Paul in Ephesus
1 While Apollos was in Co rinth, Paul traveled through the interior of the country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples
2 whom he asked, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you be came believers?” They answered, “We have not even heard that anyone may receive the Holy Spirit.”
3 Paul then asked, “What kind of baptism have you received?” And they answered, “The baptism of John.”
4 Paul then explained, “John’s baptism was for conversion, but he himself said they should believe in the one who was to come, and that one is Jesus.”
5 Upon hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 Then Paul laid his hands on them and the Holy Spirit came down upon them; and they began to speak in tongues and to prophesy.
7 There were about twelve of them in all.
8 Paul went into the synagogue and for three months he preached and discussed there boldly, trying to convince them about the Kingdom of God.
9 Some of them, instead of believing, grew obstinate and cri ti cized the way publicly. So Paul departed from them and took the disciples with him. He taught daily in the lecture hall of a certain Tyran nus.
10 He did this for two years, so that all those who lived in the pro vince of Asia, both Jews and non-Jews, heard the word of the Lord.
11 God did extraordinary deeds of power through the hands of Paul.
12 Even handkerchiefs or cloths that had touched his skin were laid upon the sick and their illnesses were cured, and evil spirits also departed from them.
13 Some Jews who traveled around driving out evil spirits, also tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus over those possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I command you by this Jesus whom Paul preaches.”
14 Among them were the seven sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva.
15 But one day, when they entered a house and dared to do this, the evil spirit said to them, “Jesus I recognize and Paul I know; but who are you?”
16 Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them and overpowered first one and then another. And he handled them so violently that they fled from that house naked and mauled.
17 This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephe sus; all of them were very impressed and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in great honor.
18 Many of those who had become believers came forward and openly acknowledged their former prac tices.
19 Many who had practiced magic arts collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. When the value of these was as sessed, it came to fifty thousand silver coins.
20 In this way, the word of the Lord spread widely and with power.
The silversmiths’ riot
21 When all these events were completed Paul, led by the Holy Spirit, decided to travel through Ma ce donia and Achaia again and then go on to Jerusalem. And he said, “After I have been there, I must visit Rome also.”
22 So he sent two of his assistants, Timothy and Eras tus, to Macedonia ahead of him, while he himself stayed on for a time in Asia.
23 About that time the city was deeply troubled because of the way.
24 It all began because of a certain silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver models of the temple of the goddess Artemis and whose business brought a great deal of profit to the workers.
25 He called them, together with others who did similar work, and said, “Friends, you know that our prosperity depends on this work.
26 But, as you can see and hear for yourselves, this Paul has led astray a great number of people, not only here in Ephesus, but also throughout most of the province of Asia. And he has convinced them that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.
27 The danger grows that not only our trade will be discredited, but even that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will count for nothing. She whom Asia and all the world worships may soon be stripped of her renown.”
28 On hearing this they became enraged and began shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
29 The uproar spread throughout the whole city. The mob rushed to the theater, dragging with them Gaius and Aris tarchus, two Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling com pan ions.
30 Paul wished to face this crowd, but the disciples would not let him.
31 Some of the officials of the Asian prov ince also, who were friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to show himself in the theater.
32 Meanwhile the whole assembly was in an uproar. Some shouted one thing, and some shouted another and most of them did not know why they were there.
33 Some of the crowd wanted a certain Alexander to speak, whom the Jews put forward. Alexander intended to make a speech of defense before the crowd,
34 but when they recognized that he was a Jew, they chanted all together for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
35 Finally the town clerk was able to calm the mob. He said, “Citizens of Ephesus, who does not know that Ephe sus is keeper of the temple of the great Artemis, and of her image which fell from the sky?
36 Since these things are undeniable, you must calm yourselves and do nothing rash.
37 These men whom you brought here are not temple-robbers nor have they spoken ill of our goddess.
38 If Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen want to bring charges against anyone, the courts are open and there are officials. Let them bring charges against each other.
39 If there is anything further that needs to be investigated, let it be done in the lawful assembly.
40 For as it is today, we are in danger of being charged with rioting, since there is no valid excuse we can give for this wild demonstration.”
41 And the town clerk dismissed the assembly.
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Comments Acts, Chapter 19
• 19.1 For three years, Paul wanted to evan gelize Ephe sus. Ephesus was one of the most beautiful and largest cities in the empire.
Luke wanted to relate the baptism of these twelve disciples of John the Baptist. As we have just said they knew something of Jesus’ teaching, but as for being his disciples, they lacked what was most important: they had not received the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit came down upon them (v. 6). See Acts 8:14-17. We must not forget that in the beginning, the Christian language was limited. We know that the Holy Spirit is much more than the manifestations that follow the laying on of hands. So we have such statements as: we have not heard that there is the Holy Spirit, while other texts state: that the Holy Spirit be received. The laying on of hands is meant to confirm the change worked at baptism through the experience of the gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12:7). Many Christians would be surprised today if they have never had this tangible experience of God. Let us not say that these gifts are no longer useful or that such things do not happen today. What is important, surely, is to believe and live one’s faith rather than to feel it. Such an experience, however, is often the shock that gives rise to a re-blossoming of our faith: it shows us that God is near, and he is master of our inner self. Perhaps our rationalist temperament and our Church life, mistrust ful of all that is a personal expression, serves as a dampener of the gifts of the Spirit; perhaps it is rather the poverty of our commitment to Jesus.
They were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Are we to presume that in the beginning baptism was in the name of Jesus and not in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit? It is not certain.
In the name of signifies: by the power of; maybe the baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit was called the baptism in the name of Jesus to distinguish it from the baptism of John and the baptisms of other religions. It is also possible that at the moment of receiving the water in the name of the Holy Trinity, the person baptized had to make a personal invocation in the Name of Jesus. Possibly also in early times, baptism was given “in the Name of Jesus” and later the Church modified the formula in order to distinguish itself from groups that believed in Jesus but without recognizing him as Son of God, born of the Father. There would be no thing to astonish us in such a change: the Church of the apostles had given the first formula; the same Church gave the second formula attributed to Jesus in Mt 28:19.
• 11. Many are the signs that Jesus promised for those who would believe (Mk 16:15-18). Similar things happen today when the Church becomes missionary again.
We are impressed by the cures. Perhaps the in-depth conversion of those who confess their magic practices and burn their precious books is more important. Apparently they did not do it at the time of their baptism but later, when they were more convinced of their faith.
• 21. The success of the Gospel was so great that it staggered idolatry. It appeared, however, alongside many other religions. The Roman world was full of religious restlessness, and from Asia in particular came many doctrines, cults and teachings that claimed to free people from death. The Gospel was different from all of them since, while those doctrines were merely theories, the apostles were proclaiming a fact: a Jew named Jesus has risen and we have seen him risen.
There is a chaotic disturbance. The group of idol-makers defend their interests. The Jews who lived quietly among the pagan population are worried, lest they be confused with the Christians, so they try to excuse themselves.