Acts 19

CHAPTER 19THEME: Third missionary journey of Paul (Paul in Ephesus)Paul’s third missionary journey began in the previous chapter at verse Act_18:23 when he left Antioch. In this chapter he retraces part of his first and second missionary journeys. Then he comes to Ephesus, where he speaks daily in the school of Tyrannus for two years. Paul performs miracles which lead to the march against him led by Demetrius and his fellow silversmiths. The move is quieted by the town clerk who urges them to appeal to the law rather than resorting to violence.

Acts 19:1

PAUL’S MINISTRY IN EPHESUSYou will remember that Paul had come through Ephesus on his return trip from his second missionary journey and had told them that he would come back to them if God so willed. He had not stayed in Ephesus previously and had had no ministry there. Now he returns to Ephesus, but he has been preceded there by that great preacher, Apollos. You recall that Apollos did not know anything about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ until Aquila and Priscilla had talked to him. All he had been preaching was the baptism of John, which was as far as his knowledge went. As a result of this, the people who had heard his preaching had been instructed only as far as the baptism of John and had not even heard of the Holy Spirit. Paul detected that. “Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” is a poor translation. Both verbs receive and believe, are in the same tense. The American Standard Version translates the verse more accurately: “Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?” Paul is asking them, “When you believed, did you receive the Holy Spirit?” Their response was that they had not even heard that there was a Holy Spirit. They had been instructed up to the baptism of John. They had not been taught about the Lord Jesus and didn’t know anything about Pentecost.

Acts 19:3

You see that these people were baptized, but they were not saved. They had not received the Holy Spirit because they were not saved. Friend, the moment you trust Christ you are regenerated by the Spirit of God, you are indwelt by the Spirit of God, you are sealed by the Spirit of God, and you are baptized into the body of believers by the Spirit of God. This happens the moment you believe and trust Christ. Paul detected that this had not happened to these people. Now Paul explains to them that they must trust the Lord Jesus to be saved. They respond to his message and many believe.

Acts 19:4

The baptism of John was a “baptism of repentance.” It was a preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the people turn to Christ and are saved. They did not get saved under Apollos because he didn’t even know about Christ when he preached to them. Some people interpret this passage to mean that they had been saved, and then later when Paul came they received the Holy Spirit. That is not true, as you can see.

Acts 19:6

These men could now speak the gospel in other languagesin tongues that could be understood. Ephesus was a polyglot city of the Roman Empire. There were many languages spoken there, just as there had been in Jerusalem on the Day of Pentecost. East and West met all along that coast. It was a great city of that day. These men were now able to give the good news of Christ to the entire city. Notice there were twelve men. This was the beginning of the ministry at Ephesus. Paul had a great ministry in Corinth and an even greater ministry in Ephesus.

Acts 19:8

Paul had to leave the synagogue because there was a great deal of opposition to him. He moved his place of operation and did his speaking daily in the school of Tyrannus. What was this school of Tyrannus? Well, it was a school that was conducted for the Ephesians. They had a siesta in the middle of the day, probably for two or three hours. Paul, I imagine, rented the space and at siesta time, in the middle of the day, he preached the Word of God for a period of two years. As a result, the whole province of Asia heard the Word of God, both the Jews and the Greeks. This gives us some concept of how the Word of God was growing in that day. Apparently from this vantage point the church in Colosse came into existence. You see, Paul wrote to the Colossians as he did to the Romans before he had visited them. Yet he was the founder of those churches. How could this be? By the simple fact that from the school of Tyrannus the gospel sounded forthit went out everywhere.

When the Corinthians wanted Paul to come over to them, he wrote to them, “For I will not see you now by the way; but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit. But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1Co_16:7-9). For two years the gospel sounded out so that everyone in the province of Asia had heard it. Probably the seven churches of Asia Minor came into existence through the preaching of Paul the apostle here at Ephesus. This may have been where he had his greatest ministry.

Acts 19:11

There are different words used in the Greek which our Bible translates as “miracles.” Here the word for “miracle” is dunamis from which we get our word dynamite. It means “an act of power.” God wrought special powers by the hands of Paul. He is exercising the gifts of an apostle. This was a great religious center, possibly more than Athens or any other place. The great temple of Diana was there, and the worship connected with it was satanic to the very core. Now in order to meet that kind of opposition, God granted some special powers to Paul.

Acts 19:12

What were these handkerchiefs and aprons which are mentioned here? Well, actually we could call them sweat cloths. Paul used them as he worked. Remember that he was a tentmaker and this was in a warm climate. While he was working, he would be perspiring. He would use these cloths, these handkerchiefs and aprons, to wipe his brow. They were dirty. They had perspiration from his body on them. People would come and pick up these dirty cloths and would be healed of their diseases! In that area there were the mystery religions which used white garments and emphasized that everything must be very clean and white. Everything had to be just so. It seems that God was rebuking all of that sort of thing. He used these dirty sweaty cloths to heal people. This reveals the special power that was granted to the apostle Paul. As far as I know, this is the only incident like this that ever took placeincluding the day in which we live. It is almost blasphemous for anyone to send out a little handkerchief and claim there is a power in it. Paul’s handkerchief was an old sweat cloth. God used that to rebuke the heathen, pagan religions of that day. Diseases were healed and evil spirits went out of them when they picked up these dirty, sweaty cloths.

Acts 19:13

When they saw what Paul did, they tried to duplicate it. Now a specific incident will be related.

Acts 19:14

Notice that these were priests. The priests had actually gone into this type of thing. The Greek word here for “know” is ginosko. It does not imply a knowledge by faith. It means simply that the evil spirit knows who Jesus is.

Acts 19:16

The attempt of the sons of Sceva to try to duplicate the miracles of Paul backfired. It backfired to their humiliation and hurt and apparently was a great embarrassment for them.

Acts 19:17

You can see the effect that this had. It caused the name of the Lord Jesus to be spread through that entire pagan city. Ephesus was a great city, and it was shaken by this. The miracles which Paul and the other apostles performed were not the type of thing that one hears about today. For many years there have been stories of miracles being performed in Los Angeles and in Southern California, but they made no dent or impression on this great pagan city. The miracles of Paul shook Ephesus to its very foundation. The name of the Lord Jesus was magnified through them.

Acts 19:18

That would be about $8,000.00 U.S. currency before inflation. That is quite a bonfire, by the way, an $8,000.00 bonfire! That’s what they had in Ephesus.

Acts 19:20

“After these things were ended"that is, these experiences which Dr. Luke has recorded hereit apparently was Paul’s intention to go to Rome on this missionary journey. The interesting thing is that he did go to Rome, but not the way he had planned to go.

Acts 19:22

This is the time that he wrote Corinthians. Apparently Timothy and Erastus took the letter to deliver it. Although it was addressed to the Corinthians, the letter would reach the people in Macedonia, which would include Philippi and Thessalonica, and also the churches in Achaia, which would include Athens and Corinth. It was in this letter that Paul wrote that a great and effectual door was open for him in Ephesus but that there were many adversaries. We can see now that the adversaries were satanic. This was a center of pagan religion and of Satan worship. The Satan worship we see today is not something new at all.

Acts 19:23

Christianity had no name for the churches at that timecertainly no denominational name. It was simply called “that way.” It was a new way, that is certain. The way was the Lord Jesus who Himself said, “…I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (Joh_14:6).

Acts 19:24

The temple of Diana was a great pagan temple, and it was the center of business. It was the bank of that day. It was also the center of sin. Gross immorality took place around it. It is true that religion can go to a lower level than anything else. That temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the largest Greek temple that was ever built. It was beautiful and it was adorned with works of art, but the image of Diana or Artemis was hideous. It was not the Diana of the Greeks, a graceful image, but was the crude, many-breasted, oriental Diana. They were selling those silver images, and it was big business. Paul’s ministry was interfering with it.

Acts 19:25

You can see that the uproar of the silversmiths led by Demetrius was centered, actually, around their bread and butter. They made those little images and sold them, and they were doing very well. Many people would come to the temple of Diana in Ephesus since it was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. So these men were getting rich by selling these images. I tell you again, you cannot step on a man’s pocketbook without hearing him say, “Ouch!” The worship of Diana had spread throughout Asia. Ephesus was a center of commerce and a center of religion and a center of worship. It was a center for the Oriental and the Occidental, a place where East and West did meetthe worst in both came to Ephesus.

Acts 19:28

They went around the city with their placards shouting, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

Acts 19:29

Paul would have been mobbed, of course. He would absolutely have been killed. He already had one experience like that over in the Galatian country when he was stoned in Lystra.

Acts 19:31

This is a mob action which is taking place. “The chief of Asia” were political or religious officials, called Asiarchs, who advised Paul against trying to address the mob. They told him it would be foolish and wouldn’t do a bit of good for him to get into the mob.

Acts 19:32

Alexander was probably a convert who was with Paul.

Acts 19:34

This was typical mob action. Many of them didn’t even know why they were gathered together. However, notice that they do not grant freedom of speech to anyone else. They would not permit Alexander to speak because they wanted to run around and squeal, “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

Acts 19:35

The townclerk was, of course, a local official who told them that they were making too much out of this whole thing. He says, “Look at this great temple and at the great Diana. Nothing could happen to them. Nothing could be said against them!” Now, of course, they have been in ruins for nearly two thousand years.

Acts 19:37

He is saying that if the silversmiths want to make a legal charge, the court is open.

Acts 19:39

He told them that if they had some issue to bring up, they should all sit down and have an orderly meeting. They were to put down their placards and quit their shouting and running around. They were actually in danger of being accused of rioting. Riots are not something new, friend. This whole scene sounds very up to date. He dismissed the crowd. When he called their attention to what they were actually doing, the crowd broke up and the people went home. Paul’s ministry in Ephesus is over now. He leaves Ephesus and goes back to Macedonia.