Scripture: Acts 14:8-18. I will focus on vv. 8-10, the healing itself.

After Paul preached, faith arose in the lame man’s heart. What about us?

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.

A Lame Man Is Healed (Acts 14:8-18)

8 Καί τις ἀνὴρ ἀδύνατος ἐν Λύστροις τοῖς ποσὶν ἐκάθητο, χωλὸς ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς αὐτοῦ ὃς οὐδέποτε περιεπάτησεν. 9 οὗτος ἤκουσεν τοῦ Παύλου λαλοῦντος· ὃς ἀτενίσας αὐτῷ καὶ ἰδὼν ὅτι ἔχει πίστιν τοῦ σωθῆναι, 10 εἶπεν μεγάλῃ φωνῇ· ἀνάστηθι ἐπὶ τοὺς πόδας σου ὀρθός καὶ ἥλατο καὶ περιεπάτει. 11 οἵ τε ὄχλοι ἰδόντες ὃ ἐποίησεν Παῦλος ἐπῆραν τὴν φωνὴν αὐτῶν Λυκαονιστὶ λέγοντες· οἱ θεοὶ ὁμοιωθέντες ἀνθρώποις κατέβησαν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, 12 ἐκάλουν τε τὸν Βαρναβᾶν Δία, τὸν δὲ Παῦλον Ἑρμῆν, ἐπειδὴ αὐτὸς ἦν ὁ ἡγούμενος τοῦ λόγου. 13 ὅ τε ἱερεὺς τοῦ Διὸς τοῦ ὄντος πρὸ τῆς πόλεως ταύρους καὶ στέμματα ἐπὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας ἐνέγκας σὺν τοῖς ὄχλοις ἤθελεν θύειν. 14 Ἀκούσαντες δὲ οἱ ἀπόστολοι Βαρναβᾶς καὶ Παῦλος διαρρήξαντες τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτῶν ἐξεπήδησαν εἰς τὸν ὄχλον κράζοντες 15 καὶ λέγοντες· ἄνδρες, τί ταῦτα ποιεῖτε; καὶ ἡμεῖς ὁμοιοπαθεῖς ἐσμεν ὑμῖν ἄνθρωποι εὐαγγελιζόμενοι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ματαίων ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ θεὸν ζῶντα, ὃς ἐποίησεν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς· 16 ὃς ἐν ταῖς παρῳχημέναις γενεαῖς εἴασεν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη πορεύεσθαι ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτῶν· 17 καίτοι οὐκ ἀμάρτυρον αὐτὸν ἀφῆκεν ἀγαθουργῶν, οὐρανόθεν ὑμῖν ὑετοὺς διδοὺς καὶ καιροὺς καρποφόρους, ἐμπιπλῶν τροφῆς καὶ εὐφροσύνης τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν. 18 καὶ ταῦτα λέγοντες μόλις κατέπαυσαν τοὺς ὄχλους τοῦ μὴ θύειν αὐτοῖς.

8 In Lystra, a certain man sat with disabled feet, lame from birth, who had never walked. 9 He heard Paul speaking, who fixed his gaze on him. He saw that he had faith to be healed and 10 said with a loud voice, “Get up on your feet, upright!” He jumped up and walked. 11 When the crowds saw what Paul did, they raised their voice in the Lycaonian dialect, “The gods becoming like men have come down to us!” 12 And they began to call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, since he was the lead speaker. 13 The priest of Zeus of the temple outside the town, along with the crowds, brought to the gates bulls and wreaths and were wanting to sacrifice them. 14 But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and ran into the crowds and shouted out: 15 “Men! Why are you doing this? We too are men with the same natures as you! We proclaim the good news to you to turn away from these empty things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them! [Ex. 20:11; Ps. 146:6] 16 In the past generations, he permitted all the nations to go along their own paths. 17 And yet he did not leave himself without a testimonial of doing good acts, giving you rains from heaven and crops growing in their seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness. 18 After saying these things, they barely stopped the crowds from sacrificing to them.

Comments:

The point here is that the man has never walked, and everyone knew it, so his need was great, but so was the miracle. He did not have an injury from a job, which would heal naturally over time. The man needed a miracle for the impossible. Expect a miracle.

The lame man heard Paul speak, and faith grew in his heart. The Word must be preached before a miracle—even a little word, like this: “God spoke to me that you have a back problem. Can I pray for you? It will show you how much God loves you.” That may be enough to ignite faith in the receiver’s heart.

“fixed his gaze”: it comes from the verb atenizō (pronounced ah-teh-nee-zoh) and also means “stare intently or intensely.” Luke is fond of it: Luke 4:20; 22:56; Acts 1:10; 3:4; 3:12; 6:15; 7:55; 10:4; 11:6; 13:9; 14:9; 23:1. Then Paul uses it twice: 2 Cor. 3:7, 13. You know you have God’s authority when you can stare at a man lame from birth and see a healing coming.

“seeing”: it is the verb horaō (pronounced hohr-ah-oh), which is used 448 times, so it is very common. In other words, Paul from his own insight and his ability did not perceive the man had the faith to be healed. He received the supernatural gift of the word of knowledge, which he later taught on in 1 Cor. 12:7-11. This takes place when God speaks or somehow communicates with the Spirit-filled believer a piece of knowledge or information that the believer would not know in any other way. And God communicate this to Paul for the lame man.

“faith”: it was a surge of faith mentioned in 1 Cor. 12:7-11. The noun is pistis (pronounced peace-teace), and it is used 243 times. Its basic meaning is the “belief, trust, confidence,” and it can also mean “faithfulness” and “trustworthy” (Mounce p. 232). It is directional, and the best direction is faith in God (Mark 11:22; 1 Thess. 1:8; 1 Pet. 1:21; Heb. 6:1) and faith in Jesus (Acts 3:16; 20:21; 24:24; Gal. 3:26; Eph. 1:15; Col. 1:4; 1 Tim. 3:13). Believing (verb) and faith (noun) is very important to God. It is the language of heaven. We live on earth and by faith see the invisible world where God is. We must believe he exists; then we must exercise our faith to believe he loves us and intends to save us. We must have saving faith by trusting in Jesus and his finished work on the cross.

“healed”: it is the verb sōzō (pronounced soh-zoh and used 106 times). Here is this verse it is clear that healing is part of salvation and flows from the atonement and the cross.

The verb sōzō means “save, rescue, heal” in a variety of contexts, but mostly it is used of saving the soul. BDAG says that the verb means, depending on the context: (1) “to preserve or rescue from natural dangers and afflictions, save, keep from harm, preserve,” and the sub-definitions under no. 1 are as follows: save from death; bring out safely; save from disease; keep, preserve in good condition; thrive, prosper, get on well; (2) “to save or preserve from transcendent danger or destruction, save or preserve from ‘eternal’ death … “bring Messianic salvation, bring to salvation,” and in passive mood it means “be saved, attain salvation”; (3) some passages in the NT say we fit under the first and second definition at the same time (Mark 8:5; Luke 9:24; Rom. 9:27; 1 Cor. 3:15).

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.. Paul issued a command–with a loud voice. Jesus healed a paralytic and also simply pronounced his healing, though in that case, sin got in the man’s way (Mark 2:3-5). Here, however, sin was not mentioned. We have to be careful about working out an unbendable system for causes of disease. They are not always sin-caused (most are not), but natural—the physical world is messed up, including the human body.

In Matt. 8:3-15, a centurion had a servant who was paralyzed and suffering terribly, but the centurion said that Jesus only had to issue a command where he stood at a distance, and the healing would happen. Jesus commended the centurion in the highest terms. And why wouldn’t he? It was a marvelous and faith-filled declaration.

Jesus also commanded a disabled man at the pool of Bethesda to “‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!’” And at once the was cured. He picked up his mat and walked” (John 5:8-9).

When you pray, speak a declaration over the diseased person. Don’t pray some flowery prayer: “O thou God, if it be thy will, heal this man.” No, not that. “Get up!”

2.. Paul never saw Jesus heal anyone, so the Spirit had to guide him. No doubt in his travels to Jerusalem and his living in Antioch where believers from Jerusalem visited enabled him to hear stories of how Jesus worked healing.

In this verse, it worked! He jumped up and walked!

3.. Miracles are supposed to draw people to Jesus who does the healing, but here confusion took over. People without God can be easily deceived (and so can some believers, if they are not careful).

4.. Finally, v. 15 is important. Paul and Barnabas did not work the miracle; God did. Those who have the gifts of healings flowing through them regularly must understand that the Spirit distributes the gift as he determines (1 Cor. 12:7-11). Don’t allow yourself to be inflated with God’s gift–not your gift. Take a humble attitude. Then God will exalt you.

[And] be clothed with humility, for

“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”

⁶ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time (1 Peter 5:5-6, NIV)

5.. 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.

6..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 more commentary, all the way to v. 18, click on the entire chapter:

Acts 14