Extraordinary

In Acts 19 we’re given a brief summary of the apostle Paul’s two-year stay in Ephesus, a coastal city in what is now Turkey.  In the middle of the summary, the author (almost certainly Luke) says, “And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul.”  (verse 11)

Doesn’t this strike you as a very strange thing to say?  By definition, any miracle would be classed as extraordinary!  It isn’t a miracle unless it’s something dramatically outside the ordinary.  So what is Luke saying?  We know that Paul was given Holy Spirit gifts.  For example he could speak many languages (1 Corinthians 14:18).  A couple of chapters earlier in this letter, he has discussed some of the gifts of the Spirit, and he touches on more of them in Ephesians and Romans.  A good case can be made that several of the gifts had been given to him personally.  Plus of course he was inspired to write the letters we still have.

I think what Luke must be saying in Acts 19 is that these miracles in Ephesus were extraordinary even for Paul.  It wasn’t what he went around doing throughout his ministry.  Luke isn’t telling us this in some matter-of-fact way.  He’s underscoring the phenomenal, above-and-beyond nature of these miracles.

What exactly was going on?  The next verse tells us, “So that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.”  This is genuinely extraordinary!  Not even Jesus did healings in this way.

The next question, of course: Why?  Why these extraordinary miracles in this place, at this time?  It may seem like evading the question, but I think the answer has to be, “Because that’s what was needed in that place at that time.”  This is the Holy Spirit at work here.  God applying His power as His wisdom dictates.

As mentioned earlier, there are lists of gifts of the Spirit given by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4, Romans 12, and also by Peter in 1 Peter 4.  We may have an impression that the Spirit gifts were handed out indiscriminately during the first century.  But these passages emphasize that different people were given different gifts, and I think we can also find evidence that particular gifts were given at specific times, for specific reasons.

When does Jesus give his apostles the Holy Spirit?  It may surprise you to find that it isn’t just one time.  When he first sends out the 12, he gives them power to heal (Luke 9:1).  Later he sends out 72, which may have included the 12, and again gives the power to heal (Luke 10:1-9).  However, later than this, we read in John 7:38-39 that the Spirit has not yet been given to them.  This seems like a contradiction—but we’re not done. 

At the last supper, Jesus gives his apostles the promise that the Spirit would be given to them (John 14:16-17), which would give them perfect recall of Jesus’s teaching (verse 26).  Still in their future.  Then on resurrection day, when Jesus appears to these followers, he breathes on them and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” specifically to discern right and wrong in the church (John 20:22-23).  And yet, right before his ascension, Jesus is still promising the Spirit as something future (Acts 1:5-8).  It’s this promise that is apparently fulfilled at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4).  But even here the gift is specific, to be able to speak in multiple languages.  Earlier, Jesus had suggested there would be times when the Spirit would be given in a specific circumstance for a specific need, apparently temporary (e.g. Luke 12:11-12).

I guess the point of all this is that when the Spirit was given, it wasn’t once and done.  The gifts were targeted, intended for a specific purpose at a particular time.  In Ephesus, Paul was given a gift that was, apparently, unheard of.  Extraordinary, even measured against other miracles.  There’s no hint that this ability continued.  There must have been a purpose.

This might seem an esoteric discussion.  Why should we care?  The fact that Luke makes a point of it, underlines it by using that word extraordinary, proves that we should indeed care.  For the vast majority of believers over the centuries, the Spirit has not operated in open miracles.  Rather, the Lord has operated through the more subtle avenue of Providence.  But it’s the same Lord, operating on the same principles.  So what might we take from this?

Was every sick or disabled person in the first century cured by the apostles?  Of course not.  So then, should we expect that every hardship experienced by believers today will be removed Providentially?  Miracles were extraordinary, and among them there were some that we might say were “extra-extraordinary”.  We should expect in the present age that interventions of Providence will also be extraordinary.  And when they do occur, there will be a specific reason, just as the Spirit operated for specific purposes during the age of miracles.

Sometimes when we pray fervently for something, and God’s answer is “no” or “not at this time”, we can get discouraged.  We might even become jealous when someone else’s fervent prayer is answered “yes”.  I think it helps to realize that there is a divine purpose at work, whatever the answer we receive.  And also, when the answer is “yes”, there is a responsibility to seek out the specific purpose, and use the “yes” answer to do the Lord’s work, to increase faith, in ourselves and others.

Love, Paul