Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”
They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?”
“John’s baptism,” they replied.
Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve men in all.
Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.
God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.
Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.
When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer.
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.”
When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.
The assembly was in confusion: Some were shouting one thing, some another. Most of the people did not even know why they were there. The Jews in the crowd pushed Alexander to the front, and they shouted instructions to him. He motioned for silence in order to make a defense before the people. But when they realized he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
The city clerk quieted the crowd and said: “Fellow Ephesians, doesn’t all the world know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven? Therefore, since these facts are undeniable, you ought to calm down and not do anything rash. You have brought these men here, though they have neither robbed temples nor blasphemed our goddess. If, then, Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a grievance against anybody, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. They can press charges. If there is anything further you want to bring up, it must be settled in a legal assembly. As it is, we are in danger of being charged with rioting because of what happened today. In that case we would not be able to account for this commotion, since there is no reason for it.” After he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.

• Acts 19:1-41

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Acts 19 ‘Overview’: “Paul had spent a day or two in each of the Galatian churches. He had stayed a few days in Philippi, a few weeks in Thessalonica, a day or two in Berea, a few days in Athens. Then he had spent eighteen months in Corinth. Now, as a kind of climax to his work, he is in one of the major centers of the Mediterranean world, Ephesus, a great city at the hub of the trade routes of the world, full of culture and money and temples and politics and soldiers and merchants and slaves. And power. Everything we know about Ephesus indicates that it was a place where not only social and civic power but also religious and spiritual power were concentrated. Perhaps that is why Luke begins his account of Paul’s work there with a story about a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. There must be nothing secondhand about the Spirit’s power when you are faced with the powers of the world.”

• N. T. Wright, Acts (from the For Everyone Bible Study Series)

Acts 19:1-3 ‘concern for the lives of believers’: “Not only have these people in Ephesus not received the Holy Spirit; they haven’t heard that there is a Holy Spirit, now freely available for all who trust in Jesus, or that Jesus was not just a follower or successor of John the Baptist but the decisive person to whom John had been pointing. They therefore need full Christian baptism and, with it, the Holy Spirit. The main thing Luke is doing in this little story is to introduce Paul’s work in Ephesus and to show that, from the very beginning, he was concerned with the Spirit’s powerful work both in the lives of individuals and out into the wider community.”

• N. T. Wright, Acts (from the For Everyone Bible Study Series)

Acts 19:1 ‘the upper regions’: “The area of Asia Minor north of Ephesus, where Luke left Paul before the interlude describing Apollos’s ministry (18:23). By going through that area, Paul took the direct route to Ephesus, not the more common trade route. … some disciples. They were of John the Baptist (v. 3); hence OT seekers. That they did not yet fully understand the Christian faith is evident from their reply to Paul’s question (v. 2). The word disciple means ‘learner,’ or ‘follower,’ and does not always refer to Christians (cf. Matt. 9:14; 11:2; Mark 2:18; Luke 5:33; 7:18, 19; 11:1; John 1:35; 6:66). Followers of John the Baptist, like this group, existed into the second century.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:2 ‘Truth is required for spiritual growth’: “To talk of ‘better’ Christians is to use language foreign to many persons. To them all Christians are alike; all have been justified and forgiven and are children of God, so to make comparisons between them is to suggest division and bigotry and any number of horrible things.
“What is forgotten is that a Christian is a born-one, an embodiment of growing life, and as such may be retarded, stunted, undernourished, or injured very much as any other organism. Favorable conditions will produce a stronger and healthier organism than will adverse conditions. Lack of proper instructions, for instance, will stunt Christian growth. A clear example of this is found in Acts 19, where an imperfect body of truth had produced a correspondingly imperfect type of Christian. It took Paul, with a fuller degree of truth, to bring these stunted disciples into a better and healthier spiritual state.
“Unfortunately it is possible for a whole generation of Christians to be victims of poor teaching, low moral standards, and unscriptural or extrascriptural doctrines, resulting in stunted growth and retarded development. It is little less than stark tragedy that an individual Christian may pass from youth to old age in a state of suspended growth and all his life be unaware of it. Those who would question the truth of this have only to read the first epistle to the Corinthians and the book of Hebrews. And even a slight acquaintance with church history will add all the further proof that is needed.”

• A. W. Tozer, Of God and Men

Acts 19:5 ‘baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus’: “They believed Paul’s presentation of the gospel and came to saving faith in the Lord Iesus Christ (cf. 2:41). Although required of all Christians, baptism does not save (see … 2:38).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:6 ‘Paul … laid hands on them’: “This signified their inclusion into the church (see … 8:17). Apostles were also present when the church was born (ch. 2), and when the Samaritans (ch. 8) and Gentiles (ch. 10) were included. In each case, God’s purpose was to emphasize the unity of the church. spoke with tongues and prophesied. This served as proof that they were part of the church (see … 8:17). They also needed tangible evidence that the Holy Spirit now indwelt them, since they had not heard that He had come (v. 2).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:9 ‘hardened’: “The Greek word always refers to defiance against God (Rom. 9:18; Heb. 3:8, 13, 15; 4:7). Truth rejected leads to a hardened heart, causing the life—giving message of salvation to become ‘the aroma of death leading to death’ (2 Cor. 2:16). … the school of Tyrannus. Tyrannus was either the owner of the lecture hall, or a philosopher who taught there. If the latter, his name, which means ‘our tyrant,’ may have been a nickname given him by his students. Paul used the hall during the afternoon break (from about 11:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M.), when it would be unoccupied.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:10 ‘two years’: “The length of time Paul taught in the school of Tyrannus, not the total length of his ministry at Ephesus (cf. 20:31). all … in Asia heard. Though Paul probably never left Ephesus, his converts (cf. 2 Tim. 2:2) spread the gospel throughout the province of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). This two-year period saw the founding of the churches at Colosse and Hierapolis, and possibly some of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2; 3, beyond the one at Ephesus.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:11 ‘unusual miracles’: “These confirmed that Paul was God’s messenger, since there was no completed NT to use to determine the truth of his message (cf. 2 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 2:3, 4).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:12 ‘handkerchiefs … aprons’: “The headbands and outer clothing Paul wore while making tents. The belief that mystical power could be so transmitted was widespread in the ancient world, e.g., believing that Peter’s shadow could heal (cf. 5:15; Matt. 9:21).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:15 ‘Jesus … Paul I know’: “Recognizing that the exorcists had no authority over him (unlike Jesus and Paul), the demon rejected their attempt to expel him from his victim. This confirms that the power to cast out demons belonged to Jesus and the apostles and no one else. Even the demons give testimony to that.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:17-20 ‘the power of God’: “Ephesus was a center of power: magic power, political power, religious power. And Paul’s ministry demonstrated that the power of the name of the Lord Jesus is stronger than all of them. It is possible that the sons of Sceva were Jews who, living in pagan territory for a long time, had developed a kind of mixed economy of Jewish and pagan religion, ritual and magic. The gospel does indeed provide power, but it is not ‘magic.’ Magic attempts to gain that power without paying the price of humble submission to the God whose power it is.”

• N. T. Wright, Acts (from the For Everyone Bible Study Series)

Acts 19:18 ‘repentance’: “No one is happier than the one who has sincerely repented of wrong. Repentance is the decision to turn from selfish desires and seek God, It is a genuine, sincere regret that creates sorrow and moves us to admit wrong and desire to do better.
“It’s an inward conviction that expresses itself in outward actions.
“You look at the love of God and you can’t believe he’s loved you like he has, and this realization motivates you to change your life. That is the nature of repentance.”

• Max Lucado, Walking with the Savior

Acts 19:19 ‘a burning sermon’: “By Paul’s preaching and through the providence of God, the people at Ephesus began to be convinced that the use of magic was a wicked and disgraceful thing, and many of them came forward and confessed they had been guilty of it. And when they had done this, they proved the honesty of their confession, for they brought out all their charms and magic books and made a great fire of them all. They showed their hatred of sin by burning the books, as they could not have done in any other way. The burning of these books was a mighty sermon to everybody who saw it, a better sermon than even Paul himself could have preached on this subject. Many of them were probably poor. But they cheerfully were willing to lose the value of those books to get rid of the obnoxious items they once had treasured in their houses. It is a triumph of the gospel when people give up what they prize and suffer great loss in order to get rid of great sin. If we have come to trust in Christ, we will make short work of getting rid of all that is against that profession.”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Acts 19:21 ‘purposed in the Spirit’: “Probably his own spirit, not the Holy Spirit (contrast the NKIV translation). Macedonia and Achaia. See … 16:9; 18:12. Located on the Greek mainland, these provinces were in the opposite direction from Jerusalem. Paul, however, took this roundabout route to collect an offering for the needy believers in the Jerusalem church (Rom. 15:25-27; 1 Cor. 16:1-4; 2 Cor. 8, 9). I must also see Rome. Paul had not visited the imperial capital, but because of the strategic importance of the church there, he could stay away no longer. In addition, Paul intended to use Rome as a jumping-off point for ministry in the strategic region of Spain (Rom. 15:22-24). This simple declaration marked a turning point in Acts; from this point on, Rome became Paul’s goal. He would ultimately arrive there as a Roman prisoner (28:16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:24-28 ‘Artemis’: “Artemis is the Greek name for the Roman goddess Diana. She was the most powerful divinity in the area. In the distant past a meteorite had smashed into the surface of the earth somewhere near Ephesus, and the local people had regarded it as a gift from heaven, a statue (though presumably not very lifelike) of the goddess herself. The temple of Artemis was massive and her cult—run entirely by female officials—was the religious center of the whole area. Images of Artemis, large and small, dominated the city. Archaeologists have found dozens of them.”

• N. T. Wright, Acts (from the For Everyone Bible Study Series)

Acts 19: 31-32 ‘officials of Asia’: “Known by the title ‘asiarchs,’ these members of the aristocracy were dedicated to promoting Roman interests. Though only one asiarch ruled at a time, they bore the title for life. That such powerful, influential men were Paul’s friends shows that they did not regard him or his message as criminal. Hence, there was no legitimate cause for the riot. assembly. The frenzied mob gathered in the theater. Though Paul courageously sought to address them, the asiarchs (along with the Ephesian Christians, v. 30) begged him to stay away (v. 31). They feared both for the apostle’s safety, and that his presence would make the explosive situation worse.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Acts 19:35 ‘city clerk’: “In modern terms, he was the mayor of Ephesus. He was the liaison between the town council and the Roman authorities, who would hold him personally responsible for the riot. image which fell … Zeus. This probably refers to a meteorite, since meteorites were incorporated with the worship of Diana.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

 

My Thoughts

Apollos was in Corinth and Paul was in Ephesus.  Two of the large business centers of that part of the known world had two great champions of the faith preaching.

He questioned the people of Ephesus and they had been baptized in the baptism of John the Baptist.  They had never heard of the Holy Spirit.  Paul taught them about Jesus being the fulfillment of the message that John had preached.  Paul then had them baptized.  Note that Paul said in his letters that there were very few people that he baptized, but in this case after they were baptized, he placed his hands on the roughly twelve people and they received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues.

Worshipping Jesus, but not fully understanding, strips the believer of power.  In fact, you might be guilty of worshipping a false god that simply is named Jesus.  In Acts 5:15, people wanted to be touched by Peter’s shadow to be healed.  Here, Paul performed many miracles, and in this case, handkerchiefs and aprons, as Rev. MacArthur surmises as being part of Paul’s tentmaking attire, were being used to heal people.  It points to the power of the Holy Spirit, but also the human desire to have something “powerful” in an object that can be seen or touched.

I do not know if I agree with Rev. McArthur regarding only Jesus and the Apostles could cast out demons.  This may be a case similar to Nadab and Abihu with the unauthorized fire in the book of Numbers.  The seven sons of Sceva were playing with fire, probably trying to cast out demons for their own glory, for a prophet, or horsing around for a laugh.  The demon possessed man thrashed them severely.

For three months, Paul went to the synagogue. But the same thing as in Pisidian Antioch and Thessalonica occurred.  Jews separated into two camps.  One camp accepted Jesus as Savior while the other started arguments against Paul’s teachings.  Rather than get the angry Jews upset further, he took his message to the arena, the Hall of Tyrannus.  He preached there for two years.

But every time God sees someone who should be on the move and yet they stay in one place, something bad happens.  Think such things as the tower of Babel and the stoning of Stephen causing people to scatter.  In this case, a shrine maker of the goddess, Artemis, sees his profits dropping and he blames Paul.

This is also a repeated theme.  The people of Philippi formed a mob when two business men lost money when Paul cast the demon from the woman slave who “told fortunes” for her masters’ profit.  Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned on that occasion.  Here, a riot forms due to someone perceiving that Paul is hurting his profits.

In this occasion, a mob to defend Artimus of the Ephesians was started.  Gaius and Aristarchus were captured, but not Paul.  Most of the people in the mob had no idea what the riot was all about.  The Jews nominated Alexander to calm down the crowd, but when the crowd realized Alexander was a Jew, they shouted him down for two hours.  Finally, the city clerk (as Rev. McArthur said the equivalent of the mayor) arose and argued that if the assembly was considered a riot, the Romans would take that very badly.  If they had a legal complaint, they should take it up with the local proconsul.  The assembly was dismissed.

But thinking about how the people were told that the original Artimus likeness had fallen from the sky, it reminds me of the temple of the jade buddha in Bangkok, Thailand. One legend was that the jade (or emerald) buddha was found as is, not fashioned by hand, but most do not believe that. Most argue that the jade buddha was made from a single stone, yet the buddha is “dressed” in gold garments that look oddly like several pieces of jade that have been fused to each other by the gold. I sat and saw this statue, not pointing my feet at the statue as that would be an offense to the worshippers, but I wondered if any of the legends were actually true. The photo above is from a temple near Pattaya, Thailand, south of the temple in Bangkok.

Paul had wanted to go and argue with the mob, but believers and the wise men of the community counseled him to stay away.  It is good to have wise counsel at times, and this may have saved Paul’s life.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Acts 19:1-22 Paul in Ephesus 1. How do people try to use Jesus for their own purposes today? What is the difference between that and real faith in Christ?
“2. What did you have to change in your lifestyle when you first began to follow Jesus? Are there some things you are reluctant to burn now in order to be really honest with God‘? What would it cost you to burn them?
Acts 19:23-41 The Riot in Ephesus 1. Success, money, and independence are some cultural ‘idols’ (values most people accept without question). What others come to mind? How has your faith affected your relationship to these idols?
“2. Could Demetrius have become a Christian and kept his business? Can you think of situations today where someone in a ‘respectable’ trade would be forced to choose between that trade and Christ? What pressures would that cause?
“3. Where have you seen religious and patriotic loyalties used as a cover for economic concerns? What does it mean to follow Jesus at these times?
“4. What began as Artemis-worship became Artemis-business. How can Christians fall into the same trap and make Jesus-worship into Jesus-business?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

There are two sets of questions as shown above for Acts 19.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.