Bible Commentaries
Acts 19

Verses 1-17

26 Apollos' ignorance of the ministry of the Lord and His twelve apostles made it easy for him to receive the truth proclaimed through Paul, so that he became a great help to the saints in Corinth as well as an ardent and powerful exponent of the ancient Scriptures concerning the

Messiah. What Paul had planted Apollos watered. He built on Paul's foundation ( 1Co_3:6 ; 1Co_3:10 ). The Corinthians made him the head of one of their schisms ( 1Co_1:12 ). He continued in fellowship with the apostle to the end ( Tit_3:13 ). It is not likely that he was an eloquent man, for the word used denotes scholarship, rather than eloquence, and the combination is rare. Superiority of speech is not needed in the proclamation of the evangel. It is not in word but in power ( 1Co_2:1-4 ).

1 Paul came by an upper road to Ephesus, passing by those of Colosse and Laodicea ( Col_2:1 ), who never saw his face in the flesh.

2 These disciples, like Apollos, seemed to know nothing of the ministry of the Lord and the twelve apostles, and of the gifts of the holy Spirit which were not given until after our Lord's ascension. They possessed none of these gifts and had not so much as heard of them. John's baptism was for the repentant, to prepare a people for the Messiah Who should come after him, Who would baptize in holy Spirit.

5 This verse is usually taken to indicate the act of the twelve disciples, rather than Paul's statement concerning those who heard John the Baptist. But the change in the tense of the verb is against such a rendering. Paul uses the indefinite " baptizes " (4), " hearing " (5) are baptized , of the acts or John and those he baptized, but it is changed to the present, at placing , when speaking of Paul's acts, and to the past when speaking of its effects. This is not so apparent in the English version as in the Greek, but suggests that the apostle followed his usual course, for Christ had not sent him to baptize but to preach the evangel ( 1Co_1:17 ). The gifts followed the imposition of his hands, not their baptism.

8 Once more Paul pursues his usual plan of proclaiming Christ in the synagogue of the principal city of a province.

9 In Ephesus the previous visit of the apostle and the testimony of Apollos, as well as his own bold proclamation in the synagogue, won many adherents among the Jews, so that in this case, it was not some who believed, but some who opposed . After three months matters come to a crisis and Paul leaves the synagogue and brings the believing disciples with him, making his headquarters in the school of Tyrannus, where he discourses daily. Besides this, as he reminds the elders in his affecting farewell at Miletus, he supported himself by his own hands ( Act_20:34 ), possibly workIng at his trade with Aquila and Priscilla, going about the homes as well as teaching publicly ( Act_20:20 ), and healing many of diseases, and casting out wicked spirits.

13 The Jews had fallen so low that many of them became sorcerers and magicians who used incantations in their attempts to overcome evil spirits. Finding that Paul's formula was so effective they do not hesitate to profane the name of the Lord, by using it in their exorcisms. But the evil spirits were not deceived by this means, as the sons of Sceva found to their sorrow.

15 The spiritual tendency of Paul's ministry and his authority over the spirit world is here impressed upon us by one of the spirits themselves. The special word used of Paul is a very strong term denoting that they were very well acquainted with him. But they refused to recognize those who would not have the Messiah for their Saviour and Master, yet thought to make capital out of His name and power. Throughout Paul's course he drew nearer and nearer to the spiritual powers until, in his final ministry, he recognized them alone as the real object of attack ( Eph_6:12 ).

17 This incident had a marked effect on those who practiced such arts. The demons whom they feared had acknowledged both the Lord and His servant as worthy of their obedience. No wonder that they were filled with fear and magnified the Lord Jesus.

Verses 18-37

18 Many believers still clung to their old practices, but when they found that the Lord was greater than the demons whom they feared, they abandoned their false arts. They gave up the scrolls which taught them, and burned up nearly ten thousand dollars' worth.

21 The words " as these things were fulfilled" mark the central crisis in Paul's ministry. We have long passed Jerusalem, Antioch has held its place as the base for his missionary journeys, and his correspondence was connected with Corinth, but now we look forward to Rome. In epistles written at this juncture Paul declares that he has fully preached the gospel of Christ in these parts ( Rom_15:19 ) , that there is to be a change in his ministry, especially in the evangel he was proclaiming. He had gone about proclaiming Christ as Israel's Messiah, "after the flesh," yet henceforth he would do so no longer. He would recognize no man after the flesh. He would proclaim the conciliation, which does away with the distinction between the Circumcision and Uncircumcision ( 2Co_5:14-21 ; Rom_5:12-21 ). His gospel to the nations had been based on the promise to Abraham that all the nations of the earth should be blessed through His Seed. Now he preaches to all mankind because of a common descent from Adam. As this ministry is not in line with the kingdom to Israel, which is the subject of Acts, it is not recognized in this scroll The apostle's ministry in the synagogues is at an end, for the Jews among the nations have rejected their Messiah even as those in the land had done. All that now remains is his testimony before kings and in Rome. Ephesus was the religious as Rome was the political center of the world. Paul gave a larger part of his ministry to the church there than to any other.

23 The disturbance in Ephesus was no doubt caused by the opposition of the evil spirits, or demons, who are the real objects of worship in idolatry. It served God's purpose as well, for the apostle's ministry had come to a crisis which required him to leave Ephesus.

24 The impelling motive of Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen was the loss of trade, just as in the case of the Pythoness at Philippi. Money moves the nations. It was an ancient custom to use portable images or shrines, which were modeled after celebrated temples or other objects of worship. They were used for various purposes, either as household gods or for religious processions, or even on journeys or military expeditions. Some were of wood, others of gold or silver. It can easily be seen how a profitable trade in such images could spring up in Ephesus, for the temple of Diana was world-renowned. Worshipers from afar would want a shrine to take with them to their homes. The reason why shrines or temples of Diana were made, rather than images of the goddess may lie in the fact that the temple was most magnificent, while the image it contained was rude indeed. It was not an image of Diana the Huntress, which is the usual character in which she is now represented, but a many-breasted female figure above and a shapeless block below, carved out of wood. Nevertheless, she was the object of the most fanatical veneration.

33 This Alexander may be that coppersmith who had done much evil to the apostle ( 2Ti_4:14 ). If so, it shows the shameless lengths to which the Jews went in their hatred of Paul. They would not wish to be implicated in this matter, though it was well known that they also were opposed to idolatry. If this was the coppersmith he might have some influence with craftsmen of a like occupation, and he would clear his fellow countrymen of any association with Paul. But the mob knew he was a Jew and the mob was in no humor to tolerate anyone who was not a worshiper of their goddess.

35 To be the janitor or sexton of the temple of some great divinity was considered a high honor by the cities of the ancient world.

35 The "scribe" is called by the same name as the well-known class among the Jews. He was a high city official, and, in this case, a man of tact and judgment. He appeals to them at their weakest point, and calms them before showing the groundlessness and danger of their mad uproar.

Verses 38-41

38 After showing them that the men they had led to the theater were not guilty of any overt act against the temple or goddess he reminds them that there are legal means of redress for any wrong which they may have committed.

39 We have purposely retained the uniform rendering ecclesia here, for it gives us a true idea of its meaning in ordinary Greek. It was a town council before which any matter such as this might be brought for settlement. A select portion of the population convened for public business was so called.

40 The Romans would not tolerate any disorderly assemblage, and would soon recall any liberties and privileges accorded to a city if disorders were not promptly suppressed. Thus God overrules to deliver Paul from "so great a death" even though the spiritual powers of evil, the avaricious mob, and the Jews were all combined against him. As in Corinth, he uses the power of Rome to protect him from false brethren and fanatical idolaters led on by his unseen spirit enemies.

1 During Paul's stay in Ephesus he penned the two epistles to the Corinthians. In these we find a full account of much which is outside the scope of Acts. They trace the gradual change which is coming over his teaching, for his ministry went "from glory to glory" ( 2Co_3:18 ). As associated with the proclamation of the kingdom, his ministry seems to fail, as did that of the twelve. This is what is recorded in Acts. But as associated with the secret which was not made publicly known until after his final appeal to the Jews in Rome, his ministry ascended to the heights of Ephesian truth by gradual degrees.

2 While in Corinth he wrote the epistle to the Galatians and that to the Romans. Thus, within a few months he writes all the Preparatory Epistles, in the central crisis of his ministry, after his determination to give the flesh no further place.

6 Luke seems to have rejoined the apostle at this point, as he now uses the pronoun we .

7 At Paul's first visit to Troas, the vision of the man of Macedonia caused him to pass through without delay. The door was shut (16:8-9). At his second visit a door was opened, in the Lord, but as he had no rest in his spirit because of the absence of Titus, he again left for Macedonia ( 2Co_2:12-13 ). Nevertheless a considerable number seem to have believed. Conscious that he would probably never see them again, Paul lingers and prolongs his farewell exhortation.

9 There is a contrast as well as a similarity between the miracles wrought by Peter and Paul. Peter raised Dorcas to life as Paul raised Eutychus. Much stress is laid on the good works and almsdeeds that she did. Nothing of the kind is recorded of Eutychus. Indeed, he was not sufficiently watchful to keep awake when the apostle was preaching. Are not these types of the resurrection of Israel and of the ecclesia which is Christ's body? Those in the former resurrection ( Rev_20:4-5 ) have worked as well as believed, and their resurrection is, in measure, deserved . But the saints of the present economy of grace are like Eutychus. Paul's preaching fails to keep them awake. They are drowsy and undeserving. Nevertheless, such is the superabundance of grace, that, in the secret resurrection ( 1Co_15:51 ) revealed about this time by the apostle Paul, merit has no place, for we shall live together with Him whether we are watchful or drowsy ( 1Th_5:10 ).

13 We may see something of the tense solicitude of the apostle's heart in his actions. For the sake of a few more hours at Troas he walked twenty miles after having preached most of the night. He would not trust himself in Ephesus, lest he should linger and defeat his purpose to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Yet he could not sail past without at least a parting word to the elders of the ecclesia he had come to love so well. It becomes more and more evident that the new departure in his ministry included the cessation of his own physical presence with the ecclesias. It was to be communicated in true spiritual style by means of epistles. It must be remembered that Paul's ministry was continually changing. As the apostasy of the Jews progressed, the evangel of the kingdom became less pronounced and he was entrusted with a secret, which, depending on Israel's failure, could not be made known publicly until Israel was set aside. Hence there is a great gulf between this address and the Ephesian epistle, which he wrote to them from Rome some years later. His career at this time was still imperfect. Writing to the Corinthians a short time before, he says that the saints are still in the period of minority and that maturity, or perfection, had not yet been attained ( 1Co_13:9-12 ).