Do you happen to know if there is any significance to the age of 40 in New Testament times? We noticed on at least two separate occasions that the remark “he is over 40” is used. Once when Jesus healed the blind man and when the lame man was healed in Acts. We (the other ladies and I ) thought that maybe when a man was over 40 he was considered … hmmmm … more of an adult and not under his parent’s authority? We realize that the Jews considered the young men to be a man at age 12. The wording in both of these instances made us wonder if it was significant.<\/p>\n\t
In the healing of the lame man, Luke states, “For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed<\/em>” (Acts 4:22). But in the healing of the blind man his parents only say he is an adult, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself<\/em>” (John 9:20-21). It doesn’t appear that the mention of 40 was anything more than documentation on how long the man had suffered before being healed.<\/p>\n According to the commentator Adam Clarke, the Jews considered a man to be fully mature at the age of 30. This was the age priests could enter the service to God. Jews consider a boy of 12 to be old enough to be accountable to the law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Do you happen to know if there is any significance to the age of 40 in New Testament times? We noticed on at least two separate occasions that the remark “he is over 40” is used. Once when Jesus healed the blind man and when the lame man was healed in Acts. We (the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[210],"class_list":["post-10954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-symbolism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46523,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-forgiveness-required-prior-to-healing\/","url_meta":{"origin":10954,"position":0},"title":"Was forgiveness required prior to healing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A question was raised in a Bible study this past Sunday with various opinions. Reading articles on your website leads me to believe you may be able to provide some additional insight, with Scriptures, into our discussion next Sunday. Studying Mark 2 Jesus forgives the paralytic and then heals\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-had-faith-to-be-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":10954,"position":1},"title":"He Had Faith to Be Healed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by William J. Stewart It is a common perception in the religious world that one must have adequate faith for one to be healed. This false idea has allowed many fake healers to save face when their hypnotic advantage over a would-be recipient has failed. And as sure as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/facts-are-stubborn-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":10954,"position":2},"title":"Facts Are Stubborn Things","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson A Miracle No One Could Question It was a double miracle: a man lame from birth was healed instantly and could immediately walk without having to learn to walk. No lengthy rehabilitation. It was as if he'd never been lame a day in his life. Naturally, the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/differences-in-bible-miracles-and-modern-miracles\/","url_meta":{"origin":10954,"position":3},"title":"Differences in Bible Miracles and Modern Miracles","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hiram Hutto While Jesus was on earth he made some very startling claims. He claimed to be divine, and the Jews so understood him (John 5:18; 10:33). He claimed to be the Son of God (John 10:35-37). He claimed to be the Messiah (John 4:25-26) and the Savior of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/Peter-and-John-Healing-a-Crippled-Man-300x294.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5371,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/baptism-is-not-my-work\/","url_meta":{"origin":10954,"position":4},"title":"Baptism Is Not My Work","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 6, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edwin Crozier Today\u2019s reading is John 9. 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