Acts 5:15-16: Peter's Shadow
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Acts 5:15-16
Acts 15:16 tells us that miracles performed by the Apostles resulted in crowds from the area around Jerusalem bringing their sick and demonized to be healed, and that all of them were in fact healed. The verse preceding this reports that "people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by" (NIV).
While verse 15 does not make it immediately clear whether Peter's shadow falling on someone actually resulted in healing, the reader could infer that it did based on the context and the potential that the next verse includes those people in its statement that all where healed. This is, however, just an inference, and not something categorically stated. Either way, the verse does inform us of one very interesting fact: Peter did not stop at ever sick person to minister healing to them. This, of course, was true of Jesus also. In John 5:1-8, Jesus heals one man will passing many others by. What makes Peter's actions more notable is that the people he passed by were very clearly seeking healing. They were brought and laid on the street with that explicit purpose. With Jesus, we have no explicit account of him ever not ministering to someone asking for healing.
So why did people lay their sick on the street rather than coming to Peter directly and requesting healing? Acts 5:12-15 tells us that the apostles "performed many signs and wonders among the people" and that the believers regularly met in Solomon’s Colonnade, so miracles were happening frequently (frequently enough to induce people to lay the sick in the road) and finding the miracle workers was easy. According to verse 13, however, no one who was not already a believer dared join them at Solomon's Colonnade.
It is possible that news of what had happened with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) was behind this. Given the placement of that account directly before the section we are considering here, this seems the most reasonable conclusion to draw. John Wimber alludes to this in his book Power Evangelism1. There are other possibilities though. In the previous chapter, we see Peter and John being threatened by the Sanhedrin, so Jew's not yet convinced of the message the Apostles preached may not have wanted to be directly associated with them for fear of reprisals by the Jewish leaders. Another possibility, also suggested by Wimber, was the fear of their sins being made public. Of the church he was pastoring in 1984, he said:
FOOTNOTES
1. Power Evangelism, John Wimber & Kevin Springer. Gospel Light Publications, May 1, 2009. Page 62.
2. John Wimber speaking at the "Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth" conference in 1984. Quoted from minutes 88:04-89:00
Acts 5:15-16
Acts 15:16 tells us that miracles performed by the Apostles resulted in crowds from the area around Jerusalem bringing their sick and demonized to be healed, and that all of them were in fact healed. The verse preceding this reports that "people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by" (NIV).While verse 15 does not make it immediately clear whether Peter's shadow falling on someone actually resulted in healing, the reader could infer that it did based on the context and the potential that the next verse includes those people in its statement that all where healed. This is, however, just an inference, and not something categorically stated. Either way, the verse does inform us of one very interesting fact: Peter did not stop at ever sick person to minister healing to them. This, of course, was true of Jesus also. In John 5:1-8, Jesus heals one man will passing many others by. What makes Peter's actions more notable is that the people he passed by were very clearly seeking healing. They were brought and laid on the street with that explicit purpose. With Jesus, we have no explicit account of him ever not ministering to someone asking for healing.
So why did people lay their sick on the street rather than coming to Peter directly and requesting healing? Acts 5:12-15 tells us that the apostles "performed many signs and wonders among the people" and that the believers regularly met in Solomon’s Colonnade, so miracles were happening frequently (frequently enough to induce people to lay the sick in the road) and finding the miracle workers was easy. According to verse 13, however, no one who was not already a believer dared join them at Solomon's Colonnade.
It is possible that news of what had happened with Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11) was behind this. Given the placement of that account directly before the section we are considering here, this seems the most reasonable conclusion to draw. John Wimber alludes to this in his book Power Evangelism1. There are other possibilities though. In the previous chapter, we see Peter and John being threatened by the Sanhedrin, so Jew's not yet convinced of the message the Apostles preached may not have wanted to be directly associated with them for fear of reprisals by the Jewish leaders. Another possibility, also suggested by Wimber, was the fear of their sins being made public. Of the church he was pastoring in 1984, he said:
"It's dangerous to hang around here. You hang around here long enough somebody—usually a sweet young thing—will walk up to you and say, ‘You know you've got a little problem with this in your life,’ and then name your sin. I've seen it hundreds of times, not only here in the sanctuary but in our prayer room week after week. I've seen the secrets of men's and women's hearts exposed among us as God through his mercy has caused some one person to catch the vibe and understand and through word of knowledge, wisdom, or otherwise—some revelatory gift—know the hearts of individuals. Numerous times, as we've gathered, those that had demonic bondage in their lives, that bondage was lifted; they went through either a full-on expulsion as a result of demonization, or they went through some other kind of ministry. God is on the move here. It's not safe to come to this church. It's not safe to assemble yourself among these people."2
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FOOTNOTES
1. Power Evangelism, John Wimber & Kevin Springer. Gospel Light Publications, May 1, 2009. Page 62.
2. John Wimber speaking at the "Signs, Wonders, and Church Growth" conference in 1984. Quoted from minutes 88:04-89:00
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