The Early Church · c. AD 52–55
Chapter 16
Ephesus
So the word of the Lord was growing and becoming mighty.
For parents
Two scenes may need a parent nearby. A man with an evil spirit leaps on seven brothers who tried to drive the spirit out using Jesus’ name. He overpowers them, and they run from the house hurt and without their clothes (Acts 19:13–16). Later a riot fills Ephesus: the crowd seizes two of Paul’s companions, rushes into the theater and shouts for about two hours (19:28–34); neither is told in detail.
After some time, set out on the road again. He went through the region of and , one place after another, giving strength to all the .
Now a Jew named came to . He was born in . He was a gifted speaker, and he was strong in the Scriptures.
Apollos had been instructed in the way of the Lord. He spoke and taught with a burning spirit, and what he taught about was accurate, even though the only he knew was the baptism of .
He began to speak out boldly in the . But when and heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
When Apollos made up his mind to cross over into , the brothers and sisters encouraged him. They wrote to the disciples in Achaia to make him welcome. Once he was there, he did much to help those who had believed through grace. That was because he proved the Jews wrong with great force, where everyone could hear. He showed from the Scriptures that Jesus was the .
While Apollos was at , Paul made his way through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and he found some disciples there.
He put a question to them: “Did you receive the when you believed?”
“No,” they answered. “We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
“Then what were you baptized into?” Paul asked.
“Into John’s baptism,” they said.
Paul answered, “John baptized people with the baptism of . He told the people they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Christ Jesus.”
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. They spoke in other languages and . They were about twelve men altogether.
For three months Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly there, reasoning and persuading people about the things of God’s Kingdom.
But some of them grew stubborn and would not obey, and they spoke badly of in front of all the people. So Paul left them, and he separated the disciples from them. Every day he reasoned with people in the school of .
He kept this up for two years, and so everyone who lived in heard the word of the Lord Jesus, Jews and Greeks alike.
God worked special miracles by Paul’s hands. Even handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to people who were sick, and the diseases were gone, and the evil spirits went out.
But there were some Jews who wandered from place to place as exorcists, driving evil spirits out of people. Some of them took it on themselves to call out the name of the Lord Jesus over people who had evil spirits. “We order you by Jesus, whom Paul preaches,” they would say.
A Jewish chief priest named had seven sons who were doing this.
The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”
And the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them. He overpowered them and was too strong for them, so that they fled from that house hurt and without their clothes.
Everyone who lived in Ephesus, Jews and Greeks alike, heard about it. Fear came over all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was honored as great.
Many of those who had believed came forward, confessing and telling out loud the things they had done.
Many who had been practicing magic gathered up their books and burned them where everyone could see. They worked out what the books were worth: fifty thousand pieces of silver. Those were probably . If so, the books were worth about what a farm worker would earn in a hundred and sixty years.
So the word of the Lord went on growing, and it became mighty.
When all this was over, Paul made up his mind in the Spirit to travel through and Achaia and then go on to . He said, “After I have been there, I must also see .”
He sent two of the men who served him, and , into Macedonia, while he himself stayed on in Asia for a while.
Around that time there was a big uproar over the Way.
This is how it happened. There was a man named . He was a silversmith who made silver shrines of , and he brought the craftsmen a lot of business. He gathered them together with the workmen who did the same kind of work, and said, “Men, you know that this business is the source of our wealth.
“You see and hear that this Paul has persuaded many people and turned them away, not just here in Ephesus but nearly all over Asia. He says that gods made by people’s hands aren’t gods at all. The danger isn’t only that our trade will fall into disgrace. There is a danger too that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be thought of as nothing, and that her majesty will be destroyed. All Asia and the world worship her.”
When they heard this, they were filled with anger, and they cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Confusion filled the whole city. They grabbed and , men from Macedonia who were Paul’s companions on his journeys, and they all rushed together into the theater.
Paul wanted to go in among the people, but the disciples wouldn’t let him.
Some of the were his friends, and they also sent word to him and begged him not to risk going into the theater.
Some cried out one thing and some another, because the gathering was in confusion. Most of them had no idea why they had come together.
They brought a man named out of the crowd, and the Jews put him forward. Alexander motioned with his hand. He was about to make a defense to the people.
But when they saw that he was a Jew, they all cried out with a single voice, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They went on shouting it for about two hours.
Then the got the crowd quiet. “Men of Ephesus,” he said, “is there anyone at all who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians looks after the temple of the great goddess Artemis, and the image that fell down from ?
“No one can deny these things, so you should keep quiet and do nothing rash. After all, these men you have brought here haven’t robbed any temples, and they haven’t insulted your goddess.
“If Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have something against anyone, the courts are open, and there are . Let them press charges against one another. But anything you want about other matters will be settled in the city’s regular assembly. We are in real danger of being accused over today’s riot. There is no cause for it, and we wouldn’t be able to explain this commotion.”
With that, he sent the gathering away.