Acts 19:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"To bring from his body handkerchiefs used for sweat." They not only touched them while Paul was wearing them, but also took them with them and laid them upon the sick.

But notice the hardness of the Jews. They were not moved when they saw that the garments of Christ's disciples worked miracles.

Yet the miracles from handkerchiefs and towels, and from the shadows of the disciples, were greater than the miracles that Christ performed.

Both the headcloths and the towels were linen. The headcloths were thrown over the head. The towels were held in the hands by those who could not wear headcloths, such as those who wore the consular stole.

The purpose of both was to wipe sweat, saliva, tears, and the like from the face.

Paul then chose as the place of his longer labor a city especially important for the spread of the Gospel. It was the center of communication and trade for a vast part of Asia, and the largest trading city in Asia on this side of Taurus: Ephesus.

Yet here Christianity faced a new struggle with alien tendencies of the religious spirit. These either openly opposed it or threatened to merge with it.

Pagan magic ruled here. It had taken its beginning from the mystical worship of Diana. Alongside this pagan magic, Jewish magic also found access here.

The spirit of the age was not satisfied by religion and always thirsted for something new. It supported this false teaching, which claimed to open union with heaven and spiritual powers by human strength.

After settling in Ephesus, the Apostle Paul, according to his custom, began attending the synagogue and preaching Christ there without fear. He did this for about three months.

But some of the Jews were gradually stirred against the Apostle's preaching. They finally became so hardened that they began openly, before the people, to speak evil of the way of the Lord.

They mocked the Apostle's teaching and the Christ whom he preached. Then Paul left them and separated from them all the Christians in Ephesus.

He moved his preaching to the school of a certain Tyrannus. There he preached not only on Sabbaths, as he had done until then in the synagogue, but daily. This school became a Christian school.

In Ephesus itself, his fame reached an extraordinary height, especially through the great miracles "which God worked by the hands of Paul." Even his handkerchiefs and aprons had healing power. His fame spread so widely that many Jewish exorcists, who practiced magic and all kinds of incantations, began to envy him. Superstitious Ephesus was full of such exorcists.

To confirm the Apostle's preaching, God worked through him not a few miracles, or more precisely, great, extraordinary, and exceptional miracles.

Of these the writer of Acts mentions, first, the healing of various diseases through things used by Paul: handkerchiefs; Jn 11:44 and parallels; and aprons; Mt 10:9.

Second, he mentions the expulsion of demons from the demon-possessed. The writer of Acts clearly distinguishes them from other sick persons suffering from ordinary diseases; see the note on Mt 4:24.

It is noteworthy that Paul did not personally perform these miracles himself. Others laid his things, perhaps even without his knowledge, upon the sick, and the sick recovered.

Thus wonderworking power acts from the very things used by holy men. It acts, of course, upon those who use them with faith.

The miracles performed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesus were evidently so numerous that the writer of Acts found it difficult to speak of them in detail.

He therefore contented himself with a general account of them, and with mention of a special kind of miracle. These came through objects used by the Apostle, namely handkerchiefs and belts.

They acted even upon evil spirits, which left those possessed by them when these objects were applied to them.

"Do you see the blindness of the Jews?" exclaims Saint John Chrysostom. "They see that Paul's garments work miracles, and they remain disobedient."

"The handkerchiefs and aprons were linen. The handkerchiefs were thrown over the head, and the aprons were held in the hands by those who could not wear handkerchiefs.