(Suggested Reading: Chapter 18:23-28; Chapter 19)
Each of the three missions starts with Paul departing from Antioch. On the first mission he travels with Barnabas. It starts with fasting and prayer and a commendation from the Holy Spirit. On the second mission Paul travels with Silas. It begins with Paul saying, “let us go again and visit our brethren.” On the third mission Paul is alone. It begins uneventfully. Paul leaves Antioch again—18:22, 23.
On the third mission Paul’s work reaches its pinnacle at Ephesus and its valley at Jerusalem. Just as his public ministry reaches its summit at Ephesus, so does his written ministry in the Epistle to the Ephesians. Paul warns the elders of this assembly of the coming declension of the church. They were especially selected to receive this message because the highest truth of Christianity was given to “the saints who are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus” —Eph. 1:1. Similarly the Lord Himself addresses “the angel of the Church of Ephesus” first in Rev. 2 and tells them to “remember therefore from whence thou art fallen.” Ephesus fell from the mountain peak.
In this remarkable assembly three broad groups are eventually gathered together by the Holy Spirit’s action—Jews, Gentiles, and John’s disciples. Strictly speaking the latter are Jews of the dispersion, who accepted John’s call to repentance and were baptized by him. They are not yet on Christian ground.
Apollos Arrives at Ephesus
Paul has a good reception in the synagogue at Ephesus and promises to return there after his visit to Jerusalem. Before he can do this, Apollos, an eloquent Alexandrian Jew mighty in the Scriptures that is in the Old Testament Scriptures arrives. Imperfect in knowledge, he is faithful to the light he has. He readily accepts instruction in the truth from the lowly tentmakers Aquilla and Priscilla. A natural man would not listen to them. Educated and eloquent as he is, he is content to be taught by those whom God has taught. This shows the workings of grace in his soul. Such men can be greatly used by God. Paul is not the only one at Ephesus who knows only the baptism of John. When Paul arrives there, he finds “about twelve” 19:7. In these transitional days these disciples believe that Jesus is the Messiah. But of the meaning of His death and resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit they know nothing.
The Baptism of the Twelve Disciples
Paul’s question to the twelve disciples of John the Baptist, their reply, and their receiving the Holy Spirit after their Christian baptism presents us with certain difficulties not easily resolved. Paul writes to these same Ephesians “in whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, after ye believed ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise” Eph. 1:13. From this passage it is clear that the Holy Spirit seals the believer who has heard and believed the gospel. However, until Paul spoke to the twelve disciples they had not heard and believed the gospel so there is no difficulty there as to their not having received the Holy Spirit. These twelve had been baptized to John’s baptism only. John’s baptism was a limited one of repentance, and pointed forward to Jesus, the Lamb of God who could take away their sins. Also, his call was to the godly in Israel, not to Gentiles. John was dead long before Jesus went to the cross. These twelve disciples need Christian baptism. So they are baptized to the Name of the Lord Jesus.1 As soon as this takes place Paul lays his hands on them and they receive the Holy Spirit. Acts of power follow they speak with tongues and prophesy. What happened is clear, but it raises a question why did not these twelve disciples receive the Holy Spirit before their baptism, rather than after?
One explanation of the difficulty is that they were Jews. In this view the Jew has attached to him a national sin the murder of the Son of God. They cried “His blood be on us and on our children” Mat. 27:25. When a Jew is baptized he does much more than acknowledge his lost condition by nature. By his baptism he publicly repudiates and dissociates himself from the special sin of his nation in crucifying their Messiah. Orthodox Jews understand this better than Christians. If an orthodox Jew is baptized he is stricken from the genealogy rolls, funeral service is held for him, and he is buried in effigy. If seen on the streets he is ignored as a dead person. In support of this interpretation two incidents involving Jews are cited from Acts. First there is Peter at the day of Pentecost. He says “repent” that is of their national sin of crucifying their Messiah which he has just told them of “and be baptized, every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” 2:38. No, Peter is not teaching that baptism gives life. He has presented Christ to them. Only belief in the finished work of Christ gives life. But Peter is showing the divine order for the Jew because of his national sin repent, be baptized, receive the remission of sins and the Holy Spirit. That is not the order for the Gentile. The same Apostle Peter speaks to the Gentiles at Caesarea and what happens? “While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word” 10:44 “and he commanded them to be baptized” v. 48. Then there is Paul at Ephesus. The twelve disciples are Jews dispersed abroad. Yet we find the same sequence of events as with the Jews at Jerusalem and Peter. They received the Holy Spirit after their baptism. With Peter at Pentecost baptism is to the Name of Jesus Christ because the emphasis there is that they have slain the Christ of God: at Ephesus it is to the Name of the Lord Jesus because the twelve acknowledge Jesus as the Christ but must go a step further and acknowledge His claims on them as their Lord, which is true Christian ground.
The various groups who have received the Holy Spirit should now be reviewed. In the beginning those who received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost were all Jews. Next the Samaritans believed the gospel, Peter and John laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Then Peter preached to Cornelius and his house and the Holy Spirit fell on them. Finally, Paul preaches to these twelve dispersed Jews and they receive the Holy Spirit. In each case it is the same Holy Spirit who came down from heaven but given to successive groups Jews at Jerusalem Samaritans Gentiles and Jews in dispersion so that God could fulfill His promise to pour out His Spirit on all flesh.
From the Synagogue to the School of Tyrannus
Chapter 19 gives us the last time Paul enters into a synagogue in Acts. God pleads mightily with the Jews there. At first, they give Paul a good reception. Then, obedient man that he is, he says “I will return again to you, if God will.” Note the two “wills” characteristic of the true Christian. His will is subject to God’s will. God’s will is that Apollos prepare the way for Paul pleading with the synagogue before Paul re-enters it with the full truth of the gospel. Apollos is an eloquent man and mighty in their Old Testament Scriptures. Surely, they will listen to him! Apollos leaves for Corinth and Paul re-enters the synagogue. He gives them a full testimony for three months “disputing and persuading the things concerning the Kingdom of God.” In the Acts Peter’s ministry is to fulfill his Master’s committal to him of the keys of the Kingdom of the heavens; Paul’s ministry concerns the Kingdom of God which, unlike the Jewish kingdoms of old, is not meat and drink but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. His testimony is not only disbelieved but reviled. So Paul departs from them. He rents the school of Tyrannus, a local philosopher. Here the Ephesian Christians meet. Here too Paul disputes daily, for the place is well known to the public. “And this continued by the space of two years; so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.” The Greeks come to Ephesus to worship at the temple of Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus. That is how the entire Roman province of Asia comes to hear the Word of the Lord. Ephesus is a center for pilgrimages to the shrine of Artemis. The wide diffusion of the Word of God and then its power and great influence are the subjects the Spirit would bring before us here.
The “Ecclesia”
We must not pass by Paul’s step of separating the disciples from the synagogue to the school of Tyrannus lightly. He is giving formal expression to what was ever in the mind of God for His Church or Assembly that is that they should be called out from their old associations, whatever they may be, to proper Christian ground. In this connection let us consider the origin of the Greek word “ecclesia” translated “Assembly”, and interchangeably “Church” in the English language.2
The word first appears among Athenian writers, and so seems to have originated there. In early days the town crier went through the city calling out or summoning the citizens from their homes to the ordinary legislative assemblies. All were not called because all were not citizens, and only citizens could be summoned to a meeting of the Assembly. Citizens were mainly landed proprietors. At Athens their numbers are estimated at 43,000 in the fifth century before Christ, the classical age, out of a total population of perhaps 315,000. Thus, the origin of the word suggests the origin of the Church a people called out of the world to consider matters pertaining to themselves and their interests. Paul frequently uses the word “called” to describe us e.g. “called to be saints” Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2 etc.
In time the word “ecclesia” lost its original meaning and conveyed to the Greek mind merely an assembly of people.
Peter’s Shadow and Paul’s Workclothes
The next subject coming to our attention is the special miracles God wrought by the hands of Paul. His tent-making work-clothes are the means of blessing. The “handkerchiefs” are really rags tentmakers use to wipe the sweat from their brows; the aprons are a type used by these artisans in their work. These articles were not holy or consecrated in themselves as a literal interpretation of the miracles led men to believe. Indeed, such an interpretation was the forerunner of the superstition of collecting and adoring supposed relics of the saints.3 God certainly could have performed these miracles in some other way. But He chose to do it this way to teach us, in figure, the blessing which flowed out to others as a result of Paul’s labors. Blessing flowed out to others too from Peter, the other great Apostle whose labors divide the Acts with Paul, but in his case, it was from his shadow. What these great Apostles did in the body to heal others is the great teaching in these incidents. They occur as their respective ministries are rising to their zenith. We will consider Peter’s shadow first, and afterward Paul’s work clothes.
Peter’s shadow—Chapter 5—is the story of Peter’s life his failures, his restoration, his might as a restored servant of the Lord. His life exemplifies the Scripture “when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light to me” Micah 7:8. After the Lord restored Peter, he stood up to exhort in the Assembly and to preach the gospel in the world. When the Lord restores a man, he restores him perfectly. Peter’s epistles are full of the government of God as only he could write who had experienced it. These epistles, and the written record of his life in the gospels are his shadow. Peter’s shadow is his restorative influence on us if we have gotten away from the Lord as we read how Peter tasted that the Lord is gracious. If Peter was restored, we can be too, for Peter’s God is ours.
A man’s shadow can only be cast if he is in the light. Peter obeyed the Lord’s command “follow thou Me” and so abode in the light. A shadow is the projection of a man who is himself in the light. So we read in 5:15 that they brought the sick (figuratively backsliders) into the streets (where men walk) and laid them in beds and couches (the bed confines—it speaks of unjudged things—the couch, where the lazy man reclines, speaks of slothfulness in the things of God). And so it is today. Peter’s shadow has passed by all of us. He was a man like us who once walked for God on the streets of this world. And this encourages us to walk in the light ourselves.
If Peter’s shadow teaches us the need to abide in the light, Paul’s hands tell us of the works of love which were never compromised by unfaithfulness. God’s nature is light and love and we find the fruits of this nature in the lives of these two great apostles. Indeed, it is in the very next chapter to the one we are considering that Paul brings his hands to the attention of the Ephesian elders. And what he says about those hands is another of the special miracles God wrought by the hands of Paul. His hands wrought works contrary to man’s nature “yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered to my necessities, and to those who were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, it is more blessed to give than to receive” —20:34, 35. But why should the great Apostle labor when he himself laid down the principle that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel?—1 Cor. 9:14. He writes to these same Corinthians “and when I was present with you and wanted, I was chargeable to no man . . . in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so will I keep myself” —2 Cor. 11:9. It was his deep love for the Corinthians that made him work with his own hands. Did he love them less, receiving nothing from them? No, he loved them more. By being self-supporting he could reprove them in his epistles, assured that they could not raise a finger against him due to his upright conduct. The guiding principle that kept Paul working was to be independent of man but dependent on God. It flowed out of deep love for Christ and the Church. Many a servant of the Lord has since followed Paul’s example, laboring with his hands to feed himself naturally and to feed the Lord’s sheep spiritually when they are too poor to support him. Paul’s actions displayed uncompromising righteousness. No wonder that work clothes from Paul’s body healed the sick. Who could write like him “be ye imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ” —1 Cor. 11:1.
In the case of Peter’s shadow persons with unclean spirits were healed; in the case of Paul’s work clothes wicked spirits went out. The result was the same with Peter and Paul. Official worldly religion, influenced by these spirits, rose up against the Apostles. The High Priest was filled with indignation at this healing—5:17; in Acts 19 the Ephesians too were filled with indignation at the alleged threats to their goddess. So much for the world. When we turn to the Church we find those who believed Peter’s preaching, daily in the temple, and in every house, ceasing not to teach and preach Jesus Christ—see 5:42. In Paul’s case all those who dwell in Asia hear the Word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Thus the Word of God spreads and its influence grows, from devoted men who display God’s nature in their lives and walk. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels” —2 Cor. 4:7.
Idolatry and the Occult
The mighty miracles God wrought through the Apostle were to direct attention to the gospel and to overthrow the power of unclean and wicked spirits over men. This Satanic influence polluted the lives of the people in those days. Only “doctrines of demons” can explain the general practice of exposing unwanted babies, especially females, to the elements so they would die. Or the heinous sin of the Romans pitting man against man in battles to the death to entertain the populace in the public games.
People as intelligent as the Greeks and Romans simply did not construct their vast temples on the principle of blind faith on myths and legends handed down to them. They were in actual contact with demons and this was what confirmed them in their delusions. The temples seemed really to be temples of the gods to them for they had actual intercourse with wicked spirits. So Paul’s work with the Gentiles was “to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” —26:18. Paul’s night visions, in connection with these pagans, were meant to illustrate their true state—under the power of Satan.
Demons are a separate class of being from the fallen angels. They are spirits who have an intense desire to become incarnate. When the Lord cast the legion out, they rushed into a herd of swine—Mat. 8:30, 32—as the next best thing to indwelling a man. Speculative theology has attempted to unravel the mystery of their origin, but in the writer’s judgment unsuccessfully. The best book on the subject is Pember’s “Earth’s earliest ages”4 but the reader is cautioned on pursuing the subject too far in view of the warning given in Col. 2:18. In Acts we find two classes of these beings—unclean spirits—probably those indwelling a man’s body and defiling it—and wicked spirits generally though not always connected with propagating wicked doctrine and hence more often connected with the temples of the gods. Thus, they attacked man inside and outside.5
This interconnection is indicated in Acts 19. First, we have the seven sons of Sceva attempting to exorcise a wicked spirit by calling on Jesus whom Paul preached. Recognizing the forgery, the wicked spirit overcomes them, which illustrates the supernatural power of a demon. The seven sons of Sceva flee, naked and wounded from one man possessed by a demon. This becomes public knowledge. The Ephesians’ formerly valuable magic books worth fifty thousand pieces of silver, are burned. Here the connection with the temple of Artemis is exposed. Ephesus was noted throughout the ancient world for the Ephesian inscriptions—charms, amulets etc. which were linked to the worship of the goddess Artemis. On her image mystic, unintelligible words were inscribed and transferred to these magic books or Ephesian letters as they were called. This overthrow of the power of demons over man would enrage the powers of darkness. Wicked spirits undoubtedly were the unseen force behind the riot over “Artemis of the Ephesians” which followed. Idolatry is putting an object between the soul and God. This is always Satan’s purpose for he knows God is the source of all man’s blessing and he wants to keep him away from that.
Before the riot Paul purposes in his spirit to go to Jerusalem and from there to Rome. He has no idea yet that bonds and imprisonment await him if he should undertake such a journey. Later he will receive warnings to this effect but ignore them. His purpose of spirit here stated intervenes between the overthrow of Satan’s power in the burning of the magic books and the riot over Artemis. When he arrives at another temple—the one at Jerusalem—he will again be confronted with a riot—not as here over his doctrine but over himself. For the present he sends Timothy and Erastus away but remains in Asia for a season. Before reviewing the riot, we will briefly describe Ephesus, its temple and religion, so we may better understand the root of the uproar.
Great Artemis of the Ephesians
Man is the same everywhere, be he Jew or Gentile. The first reference to “the gods” in Acts is Stephen’s—referring to Israel’s idolatry “make us gods to go before us”; the last reference is to the Gentiles— “they are no gods which are made with hands” —19:26. These gods, though called by different names, often incorporate the same thought. But what god is there, worthy of the name, who would be unaccompanied by a goddess? The folly of man’s wisdom is shown to us by the divided references to the word “goddess” in Scripture. In the Old Testament Solomon, a Jew, and the wisest man, worshipped a goddess, Ashtoreth6 —1 Kings 11:5, 33. In the New Testament the Greeks, the wisest of Gentiles, worshipped the goddess Artemis 19:27, 37. The Romans called her Diana and pictured her as a huntress whereas Artemis was sculptured with many breasts. Her image “came down from heaven” and it has been suggested that it may have been a meteorite whose distorted form suggested many breasts to their lively imaginations.
The Temple and the City
The worship of Artemis was ancient in the city. Pliny tells us that the shrine had been sacked seven times before it was burned down in 356 BC by a lunatic on the night that Alexander the Great was born. The temple was rebuilt more magnificently than ever. Its huge foundations were sunk deep in marshy ground since earthquakes were prevalent there, and close to the harbour. It was the biggest temple the Greeks ever built. It was four times the size of the Parthenon and considered one of the seven wonders of the world. Pausanias said that it surpassed every structure raised by human hands. It was 425 feet long and 220 feet broad. It had 127 Ionic columns, sixty feet high, each the gift of a king. In Paul’s day it dominated the landscape, a symbol of Satan’s power in the earth.
In process of time Ephesus’ harbour silted up and could not be dredged. The city was beginning its decline as a seaport and commercial center in Paul’s time, and capitalizing on its religious importance to make up for lost revenue. Pilgrimages to Ephesus to see the great shrine and sales of miniature shrines to tourists helped. Paul imperiled this when he entered with the gospel—which explains Demetrius’ success in stirring up the people. The theatre at Ephesus could hold 25,000 people and is the largest known to us from antiquity. But this ancient glory has passed away. Over the centuries the city and temple were sacked, and malaria-laden marshes took over. In Victorian times the British archaeologist Wood spent fruitless years looking for its site until he unearthed an inscription leading him to it. The marshes in which it still rests are no longer malarial. As to the temple, those treasures which have been recovered are dispersed around the world—principally the British Museum and the Museum of Istanbul. The ancient city has been restored as a tourist center. There is a local museum and tourists may inspect the great library of Celsus with its lecture room and bookshelves, or the ruins of the theatre.
Demetrius Incites the People to Riot
Paul’s work at Ephesus is drawing to a close and the devil whom God has restrained until an Assembly was gathered out and taught, is now allowed to show his hand. His puppet is Demetrius the silversmith. Much more is at stake than the sale of his silver shrines which pilgrims buy and take away for household gods. The temple of Artemis is the banking center of Asia. The wealth generated by idolatry or commerce is deposited there and loaned out, increasing the importance of Ephesus. Hence the cry of the senseless mob “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” Satan knows how to touch two elements to inflame them—money and pride. Ephesus had had great blessing in the gospel. We must not think of the work here in terms of a few thousand converts. That would not be enough to influence the sale of Demetrius’ shrines, for as he said, “this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people.” Now the Ephesians are put to the test. What will it be for them, God or the devil? God had offered them the salvation of their souls. The devil gave nothing but played upon their base passions. The ruins of their temple today, seated in marshes where birds breed, are striking testimony of the folly of serving Satan. For those Ephesians who rejected the gospel shall one day rise for judgment. Their works will be exposed by God more surely than their city was by the spade of the archaeologist.
The mob riots under Demetrius’ inflaming words. They cannot find Paul but seize Gaius and Aristarchus, his travelling companions, and rush into the theatre. Paul is wisely restrained from going there but his magnificent courage can be seen at its best in the attempt. That the Asiarchs should befriend Paul under the circumstances shows the esteem in which he is held by men in high office.7
The Jews now put Alexander forward to address the unruly Assembly, most of whom do not know why they are there—v. 32. Luke tells us that he beckoned with his hand and would have made his defense to the people. But finding out that he is a Jew they drown him out with a senseless cry “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians” for nearly two hours. The Jews here are as much under attack as the Christians, for neither acknowledge Artemis. Alexander may have been hoping to disassociate the Jews from the Christians in the theatre as Paul has disassociated the Christians from the Jews in the synagogue. But the Jews, having rejected the Lord, had turned to the devil’s power in our chapter—v. 13—and he does not need them here.
Finally, the most important official in Ephesus intervenes. Whatever way we render his title he is the liaison officer between the civic administration and the power of Rome which explains what he says in Verse 40. His wisdom is displayed in allowing the mob to shout itself out without any object on which to vent its fury. Only then does he appeal to their reason. He lauds their goddess and tells them to do nothing rashly—that is to act only according to the law. For the men they have brought into the Assembly—Gaius and Aristarchus—have neither robbed the temple’s bank nor spoken injuriously of their goddess. If Demetrius wants to prosecute them there are law courts to settle disputes. The Romans disapprove of people taking the law into their own hands and may call them to answer for this uproar. It is a masterly speech, beautifully timed, so that when he dismisses the Assembly officially, they go away obediently.
In closing we would remark that the beautiful symmetry we find in Acts—for example where Peter has a vision, then Paul has a vision, where Peter has a journey and Paul has a journey, once more is starting to show up. The Spirit is teaching us that the greater space devoted to Paul’s activities in the Acts must not be allowed to detract from Peter’s important role. God would have us understand that the Apostle to the Jews, Peter, must not be slighted in any way because of the greater emphasis on Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles. The purpose of the symmetry is to give balance to events.
However, it takes a different form here, to draw our attention to important events in Paul’s life and work. The riot at Ephesus has its counterpart later on in the riot at Jerusalem. Paul is saved from the Ephesian mob by his friends, from the Jerusalem mob by Roman soldiers. The symmetry in the two riots is probably to draw our attention to the peak and valley of Paul’s work on his third mission Ephesus and Jerusalem. We have crested the peak at Ephesus—now, alas, we must start our journey into the valley—Jerusalem.