The last lesson ended with Luke’s account of when God worked “special” or uncommon miracles by the hands of Paul and what happened when others tried to imitate those miracles. We then pick up the narrative with Acts 19:17, “So these things became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, and they were all struck with fear; and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem.”
Now we will see what happens when the power of God is displayed. Some will recognize it and believe; but some will feel threatened by it and will stubbornly resist it even to the point of violence, if necessary (remember the explanation of verse 9 in the last lesson).
Verses 18-20 tell us what happened when some believed. “Many of those who believed came and openly confessed their evil, deceptive deeds. A number of those who had practiced the magic arts bought their scrolls and burned them publicly. And the value of those scrolls was about fifty thousand pieces of silver. And because of all this, the word of the Lord spread and grew in power.”
Let’s examine this a little to understand what actually happened here. This is a description of genuine conversions accompanied by true repentance. Due to the nature of these uncommon miracles, those who practiced sorcery saw the reality of what they only pretended and it changed them. The word translated “magic arts” (“curious arts” in the KJV) is periergos, and describes the practice of pretending to call upon the spirits (demons) to reveal the unknown, predict future events, heal sickness, inflict sickness, interpret dreams, tell fortunes based on the alignment of the planets, etc. And, let me emphasize, the definition of periergos always includes the idea of pretense.
And the fact that Luke and the Holy Spirit chose to tell us how much these scrolls were worth tells us this was a significant event. “Pieces of silver” is from argurion, and most calculations put the value of 50,000 pieces of silver at about $35,000.00 dollars in Paul’s day. But accounting for inflation since then, it could be well over a million dollars today. So, we can see why this is included in the account. Ephesus was known to be a center of occult activity at this time and scrolls promising the ability to call and control the spirits commanded a high price. The public destruction of these books, along with the confessions of the owners, proved to be a powerful testimony to the power of God.
We need to look at verses 21-22 so we don’t get confused about where Paul is going and when. “Now after these things, Paul reasoned in his spirit that he would travel through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Jerusalem, saying, then I must see Rome also. So, he sent two of his companions, Timothy and Erastus, on to Macedonia, but he stayed in the province of Asia for a while longer.”
Remember, this is just the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey. He’s still in Ephesus, where he’s been for several years now. So, when he talks about going through Macedonia and Achaia, he’s actually talking about retracing his second journey through Greece and his previous stops in Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth. Then He wants to return to Jerusalem and continue on to Rome. But, before he does any of that, he’s going to stay in Asia (Ephesus) a little longer, as we will see.
Now, the fact that Paul wants to go to Jerusalem, and then on to Rome tells me he might have gotten some warning from the Holy Spirit (remember Acts 9:16) about what was in his future. He will go to Jerusalem, where his presence causes a huge commotion and he is arrested. Then, he will eventually appeal his case to Caesar and be sent to Rome. And, if that is the case, it is just further testimony to Paul’s courage and determination to do what God required.
And, as in the past, I have to stop and look at a new name mentioned in verse 22. We know Timothy, but now we meet Erastus. He’s mentioned 3 times in Paul’s letters and we have to assume it’s always the same man. In Romans 16:23 Paul says Erastus is the “chamberlain of the city” (he wrote Romans from Corinth). In his closing remarks in 2 Timothy 4:20, Paul says Erastus remained in Corinth. All this taken together leads us to believe Erastus was the treasurer or manager of public works in Corinth, became a disciple of Jesus during Paul’s first visit to Corinth during his second journey and traveled with Paul during at least part of this third journey.
At the beginning of this lesson I mentioned when the power of God is displayed, some will believe and some will feel threatened and resist. So, now we’ll see that second group who followed the same three-step path Luke used in verse 9 to describe those obstinate Jews in the synagogue (they felt threatened, then they angrily determined to resist, then they resorted to misrepresentations and violence). Verses 23-41 give us the account of Demetrius, the silversmiths and other craftsmen.
If you read verses 23-27, you’ll see the first step. Demetrius has a meeting with the silversmiths (verse 24) and workmen from similar occupations (verse 25) in the city, because they reasoned that if the people of Ephesus continued to come to Christ, their livelihood would be threatened. These were the men who made miniature statues and shrines associated with the temple of Diana from silver, stone or wood. This is the first step down that path; Demetrius and the others are feeling threatened by these events, so they resist.
Before we continue, let me fill in a little historical background. Information varies, but Diana is supposed to be the mother and sustainer of all creation. The temple honoring her in Ephesus took over 200 years to build. It was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and had 127 columns 60 feet high around it, all adorned with ornate statues. It was said that the original image of Diana fell from heaven (see verse 35) so long ago that no one knew who made it or how old it was. Some suspect Diana was an ancient continuation of the image and legend of Semiramis, the queen of Babylon, wife of Nimrod and originator of many of the religious practices of both idolatrous cults and even some Christian churches today.
Notice Demetrius added an appeal to their religious sensibilities in verse 27 by saying not only was their livelihood threatened, but that also “the temple of the great goddess Diana would be discredited and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout Asia and all the world, would be robbed of her divine majesty.”
This takes us to the second step. Verse 28 says, “When they heard these things, they were furious and began shouting, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” And then in the first part of verse 29 it says, “Soon the whole city was in an uproar.” So Demetrius and the other craftsmen were determined to resist, so they got the whole city involved.
Then we need only to look at the next sentence in verse 29 to see the beginning of the third step, “Then they went into the amphitheater, dragging along with them Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonian men who had been traveling with Paul.” Now the threat of violence begins.
I’ll not go verse by verse here, but when Paul wants to go talk to the mob, the “chief of Asia” (Asiarches, wealthy, prominent men who usually presided over public festivals and games) dissuade him, knowing the real danger that exists (verses 30-31). And in verses 32-34 we see more evidence of just how dangerous the situation had become. The Jews in the city pressed Alexander to make a defense to the angry crowd. And let’s not misunderstand what’s going on here. They don’t want him to defend Paul or the other Christians; they want him to blame the Christians for the trouble. However, the crowd isn’t having it, because they know the Jews opposed the worship of Diana as much as the Christians. So this only served to further inflame the situation.
So, in verses 35-41 we have the resolution of the matter. The “town clerk” (grammateus, found 67 times in the NT, translated “scribe” 66 times, “town clerk” only here) quiets the crowd, reminds them that Ephesus worships the great goddess Diana, and that will never change (verse 35), that they should not do anything rash (verse 36), that these men have not done anything wrong and if they have the courts are here to handle it (verses 37-39) and this uproar is liable to get the attention of the Roman authorities, in which case they’ll all be made to give an account for it (verse 40) – so they all went home (verse 41).