Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquila
You're right. They didn't apply oil to the cloths.
Here's a question...
Why would they even think to take the aprons or handkerchiefs home to touch the sick, infirm, and demon possessed?
Again, here's the verse...
Acts 19:11-12
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them. While we might be uncomfortable with the possibility... it's possible that the ancients had a far deeper understanding of the power behind a thing that is "blessed" for God's purposes. To the ancient mind, our rationalist approach to reason would be sterile and void of life. Jesus and the Apostles spoke to creation and sickness as though it were living... "Peace be still!", for example. Is the storm alive? Nope. But the power to command the elements... nature itself through the sheer authority of will was commonly understood. The notion that some kind of anointing or residual power might rest on an object was common place in their mindset. And they aren't rebuked for it.
The depths of spiritual understandings that we've yet to experience, or we deny through rationalism, were common place to them. |
That is certainly something to consider. I can see that. I don't think the area that Jesus and the Apostles ministered were large enough for the story of the woman with the issue of blood be lost. Think about the huge crowd around and he stops to ask, "Who touched me?" And then she comes forth to share her story.
Along with what you state, which I won't reject, perhaps they knew this story and realized they could also touch Paul. And like any other story, ONE person shares what happened, and it goes and grows from there.
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