Does Acts of the Apostles describe miracles of healing?

Answer 1

1.Miracles of healing

-"Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done the apostles" (Acts 2:43)

-Immediately after Luke's summary in Luke 2:42-47, he inserts an example, the accounts of healing of the crippled beggar (3:1-10)

-The Jewish leaders confess that Peter had "done an outstanding miracle" (4:16)

-Other healing miracles associated with "signs and wonders"

-Acts 4:30

-Acts 5:12-16

-Acts 8:6-7

-Three important considerations

-The frequency of the "signs and wonders"

-The use of the term many (2:43, 5:12, 8:7)

-The use of the term all (5:16)

-The "rest of the sick" on Malta were healed (28:9)

-The intensity of the "signs and wonders"

-God's revelation of his will in "signs and wonders"

-3 Levels of healing

-Level 1 "Signs and Wonders" as in Acts and in various periods/places in church history

-Level 2: Healing/deliverance/other miracles as performed by Christians who have the spiritual gift of "miraculous powers" (1 Cor 12:10)

-Level 3: Healing/deliverance/other miracles as performed by Christians who do not have the spiritual gift of "miraculous powers"

Answer 2

Yes. Both Peter and Paul are portrayed as performing miracles of healing. In Acts, both apostles perform quite similar miracles, but those of Peter are consistently portrayed as more awe-inspiring and Peter is to be seen as the more worthy apostle. As much as Paul is portrayed as a man capable of performing great works and wonders, Peter is raised above him by these comparisons.

According to Acts, Peter's first miraculous cure was improbably similar to Paul’s first cure. In both cases, a man who had been lame since birth was immediately cured by being commanded to stand and walk. Peter’s first miracle cure (Acts 3:1-10) was performed in the name of Jesus, at the Temple, where the faithful saw the healed beggar praising God, and was the opportunity for some outstanding proselytising. Paul’s first cure (Acts 14:8-12) was clumsy and without apparent purpose, given that Paul did not tell the man about Jesus and he was even mistaken for a pagan god. The similarity of the two events tells us that Luke had one account in mind when creating the other, and went on to create a subtle comparison between the two apostles.

In an even more difficult challenge, Peter resurrected Tabitha, a good woman and a disciple, who was certainly dead and her body had already been washed. This miracle became known throughout Joppa and, as a result, many were converted. Paul also resuscitated a young man who foolishly fell asleep in an upper storey window and fell to the ground. There is some uncertainty as to whether the young man was really dead when Paul intervened to revive him, and the miracle did not present an opportunity to convert unbelievers.

In his epistles, Paul never mentions performing or experiencing miracles, and Paul presents himself as a man unlikely to have experienced miracles, other than the revelations from God. Paul faced many challenges to his authority, yet in his account he never performs miracles to persuade or repel his opponents, nor even describes those miracles that appear in Acts when to write about them would have enhanced his authority.