Passage of the Day - January 13, 2011

Acts 19:11-12

 ¹¹God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,

 ¹²so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.

We can ask why doesn’t this happen anymore.  Why do we not see miracles of physical and spiritual healing like this now?  I struggle with this, but I noticed something in this passage.  God acted through Paul’s handkerchiefs that other people brought to the sick.  He acted through the faith of Paul and the faith of those delivering the handkerchiefs.  However, it was by the hands of Paul that the miracles happened, not the deliverers.  It appears those that delivered the handkerchiefs were not having miracles performed by God through their hands.  They obviously had faith, but that didn’t automatically mean that God would perform miracles through them.  We can’t make the miracles of the Early Church normative, nor can we say that God absolutely does not still do this today.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®,
© Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (http://www.lockman.org/)