Study Desk

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples^(a)

and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" "No," they told him, "we haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit."^(b)

"Then what baptism were you baptized with?" he asked them. "With John's baptism," they replied.

Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One who would come after him, that is, in Jesus."^(c)

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

And when Paul had laid his hands on^(d) them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began to speak in other languages and to prophesy.^(e)

Now there were about 12 men in all.

Then he entered the synagogue and spoke boldly over a period of three months, engaging in discussion and trying to persuade them about the things of the kingdom of God.^(f)

But when some became hardened and would not believe, slandering the Way in front of the crowd, he withdrew from them and met separately with the disciples, conducting discussions every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.^(g)

And this went on for two years, so that all the inhabitants of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the message about the Lord.^(h)

God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul's hands,

so that even facecloths or work aprons^[a] that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.⁽ⁱ⁾

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, "I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!"^(j)

Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.

The evil spirit answered them, "I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?"

Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.

This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.^(k)

And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices,

while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver.

In this way the Lord's message flourished and prevailed.^(l)