Acts 19:11

And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: insomuch that unto the sick were carried away from his body handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out.

Special miracles ... From this it is clear that the miracles of healing by means of aprons, etc., taken from Paul's body to the distressed, must be allowed as genuine, for the word "inasmuch" dearly shows this. Perhaps, as Dummelow said:

God condescended to work miracles through these handkerchiefs, having regard to the genuine faith of those who thus used them, and not to their superstition.[21]

Such healings were so rare that "Luke calls them "special miracles."[22]

This is an appropriate place to mention the number of striking parallels between the lives of Peter and Paul as outlined by Luke in Acts. (1) Both at an early point in their ministries heal lame men (Acts 3:2ff; 14:8ff). (2) Both exorcise demons (Acts 5:16; 16:18). (3) Both have triumphant encounters with sorcerers (Acts 8:18ff; 13:6ff). (4) Both raise the dead (Acts 9:36ff; 20:9ff). (5) Both miraculously escape from prison (Acts 12:7ff; 16:25ff). (6) Both figure in miracles emanating from their bodies (Acts 5:15; 19:12). (7) Peter was a surname given to Simon by Jesus; and it appears that the name Paul replaced the name of Saul by design of the Holy Spirit. Paul himself said, "I am not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles" (2 Corinthians 11:5); and the record in Acts corroborates his statement. To be sure, the radical critics have seized upon such similarities as an excuse to accuse Luke of inventing parallels through the inclusion of unhistorical material. As Bruce said, however, Luke does this "unobtrusively,"[23] which no inventor or forger would have done. As a matter of fact, some of the parallels are not discernible at all, except upon careful study. (See under Acts 22 introduction.)

[21] J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 845.

[22] W. R. Walker, op. cit., p. 54.

[23] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 387.