The G. Campbell Morgan Archive

Acts 9:32-43
his paragraph constitutes a link between the story of Saul and that of Cornelius. It is complete in itself, and yet is closely related to that which has preceded it, and that which is to follow.
s to its relation to the preceding one, we remember that Saul was at Tarsus; and that, as the introductory declaration of this paragraph reveals, Peter was going throughout all parts. Saul is now left for a little while at Tarsus, and we have no record of his doings; but are brought back again from this point, and on to the end of the twelfth chapter, to Peter.
his paragraph is related to that which follows in that the last word of this chapter declares that Peter "abode many days in Joppa with one Simon, a tanner"; and immediately following is the account of Cornelius. Peter came to Joppa, which was to be to him a place of new and revolutionary vision.
he paragraph to be considered is of the nature of a page of illustrations. Peter is seen travelling everywhere, exercising his ministry. Certain facts are recorded; those of the healing of AEneas, and the raising of Dorcas; and finally and most significantly, that of Peter lodging in the house of a tanner. These pictures gather up much that has gone before, and illuminate it. As we ponder the pictures there are three things impressed upon the mind, with which we may deal in an ascending order; first, the communion of the saints; secondly, the operations of the Spirit; and thirdly, the victories of the Lord. Beginning on the lowest level, that which is simplest and most apparent; let us see what this paragraph reveals of the communion of saints; then looking behind that manifestation, what it reveals of the operations of the Spirit; and finally that which is the supreme matter, what it reveals of the victories of the Lord.
irst then as to the communion of the saints. Reading this story carefully, we are conscious of the influence of a man who is not named. It is a simple and natural question to ask, Whence came there to be saints at Lydda? Let us turn back to chapter eight, to the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch, and all that followed. The last verse reads, "Philip was found at Azotus; and passing through, he preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea." If we trace Philip's journey from Azotus to Caesarea on a map, we shall find that the direct road went through Lydda. I think it is a fair conclusion that Lydda was one of the cities where Philip preached. He had preached in Samaria and a Church had been formed. He had preached to the Ethiopian Eunuch, and had won him for Christ. He had been borne by the Spirit to Azotus, and then started preaching through the cities. It is probable that his preaching in Lydda had been the means of gathering together a number of those who believed on Christ. Here then were the saints at Lydda, as I believe, the result of Philip's preaching.
hen at Joppa lived Dorcas, whose ministry was that of deft fingers, inspired by a full heart. It was a great ministry. When presently Peter came into that chamber, and the widows about him were lamenting, and handling the garments she had made, what a beautiful revelation we have of the woman! She gave herself to making garments for the poor. It is of course true that her work sprang out of the mastery of the Christ-love, for that is always anxious to clothe the naked. I think however that here are results of Philip's ministry. When the dispute arose in Jerusalem in the early days concerning the distribution of alms, the Hellenist widows complained that they were being neglected, and seven deacons were elected, men full of the Holy Spirit and full of wisdom, to set this matter in order, Philip was the second man chosen. When he passed through the cities, I believe he not only preached the Gospel, so that men might be saved, but he showed the lines and directions along which the new Christian life should be used for the blessing of others. I think there is proof of Philip's ministry in the saints at Lydda, and in Dorcas and her beneficent operations in Joppa. Peter now passed over the ground, and entered into the result of Philip's ministry. This was part of the communion of saints. Wherever Peter went, he entered into the labours of another. Such ministry as Peter exercised in Samaria would have been utterly out of place had it not been for the preparatory ministry of Philip. There was no antagonism between the evangelist and the apostle; and wherever it is found to-day it is because either the evangelist or the apostle is out of harmony with the Lord. There was communion of ministry here.
t Joppa we have this wonderful picture of Dorcas. Luke says concerning her that she " was full of good works and almsdeeds." One would have thought that the story was complete there; but I think that there was Divine purpose in the addition of three small words "which she did." So many people think of good works and almsdeeds, and dream of them; but she did them. She not only pitied the poor when the sharp wind blew; she ministered with deft fingers to their need. This again is a picture of the communion of saints. These two phases are most suggestive; the communion of saints in the ministries of the Church, that of the evangelist and that of the apostle; that of the proclamation of the first things of salvation, and that of the man who instructs and edifies; that is the communion of ministry. Then we see that little homely group of women, around one who is known forevermore as the one who made coats and garments for the poor. The communion in each case is the same. The master-principle underlying the comradeship between evangelist and apostle is the same as that which underlies the companionship that exists between the woman of heart and leisure and ability, who makes garments, and the widows who in poverty and need, wear them.
he communion of saints always expresses itself in service. Wherever the apostle urges the saints to be true to the communion, fellowship, the expression of communion must be in service of some kind. The Church does not express its communion when it gathers together in assembly, and asserts it. The Church expresses its communion when in all types and kinds of its manifold ministry, it cooperates and ministers in helpfulness and love.
hen we come to the deeper and underlying matter, of which all that we have seen is but the fruit. Mark the operations of the Spirit as revealed here. The twelfth chapter of 1 Corinthians is an exposition of this paragraph. Take these little pictures of the condition of things in the early days, and then read that great, and magnificent statement of truth concerning the Church's relation to its Head, and its inter-relationship, and we can account for all we find in these pictures. Or we may account for the clear vision of that statement in the Corinthian letter by the fact that it was written by a man who had entered into this great life of the communion of saints.
irst of all there are evidences of the Spirit's operation in the guidance of the apostle, as he went "throughout all parts"; to the saints at Lydda, to Joppa by the invitation of two men who represented the assembly in trouble because Dorcas was dead; then tarrying in the house of Simon the tanner. Nothing is stated about the activity of the Spirit. This man is travelling throughout all parts, no longer because of persecution, for the Church at this time had peace. Persecution will attack it again presently. The apostles tarried at Jerusalem until they were driven out by persecution; but the period of persecution had passed for the moment. Peter went through Lydda, incidentally, from the human standpoint. He went to Joppa because two men invited him. He went to lodge with Simon the tanner. This is not the story of haphazard journeying. The Spirit was guiding this man throughout all parts. Whence the liberty, the freedom, the ability to pass from place to place? "Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty." All the bondage that results from separation, division, as between Christian people, is due to the absence of, or disobedience to, the guidance of the Spirit of God. The operation of the Spirit is plainly manifest, and it becomes the more beautiful when it is seen that the Spirit was guiding the apostle through the simplest human methods. Two men called him from Joppa, and he went, and entering into the house of Simon the tanner, he lodged there.
he working of the Spirit is manifested in the exercise of gifts; the gift of miracles, the healing of AEneas, a man outside the Church; the raising of Dorcas, a disciple inside the Church. The gift of miracles is not the only gift of the Spirit to be found there. At the conclusion of the Corinthian chapter when the apostle was dealing with the subject of gifts, enumerating them, among other things he referred to "helps." That gift is illustrated in the case of Dorcas. That is the meaning of helps; to be quite simple and literal it means gifts of relief. When Dorcas was using her deft fingers to make garments, she was doing it in the power of that gift which the Holy Spirit had bestowed; just as surely as Peter raised Dorcas, and healed AEneas, as the result of gifts bestowed by the Spirit. Much of the force of Christian testimony is lost in the world because we forget that such a gift as this is also of the Holy Spirit. In that Corinthian chapter the apostle gives two lists of the gifts of the Spirit, in the first part one and in the second part another; from the second some of those in the first list are absent, and in the first list some that are in the second are not named. If we refer to other lists in the New Testament of the gifts of the Spirit we shall find that no two are the same. All of which is of profound significance. What are the gifts of the Spirit? No man can answer. The Church to-day has gifts that she had not in the apostolic age. She had gifts in the apostolic age that she has not now. There are two master statements in the Corinthian letter; the Spirit "dividing to each one severally as He will"; and "God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased Him." We have no business to be wasting time wondering why we have not the gifts that the early Church possessed. He giveth as He will. If He withdraw the gift of healing which Peter had, I have nothing to do with it, but to be thankful that He still bestows the gift of helps. If we are tempted to think they are so different; that the one is so small, and the other so great, we are entirely wrong. While men are wondering and hankering after something that is more spectacular, more likely to make them notorious, they neglect the gifts of the Spirit which will make them helpful, and they are hindering the work of God. He gives as He will. If He does not to-day bestow certain gifts, He is always bestowing some. Let us take the gifts He gives, and use them, and not sigh for other gifts that are withheld in wisdom. This is the age of the Spirit. We are to act, not in imitation of the methods of the apostolic age, but in obedience to the present work and power of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit of infinite wisdom, giving as it pleases Him, bestows a gift upon a man, the simplest of them all according to the language of human, incompetent thinking; he makes his contribution toward the accomplishment of God's purpose in the world by using that gift, rather than by sitting down and sighing for the possession of some gift not bestowed. It may be argued that the apostle finished that very chapter in Corinthians by saying "Desire earnestly the greater gifts," but if we read on, he also wrote, "And a most excellent way show I unto you," which was the way of love. Passing through the thirteenth chapter, and on into the fourteenth, we find that he distinctly announced his conviction that the gift of tongues is infinitely inferior to some of the simpler gifts which men have held to be of less value and of less importance. Let us attempt to free ourselves from these false divisions, as between great and small service, important and minor work. The member of the great Church of Christ who out of the welling love, of her heart for the poor and needy, sits in a Dorcas meeting making garments for the poor, is rendering service as sacred as that of the man who ministers to her in holy things. Let us have done with this false idea in the Church that the man who is notorious is great. The peril of life is that of being conspicuous. We are perpetually in danger of losing the very freshness of the Spirit, because of what men call great opportunities. Garments made by Christian women, members of the perpetual Dorcas Guild, contribute to the victories of the Christ, and the enterprises of the catholicity of the Church, quite as surely as the sermon and argument in defence of the Evangel.
et us take one other glance over the whole story, at that supreme matter, the victories of the Lord. It would be quite possible to imagine as the story is read, that we were back again in the Gospels. There is first the story o the healing of the body. How careful the apostle was in speaking to AEneas to make clear what happened! “Jesus Christ healeth thee: arise, and make thy bed."
e hear again the very echo of the voice of Jesus. The appeal was to the will: Arise. The command was laid upon him to do in his healing what he could not apart from the healing, "Arise, and make thy bed." There was no condition of faith on the part of the man who was healed. It was a gift of healing bestowed without condition, except that he would rise. He was only asked to exercise his will, which was to express itself in walking. We go back again to the first verse of the book of the Acts (Act_1:1), "The former treatise I made, O Theophilus, concerning all that Jesus began to do and to teach." He said to a man, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." He was still doing it through a member of His body, Peter the apostle.
hen we come to the raising of the dead. Once again the picture is so like what Jesus did, that some of the ancient commentators have suggested that Peter did actually make use of the very words of Christ, for there is but a letter different. Jesus said, "Talitha cumi." Peter said, "Tabitha cumi."
he question may be asked, How is it that men do not still raise the dead? Think again how rarely Christ raised the dead. It is recorded that He only did so on three occasions. What was the immediate purpose in His raising of the dead? In every case, the raising of the little damsel, the young man of Nain, and Lazarus, there is one answer. He raised them for the comfort of those that mourned. But every one He brought back, came back to suffering. The little damsel came back out of peace into turmoil; the young man came back out of eternal youth, to grow old; Lazarus came back out of infinite peace to conflict. Thank God He did not raise more; and we will not ask for our dear ones back. Notice what Peter did with Dorcas. He gave her back to the saints and widows. It is the same Lord of life on this side Pentecost as on the other; not Peter, not an apostle, but the same Christ. Why does He not heal so now? Why does He not raise the dead so now? The question can only be answered by Himself. I decline to place any blame for the withholding of this gift upon the Church. I recognize that He is doing His work in other ways, and so my heart rests there.
he last wonder of all in the victory of the Lord is not that of healing the sick, or raising the dead; but the spiritual emancipation of a disciple. Peter went and lodged with one Simon, a tanner. We know the abhorrence the Jew felt for a tanner, and the fact that the tanner was not allowed to follow his calling save at a set, legally denned distance from the city's limits. But Peter went in to lodge with one Simon, a tanner. That is the victory of Jesus over prejudice. We go back again to a story on the other side of Pentecost, and see the Lord going in to lodge with the very kind of man that the Jew hated, the publican, Zacchseus; as the Pharisees said in their technical cleanness, which was of the essence of pollution: "He is gone in to lodge with a man that is a sinner." Peter went in to lodge with one Simon, a tanner. It was a movement toward the larger vision, which was immediately to follow.
o we leave the page of pictures, attempting to gather up the great conclusion. The communion of saints is created by the operation of the Spirit, and issues in the victories of the Lord. The operations of the Spirit are for the victories of the Lord through the communion of the saints. Once again the victories of the Lord follow the communion of saints by the operations of the Spirit.
threefold responsibility is suggested; that we cultivate the communion of the saints; that we do it by submission to the indwelling Spirit; and that the reason shall forever be, our desire to crown Him Lord of all.