GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
ACTS 19:11-12
11 God did powerful, extraordinary miracles through the hands of Paul, 12 so that when handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his flesh were brought to the sick, their diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
Luke uses two words, dynameis “powerful works,” and tychousas “out of the ordinary.” I have tried to catch the sense but have had to split up the “powerful works (i.e., miracles)” to say it properly in English.
“Handkerchief” is the same word that is used for a face cloth that covered the dead, such as Lazarus (John 11:44) and Jesus (John 20:7). Here it just means what we think of as a handkerchief. An apron would be the kind of thing a tentmaker would wear, partly to keep dirt, dust and sweat from one’s clothes but also an article with pockets for spare needles and such for the trade. While Paul himself was able to perform wonderful healing miracles, it was discovered that those other things, a handkerchief, and then an apron, that had been used by Paul, would also confer the same powerful healing from God. We see something like this happening with Jesus when a woman was healed just by touching his garment (Luke 8:44), and then many people begging to touch his clothes (Mark 6:56). The impression we get is that he had a great deal of healing to do, and when it was discovered that touching Paul’s apron also brought healing, that Paul agreed to let someone take his handkerchiefs and then even his aprons where miracles were needed in other towns and cities in the area around Ephesus, perhaps Miletus, or Sardis, or Smyrna.
Two kinds of extraordinary miracles are specifically mentioned, healing diseases and demon-possessions. Luke uses two different terms for these things “leaving,” but we might say that both diseases and demons “fled” from God’s power through Paul. Since we are told that these things happened through “the hands of Paul” we are assured that people did not just tear away Paul’s clothing as if he were Elvis or something. Paul allowed this and even sent his handkerchiefs away to do it.
Luke presents these things first of all to show the power of God, and second of all in contrast with what will soon follow in verses 13-16. But returning to the first point, the display of the power of God, we can make an application through what happened here in Ephesus to the sacraments, both the Lord’s Supper and baptism. It is not the faith of the minister that gives a sacrament its power, but the word of God.
At this time, because God’s Word had been almost entirely unknown in Ephesus and western Asia Minor, God was working in a powerful way, letting miracles show is stamp of approval on Paul’s preaching. More and more people were drawn to the city to be healed and to hear Paul preach. God seems to have even permitted demon possessions specifically for the purpose of showing his power over those same demons, driving them out left and right with little more than Paul’s dirty aprons. Our God truly delights in such things, because he says, “My power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). The more remote healings would allow those people to travel to see Paul to thank him and, more importantly, to hear the good news about Jesus. So the motives and the faith of the messengers or family members who carried the aprons did not change, increase, or diminish the effectiveness of the healing. The power was from God. This is also true of the Lord’s Supper and of Baptism. The effectiveness of the sacrament does not rest in the sinful man who administers it, but in Christ who commanded it, Christ who gave us the words we speak, Christ who specified the earthly element, and Christ who promised the forgiveness that they give. And on top of this, the one who receives the sacrament is not held to be worthy because of the quality of their faith or repentance. Indeed, no faith at all is required to receive baptism because baptism gives faith. With the Lord’s Supper we are commanded to examine ourselves and consider our sinful need for forgiveness (1 Corinthians 11:28-29), as well as whether we share our common belief with all those receiving it with us, since “we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Corinthians 10:17). But we come to the supper as sinners. When one of us is weak in our faith or in despair because of our sins, that is the time we should (indeed, must) come, because the supper strengthens our faith and gives us the forgiveness we need. It is not up to you who receives the supper nor me who gives it to be worthy of it. It is up to Christ to be worthy, because he is the one who truly gives what we receive.
The difference, of course, is that these healing miracles of Paul’s did not give the forgiveness of sins as the sacraments do, but they certainly drew people to the Apostle in order to hear the gospel, to learn about Jesus their Savior, and be healed of their sins and set free from the bonds of hell by the grace of God. And so have we.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2020
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Acts 19:11-12 Handkerchiefs and aprons