Acts 19

King James Version (KJV)

19 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

² He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

³ And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.

⁴ Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

⁷ And all the men were about twelve.

⁸ And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

⁹ But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

¹⁰ And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹ And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

¹² So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

¹³ Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

¹⁴ And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

¹⁶ And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

¹⁷ And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

¹⁸ And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

¹⁹ Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

²⁰ So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

²¹ After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

²² So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

²³ And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.

²⁴ For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;

²⁵ Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

²⁶ Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

²⁷ So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

²⁸ And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

²⁹ And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

³⁰ And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

³¹ And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

³² Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused: and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

³³ And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.

³⁴ But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

³⁵ And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

³⁶ Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

³⁷ For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

³⁸ Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.

³⁹ But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.

⁴⁰ For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.

⁴¹ And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.

Commentary

Ephesus and the surrounding region (19:8-22)

After Paul had preached for three months in the synagogue, the Jews forced him out, so he went and taught in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. He carried on his teaching work there for the next two years, during which the disciples took the message into the surrounding countryside (8-10). This activity seems to have resulted in churches being founded, without Paul’s help, in the towns of Colossae, Hierapolis and Laodicea (Col 2:1; 4:13), and possibly also Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia (Rev 2:8,12,18; 3:1,7).

The healing ministry of the Messiah that had worked through Peter and John continued to work through Paul (11-12; cf. 3:1-16; 5:12-16; 9:33-35). Some itinerant Jewish wonder-workers, impressed with Paul’s ability to drive out demons in the name of Jesus, tried to copy him, but were themselves violently attacked by the demons (13-16). Sorcery, magic and superstition were widespread in Ephesus, but God’s power was at work in the city and large numbers of people turned to him (17-20).

As the churches in the province of Asia grew stronger, Paul began planning his future movements. His ultimate aim was to go to Rome, so that he could help establish Christianity more firmly in the heart of the Empire (cf. Rom 1:11-15). But first he wanted to go to Jerusalem. During the past year or so he had been organizing a collection of money to take to the poor Christians in Jerusalem, a plan that he hoped would bind the Jewish and Gentile churches together (1 Cor 16:1-4; 2 Cor 8:1-24; 9:1-5; Rom 15:23-27). His purpose in sending two fellow workers to Macedonia was probably to help promote and organize this project (21-22).

A riot in Ephesus (19:23-41)

Paul preached and taught in Ephesus for almost three years (see 20:31), and many people became Christians. Ephesus was considered to be the home of the goddess Artemis (or Diana), and the citizens of Ephesus were the honoured guardians of the magnificent temple of Artemis in their city. With so many

people turning from the worship of Artemis, the temple was losing its popularity. Furthermore, local silversmiths who made small images and household shrines of the goddess were going out of business (23-27).

Angry at their loss of income, the silversmiths stirred up the people against Paul and his fellow missionaries, and a riot broke out. Since any who did not worship Artemis were in danger, the Jews tried to protect themselves by pointing out that they were not associated with the Christians. But the mob refused to listen (28-34).

In calming the riotous crowd, the city’s chief official defended Paul and his party. At the same time he warned the people not to take the law into their own hands again, because Rome would not tolerate such disorder (35-41). Although on this occasion Paul did not suffer physical violence, on other occasions during his stay in Ephesus he certainly did (1 Cor 15:32; 2 Cor 1:8-9).

Travels and writings of this time

During this three year period, most of which Paul spent in Ephesus, much happened that is not recorded in Acts. However, as we read Paul’s letters we can understand more of his activity during this time. The following is a suggested summary of events:

1. While in Ephesus, Paul wrote to the church in Corinth on various practical and moral issues. The letter has not been preserved (1 Cor 5:9).
2. Paul sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia (Acts 19:22) and from there to Corinth, in an effort to deal with problems in the Corinthian church (1 Cor 4:17; 16:10). Certain people in the church had developed strong feelings against Paul and even questioned his standing as an apostle (1 Cor 4:8- 13,18-21).
3. Meanwhile some Corinthian believers (people from Chloe’s household) arrived in Ephesus with bad news about the state of affairs in Corinth. Quarrels and factions had developed in the church because people made favourites of their teachers (1 Cor 1:11-12). Further problems arose because of immorality in the church and lawsuits between Christians (1 Cor 5:1; 6:1). In addition, representatives from the church came to Paul in Ephesus with questions on a variety of other matters (1 Cor 7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 16:17).
4. These concerns prompted Paul to write the church another letter, known to us as 1 Corinthians. It was probably taken to Corinth direct by boat so that it reached the church before Timothy (1 Cor 16:8-10). The letter dealt with the problems Paul had heard about, and answered questions concerning marriage, food offered to idols, spiritual gifts, order in the church, the coming resurrection and the collection for the Jerusalem
5. Earlier Paul had planned to visit Macedonia and then Corinth (Acts 19:21; 1 Cor 16:5-7). But when Timothy returned from Corinth with the news that neither his visit nor Paul’s latest letter had been able to improve the situation, Paul changed his plans. He made a hurried trip across to Corinth (as he had warned; 1 Cor 4:19-21) in an effort to deal with the trouble-makers. This was Paul’s second visit to Corinth, and later he looked back on it as one that gave both him and the Corinthians much distress

(2 Cor 2:1; 13:2).

6. Paul could not stay long in Corinth, but he planned to revisit the church as soon as his work in Ephesus was finished (2 Cor 1:15-16).
7. Back in Ephesus, Paul soon heard that his recent trip to Corinth, instead of helping to improve matters, made his opponents more rebellious. He was furious, but thought it wise not to rush back and perhaps act in a way he might later regret (2 Cor 1:23). Instead he wrote a letter, a very severe letter, in which he urged the church to take firm action against those who opposed his Christ-given authority. Although Paul refers to the letter in his writings, it has not been It was taken to Corinth by Titus

(2 Cor 2:3-4; 7:8; 12:18).

8. Upon completing his work in Ephesus, Paul went north to Troas, where Titus was to meet him after delivering the letter to the Corinthians. But Titus had not yet arrived. Paul was so anxious to get news from Corinth that, rather than wait for Titus in Troas, he went across to Macedonia to meet him sooner (2 Cor 2:12-13; cf. Acts 20:1).

9. Titus met Paul in Macedonia (probably Philippi) and told him that the severe letter had produced favourable results. The Corinthians were no longer rebellious (2 Cor 7:5-6). Without delay Paul wrote yet another letter to the Corinthians, the letter we know as 2 Corinthians, and sent it with Titus and two others (2 Cor 8:16-18,22-23). In this letter Paul expressed his joy at the Corinthians’ change of heart, explained his recent actions, described the transforming power of the gospel, gave further details of the collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, and defended his apostolic