Bible Study series: Acts 19:8-12. When he did this, miracles broke out, including through facecloths and work aprons.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn. Let’s learn together and apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn, so the translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
At the link to the original post, next, I write more commentary and dig a little deeper into the Greek. I also offer a section titled Observations for Discipleship at the end. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided in the commentary section for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Acts 19:8-12
8 He went into the synagogue and boldly proclaimed, dialoguing persuasively about the kingdom of God for three months. 9 When certain ones were hardened and disbelieved and spoke abusively about the Way in front of the people, he left them and took away the disciples, and each day dialogued in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. 10 This happened for two years, so that everyone living in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
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. (Acts 19:8-12)
Comments:
8:
Paul went to the synagogue first (see Rom. 1:16) and spoke for three months. The synagogue attendees were open to this message.
“boldly proclaiming”: This clause comes from one Greek verb that combines boldness and speech. No doubt he told them that law keeping was no longer important, but faith in Jesus is what matters.
Please, please, don’t shrink away when you encounter opposition. Jesus was bold when the Pharisees and teachers of the law challenged him. He answered their questions and challenged them right back (Mark 2:6; 2:16; 7:1-5; 8:31; 9:14; 10:33; 11:18, 27-28; 14:1, etc.). People over-interpret his silence before his accusers during his trial (Matt. 27:12-14; Mark 14:60-61; 15:4-5; John 19:8-9). These interpreters don’t take into account that he was destined to give up his life, although he could have asked the Father for twelve legions of angels (Matt. 26:53).
If you find yourself timid before opposition, you can pray every day for the inner strength and anointing and power to stand and not to flag or fold during satanic and broken human attacks. I pray this almost every day, and it works! It’s okay to answer back in the anointing of the Spirit.
You know the Spirit is flowing through you when you have boldness. God has not given you a spirit of fear or timidity (2 Tim. 1:7).
“dialoguing”: NAS translates it as “reasoning.” Perfect. Please feel free to discuss Scripture with people and dialogue with those who may not know it or have a deficient understanding of it.
“persuading”: it means Paul was winning converts, as we see in the next verse.
“kingdom of God”: Jesus preached this phrase all the time. What does it mean? Jesus spoke often about the kingdom of God. He ushered it in, and at the birth of the church in Acts 2 it is now about to expand beyond Israel. It is for everyone who receives him into their hearts and becomes his followers. When that happens, they enter into his light; receive clarity; enjoy an intimate relationship with the Father through Christ and the Spirit; live a consecrated life through his resurrection power and in the Spirit and by his power. And so the kingdom makes all the difference in the world—by creating a new world, a new kingdom, he creates a new you, a new life.
Bible Basics about the Kingdom of God
Questions and Answers about Kingdom of God
Basic Definition of Kingdom of God
1 Introducing the Kingdom of God (begin a ten-part series)
Paul spent about two years preaching the kingdom, so that everyone heard about it. Please don’t believe that early apostolic community skipped over this important teaching. They did not. Luke simply has a different focus in his overall narrative. Also, Bruce notes that Luke emphasized the death and resurrection of Jesus as two aspects of the kingdom (comment on v. 8). True, and the kingdom of God will challenge pagan religions and Satan, too, as we are about to learn, in the next two major sections.
9:
“hardened”: it can be translated as “stubborn” or “obstinate.”
“Way”: It means the “path” or “road.” John the Baptist, through the OT prophet Malachi, launched the idea: “Prepare the way of the Lord!” (Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23). Jesus said the road to life is narrow (Matt. 7:14). And Jesus said he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:16). He is the road way to God.
“disciples”: these are converts Paul won for the Messiah. See v. 1 for a closer look.
Bruce:
Tyrannus (if he was the lecturer) no doubt delivered his lectures early in the morning. At 11:00 a.m. public activity came to a stop in the cities of Ionia (as many others parts of the Mediterranean world), and Lake and Cadbury [two commentators on Acts] are no doubt right in saying that more people would be asleep at 1:00 p.m. [13:00] than at 1:00 a.m. But Paul, after spending the early hours at his tentmaking (cf. 20:34), devoted the burden and heat of the day to his more important and more exhausting business, and must have conveyed something of this own energy and zeal to his hearers, who had followed him from the synagogue to this lecture hall, for they were prepared to forgo their own siesta to listen to Paul. (comment on v. 9)
I chose that long excerpt because I like how it shows Paul being a hard worker, even at his regular employment and then preaching. How about American pastors (or any pastor)?
10:
“everyone in Asia”: this may be hyperbolic (Acts 17:6; 19:27; 24:5), but not by much (or it may not be hyperbolic). When Paul finally arrives in Jerusalem, Jews will accuse of turning Asia and the world upside down (21:27-29; see 24:19) (HT: Peterson, p. 533, note 28 and Keener, p. 472). The gospel did spread widely (Col. 1:23) and in the region (see 1 Cor. 16:19; 1 Pet. 1:1; Rev. 2-3). “From cosmopolitan Ephesus Paul could send out more indigenous local workers to reach the surrounding region (cf. Acts 19:10; Col. 1:7; 4:12-13). Paul’s contacts with other churches continued during this time (1 Cor. 5:9; 16:1, 17-18; 2 Cor. 11:28; 12:14; 13:1)” (Keener, ibid.)
“word”: People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Yes, the book of Acts is very charismatic, but it is also very orderly and rational and logical.
On the other side of the word word, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia that believe they alone can teach and understand the Word. Not true. Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining Word and Spirit is the balanced life.
11:
“no ordinary”: The phrasing is known as a litotes (pronounced lih-toh-tees), or an understatement that expresses the affirmative by a negative! Luke likes litotes: Acts 12:18; 14:17, 28; 15:2; 17:4, 12, 27; 19:11, 23; 20:12; 21:39; 26:19; 27:20; 28:2.
Here 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 miracles, signs and wonders in the New Testament and a theology of them, see the post:
What Are Signs and Wonders and Miracles?
“hands”: Renewalists believe that God’s power can be transmitted through the hands. See v. 6 for a closer look.
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
12:
“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.
“diseases”: 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 that 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.
Peterson is right to differentiate between magical powers and God’s miracle-working power:
Paul did not promote himself as a miracle worker, as did Simon Magus (8:9-10) or itinerant Jewish exorcists soon to be mentioned (19:13-15). This was not a manipulative process, designed to capture attention and win disciples. As in 8:9-24 and 13:4-12, Luke distinguishes between Christian miracle-working and the practice of magic in the Greco-Roman world. His purpose is to draw attention to the unique role and status of Peter and Paul in God’s purposes, and to help his readers to differentiate their activity from captivating and misleading alternatives. (Comment on vv. 11-12)
And 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).
Be careful of televangelists who turn these unusual miracles into a money-raising gimmick. It 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.
GrowApp for Acts 19:8-12
1. Certain opponents were hard of heart and spoke against the Way (of Jesus). Yet here you are, saved and set free. How did your heart soften towards the Lord Jesus? Tell your story.
2. God worked extraordinary miracles through Paul’s hands and items of clothing. Has God worked miracles in your life, if not by those means then in other ways? Tell your story.
RELATED
The Historical Reliability of the Book of Acts
Book of Acts and Paul’s Epistles: Match Made in Heaven?
SOURCES
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