Acts 20:1-17 Paul begins his return to Jerusalem

Acts 20:1-6 Paul travels to Macedonia, Greece, back to Macedonia, and back to Asia. The description of Paul's travels in this section is condensed. In six verses, Luke covers Paul's trips to Macedonia (presumably Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea), Greece (presumably Corinth, Cenchrea, and Athens), a return to Macedonia, and then a return to Asia, landing at Troas. The times and specific destinations are not given, other than three months in Greece. It is not entirely clear why, when the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail from Greece to Syria, he changed his plans and went by way of Macedonia. His party of traveling companions had grown by this point to include at least six others, who are named, along with their city or province of origin.

•   From Berea, Sopater;

•   From Thessalonica, Aristarchus and Secundus

•   From Derbe, Gaius

•   From Asia, Timothy, Tychicus, and Trophimus

But all of these went ahead onto Troas while Paul was still in Philippi. Paul sailed after the end of the feast of unleavened bread, which establishes the schedule which will come up later. It took five days to sail from Philippi to Troas, where they stayed seven days after Paul's arrival. Evidently Luke was traveling with Paul on this segment of the trip. The last autobiographical reference by Luke was in Acts 16:11. Perhaps Luke had been in Macedonia continuously since that reference, rather than traveling with Paul the whole time.

Acts 20:7-12 The story of Eutychus in Troas. During Paul's all-night sermon in the upper room, a young man named Eutychus fell asleep. Probably not the only person to have had trouble staying awake during a long message, but in this case, his circumstances were such that he fell down from a third-story window. In his great mercy, The Lord brought the young man back from the dead. Paul was not distracted from his purpose, and continued to preach, finishing his message at dawn.

Acts 20:13-17 Paul's traveling companions arrange for a meeting at Assos, and then proceed with Paul to Miletus. The abbreviated travelogue continues. Paul's companions sailed to Assos, while he traveled overland to meet them there. The hike would have been about 30 km, the sailing route farther. They then sailed on together from Assos to Mitylene. After three more port calls, they arrived at Miletus, which is perhaps as much as 50 km from Ephesus. Paul chooses not to travel to Ephesus himself, because he was hurrying to try to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost. From the feast of unleavened bread to Pentecost is a total of fifty days (the feast of weeks, seven of them, plus one day). He spent five days sailing from Philippi to Troas, seven days in Troas, and at least four days between Troas and Miletus. This adds up to sixteen of the fifty days. Pentecost is approaching fast. The path Paul took to Caesarea would be over 1,000 km. The schedule was tight. So Paul asked the elders of the church in Ephesus to meet him in the seaport of Miletus.

Acts 19:23-41 The Riot of the Silversmiths

Acts 19:23-41 The silversmiths in Ephesus riot. The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, in the list compiled a few hundred years BC. Artemis of the Ephesians was not identical to the Greek goddess Artemis, the merger appearing to be the result of Greek syncretism. Statues of the Ephesian Artemis were noted for being covered with bumps which were variously interpreted, but substantially different the Greek goddess of the hunt. In the superstitious culture of the Mediterranean described above, in which the sale of religious trinkets thought to bring protection or good luck to the possessor, the manufacture of these trinkets was very lucrative. So Demetrius had correctly diagnosed that Christianity would mean that people would  turn to the one true God and away from false religions, and that this would cut into the business of selling trinkets.

          The riot that followed Demetrius' rabble-rousing rushed into the theatre. Presumably this was a Roman assembly place, not the Temple of Artemis. Perhaps Paul thought this was an opportunity to present the gospel and reason with the people. However, it did not happen this time. The mob was not likely to listen to anyone presenting that point of view, and Paul's fellow disciples, and even some of the rulers who he had befriended, recognized this and kept Paul out of harm's way.  Gaius and Aristarchus had been manhandled by the crowd, and Alexander was planning to speak to them, but he was recognized as a Jew which incited the crowd. Although Paul was advocating Christianity and had been behind the bonfire of the magic books, the Jews also rejected idolatry, and the distinction was most likely lost on the mob. Two hours of shouting 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians' must have expended some of their energy. It is oddly humorous that at this point the town clerk or scribe, likely one of the few people who could read and write and was the official secretary or administrator, quieted the crowd with a very simple speech. Oddly he defended the Christians saying they were neither temple-robbers nor blasphemers. But he was the voice of reason in a mob scene saying, we are in danger of being charged with rioting, and we can bring charges in court if needed. And so he dismissed the assembly.

          Mobs and riots are not unusual in history and seldom have they been dispersed with an appeal to calmness and the voice of reason. Typical outcomes have been:

•   The riot runs pretty much uncontained for an extended period with serious damage to lives and property, until the rioting group has expended their emotional energy

•   The riot is confronted by overwhelming organized force with the application of the power of the state, usually with considerable violence, and the crowd flees.

•   The riot is confronted by organized force that is insufficient to quell the riot, resulting in a prolonged battle with great casualties on both sides.

The amazing thing about this riot is that none of these happened. The town recorder convinced them that there was nothing worth rioting over, and somehow his words overcame their emotional fervor. Perhaps they all (rightly) feared the wrath of the Roman army.

Acts 19:21-22 Paul Lingers in Asia

Acts 19:21-22 Paul makes future travel plans. Paul pondered in the Spirit going to Macedonia and Achaia, which he had previously visited (on his second journey), and then to Jerusalem, and ultimately to Rome. However, he apparently did not feel that the Spirit was leading him to immediately embark on this journey, so he stayed awhile longer in Ephesus and sent Timothy and Erastus ahead of him to Macedonia. Sometimes, when The Lord gives us a vision or a sense of future things, we have a natural human tendency to want to run right out and start on it. But whether that is God's plan and desire requires further discernment. In many cases, The Lord is laying the groundwork in our soul for future work on His behalf, but the time is not yet ripe. In some cases, the word is given for immediate execution. So we need to be sensitive enough to His voice to go when He says go and wait when He says wait, and know the difference in what He is saying.

Acts 19:18-20 The bonfire of the books of magic

Acts 19:18-20 The lesson of what happened to the sons of Sceva was not lost on the believers in Ephesus. So great was their conviction that they came forward and confessed that they had been practicing magic of one sort or another. And wanting to be under the protection of Christ, they realized that they had to forsake all of their magical arts. We don't have details about what sorts of magic they practiced, but we have already run into a few such persons in previous chapters (Simon in Acts 8:9-13, and bar-Jesus in Acts 13:6-11), so it seems clear that this practice was widespread in this part of the world in those days. Once people turned to Christ and realized that they were dealing with demons when they practiced the magical arts, and having seen the object lesson of the sons of Sceva, they chose to have a great public bonfire of their books about magic. The total value of the books that were destroyed was estimated at 50,000 pieces of silver. If a piece of silver was typically a day's wage in those days, to translate this into modern value, it would be something like 25 years of salary. So at a typical salary of $40,000 per year, this meant that $1 million dollars’ worth of books were burned. Of course, books were much rarer and more expensive in those days, before the printing press was invented. Nevertheless, this is still a staggeringly expensive repentance.

          The practice of magic or patronage of magicians can have more than one root. For some, it may come from a desire to have some kind of power denied them in the normal physical world. This could simply be knowledge about future events or things going on that they have no way of knowing about, or influence over events that will take place. For some, it may be to seek favor of or protection from supernatural beings that they sense are lurking around them, for good or ill, that need to be influenced or controlled. And for some, magic seeks to satisfy that interior spiritual void. A final category would be those who want to cash in on all of these other motivations either for money or power over people.

          The rejection of all the magic arts goes back to the books of Moses. (Genesis 41 & Exodus 7-9 in which God demonstrated His power over them; and Leviticus 20 & Deuteronomy 18 in which all such arts were banned.) There are multiple injunctions against several different types of magic, which are punctuated with admonitions that The Lord God is the complete and sufficient satisfaction of all needs and motivations for contact with the spiritual world.  Jesus demonstrated His power over demons on numerous occasions. It is here in Acts 19 that the obvious is brought out. The magical arts that exist are part and parcel of the demonic activity associated with idolatry. Any spiritual or supernatural being or power that does not come from God, and honor God, is part of and takes part in the rebellion of evil spiritual beings against God. God's authority over these beings is sovereign. But no believer in Christ should ever take part in or even desire to be part of this rebellion. And we should not be fooled. We pray to God, we receive from God, and we honor God with our lives.

          In this instance, it was recorded after the bonfire that the word of God continued to grow and prevail. 

Acts 19:11-17 Sevens sons of Sceva

Acts 19:11-17 The Lord was performing may miracles at Paul's hands. If this were to happen today, people would suspect some kind of huckster scam. Articles of cloth were taken from Paul to sick people who recovered, and demons went out. Jesus had demonstrated this kind of power while He was on earth, Peter had experienced this flow of power in Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 5:12-16. Now it was manifest through Paul, in Ephesus in Asia.

          The next story is almost humorous (although it probably was not, at the time), that the sons of a Jewish priest were attempting to use Jesus' name to cast out demons. As Jews, they evidently had not accepted the gospel, but also apparently did not understand that they had no authority to invoke His name. (One has to wonder what their father thought). The evil spirit responded truthfully; it knew Jesus and about Paul, but then mocked their lack of authority. Somehow this demoniac had enough power to subdue seven men, beat them, and tear their clothes off them.

          This story ought to give pause to anyone dabbling in the magic arts, or dealing with demons. In Jesus' name, believers have authority over demons. Jesus said so. (Mark 16:17) But it is important to understand that this promise was given to believers in Jesus. Dabbling in spiritual power is not a game for those who are not committed to Christ. They are no match for the spiritual forces of wickedness on earth or in heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12) The sons of Sceva found this out. And so everyone who heard this story in Ephesus was afraid, and Jesus' name was being lifted up.

Acts 19:1-10 Paul returns to Ephesus

Acts 19:1-7 Paul returns to Ephesus. Acts 18:23 mentions that Paul passed through Galatia and Phrygia. Quite possibly he visited the same cities that he had on his first two journeys - Derbe, Lystra,  Iconium, and  Psidian Antioch assuming he traveled overland. He eventually got back to Ephesus on the western end of the province of Asia, as he had promised (Acts 18:21). By the time he got there, Apollos had already gone to Achaia and was in Corinth. In Ephesus he found some believers who had not heard of the Holy Spirit. This seems odd, since Aquila and Priscilla had been there and they had been taught by him in Corinth and then travelled to Ephesus and remained there when Paul returned to Judea. Perhaps they had returned to Corinth with Apollos. We know that as of the writing of I Corinthians, they were back in Corinth and led a house church (I Cor 16:19).

          Paul found these disciples who were not acquainted with either the doctrine or practice of the Holy Spirit. The statement that they were disciples implies they believed in and followed Jesus, but evidently their instruction had been incomplete. At Paul's hand, they were baptized in water, in the name of Jesus, and then Paul laid hands on them and prayed for them. There was a mini-Pentecost, this time in Asia, but not unlike Peter's visit to Cornelius recorded in Acts 10.  

Acts 19:8-10 Paul teaches in Ephesus. After all this, Paul spent three months presenting the gospel in the synagogue in Ephesus. He tried to persuade but some rejected it, and began to badmouth believers. He then left the synagogue and began teaching in the school of Tyrannus, which lasted for two years. At this school, Gentiles were also able to hear the gospel. There is no additional information in Acts on this school, whether Tyrannus was a believer who allowed his school to be used for teaching, or whether it was rented space.

Acts 18:23-28 Paul's third missionary trip; Apollos receives the full gospel

Acts 18:23 Paul departs on his third missionary trip, revisiting Galatia. The specific stops on this trip are not mentioned until Acts 19.

Acts 18:24-28 The story of Apollos in Ephesus is a bit of a sidebar. Priscilla and Aquila had stayed in Ephesus, and ran across Apollos. Where Apollos heard the gospel is not stated, but he had been accurately teaching about Jesus. He was acquainted with water baptism. He was teaching in the synagogue and there is no record that his teachings were rejected. But Priscilla and Aquila heard him and then explained the way of God more accurately to him. What does this mean? He was already teaching things concerning Jesus accurately. John the Baptist had spoken of the coming of Messiah, and had told people to be baptized for repentance as a preparation for His coming. The text does not indicate exactly what Apollos was teaching, but it must have been derived from John the Baptist's teaching. So although Apollos could speak from the Old Testament law and prophets about the coming Messiah, he was apparently unaware of Jesus' death and resurrection, and of the details of the atonement, the new birth, and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

          We can infer that this means that Christianity is more than the doctrines concerning Jesus. It is also about a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. At this time, being mighty in the scriptures would imply that he knew the Old Testament very well, and was able to explain how Jesus fulfilled all that the Law and the Prophets had promised. So one can only make the interpolation that Aquila and Priscilla explained to him about being empowered by the Holy Spirit, about hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking, and welling up from a person's innermost being to become a river of living water. In other words, the presentation of the gospel is not just about apologetics; giving the evidence can persuade a person's mind, but it is the work of the Holy Spirit to change a person's heart in response to the gospel and bring about the new birth.

          Subsequently, Apollos wanted to go to Achaia (Greece), the believers in Ephesus encouraged him, and he went there. The only specifically named city he visited was Corinth (Acts 19:1) but perhaps he itinerated through Cenchrea, Berea, and Philippi. He did not lose any of his powerful eloquence in explaining the Scriptures and was able to refute the Jews in public debate from their own scriptures.