CHAPTER 19
The whole of this chapter tells us about Paul’s time in Ephesus. The first
half from verse 1 to verse 22 tells us about his work there. This was from
the autumn of 52AD to the summer of 55AD. The second half of the chapter
tells about the trouble in the city. This happened when Paul was ready to
leave Ephesus.
In Chapter 20:18-35, Paul speaks to the elders from Ephesus. Verses 18 to 21
and 33 to 35 tell us about his life and work in the city. Paul wrote the
first letter to Corinth from Ephesus. He may have written part of 2
Corinthians from there too. We can see from them some of what happened.
People went from Corinth to Ephesus and back again. See 1 Corinthians 1:11
and 16:17. Sometimes it was by sea. Sometimes they went north through
Macedonia. So Paul heard all about the troubles and problems in the Corinth
church. He mostly tried to put them right by these letters. He also sent
Timothy and Titus to Corinth. He made one short visit to Corinth himself.
See perhaps 2 Corinthians 2:1 and 13:2.
Paul’s letter to the Ephesians does not help us much to understand Acts 19.
It is likely now that Paul wrote his first letter to Timothy when he left
Ephesus. John may have written his three letters in the New Testament to
Ephesus. This was thirty or forty years later. The letter to Ephesus in
Revelation 2 is also later. Whoever wrote Hebrews, too, may have sent it to
some Jewish Christians in Ephesus. Many of the New Testament books may have
been gathered together in Ephesus.
Verses 1-7: Twelve Jewish MenVerse 1 probably means that
Paul came to Ephesus by shorter country roads. These took him south of such
cities as Laodicea, Colosse and Heirapolis. The ‘disciples’ he found at
Ephesus would be Jews. It seems strange that Apollos had not put them in
touch with Aquila and Priscilla. Still, in a big, crowded city like Ephesus
these people might not meet or know each other. If we go to a new place to
make the Good News known, we need to pray. We need to ask the Lord to guide
us. There may be groups of people like this who seek God, but who need
teaching.
So (verse 2) Paul had to find out what they knew. They knew nothing of the
Holy Spirit, who came at Pentecost. (Verse 3) They knew only the baptism of
John the Baptist; that was ‘the baptism of repentance’. They had not moved
forward for about twenty five years! (Verse 4) So Paul taught them that
John’s work was to point forward to Jesus, who came after him. Paul baptised
these men ‘into the name of Jesus’. Paul laid his hands on them, and the
Holy Spirit came to them. They spoke in ‘tongues’ as people had done at
Pentecost, and they prophesied. These twelve new Christians were a fine
start for Paul’s work in Ephesus. [19.1]
Verses 8-11: The Ephesus Synagogue
People at the synagogue heard Paul teach for three months. This was longer
than in most places. The teaching that Apollos had given before this (18:26)
may have helped. Paul spoke about the Kingdom of God. Although God is in
heaven, He is not far away from us. A good king takes care of his kingdom.
God is the best of all kings, and He takes very good care of His kingdom
among men. (Verse 9) As in other cities, some of the Jews became ‘hard’ and
‘dry’. They did not believe the Good News. They spoke bad things about the
Christian ‘Way’. And they did this in front of the crowds. By this time some
of the Christians may already have started to meet for worship elsewhere.
Now Paul and the Christians left the synagogue.
‘Tyrannus’ may not have been the real name of the man who owned the hall
which Paul used now. It may have been what his students called him - ‘the
old tyrant’. Probably Paul had the hall in the hot middle part of the day.
Tyrannus gave his lectures early and late when it was not so hot. Paul
taught at the time of day when most people rested, or had a sleep. It was
too hot to work. Chapter 20:34 and 35 show us that Paul worked at tent
making. This would be early and late in the day. He worked to earn enough
money for himself and for his friends who shared in his work of preaching.
(Verse 10) Revelation 1-3 tells us about some of the other churches in Asia.
Probably they began at the time when Paul was in Ephesus. We know of others
a little later in cities like Tralles and Magnesia. Gaius from Derbe and
Timothy and Titus probably helped Paul. There may have been other people
that we do not know about.
(Verse 11) The synagogue worship was the best side of the Jewish religion.
We see the bad side in verse 13. We shall also see that heathen religion in
Ephesus was bad. There was ‘magic’. At least in Athens, the heathen thought
things through. In Athens, too, the idols were beautiful. Here in Ephesus,
the image of Artemis or Diana was ugly. All sorts of religion had a strong
hold on the people. So God did most unusual ‘miracles’ through Paul. There
were miracles in other places. These miracles in Ephesus were special.
(Verse 12) This verse is rather like 5:15. Paul worked, and he had a
‘sudaria’ or sweat-rag. This would go round his head to soak up sweat. Round
his waist he would have an apron. When he had finished with them, people
took them to people who were ill. They touched them. Remember Mark 5:27.
People also used them to cast out spirits. We should not try to work
miracles like this.
Verses 13-17: Sceva and his boys
We have already met two strange men in Acts. They were right on the edge of
Jewish religion. One was Simon of Samaria in 8:9-24. The other was Bar-Jesus
in 13:6-12. Now we meet some more. (Verse 13) They went round and they tried
to drive out evil spirits. The Jews would not speak the name of God. Other
people did not understand that this was because it was so very holy. They
thought that there was ‘magic’ in it. So some people thought that such Jews
could really help them. Now these Jews started to use the name of Jesus.
Amongst them were Sceva and his seven boys. (Verse 14) Sceva called himself
a ‘chief priest’, but he may not have been a priest at all. (Verse 15)
Remember Mark 1:24 and 25, where Jesus did not want an unclean spirit to say
who he was. See also Mark 5:7 and 8. It does little or no good when people
who are not pure speak about Jesus. The spirit knew who Jesus was, and knew
about Paul. He did not know who Sceva’s sons were. (Verse 16) The evil
spirit gave the man so much strength that he gave the seven sons a rough
time.
It is useful to see that there is a limit to what the evil spirit knows. The
Good News does not need any help from the Devil! (Verse 17) Talk about what
had happened went on all round Ephesus.
Verses 18-20: The Bonfire
(Verse 18) A great number of people in Ephesus now believed the Good
News. Yet some of them had not really left their old ways. Some still had
‘magic spells’. These ‘spells’ were called ‘Ephesian letters’. What they
said was really nonsense. You had to keep it secret, or it lost its power.
People were helped when they heard what had happened to Sceva’s sons. They
knew that there was power in the name of Jesus. There was no power in the
‘magic’.
No one thought that they should sell these ‘magic spells’ and give the money
to ‘good causes’. (Verse 19) The only thing to do with them was to burn
them. Christians came forward and they said that they had kept these
‘spells’. They were happy to put them on the fire. See Isaiah 30:22.
We still hear of Christian people who do things like this. They may not keep
‘magic spells’. It may be charms and heathen bits and pieces which they have
kept. They may be quite costly. But they belong to the time before these
people became Christians. They belong to the old times, before they knew the
light of Christ. We must not hold on to such things. We must get rid of
them. We must destroy them. We often hear that people feel new peace and joy
when they burn things like this which they have kept from the past.
The ‘drachmas’ (NIV) or ‘pieces of silver’ (RSV) were Greek silver coins.
Like the Roman ‘denarius’, they were roughly the pay for a day’s work. It is
not really possible to be more exact. Clearly the point is that the money
value of the ‘spells’ which the Christians burnt was great. (Verse 20) What
had happened to Sceva’s sons might make people frightened. This was
different and much better. When the ‘spells’ were burnt, the Word of God
spread.
Verses 21-22: Paul’s plans
It is now, we think, the summer of 55AD. Claudius, the Roman emperor, has
died. Nero has become Caesar. (Verse 21) Paul has not made much progress
with the ‘collection’ for the Jerusalem church. He knows that it is time for
him to move on from Ephesus. [19.2] In 1 Corinthians 16:5-9 we read of very
much the same plan. But verse two there leads us to think that Timothy had
had a bad time in Corinth. See 1 Corinthians 4:17. More, when we look at 2
Corinthians 1:15-17, we find that Paul had changed his plans. Some people at
Corinth are not at all happy about this.
Before this, his plan had been to cross the Aegean Sea from Ephesus to
Corinth. Then he would go north to Thessalonica. After that he would come
back to Corinth once again. His change of plan means that he will not come
to Corinth twice. But he will spend the whole winter in Corinth. We know
from Romans 16:24 and 28 that Paul’s plan was to go to Jerusalem and then to
Spain. He wanted to visit the Roman Christians on his way there. Probably
Paul never reached Spain.
(Verse 22) Timothy and a man called Erastus went to Macedonia; this may mean
Thessalonica or Philippi. There is most likely more than one man call
Erastus in the New Testament. Timothy, it seems, came back to Ephesus by the
time Paul started to write 2 Corinthians.
Verses 23-41: The Riot in Ephesus
(Verse 23) This may all have happened at the time of the ‘Artemesia’ or ‘Ephesia’.
This was the time of the year when people worshipped Artemis (or Diana) more
than at other times. It was a feast time in May. (Verse 24) This Demetrius
is not likely to be the same as the one in 3 John 12. Demetrius made little
models of the Temple of Artemis. People who came to Ephesus to visit the
temple would buy them to take home. Demetrius was one of many people who
made good money out of this trade.
(Verse 26) We do not really know how much Paul said against false ‘gods’. He
did not need to. He preached the Good News. Many people believed and they no
longer worshipped false ‘gods’ anyway. Perhaps Demetrius really had seen
already a fall in his trade. It seems common sense to us that ‘gods’ which
men make are not ‘gods’ at all. The very idea was beyond Demetrius. (Verse
27) Such thinking as this still troubles people who worship false ‘gods’
today. They can see the danger. The Good News was not just bad for trade at
Ephesus. It was a threat to the great temple. Some one has made a list of
thirty three places in the Roman world where the worship of Artemis went on.
It was not quite ‘throughout the world’.
Now there are several things that we ought to think about here.
1. While Demetrius was hard at work on his rather silly little models, Paul
was hard at work too. He was busy on tents and perhaps sails and ropes for
ships. Not all work is of the same value. Soviet Russia believed that all
its loyal people should work. There was not enough work for everyone to do.
So many people were paid but did not have any work worth doing. There are
other cases like this.
2. Exodus 20:8 says:- ’Six days you shall labour and do all your work’. That
is God’s Law, as much as the other part:- ’Remember the seventh day by
keeping it holy’. So it was from the start. See Genesis 2:15. Adam had so
much work that Eve does all the talking after Genesis 3:20. There is
something wrong when people are not able to work and are in need.
3. It was not the Christians who ended the worship of Artemis. Fire had
destroyed the old temple years before in 356BC. The new one stood until
262AD. The wild Goths from the north of Europe destroyed it.
4. The temple at Ephesus was very rich. So were many other temples. It was a
great crime to rob a temple: see 19:37 and Romans 2:22. People like
Demetrius may have thought:- ’What these Christians want is all that gold
from the temple’. Both Christians and Jews had to be very careful about
this.
Today it is banks and big business which pile up vast amounts of money. It
is quite wrong if a church is rich but the people are poor.
5. The Lord taught that we should give to the poor. See, for example,
Matthew 6:1-4. But how we give matters. Christian love will want to help
poor people to enjoy better lives. The people who live in the rubbish tips
of great cities today need help to escape. They do not just need money. Acts
4:34 tells us that the Christians in Jerusalem were not poor or in need. See
also 11:20. But now Paul has to collect money for the poor Christians in
Jerusalem.
(Verse 28) It seems that Demetrius and the other men met first in a house or
some other building. Then they ran out into the street. Together they
shouted: ’Great is Artemis of the Ephesians’. (Verse 29) This spread all
through the city. Gaius may be the Gaius from Derbe who we know was with
Paul. Aristarchus came from Thessalonica. The crowd took hold of these two
men. Perhaps they could not find Paul or the leaders of the Ephesus church.
The crowd went into the great open air theatre. We know that there was room
in this for 25,000 people. (Verse 30) Paul would have been in great danger
in there. (Verse 31) The ’Asiarchs’ or ‘officials of the province of Asia’
did not rule the province. The people of Asia chose ten men as ‘Asiarchs’
each year. They had to get ready for the meetings for the Games. They also
had to get things ready for the ‘Artemesia’ and other great events.
It would have been very brave of Paul to go into the theatre. We should be
thankful that his friends stopped him.
(Verse 32) There was no order in the meeting. (Verse 33) Alexander may well
be the man that Paul writes about in 2 Timothy 4:14 and 15. He is not the
same man as the Alexander in Mark 15:21. No doubt the Jews wanted to say:
‘We are not the same as the Christians’. The crowd might well turn against
the Christians. The Jews did not want to share in the trouble. Probably
Alexander would have told the crowd: ‘I make things for the pilgrims to buy
when they come to Ephesus’. The Greeks did not like the Jews. The crowd
might even have turned on the Jews rather than on the Christians. There was
too much noise. Alexander could not make himself heard. (Verse 34) The crowd
just shouted together for about two hours.
(Verse 35) In the end, the man who really was in charge of the city was able
to make himself heard. He was the ‘grammateus’ or chief executive of the
city. He knew that the Romans would like to take away the freedom which the
city had. The Romans did not like meetings of this kind. They would be
pleased to end the right of Ephesus to run itself. If there was trouble like
this in the city, the Roman governor would take over and run it. Then the
‘grammateus’ would be out of a job too!
Ephesus was the ‘temple sweeper’ of the Temple of Artemis. Pieces of rock do
sometimes hit the earth. They are called ‘meteorites’. Big ones make a real
hole in the ground. It does not happen very often. One had fallen at Ephesus
hundreds of years before. It was a strange shape. It was not the whole image
which had fallen from heaven. When the workmen made the image they had to
build the stone into it. Sometimes in those days the priests killed the men
who made images of ‘gods’. That way they could not tell the truth about
where the ‘gods' came from (Verse 36).
(Verse 37) We have seen that temples were often very rich, and it was
thought very wrong to steal from them. (See Romans 2.22.) [19.4]
At the end of verse 26, Demetrius says that Paul taught: ‘Man made gods are
not gods at all’. This was close to ‘blasphemy’ against Artemis. The
‘grammateus’ says that the Christians had not spoken harshly against
Artemis. There is a real problem here. Many Christian people around the
world have to face it. They may want to say that the gods of people around
them are ‘no gods’. This would be true. It would make people very angry. We
are to ‘speak the truth in love’. We should not keep quiet just because we
fear what may happen to us. Yet it is not good to make other people angry
and violent, so that they sin. In God’s time, every false ‘god’ will come to
an end, as Artemis did.
In verses 38 and 39 the ‘grammateus’ gives three reasons why this crowd need
not have met. First, Ephesus had its own law courts. Demetrius and his
friends could go to law against Paul and the Christians in those courts.
Then second, ‘there are proconsuls’. These were the Roman rulers. There was
only one in a province at any time. It we knew exactly when this happened,
we might be able to work out why the ‘grammateus’ said this. [19.5] Then
third (verse 39) there was a city meeting three times a month.
The ‘grammateus’ was right about all this, of course. If we have a quarrel
it is better to settle it. On the other hand, Christians should not make use
of the law in this way. See Matthew 5:27 for the teaching of Jesus. More, we
should never need to go to courts of law against other Christians. See 1
Corinthians 6: 1-8. There have been times when churches have gone to law
with each other. Sometimes the result has been rather silly.
So (verse 40) the ‘grammateus’ warns the crowd that the Romans will not like
what has happened. They would see it as a riot. The city could not find a
reason that the Romans would accept. So (verse 41) he sent the crowd home.
Now we do not know what happened to Paul at this time. Acts 20:19 may not
have anything to do with this riot. We think that Paul wrote 1 Corinthians
from Ephesus, but before the time of the riot. Just what 1 Corinthians 15:32
means is not clear to us, but the Christians at Corinth knew. It should not
have anything to do with the riot. Paul wrote 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 later,
and this probably does speak about the riot. Probably Paul had a very
difficult time, and he had to leave Ephesus. This had been his plan in any
case: see verse 22.