Scripture: Acts 19:11, 12. God worked miracles through Paul’s facecloths and work aprons.

Can we expect miracles through clothing? Let’s find out.

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.

Paul Works Powerful Miracles in Population (Acts 19:11, 12)
11 Δυνάμεις τε οὐ τὰς τυχούσας ὁ θεὸς ἐποίει διὰ τῶν χειρῶν Παύλου, 12 ὥστε καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς ἀσθενοῦντας ἀποφέρεσθαι ἀπὸ τοῦ χρωτὸς αὐτοῦ σουδάρια ἢ σιμικίνθια καὶ ἀπαλλάσσεσθαι ἀπ’ αὐτῶν τὰς νόσους, τά τε πνεύματα τὰ πονηρὰ ἐκπορεύεσθαι.	11 God did no ordinary miracles through Paul’s hands, 12 so that when facecloths or the aprons were carried away from his body upon the sick, their diseases left, and evil spirits went out.

Comments:

“no ordinary”: it means “extraordinary” miracles, which are described in the next verse. Though the verse does not say “signs and wonders,” this is what is meant here. The Greek noun dunamis (pronounced doo-nah-mees) is used here. Signs and wonders happening right before one’s eyes is awe-inspiring. It inspired everyone, not just believers. Renewalists believe they still happen today.

“miracles”: as noted, it is the plural of the noun dunamis (or dynamis). It is often translated as “power,” but also “miracle” or “miraculous power.” It means power in action, not static, but kinetic. It moves. Yes, we get our word dynamite from it, but God is never out of control, like dynamite is. Its purpose is to usher in the kingdom of God and repair and restore broken humanity, both in body and soul.

For a nearly complete list of the words “miracles,” “signs” and “wonders” in the New Testament and a theology of them, see the post:

What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?

Magical spells try to manipulate God, but miracles done in the name of Jesus are accomplished by God through the power of the Spirit. A human like Paul is just a vessel.

No to: Magic, Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Fortunetelling

“facecloths”: it is usually translated as “handkerchiefs,” but I like this option. They were sweat rags which were used to wipe a worker’s face.

“aprons”: Paul used this in his work as a leather-worker or tentmaker, but clearly so did other workers in Ephesus, like himself.

All of this come in the context of extraordinary miracles. They may be a one-off. Be careful about people sending prayer cloths to you “free” (gratis) for a “love-gift” of $20.00!

“diseases”: it is the noun nosos (pronounced naw-sauce), and BDAG, considered by many to be the authoritative Greek lexicon of the NT, says it means (1) “physical malady, disease, illness”; (2) “moral malady, disease.” In the Greek written long before the NT (and during NT times), it means (1) “sickness, disease, malady” (2) “distress, misery, suffering, sorrow, evil, disease of mind” (Liddell and Scott). Don’t be afraid to pray against diseases of the mind or moral diseases. Pray, and watch God work in your mind or your child’s mind! Here it just means physical diseases.

“carried away from his body”: so people touched Paul with this clothing or cloths and carried them to the sick and demonized, and they were healed and delivered. It is no wonder that the extra-strong believers in the Pentecostal and Renewal Movements do this sort of thing in their own ministries. You can criticize them for their methods, but not for the Scriptural foundation.

“sick”: it is the verb astheneō (pronounced ahss-then-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.

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 passage, when people needs healings and deliverances. Let me number my points in this section for clarity and order.

1.. Paul put his hands on people as he prayed. Renewalists believe that God’s power can be transmitted through the hands and that the healing power of God can flow out of a person. They can sense information in their body. Jesus was walking through another crowd, and when they touched him, healing came from him, and the people were healed (Luke 6:19). That is a remarkable phenomenon. Laying on of hands is often part of healing, as well. It offers the personal touch, literally. Legally, Jesus was not allowed to touch and unclean woman, but he did anyway.

2.. Renewalists also believe that power can be transferred from one person to the another, as the Spirit wills (Luke 6:19; 8:41-48). The most remarkable example is when many people from all over Israel, and Tyre and Sidon, touched him. “And the entire multitude was trying to touch him because power came out of him and healed them” (6:19). Such a display of manifest power is stunning. He laid hands on other people too (Luke 4:40; 6:13).

3.. I believe that Longenecker is right when he notes how God works miracles through items of clothing, which relates to Ephesian culture:

So it need not be thought too strange that just as Paul met his audiences logically and ideologically at a point of common ground in order to lead them on to the good news of salvation in Christ, so at Ephesus he acted in the way here depicted. The virtue, of course, lay not in the materials themselves but in the power of God and the faith of the recipients.

Longenecker continues with his insight:

Luke’s interest throughout this chapter is in emphasizing the supernatural power of the gospel. Therefore he has highlighted these “extraordinary miracles.” Undoubtedly, as well, he included reference to miracles done through Paul’s sweat cloths and work aprons in order to set up a further parallel with the ministries of Jesus and Peter, whose healings took place by touching Jesus’ cloak (Lk. 8:44) and by simply coming under Peter’s shadow. (comment on vv. 11-12).

4.. Therefore, be careful of televangelists who turn these unusual miracles into a money-raising gimmick. Don’t offer cloths as “over offerings,” if you give money, you can have the cloth for “free”!

5.. This miracle seems to be a one-off, to counter all the magical charms of Ephesian culture. If anyone says that he was actually healed by touching a cloth sent by an evangelist, then it was not the cloth or the gimmick, but a reaching out in faith to his loving Father. It is about relationship with him, not an extra-clever ploy.

6.. 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.

7..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 see the entire chapter:

Acts 19