Acts 19:12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Acts 19:8-12

Paul is here very busy at Ephesus to do good. I. He begins, as usual, in the Jews? synagogue, and makes the first offer of the gospel to them, that he might gather in the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who were now scattered upon the mountains. Observe, 1. Where he preached to them: in their synagogue (Acts 19:8), as Christ used to do. He went and joined them in their synagogue-worship, to take off their prejudices against him, and to ingratiate himself with them, while there was any hope... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - Acts 19:8-12

19:8-12 He came into the synagogue and for three months he spoke with boldness, debating and persuading people about the things connected with the kingdom of God. When some made themselves difficult and would not believe, and when they spoke ill of The Way before the congregation he left them and withdrew the disciples from them and debated daily in the hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all who lived in Asia, Jews and Greek alike, heard the word of God; and God kept on... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Acts 19:12

So that from his body were brought unto the sick ,.... The Ethiopic version renders it, "from the extremity", or "border of his garment"; and the Syriac version, "from the garments which were upon his body"; were brought and put upon the sick; that is, of the clothes which the apostle wore, some of them were taken and carried to sick persons, and used by them: particularly "handkerchiefs" or "aprons"; the former were such as he might use to wipe his face with, and remove sweat, or any filth... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Acts 19:12

Handkerchiefs or aprons - Σουδαρια η σιμικινθια , Probably the sudaria were a sort of handkerchiefs, which, in travelling, were always carried in the hand, for the convenience of wiping the face; and the simikinthia were either the sashes or girdles that went about the loins. These, borrowed from the apostle, and applied to the bodies of the diseased, became the means, in the hand of God, of their restoration to health. The diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:1-20

The advance. The founding of a Church at Ephesus, the capital city of Proconsular Asia—a great center of Greek and Asiatic life, civil, religious, and commercial, the seat of the famous temple of Artemis, the place of concourse of all Ionia for its celebrated games—is one of those great epochs in the history of Christianity which arrest the attention and demand the consideration of the Christian reader. Not above two years (if so much) had elapsed since the Holy Ghost had expressly... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:8-17

The spiritual, the supernatural, and the natural. The faithful labors of Paul in the synagogue of the Jews and the room of Tyrannus, the unusually extensive employment of the miraculous, and the discomfiture of the exorcists suggest to us— I. THAT THE SUPERNATURAL IS TO BE SUBORDINATED TO THE SPIRITUAL . ( Acts 19:8-12 .) We remember how our Lord refused to gratify the unworthy craving for signs and wonders in his day: "There shall no sign be given to this... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:8-20

Work of Paul at Ephesus. Here we have the victory of the Divine Word over the power of falsehood and evil in the minds of men. Such episodes show on a small scale what the effect of the evangelical leaven is in the world on a large scale. I. THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL SEEN IN THE ACTIVITY OF PAUL . It becomes a two-edged sword in his hand against all the powers of darkness. Three months' continuous preaching of great evangelical truths may lay the foundation of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:8-20

(or Acts 19:20 ) . Triumphs of the gospel at Ephesus. Asiatic character of the superstitions prevalent Dark. degraded mysterious Amulets and charms. Magical words. Exorcism. Not merely among the lower classes, but throughout the city. A dead man said to have spoken from the funeral pile. A wrestler with magic scroll round his body always victorious. Magic an elaborate, abstruse, difficult science, contained in learned books, studied for many years. Notice, therefore— I. THE ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:11-12

"Special miracles." Under ordinary circumstances this description of miracles wrought by God by the hands of Paul might be liable to the supposition is here that it is found. And when we look a moment beneath the surface we discover ample justification for the epithet applied to these miracles. Let us observe— I. IN WHAT THE SPECIALTY OF THESE MIRACLES CONSISTS . We are taught the answer in one verse. 1. They are wrought without the laying on of the hands of Paul,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Acts 19:12

Insomuch for so, A.V.; unto the sick were carried away from his body for from his body were brought unto the sick, A.V.; went out for went out of them, A.V. and T.R. From his body ( χρωτός ) ; literally, the skin, but used here by St. Luke for the body, in accordance with the usage of medical writers "from Hippocrates to Galen" (Hobart). Handkerchiefs ; σουδάριον , the Latin word sudarium, properly a cloth for wiping off the sweat. It is one of those words, like ... read more

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