Acts 19:12 - Exposition

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 κουστωδία κεντυρίων σημικίνθιον , κοδράντης , etc., which exactly represent the political condition of things at the time of the writers, who were living in a country where Greek was the language of common intercourse, but where the dominion was Roman. It is found in Luke 19:20 ; John 11:44 ; John 20:7 , and here. Aprons ; σιμικίνθια , more properly written σημικίνθια . It is the Latin word semicinctium, a half-girdle; the Greek word is ἡμιζώνιον . According to some, it was a narrow girdle, but according to others, and with more probability, an apron covering only half, i.e. the front of the body. It only occurs here in the New Testament or elsewhere. The careful mention of these cures of the sick may also be connected with St. Luke's medical profession. As regards these unusual modes of miraculous cure, comp. Acts 5:15 . It might well be the Divine purpose, in the ease of both Peter and Paul, to invest with such extraordinary power the very persons of the apostles who were to stand forth as his messengers and preach in his Name. In St. Paul this parity of miraculous energy stamped his apostleship with an authority equal to that of St. Peter.