Paul: Uproar in Ephesus
0Like many of the other cities Paul visited Ephesus was an urban metropolis, teeming with life, laughter, and vice. Poised at the wide mouth of a prosperous harbor the city attracted trade from every corner of the empire. Humanity was trafficked as readily as commercial goods, all under the shadow of the much-vaunted temple of Artemis, goddess of Ephesus and arguably of all Asia.
When Paul came to Ephesus he saw nothing different. Every city was like the one before it; bustling agora, jostling merchants, massive marbled temples, and numberless shrines to a multitude of dead gods. Aquila and Priscilla came to Ephesus with Paul and the three may have set up their little tent-making operation in the busy marketplace of the city.
Predictably Paul went to the synagogue to dispute with and preach to the local Jews. His first visit was short and not particularly memorable. He was asked to prolong his stay but he had places to be and people to see first.
Setting sail from Ephesus Paul made a short trip to Jerusalem before hopscotching through Antioch, Galatia, and Phrygia strengthening the disciples. When he had finished he made his way back to Ephesus. Like Corinth, Ephesus turned out to be an important base of operations for Paul. Perhaps understood its strategic importance to the region and saw potential.
When he came back to Ephesus he met twelve men who claimed to be disciples of John the Baptist. Like much of the Jewish diaspora, they had frequently traveled to Jerusalem for the annual feasts and on one of their trips they had heard John the Baptist preaching on the banks of the Jordan. They had also heard John point to Jesus and announce that he was promised, savior.
Unlike Apollos, these men weren’t skilled orators, though they had about as much knowledge as he did when he first encountered Aquila and Priscilla. But they were eager to share what they did know and what they lacked in skill they more than made up for in enthusiasm.
When Paul met them they were oblivious to the work of the Holy Spirit. When Paul asked them “have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?” They responded, “We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost” (Acts 19:1-2). Paul was quick to fill the gaps in their knowledge and the men humbly accepted his instruction, agreeing to rebaptism. It wouldn’t have been easy for twelve grown men to accept they were wrong and to go a step further by accepting instruction. They could have reacted badly to Paul’s gentle correction and redirection. Perhaps they could have been defensive or argumentative. They could have tried to prove their intellectual capabilities before finally yielding the point. Instead, they were humble enough to accept what they didn’t know and receive the instruction they needed to grow.
As Christians, we can get complacent about our spiritual condition. We may be content to have a superficial spiritual experience, unwilling to dig deep into God’s word for fear of having to change our thinking or our practice of faith. The example of these Ephesian believers should give us pause. Are we truly committed to deepening our walk with Jesus? Or are we content with a superficial once-a-week spirituality that is lukewarm and half-hearted at best? Are we humble enough to be taught? Are we hungry enough to want to learn?
By accepting Paul’s instruction these twelve Ephesian disciples equipped themselves to become more effective missionaries for Jesus, not just in Ephesus but throughout Asia Minor.
Commenting on the teachable spirit of the Ephesian disciples in her book Acts of the Apostles Ellen White says “He who will give himself fully to God will be guided by the Divine hand. He may be lowly and apparently ungifted; yet if with a loving, trusting heart he obeys every intimation of God’s will, his powers will be purified, ennobled, energized and his capabilities will be increased. As he treasures lessons of divine wisdom, a sacred commission will be entrusted to him; he will be enabled to make his life an honor to God and a blessing to the world.”
After the twelve men were rebaptized Paul turned his attention to evangelizing the city. Picking up his familiar pattern he went into the synagogue and began to preach the gospel there for about three months. Unsurprisingly his preaching caused division.
The Bible says “But when divers were hardened and believed not but spake evil of the way before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples disputing daily in the school of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9)
Paul recognized that it was futile to argue with the men who opposed him and he withdrew his small group of disciples from the synagogue. They found a gathering spot at the school of Tyrannus which quickly became a base of operations and training center. Paul worked here for about two years, preaching, teaching, and training new converts to not only become disciples but missionaries as well. At the end of two years, all of Asia had heard the gospel.
What Paul accomplished at Ephesus broke the mold in so many ways; firstly he didn’t just plant a church, he planted a training school alongside it. Secondly, the training school sent out missionaries to evangelize the region. Thirdly in Ephesus Paul invented a successful model for church planting. We don’t know if he intended to use Ephesus as a prototype but it turned into just that; a prototype and blueprint for church planting and evangelizing an entire region.
Paul’s time in Ephesus also gives us a glimpse into how God works in our lives. It reminds us that life is dynamic and made up of seasons. Each season is different but it can be equally effective and fruitful if it has been entrusted to God. Paul’s time in Ephesus differed from his time in Thessalonica and Berea and Athens but it was productive.
If you’ve given your life wholeheartedly to God, embrace the seasons he leads you through. Sometimes he might lead you on a fast-paced tour across several countries, conquering and turning the world upside down. At other times he might place you in a single spot for a prolonged time equipping others to do the conquering. Wherever he places you, in the heat of the action or as a quiet encourager on the sidelines, take up the work he has given you and do it faithfully. By his grace, the quiet seasons will bear as much fruit as the more active ones.
While Paul was at Ephesus God also used his ministry to present a contract between the power of God and the power manifested by the worship of idols. The city was devoted to the worship of the goddess Artemis or Diana. Within the Greco-Roman pantheon of gods, Diana represented fertility among other things and pilgrims from all across the empire flocked to her temple in Ephesus.
According to legend the image of Diana inside the temple fell from heaven and was considered a sacred gift from the gods. The idol was decorated with indecipherable runes which were rumored to contain great power. No temple would be complete without a thriving economy attached to it and the temple of Diana at Ephesus was no exception. Anyone who could turn a profit off the elaborate round of worship had a market stall within spitting distance of the temple. There were booksellers hawking books on deciphering the mysterious runes, the ritual worship of Diana, and the dark arts. There were silversmiths selling intricately carved idols of the goddess to pilgrims who wanted to take home a souvenir. There were candle makers and incense peddlers and all kinds of merchants with an eye on making a quick buck. The worship of Diana wasn’t just spiritual, it was also profitable.
The miracles Paul performed in the name of Jesus counteracted the influence of Diana inside the city. They also spawned a spate of counterfeiters. These men were generally traveling Jewish exorcists who made money by dabbling in spiritualism.
“Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus saying, we adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth” (Acts 19:13)
Among these opportunistic exorcists were seven men, all brothers, and sons of a man named Sceva who was a chief priest. When they saw Paul casting out demons and healing the sick they decided that they wanted a slice of the action but their plans backfired miserably. When they tried to cast out a demon in the name of Jesus the demon turned around and answered “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are ye?” Slack-jawed at this reversal the men had scarcely enough time to react when the evil spirit attacked them and overcame them “so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:16)
When the Jews and gentiles living in Ephesus heard about what had happened “fear fell on them all and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified” (Acts 19:17)
The altercation between the sons of Sceva and the demoniac resulted in more than cursory reverence for the name of Jesus. Many of the Ephesian believers confessed to still dabbling in spiritualism and magic. Wanting to break free they gathered up all their books on black magic and the occult, made a massive bonfire in the city streets, and burned everything. The value of the books totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver and the act caused not just a revival among believers but also exponential growth of the church.
When Paul saw the forward momentum of the work he felt it was time to move on. He had been in Ephesus for almost three years and he could see that the work was fully established. “After these things were ended Paul purposed in the spirit when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem saying after I have been there, I must also see Rome” (Acts 19:21). In preparation for this missionary journey Paul sent Timothy and Erastus onward to Macedonia while he himself remained in Ephesus a little longer.
While all this was happening the city exploded in violent protests against the church. It all began during the annual festival in honor of Diana. Generally, this was a time when Ephesians let loose and threw a massive party but since Paul had come to Ephesus the festival had slowly lost its edge. None of the new converts attended the festival, opting instead to gather at the school of Tyrnannus for fellowship. They were ridiculed but also quietly missed since their absence left a gaping hole in family and friendship circles.
But Christianity hadn’t just impacted Christians, it had impacted the lifestyles of the citizens of Ephesus in general. Paul’s preaching slowly eroded the credibility of paganism in the minds of the people. While they weren’t ready to embrace Christianity they weren’t sure that they believed in worshipping Diana either.
None of this would have really mattered if the silversmiths hadn’t experienced a dip in their profit margins. During the festival, many pilgrims purchased silver idols of Diana as souvenirs. While Paul had been busy in Ephesus profits had been steadily declining until the situation reached a flashpoint. Demetrius one of the leading silversmiths gathered together the rest of his colleagues and proposed action. He called for something between a riot and a strike saying “Sirs ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no god which are made with hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised and her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia and the world worshiped” (Acts 19:25-28)
His rousing speech was the equivalent of throwing a lit match into a can of gasoline. The city ignited led by the enraged silversmiths. A crowd grabbed Gaius and Aristarchus, two Christian believers from Macedonia who were in the city, and rushed them into the amphitheater. When Paul heard about what was going on he was ready to storm the theater and address the crowd but calmer heads prevailed and he was held back.
For two hours the mob chanted “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!' '. Some of them didn’t even know why they were in the amphitheater but they were happy enough to go along with the mob, which is a telling feature of mobs in general; they are driven largely by emotion with very little reasoning behind them.
The chanting continued until the city clerk came and talked sense to the screaming crowd and dispersed them before the Romans descended and the Ephesians really got into trouble.
The Ephesian riot is a telling sign of how easily and quickly people can be carried along by the swirling emotions of a mob without stopping to independently assess the situation for themselves.
Soon after the riot ceased Paul left Ephesus and headed for Macedonia. He had worked in the city for three fruitful years and had an abundant harvest to show for it. It was now time to move forward and conquer more territory for Christ.
