so that they brought out the sick into the streets and put [them] on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter, when he came, might overshadow some one of them.
Ananias and Sapphira had just dropped dead, and fear fell on everyone. Now the same power that had struck inside the young church poured out in mercy on the streets outside. Why did people think a passing shadow could heal, and what does their hope say about the God behind it?
The people did not arrange treatment. They arranged to be in the path of a passing man:
God displayed healing power in abundance. The streets became something like the wards of a hospital. People carried the sick out into them and laid them on beds and couches. The sick were not waiting for a doctor to examine their case. They were waiting for the shadow of Peter to fall over them as he passed. They looked for healing. Healing, we understand, they got. God had acted in that solemn way in government, striking those two offenders down by death. Now God was acting in this happy way. He was giving healing to diseased bodies and strength to weakened frames.
It is worth noticing what is missing here:
Notice that nobody held a healing meeting. Great numbers found healing apart from meetings altogether. Nobody picked some for a healing line and ignored others. All were healed, and none went away disappointed.
The Gospels record nothing like this about Jesus Himself. One commentator makes that oddity an argument for Christ's greatness, not Peter's:
What is more, mighty power went with it this time. Here is one remarkable fact that I do not think is said about anyone else: Peter's shadow healed. Just think of that! We never heard that about the Lord. We never heard that the Lord's shadow healed people. Perhaps you think I am exalting man against the Lord. I am exalting the words of the Lord, who said, "greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." ... People may have thought the Lord was only, so to speak, like a great magnet that could affect only what was near it. Not at all. Because He went, they did greater works than His. That is to say, it was the power of the Lord showing itself completely superior to everything in nature. Distance and time had nothing to do with it. It was Christ.
Death inside the church and healing outside it came from one source:
The power of the Spirit worked both inside and outside the Church. Inside, Ananias and Sapphira fell dead at Peter's feet; outside, even the shadow of the apostle was enough for the healing of the sick. ... Miracles have an important place at the beginning of a new era. Many happened when the Son of God came to earth, and they confirmed His glorious person. God granted more during the period of Acts, when the Holy Spirit came down.
This display did not last, and commentators do not read its ending as an accident:
We should not be blind to this display. It was blessed, even if only partial. It was the testimony to His power over all the groaning creation, and over those evil spirits who lured man into ruin and into their own rebellion against God. Nor should we ignore the humbling fact that such a display faded away so soon, as it was no doubt fitting that it should. ... signs and wonders continuing would be out of keeping with His ways. They would harm believers instead of blessing them, as the church fell further and further from the grace and truth that came by our Lord Jesus Christ.
Even in the days when a shadow healed, no servant of God could use the gift in every case:
The sick sought after the shadow of Peter (see Acts 5:15). Handkerchiefs and aprons from the body of the Apostle Paul cured disease and drove out evil spirits, under the hand of God. Yet even Paul did not use his gift in every case. He says he left Trophimus behind, ill, at Miletus. His close friend Timothy had "frequent ailments," yet Paul was content to advise taking wine as a remedy.
- Judgment first. The God who struck down two liars inside the company is the God now healing bodies in the street — one power, two faces.
- Goodness next. No meeting, no selection, no healing line — people laid the sick in the street, and none went away disappointed.
- Reach beyond. A shadow did what even nearness to Jesus had not done. Distance and time are nothing to a Christ who has gone to the Father.
- Season, not standard. Such signs mark the opening of a new era; commentators see their fading as fitting, not as failure.
- Never a technique. Paul left Trophimus sick and told Timothy to take wine — healing stayed in God's hand, never in a method.
And the multitude also of the cities round about came together to Jerusalem, bringing sick persons and persons beset by unclean spirits, who were all healed.
The apostles' work in Jerusalem had spread far beyond the city. Crowds came in from the towns around, bringing the sick and those troubled by unclean spirits — and every one of them went home well.
Commentators draw attention to how this healing happened, not only to how many it reached.
Crowds also came from cities in the area of Jerusalem, bringing those sick and those afflicted by unclean spirits. As when the Lord Jesus was on earth, the result was healing for every one. Notice that nobody held a healing meeting. Great numbers were healed with no meeting at all. Nobody picked some for a healing line and passed over the rest. All were healed, and none went away disappointed.
The verse names two groups of sufferers. Writers point out that Scripture never merges them into one.
Jerusalem becomes a centre. Men flock to it from all the districts round, bringing the sick and those oppressed by demons. These are two classes that the word of God always keeps distinct. People even seek out the shadow of Peter for its power to heal, and we do not read of disappointment in this either. The masses are all healed.
One writer traces that strength to its source.
How wonderful is the power of that Name! It never failed to clothe His servants with strength greater than every demand, over evil seen or unseen.
These healings pointed to where the rejected Messiah now was, and to how far His power reached.
This witness to the supremacy of the rejected Messiah, now exalted to the right hand of God, we are apt to forget. We have been without it so long. And perhaps we think too much of His grace to us and too little of His glory... Still, we should not be unmoved by this display, blessed even if partial. It testified to His power over all the groaning creation, and over those evil spirits who led man astray into their own rebellion against God, to his ruin.
One writer hears in this an echo of a promise Jesus made before He left.
Are we not reminded here, and at a later time too, of the Lord's words in John 14:12? He said: "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father." The effect of Peter's first sermon showed this. The good results of his shadow falling on sick people confirm it, as do the handkerchiefs brought from Paul's body (Acts 19:11-12). And the blessing was not limited to the people of Jerusalem.
Another writer sets these miracles in a wider pattern.
All twelve apostles had miraculous power. So we read that many signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles (Acts 5:12-16). Miracles have an important place at the beginning of a new era. Many took place when the Son of God came to earth, and they proved who He was (Acts 2:22). God granted more during the period of the Acts, when the Holy Spirit came down.
Why did such displays not continue? The same writer answers that God had reasons, both for His own glory and for the good of His people.
The God of all grace would not have withheld this answer on earth to Christ's exaltation to the seat of divine power. He withheld it only because there were the wisest and fully adequate reasons. One reason was His own moral glory. Another was that signs and wonders going on and on would not fit His ways. They would harm the saints rather than bless them, once the assembly fell further and further from the grace and truth which came by our Lord Jesus Christ.
At this stage everything converged on one city. That was about to change.
All the preaching had taken place at Jerusalem, and people from the country round had brought their sick there for healing (5:16). But spreading out, not concentrating, was to be the mark of Christianity.
- The Name. The power belonged to the rejected Messiah, now at God's right hand. His servants only carried it.
- The reach. That Name met evil both seen and unseen — disease in the body, and oppression by unclean spirits. Scripture keeps the two apart.
- The scope. Crowds streamed in from the towns around. Nobody staged a meeting, nobody picked a queue, and nobody left disappointed.
- The proof. One writer reads this as Jesus' promise coming true: greater works through His followers, because He had gone to the Father.
- The season. Such signs mark the opening of a new era. Writers say God had wise reasons for not letting them continue.