What did Peter and John believe about Jesus in Acts 3?
In Acts 3, Peter and John understood Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God, proven by His miracles, but only for the nation of Israel. They had not yet understood what God would accomplish through Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Les explains that in Acts chapter 3, Peter and John still lacked understanding of what God was going to accomplish through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. At that point they only understood that He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that He had proved it with His miracles—but they saw Him as only for the nation of Israel. Les notes that God had not blanked the Gentiles out of His thinking; rather, He would use the favored covenant nation Israel to reach pagan, idolatrous Gentiles at the appropriate time. But Israel was dragging their feet, so that time had not yet come. This fits the principle from Deuteronomy 29:29 that the secret things belong unto the Lord our God.