Peter’s ability to effect
healing unconsciously and through his shadow reflects a profound power
residing in his physical existence. We may imagine it spilling out of him like
a cup overflowing under a spigot. It is certainly true that ancients viewed the
shadow as an extension of the self, able to spread and/or realize the
malignance or influence contained in the person (Cicero, Tusc. 3.12.26;
Aelian, Nat. an. 6.14; [Ps-]Aristotle, Mis. Ausc. 145
[845a25-29]; and esp. Lucretius, Nat. 4.379-86; cf. Pliny, Nat.
17.18; Dio Chrysostom 2 Glor. [Or. 67] 4-5). Nevertheless, Luke
contrasts the staggering power of Peter’s shadow with the miracles
performed by the other apostles’ hands (5:12). Perhaps the most
significant aspect of this healing is the terminology: the people bring out
their sick into the streets to that, as Peter passes by them, “his shadow might
overshadow some of them (η σκια επισκιαση τινι αυτων)” (5:15b). The language of shadow
and overshadowing is Septuagintal but also redolent of Luke’s account of Jesus’
miraculous conception and transfiguration.
The language of Peter’s shadow
evokes language of the divine presence. First, the language of Peter’s
“overshadowing shadow” would remind audiences of the manifestations of God’s
presence as a shadow through the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, Luke’s Gospel, and
other Gospels with which the audiences may have been familiar. In the Hebrew
Bible, God’s presence is symbolized as a pillar of cloud in the wilderness
(Exod 13:21) and as a cloud on Sinai (Exod 24:15-17) and in other parts
throughout the Pentateuch (Exod 16:10; 19:9, 16; 34:5; 40:34-38; Lev 16:2; Num
11:25; 17:7; Deut 31:15; cf. also 1 Kgs 8:12; Jub. 1.2; Ps.-Philo, LAB
13.1; Mek. R. I., Beshallaḥ 1). Josephus (Ant. 3.310), commenting
on the appearance of a cloud resting above the tabernacle (cf. Numbers 14:10),
remarks: “Then there appeared the cloud which, resting above the tabernacle,
signalized the presence of God (εσημαινε την επιφανειαν του θεου)” (Thackeray, LCL).
The theophanic imagery, second, is
put to use by the Synoptic evangelists when depicting the transfiguration scene
(Matt 17:1-9//Mark 9:2-10//Luke 9:28-36). In each instance, a cloud appears
while Jesus is transfigured and is said to “overshadow” (Luke has επεσκιαζεν,
9:34) those present. Matthew emphasizes this “overshadowing” function even as
he describes the cloud as “bright” (νεφελη φωτεινη, Matt 17:5), presumably to
forefront the theophanic character of the scene. For Luke, just as Jesus is
seen in “his glory” (την δοξαν αυου, Luke 9:32), God’s presence is
revealed in the cloud (9:34). Revelation of Jesus’s divine nature requires the
revelation that God is with him (cf. Acts 10:38). The cloud and shadow reveal
the divine presence, while the overshadowing itself reveals the locus of divine
presence. It surrounds “them” while Jesus is transfigured, and the revelatory
imperative that follows makes known that divine authority (n.b. ακουετε, Luke 9:35) resides in Jesus, the
divine son.
Third, earlier in the narrative,
the divine presence (in this case, “power,” δυναμις) manifests in Jesus’s miraculous
conception and the “overshadowing” that takes place there (Luke 1:35). Luke
reports the angel telling Mary that the Spirit of the Lord will come upon her
and “the power of the Most High will overshadow you (και δυναμις υψιστου επισκιασει σοι).” The concept of divine power generating life not through sexual
contact but through nearness and presence is well-attested in Mediterranean
antiquity (Plutarch Num. 4; Quaest. conv. 2-3 [Mor.
717e-718b]). Plutarch reminds us, the ancients could believe that the divine
presence was capable of effecting physical change through proximity and touch,
explaining that when the πνευμα
of a god makes contact with a human being, though not through physical (i.e.,
sexual) touch makes a man (πλησιαζων
. . . ωσπερ ανθροπος), it “alters” (τρεπει) human
nature and may impregnate it (Quaest. conv. 3[718a]), or the impartation
of divine power resulting in healing (Acts 5:15-16). . . . Yes, it is God at
work in apostles like Peter, sometimes through the power associated with
Jesus’s name (3:12, 16). But it is also specifically Peter’s shadow that
imparts this power, and it does so, presumably, without even Peter’s
conscious knowledge, much like Jesus in Luke 6:19. Peter’s physical body
is, thus, a locus of divine power in a similar (if not the same) manner as
Jesus. In short, the divine power Jesus once possessed Peter possesses now.
Divine presence, divine power, and a divine (philosophic) message of salvation
all make for a theios anēr. Peer seems very much like one. (Daniel
B. Glover, Patters of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles [Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen Zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe 576; Tūbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022],
237-39. 240, italics in original)
