Summary of Acts 5:12-16:
The Apostles continue to heal many people. More and more people became believers. Crowds gathered for healing.
BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 4, Day 3: Acts 5:12-16
6) Personal Question. My answer: It resembles Jesus’ ministry. Healing the sick. Also, the people came to the apostles, ignoring Jesus’ command to go forth and spread the Word (Acts 1:8).
7a) More and more men and women believed in the Lord. People would bring the sick and those tormented by evil spirits to Peter to heal.
b) Personal Question. My answer: Grateful. Thankful. More compassionate.
Conclusions BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 4, Day 3: Acts 5:12-16
Very short lesson today. I was recently asked about why my answers to personal questions are so short. To be truthful, these questions are so broad and so vague (such as question 7b) that it’s hard for me to point to specifics. Perhaps a better question here would have been: “What has been your response as you see God work to bring others to Him and to heal the sick around you that you know?” This is much more specific and addresses the themes of this passage. However, since BSF has not been asking those type of questions, I just stick to broad answers.
End Notes BSF Study Questions Acts Lesson 4, Day 3: Acts 5:12-16
God is answering the early Christians prayer request from Acts 4:30, in this passage.
God chose to do these miraculous works through the hands of the apostles and not through others. Yet God had a purpose in doing it through the hands of the apostles.
What was Solomon’s Colonnade?
Better known as Solomon’s Porch, this was a colonnade or cloister on the east side of the Temple’s outer court and was covered with a roof. Passing west through Solomon’s Porch (toward the temple) would place one in the Court of the Gentiles. Solomon’s Porch, along with the rest of Herod’s temple, was destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 70.
Early Christians believed that they could be healed by the mere touch of Peter’s shadow. We don’t know if this was true. we know a touch of Jesus’ clothing healed a woman (Luke 8:44). There wasn’t anything magical in the garment, but it was a way that her faith was released.
“It may be significant that the verb episkiazo, which Luke chooses, meaning ‘to overshadow’, he has used twice in his Gospel of the overshadowing of God’s presence.” (Stott)
We shouldn’t miss the connection between the purity preserved in the first part of the chapter (with the death of Ananias and the fear of God among the Christians) and the power displayed here. God blessed a pure church with spiritual power.
Fun Fact: This is the first mention of the work extending beyond Jerusalem. People came there instead of the apostles going to them. This was not exactly according to the command of Jesus. He told the disciples to go out to Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). The apostles didn’t leave Jerusalem until they were forced to by persecution (Acts 8:1, 12:1-2).