Scripture: Acts 9:36-43. This section of Scripture also holds key lessons for those of us who believe in healing and raising the dead today and even seeing people get healed—and some Renewalists have seen the dead raised.

This girl’s resurrection is not the same as Jesus’s resurrection, for his body was transformed and glorified. Her body simply recovered from the dead and when she was older she died, like everyone else of her generation. So we should probably call it a “resuscitation” from the dead.

The translations are mine, but if you would like to see many other translations, please go to biblegateway.com. I include the Greek text to bring out the nuances, but readers may ignore the left column, if they wish.

Let’s begin.

The Resuscitation of Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43)

36 Ἐν Ἰόππῃ δέ τις ἦν μαθήτρια ὀνόματι Ταβιθά, ἣ διερμηνευομένη λέγεται Δορκάς· αὕτη ἦν πλήρης ἔργων ἀγαθῶν καὶ ἐλεημοσυνῶν ὧν ἐποίει. 37 ἐγένετο δὲ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ἀσθενήσασαν αὐτὴν ἀποθανεῖν· λούσαντες δὲ ἔθηκαν [αὐτὴν] ἐν ὑπερῴῳ. 38 ἐγγὺς δὲ οὔσης Λύδδας τῇ Ἰόππῃ οἱ μαθηταὶ ἀκούσαντες ὅτι Πέτρος ἐστὶν ἐν αὐτῇ ἀπέστειλαν δύο ἄνδρας πρὸς αὐτὸν παρακαλοῦντες· μὴ ὀκνήσῃς διελθεῖν ἕως ἡμῶν. 39 ἀναστὰς δὲ Πέτρος συνῆλθεν αὐτοῖς· ὃν παραγενόμενον ἀνήγαγον εἰς τὸ ὑπερῷον καὶ παρέστησαν αὐτῷ πᾶσαι αἱ χῆραι κλαίουσαι καὶ ἐπιδεικνύμεναι χιτῶνας καὶ ἱμάτια ὅσα ἐποίει μετ’ αὐτῶν οὖσα ἡ Δορκάς. 40 ἐκβαλὼν δὲ ἔξω πάντας ὁ Πέτρος καὶ θεὶς τὰ γόνατα προσηύξατο καὶ ἐπιστρέψας πρὸς τὸ σῶμα εἶπεν· Ταβιθά, ἀνάστηθι. ἡ δὲ ἤνοιξεν τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτῆς, καὶ ἰδοῦσα τὸν Πέτρον ἀνεκάθισεν. 41 δοὺς δὲ αὐτῇ χεῖρα ἀνέστησεν αὐτήν· φωνήσας δὲ τοὺς ἁγίους καὶ τὰς χήρας παρέστησεν αὐτὴν ζῶσαν. 42 γνωστὸν δὲ ἐγένετο καθ’ ὅλης τῆς Ἰόππης καὶ ἐπίστευσαν πολλοὶ ἐπὶ τὸν κύριον. 43 Ἐγένετο δὲ ἡμέρας ἱκανὰς μεῖναι ἐν Ἰόππῃ παρά τινι Σίμωνι βυρσεῖ.

36 Now, in Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which means Dorcas. She was full of good works and did practical generosity. 37 And it so happened at that time that she became sick and died. They washed and placed her in an upper room. 38 Lydda was near Joppa, and when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him and urged him: “Do not delay to come to us!” 39 So Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they led him to the upper room. All the widows stood by him, weeping and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas made when she was with them. 40 Peter shooed them outside and took to his knees and prayed. He turned towards the body and said, “Tabitha, get up!” Her eyes opened, and when she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her a hand and stood her up and called the saints and widows. He presented her alive. 42 When it became known throughout all of Joppa, many believed on the Lord. 43 And for many days he lived with a certain Simon the Tanner at Joppa.

Comments:

God counts good works in people’s favor, whether they are saved or not (Acts 10:2-4). Most likely Tabitha was saved. She may have heard about the Messiahship of Jesus from Jerusalemite believers who fled the persecution (Acts 8:1).

“practical generosity”: This comes from the Greek noun eleēmosunē (pronounced eh-leh-ay-moh-soo-nay), which is related the Greek noun mercy. It means “kind act,” then “alms” and “charitable giving.” I translated it in a modern American idiom, because those other older words carry a religious tradition behind them. Tabitha-Dorcas was generous in a practical way; she gave away things she made with her own hands. If she had sold the clothing in the marketplace, then she would have given away the money (see v. 39). Either way, generosity of soul that works out practically catches God’s attention.

“became sick”: it is the verb astheneō (pronounced ah-sthen-eh-oh), and it means, depending on the context, “be weak, be sick.” The prefix a– is the negation, and the stem sthen– means “strength” or “strong,” so literally it means “unstrong.”  NIV translates it in this way, as it appears throughout the NT: sick, weak (most often), lay sick, disabled, feel weak, invalid, sickness, weakened, weakening. What was her fatal disease? We don’t know. No matter, for she was about to experience a resurrection.

Sometimes you just got to ask. Peter was the lead apostle, so why not go for it? Two men arrived and urged him. The Greek verb is parakaleō (pronounced pah-rah-kah-leh-oh), and it is related to the words discussed v. 31. Here it could also be translated “implored” or “encouraged.”

Of course many in the town believed on the Lord. They witnessed a powerful sign and wonder. Signs and wonders are for the people’s immediate benefit and health, but more so for the glory of God. It shows that he is breaking into the world and putting things right in the physical body.

Application for Ministry Today 

I believe we can learn how to minister as the apostles did, because of the nine gifts of the Spirit are available to all believers (1 Cor. 12:4-11). Three gifts are discernings of spirits, the workings of miracles and gifts of healings, as the Spirit distributes them. All Bible-based leaders should pray for and welcome these gifts and the seven others in that passage, when people needs healings and deliverances. Let me number my points in this section for clarity and order.

1.. Peter instantly got up and went with him. No, the text here does not say it explicitly, but we can have no doubt that as he walked to nearby Joppa, he prayed in the Spirit, that is, in Spirit-inspired languages (formerly and archaically called ‘tongues’). Why wouldn’t he? He got it in Acts 2:4, as did the 120, so why would he let it fall into disuse by neglect?  It is a wonderful gift from God, designed to build up your inner person and faith (1 Cor. 14:4, 14-15). God gave it. Don’t sneer or forbid or feel ashamed of it (1 Cor. 14:39).

Click on the link:

Questions and Answers about Spirit-Inspired Languages

Did 12 or 120 Speak in ‘Spirit-Inspired Languages’ (‘Tongues’) at Pentecost?

2.. Tabitha-Dorcas belonged to a group of women who shared something in common: widowhood. Back then, women married young, while the men were older. So nature took its course, and the husbands died earlier than their wives. It makes sense that they would bond and help each other. I have observed that womankind can develop special bonds after they overcome “sizing each other up” barriers. (Men have such barriers too.) But these widows did not feel impeded by silly things.

3.. “weeping”: yes, it was natural for them to weep, but Peter could not allow it just before he was about to pray. He saw Jesus override such displays. Specifically, Jesus was going to heal a girl, but she had just died while he was on the way there. When he got there, he did not allow anyone into Jairus’s house except Peter, James, and John, and the child’s mother and father. Seeing all the people were weeping and wailing, he silenced them. “‘Stop wailing,’ he said, ‘she is not dead, but asleep.’ They laughed at him.” No, sorry. Weeping must stop, for faith to arise. We have to look beyond the circumstances and see the answer, the outcome. In front of a small audience inside Jairus’s house, he commanded the girl: “My child, get up!” (Luke 8:51-56, NIV). She did. They didn’t laugh him to scorn anymore. Peter watched and learned.

4.. Peter also saw Jesus resurrect a widow’s only son. A large crowd followed the dead son and mother out of the town to bury him. Jesus approached the bier on which they carried her son. Jesus’s heart went out to them, and he said “Don’t cry.” Then he commanded the dead boy: “‘Young man, I say to you, get up!’ The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.” The whole town was filled with awe (Luke 7:11-15).

5.. In Mark 5:41, Jesus raised a little girl from the dead and said to her: “Talitha koum” (“Little girl, get up!”). Here Peter says, Tabitha koum (“Tabitha, get up!”). He commanded, just as his Lord did. He followed Jesus’s example. He did not pray a flowery prayer (see comments on v. 34).

6.. “shooed”: the Greek verb is ekballō (pronounced as it looks), and its meaning can even get as strong as “throw out” or “usher out” or “chase out.” I thought about translating it “Peter chased them out of the room,” but skeptics and mockers might over-read it and see Peter as mean. No, he was firm and resolved, just as his Lord was. Sometimes leaders have to take authority over a faithless situation. “He shooed them out” is good enough and gets the meaning across.

7.. “He took to his knees and prayed”: Maybe we have lost such humility. Though the verse does not say it explicitly, we can be sure that a part of his prayer was in the Spirit or in Spirit-inspired languages (archaically and formerly called ‘tongues’). He had this gift, and it builds up one’s spirit and faith. Paul said, “I thank God I speak in Spirit-inspired languages more than all of you” (1 Cor. 14:18). Why would Peter get this wonderful and marvelous and God-ordained gift and not use it throughout his life and ministry? Luke did not need to record such details at every turn. The whole context of Acts demonstrates that the entire church is Spirit-filled and Spirit-empowered. He assumed it. See v. 39, near the beginning for references about the benefits of Spirit-inspired languages.

8.. “he took her by the hand”: Jesus did the same thing to the synagogue leader Jairus’s daughter: “He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha koum!’ (which means ‘Little girl, I say to you, get up!’ Immediately the girl stood up and walked around” (Mark 5:41-42). So Peter was watching his Lord and modeled his own healing ministry on his, though the sequence is different, which corresponds to the need at the moment. But the point is that he commanded and acted. Why wouldn’t he model the Lord’s ministry? Jesus is the Lord!

9.. “He presented her alive”: Having shooed them out, he called the widows and others back in. It must have been marvelous for the widows, a great time of celebration. Tabitha was alive!

10.. As I write in all the healing posts:

Let it be noted that the disciples never went in for or “decree and declare.” (Name one time they used such verbiage during their prayer for the sick. Thus even the first-generation of disciples never arrogated this much power to themselves.

Instead, while Jesus was alive, God the Father through his Son who was anointed by the Spirit performed miracles of healing and deliverance (Acts 10:38). And it is easy to believe that the disciples followed Jesus, in Acts.

11..We too should develop life in the Spirit (Gal. 5), so we can hear from the Father through the Spirit, in Jesus’s name and authority granted to us. We will never heal as Jesus did, because he is the Anointed One without limits (John 3:34). But after the cross and the Son’s ascension, the Spirit can distribute the gifts of healings (plural) as he determines (1 Cor. 12:11), not as we “name and claim” or “decree and declare.” Let the Spirit work, and you listen and obey, and then rebuke a disease (not the person) or pray for healing.

4. Gifts of the Spirit: Gifts of Healings

Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker

Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?

What Is Biblical Confession?

For fuller commentary, please click on the chapter:

Acts 9