The Acts of the Apostles

—
MIRACLES AND WORKS OF THE SPIRIT 15l
Dealing first with the miracles of healing, there is
nothing in the three accounts of cures of lameness
or in the one account of a cure of blindness that can
be brought forward as evidence against the primary
character of the tradition. In the first place, these
cures of lameness as well as the cure of blindness (the
cure of St. Paul who was suffering not strictly from
blindness but from temporary loss of sight) could well
have actually taken place—cures, and more especially
cures of lameness, by suggestion are recorded at all
times ; ^ if, however, this is not allowed, it is never-
theless certain that from the very beginning belief
in such miracles was current in the Primitive Com-
munity; nor are the stories told in such a fashion
that primary tradition
—
i.e, tradition originating in
the circle of those directly or almost directly concerned—must
necessarily be excluded. Moreover, the
circumstance that St. Paul, in spite of the stoning,
still remained alive, and could return into the city,
is not related as a miracle, but is intended to be regarded
as an instance of special Divine protection (just as in
the case of the snake-bite at Malta). Of the miracles
of healing there is now left only the raising of
Tabitha from the dead by St. Peter. It is idle to
inquire what really happened on this occasion. It is,
1 Notice also that each of the three accounts of the cure of lame-
ness has its own distinctive character. The first (in Jerusalem)
cannot possibly be broken away from the context, for it plainly
gives the occasion for all that follows (indeed probably also for the
outpouring of the Spirit vide infra). The second (in Lydda) is an
isolated anecdote leading on only to the vigorous extension of the
Gospel in Lydda and Sharon. The third (in Lystra) is presupposed
by the story of the apotheosis of St. Barnabas and St. Paul, a story
that could not have been invented.