Godbey's Commentary - Acts - Romans - Enter His Rest

your faith is, so be it unto you,” is as true of the body as of the soul. With the spread of Scriptural
holiness over the earth, divine healing is again everywhere becoming common, witnesses already
innumerable and multiplying on all sides. The subjective reason why Æneas was healed, was simply
because he took hold of Jesus by faith and believed that He healed him that very moment. Faith is
always in the present tense. A future faith is a misnomer; not faith, but hope. A true faith inspired
by the Holy Ghost, either for soul or body, appropriates the very Omnipotence of God and becomes
the medium of the supernatural and the miraculous, both spiritual and physical. We must remember,
however, that while we are saved and sanctified through the grace of faith, bodily healing is through
the gifts (1 Corinthians 12:9), which are not essential to spiritual salvation, but appertain to God’s
wonderful munificence in the interest of our bodies, as well as the souls and bodies of others. While
the absence of faith for your soul forfeits salvation and heaven, because it is condemnatory (Mark
16:16), the delinquency of faith for bodily healing only forfeits the healing and brings no
condemnation to the soul.
35. Here we find that the healing of Æneas was wonderfully blessed of God in the awakening of
the entire community, including the city of Lydda and the Plain of Sharon, extending from the sea
back to the great mountain highlands of Judah and Benjamin. Consequently, many in those regions
turned to the Lord. We see that it is our glorious privilege to serve our Master in the ministry of both
soul and body, either proving an inspiration and an auxiliary of the other. Paul commands us
earnestly to seek these gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:31); among which you will find the “gifts
of healings.” In the Apostolic succession, we should preach from house to house, everywhere
ministering to the sick in the interest of the soul and body. Thus you will find the Lord will bless
your ministry to the sick, making it a valuable auxiliary in your access to the souls of the healthy as
well as the sick.
DORCAS IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD.
The mechanical arts were then in their infancy, no factories having been invented. Weaving cloth
was an art so rare that it was sought after by the wives and daughters of kings, appreciated as a royal
encomium, embellishing their names with historic renown. Homer very graphically describes how
Penelope, the beautiful queen of Ulysses, the king of Ithaca, excelled as a weaver, executing the
work with her own royal hands. Hence Dorcas was celebrated, appreciated, honored and beloved not
only for the rarity of her genius, but for her saintly philanthropy, which proved a benediction to
many.
37. “. . . and washing her they placed her in an upper chamber.” Pursuant to the beautiful
symbolism of the Jewish dispensation, they invariably washed a corpse with great care before
depositing it in the sepulcher, thus typifying the complete purification of the soul in order to its
admission into paradise. On Peter’s arrival the saints and widows gather around him, showing him
“the shirts and cloaks, such as Dorcas was accustomed to make while with them.” Oriental costume
at the present day is very simple with the common people, consisting of only two garments, i.e., the
interior, which is constantly worn, and the exterior, frequently carried on the arm, to be worn when
needed and used as a bed for lodging. These were the garments in whose manufacture Dorcas
excelled. While the common people in the Old World dress in a cheap and simple style, such as we