Acts 4:9

Verse 9.

(+) "impotent man" "Infirm" (&) "whole" "Hath been restored"

Acts 5:15-16

Verse 15. Insomuch. So that. This should be connected with Acts 5:12. Many miracles were wrought by the apostles, insomuch, etc.

They brought forth. The people, or the friends of the sick, brought them forth.

Beds. κλινων. This word denotes usually the soft and valuable beds on which the rich commonly lay. And it means that the rich, as well as the poor, were laid in the path of Peter and the other apostles.

Couches. κραββατων. The coarse and hard couches on which the poor used to lie, Mk 2:4,9,11,12, 6:55, Jn 5:8-12, Acts 9:33.

The shadow of Peter. That is, they were laid in the path so that the shadow of Peter, as he walked, might pass over them. Perhaps the sun was near setting, and the lengthened shadow of Peter might be thrown afar across the way. They were not able to approach him on account of the crowd; and they imagined that if they could any how come under his influence, they might be healed. The sacred writer does not say, however, that any were healed in this way; nor that they were commanded to do this. He simply states the impression which was on the minds of the people that it might be. Whether they were healed by this, it is left for us merely to conjecture. An instance somewhat similar is recorded in Acts 19:12, where it is expressly said, that the sick were healed by contact with handkerchiefs and aprons that were brought from the body of Paul. Comp. also Mt 9:21,22, where the woman said respecting Jesus, "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole."

Might overshadow. That his shadow might pass over them. Though there is no evidence that any were healed in this way, yet it shows the full belief of the people that Peter had the power of working miracles. Peter was supposed by them to be eminently endowed with this power, because it was by him that the lame man in the temple had been healed, Acts 3:4-6, and because he had been most prominent in his addresses to the people. The persons who are specified in this verse were those who dwelt at Jerusalem.

(1) "into the streets" "in every street" Verse 16. There came also, etc. Attracted by the fame of Peter's miracles, as the people formerly had been by the miracles of the Lord Jesus.

Vexed. Troubled, afflicted, or tormented.

Unclean spirits. Possessed with devils; called unclean because they prompted to sin and impurity of life. Mt 4:23,24.

And they were healed. Of these persons it is expressly affirmed that they were healed. Of those who were so laid as that the shadow of Peter might pass over them, there is no such affirmation.

(a) "bringing sick folks" Mk 16:17,18, Jn 14:12 (b) "and they were healed" Jas 5:16

1 Corinthians 11:30

Verse 30. For this cause. On account of the improper manner of celebrating the Lord's Supper. See 1Cor 11:21.

Many are weak. ασθενεις. Evidently referring to prevailing bodily sickness and disease. This is the natural and obvious interpretation of this passage. The sense clearly is, that God had sent among them bodily distempers as an expression of the Divine displeasure and judgment for their improper mode of celebrating the Lord's Supper. That it was not uncommon in those times for God in an extraordinary manner to visit men with calamity, sickness, or death, for their sins, is evident from the New Testament.

1Cor 5:5; Acts 5:1 and Acts 5:2-10. Acts 13:11; 1Timm 1:20, and, perhaps, 1Jn 5:16, and Jas 5:14,15. It may possibly have been the case, that the intemperance and gluttony which prevailed on these occasions was the direct cause of no small part of the bodily disease which prevailed, and which in some cases terminated in death.

And many sleep. Have died. The death of Christians, in the Scriptures, is commonly represented under the image of sleep, Dan 12:2, Jn 11:11,12, 1Cor 15:51, 1Thes 4:14, 5:10. Perhaps it may be implied by the use of this mild term here, instead of the harsher word death, that these were true Christians. This sentiment is in accordance with all that Paul states in regard to the church at Corinth. Notwithstanding all their irregularities, he does not deny that they were sincere Christians, and all his appeals and reasonings proceed on that supposition, though there was among them much ignorance and irregularity. God often visits his own people with trial; and though they are his children, yet this does not exempt them from affliction and discipline on account of their imperfections, errors, and sins. The practical lesson taught by this is, that Christians should serve God with purity; that they should avoid sin in every form; and that the commission of sin will expose them, as well as others, to the Divine displeasure. The reason why this judgment was inflicted on the Corinthians was, that there might be a suitable impression made of the holy nature of that ordinance, and that Christians might be led to observe it in a proper manner. If it be asked whether God ever visits his people now with his displeasure for their improper manner of observing this ordinance, we may reply,

(1.) that we have no reason to suppose that he inflicts bodily diseases and corporeal punishments on account of it. But,

(2.) there is no reason to doubt that the improper observance of the Lord's Supper, like the improper observance of any other religious duty, will be followed with the expression of God's displeasure, and with a spiritual blighting on the soul. This may be evinced in the following modes:

(a.) In hardening the heart by an improper familiarity with the most sacred and solemn ordinances of religion.

(b.) Increased coldness and deadness in the service of God. If the ordinances of the gospel are not the means of making us better, they are the means of making us worse.

(c.) The loss of the favour of God, or of those pure, and spiritual, and elevated joys which we might have obtained by a proper observance of the ordinance. There is no reason to doubt that God may make it the occasion of manifesting his displeasure. It may be followed by a want of spiritual comfort and peace; by a loss of communion with God; and by a withholding of those comforts from the soul which might have been enjoyed, and which are imparted to those who observe it in a proper manner. The general principle, is, that an improper discharge of any duty will expose us to his displeasure, and to the certain loss of all those favours which might have resulted from a proper discharge of the duty, and to the tokens of the Divine displeasure. And this is as true of prayer, or of any other religious duty, as of an improper observance of the Lord's Supper.

(*) "sleep" "are dead"
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