Acts 10:38

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"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

Acts 10:38 (NKJV)

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him."

Acts 10:38 (NIV)

"How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him."

Acts 10:38 (KJV)

"And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

Acts 10:38 (NLT)

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

Acts 10:38 (ESV)

"how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

Acts 10:38 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

"You know the story of what happened in Judea. It began in Galilee after John preached a total life-change. Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth, anointed by God with the Holy Spirit, ready for action. He went through the country helping people and healing everyone who was beaten down by the Devil."

Acts 10:38 (MSG)

Scripture quotations from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. Used by permission of NavPress. All rights reserved. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.

New Covenant Meaning

Peter's Summary of Jesus's Entire Ministry

Acts 10:38 is Peter speaking to Cornelius and his household, summarizing the earthly ministry of Jesus in one sentence. This is the gospel in compressed form: Jesus was anointed by God with the Holy Spirit and power, He went about doing good, and He healed all who were oppressed by the devil. This is how the eyewitness apostle remembered and articulated what Jesus did. Not "Jesus went around teaching people to accept their sickness as God's will." He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed. That is the summary.

Oppression Is From the Devil, Not From God

This verse destroys the doctrine that sickness and oppression are sent by God to teach lessons or build character. Peter's testimony is explicit: those who were sick and afflicted were "oppressed by the devil." Jesus did not collaborate with the devil's oppression by telling sick people to accept it. He healed all of them. Every single time Jesus was given the opportunity to respond to sickness in the gospels, He healed. He never once told someone their sickness was God's plan for their life. Acts 10:38 is the authoritative apostolic interpretation of those healings: they were the reversal of the devil's oppression.

"Healing all" is a significant phrase. Not healing some. Not healing the ones with enough faith or the right theology. All who were oppressed by the devil were healed by Jesus. This is the consistent pattern of His ministry. Matthew 12:15 says He healed them all. Matthew 14:14 says He healed all their sick. The "all" matters. It tells you that healing was not selective, not arbitrary, and not tied to mystery. It was the consistent response of the One in whom God's will was perfectly expressed.

Application for Your Life

Sickness Is Not Your Inheritance. Healing Is.

If Jesus consistently identified sickness as devil oppression and consistently healed it, then sickness is not what God sends. It is what God reverses. This means when you pray for healing, you are not trying to change God's mind or ask Him to do something reluctant. You are partnering with His will as demonstrated in the ministry of Jesus. Acts 10:38 is your biblical warrant to believe for healing without wondering if God wants you sick. He did not want anyone sick when Jesus walked the earth. He does not want you sick now.

God Was With Jesus, and God Is With You

The verse closes with "for God was with Him." That is why Jesus could go about doing good and healing all: God was with Him. John 14:12 says those who believe in Jesus will do the works He did and greater, because He was going to the Father. The basis for continuing the works of Jesus is that God is still with His people through the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38 describes what happened when God was with Jesus. The same God is with you through the Spirit. The same anointing that drove Jesus's ministry is available to the church.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, I thank You for the clear record of Acts 10:38. Jesus went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. Sickness was the enemy's work. Healing was Your response. I align with that same response today. I refuse to accept what Jesus refused to accept. Every symptom and affliction that has tried to take hold in my body or in the life of those I love is devil oppression, not Your will. I stand on the healing that Jesus purchased and demonstrated. The same Spirit that was on Him is in me. He is still doing good and healing through the church today. I receive that healing now. In Jesus' name. Amen.