 3. At the hour of prayer, the ninth hour (about three in the afternoon), Peter and John went up to the Temple in Jerusalem. At the temple gate called Beautiful was a man who had been lame from birth. People carried him there every day, and he begged from those who entered the temple (Acts 3:2). 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" (Acts 3:6). The man rose, walked, and leaped, and he entered the temple praising God. The people recognized him as the man who had sat begging at the Beautiful Gate, and they were amazed (Acts 3:10). This event led to Peter's subsequent sermon and to the arrest of the apostles (Acts 4). The text notes that the man who was healed was more than forty years old (Acts 4:22).

Name and Background

The Korean name mimun (美門) means "beautiful gate." The Greek text calls it "the gate which is called Beautiful" (hōraia). Temple entrances saw heavy foot traffic, and people passed through them in a spirit of devotion. For this reason, beggars are said to have often stationed themselves there.

Theories on Its Location

Scripture does not specify which of the temple's gates was the Beautiful Gate, and scholars differ on the question.

• Nicanor Gate theory: This view identifies it with the bronze gate between the Court of the Women and the Court of Israel. Proponents often identify it with the gate of Corinthian bronze that Josephus described as more valuable than the other gates, which were overlaid with gold and silver.
• Eastern gate of the Court of the Women theory: This view identifies it with the eastern gate leading from the Court of the Gentiles into the Court of the Women.
• Eastern gate of the Temple Mount theory: This view identifies it with an eastern gate in the outer wall of the temple, such as the Shushan Gate.

One tradition identifies the Beautiful Gate with the Golden Gate in the eastern wall of present-day Jerusalem. The present Golden Gate, however, was built at a later date. Some suggest that the name arose from a confusion between the Latin aurea ("golden") and the Greek hōraia ("beautiful").

Significance in the Wider Biblical Context

Many commentators see the scene in which the healed man "leaping up stood, and walked" (Acts 3:8) and praised God as recalling the prophecy, "Then shall the lame man leap as an hart" (Isaiah 35:6). During His public ministry, Jesus likewise said that "the lame walk" (Luke 7:22), and He healed the lame in the temple (Matthew 21:14). Through this event Luke shows that the ministry of Jesus continues through the apostles "in the name of Jesus Christ." The scene of a man who had remained outside the temple gate entering the temple and praising God is also read as a symbol of restoration and acceptance.

Interpretation and Points of Debate

This passage is frequently cited in contemporary discussions of divine healing. In the Pentecostal and charismatic traditions, this miracle is often taken as grounds for healing that continues today. Those who hold to cessationism, by contrast, understand the miracle as a sign that confirmed the gospel in the apostolic age (see Cessationism and continuationism). The words "Silver and gold have I none" are also used to argue that the church should give priority to the gospel over material things, and for this reason they are sometimes cited in critiques of prosperity theology.

In the Korean Church

"Silver and gold have I none" and "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk" are frequently quoted in Korean church preaching. The passage is used mainly as a text for themes such as the essential nature of the church, the power of the name of Jesus, and concern for one's neighbor.