Scripture: Acts 28:7-10. What was flowing here was the gifts of healings which Paul listed as one of the nine gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11.
Only Jesus in his ascended state by the power of the Spirit living in Paul healed all those people (Acts 3:12-16).
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.
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Many Healings (Acts 28:7-10) |
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| 7 Ἐν δὲ τοῖς περὶ τὸν τόπον ἐκεῖνον ὑπῆρχεν χωρία τῷ πρώτῳ τῆς νήσου ὀνόματι Ποπλίῳ, ὃς ἀναδεξάμενος ἡμᾶς τρεῖς ἡμέρας φιλοφρόνως ἐξένισεν. 8 ἐγένετο δὲ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ Ποπλίου πυρετοῖς καὶ δυσεντερίῳ συνεχόμενον κατακεῖσθαι, πρὸς ὃν ὁ Παῦλος εἰσελθὼν καὶ προσευξάμενος ἐπιθεὶς τὰς χεῖρας αὐτῷ ἰάσατο αὐτόν. 9 τούτου δὲ γενομένου καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ οἱ ἐν τῇ νήσῳ ἔχοντες ἀσθενείας προσήρχοντο καὶ ἐθεραπεύοντο, 10 οἳ καὶ πολλαῖς τιμαῖς ἐτίμησαν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀναγομένοις ἐπέθεντο τὰ πρὸς τὰς χρείας. | 7 In those regions around that vicinity, there was an estate belonging to the first man of island, named Publius. He received us three days and hosted us very friendly. 8 It happened that Publius’s father was lying with bouts of a fever and dysentery. Paul came to them and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him. 9 When this happened, the rest of people on the island having sicknesses also began to come and were healed. 10 They honored us with many honors. And when we were getting ready to sail, they loaded supplies for our needs. |
Comments:
“friendly”: It comes from the adverb philophrōnōs (pronounced fee-loh-froh-nohss), and it combines phil– (friend, love, like) and phrōn– (mind or thinking), so it means “kindly minded” and “friendly.” They had a good attitude.
“fever”: Dr. Luke uses a technical term. See Luke 4:38 about the technical term for a fever attacking Peter’s mother-in-law, and Mark 1:30, which uses less technical language (// Matt. 8:14).
“were healed”: the verb is therapeuō (pronounced thair-ah-pew-oh, our word therapy is related to it), and it means to “make whole, restore, heal, cure, care for.” It is in the passive mood, and it means that these healings were supernatural; they were not self-healings (though God has designed the body to heal itself, if we take care of it).
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 (which happened here) 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 prayed. Prayer flows out of confidence before God that he will answer because we no longer have an uncondemned heart (1 John 3:19-24; Rom. 8:1); and we know him so intimately that we find out from him what is his will is and then we pray according to it (1 John 5:14-15); we pray with our Spirit-inspired languages and our native languages (1 Cor. 14:15-16). But praying is what all believers should do; however, too often theory outruns practice. Pray!
2.. 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.
3.. 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).
4.. Further, though the verse does not say “signs and wonders,” this is what is meant here. Signs and wonders happening right before one’s eyes is awe-inspiring. It inspired everyone on the island, to the point of bringing their diseased and sick friends and family members. Renewalists believe healings still happen today.
5.. What was flowing here was the gifts of healings (plural) which Paul listed as one of the nine gifts of the Spirit. The Spirit distributed healings as he determined (1 Cor. 12:11). Only Jesus in his ascended state by the power of the Spirit living in Paul healed all those people.
For a nearly complete list of miracles, signs and wonders in the New Testament and a theology of them, see the post
What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?
5. Gifts of the Spirit: Workings of Miracles
4. Gifts of the Spirit: Gifts of Healings
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.
Kenneth Copeland Gets a Pacemaker
Is ‘Decreeing’ Biblical for Christians?
For more commentary, click on the chapter:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 