Chapter 19

This is the last of the Pentecost experiences which are described in the book of Acts. The original Pentecost was described in chapter two and indicates the beginning of the Church Age. However, in the second chapter of Acts we have only Jews involved. Immediately this poses a question: Is the Church Age going to be like the previous dispensation, is it going to be simply the responsibility of the Jews? The answer to that is found in the Gentile Pentecost which comes up in chapter nine. The Gentiles have equal rights with believers who are Jews in the Church Age. In the meantime what about the people who are half-Jew and half Gentile? This is answered at the Pentecost which is at Samaria. One other question arises. What about people who are Old Testament saints who lived long enough in the New Dispensation? What is their status? This is answered by the fact that they became members of the body of Christ if they lived long enough into the new dispensation. This is answered by Acts 19:1-7.

Verse 1 — Paul’s arrival at Ephesus. Even God’s traffic pattern is perfect for every believer. Apollos came to Ephesus and there made contact with Aquila and Priscilla. There he learned Bible doctrine pertaining to the Church Age. Once he was truly prepared God moved him on to Corinth and as soon as he was out of Ephesus on his way to Corinth then God provided for the apostle Paul to come back to have his famous ministry in Ephesus. Therefore when Apollos was on his way the apostle Paul was in a rather unusual spot. He was not on the main highway that runs from Galatia to Ephesus. He went a rather unusual round-about-way to Ephesus but this was necessary in God’s timing in order that Apollos might have the opportunity of getting out of Ephesus and going on to Corinth where he would have a ministry. In this way everything dovetails perfectly, God leads each individual, and the apostle Paul arrives in Ephesus at exactly the right time.

Basically Paul, when he was in Ephesus before, was the same apostle who comes this time. But the last time God closed the door even though the people begged him to stay. God’s timing is perfect and therefore he will have a wonderful ministry in the city of Ephesus, so much so that Ephesus is going to take over the leadership which is now occupied by Antioch of Syria.

“and finding certain disciples” — Paul did not go immediately to the synagogue and make his usual contacts with the Jews, but apparently on his first day in Ephesus he bumped into some rather unusual people. These certain disciples are actually Old Testament saints. They are believers who have received the Lord Jesus Christ as personal saviour, they are still living in the Old Testament dispensation. They have not received the 40 things that we received at the point of salvation, the reason being that they were saved before the dispensation changed. They have now lived long enough into the new dispensation to be integrated into the Church. Their survival for such an extended period of time now makes them an object of some rather unusual activity.

Verse 2 — during the course of the conversation Paul came up with a discerning question. He began to suspect that these people were believers but obviously they were totally disoriented as far as the Church Age was concerned.

“Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” Paul in his conversation with them had determined that they were believers but there was something radically wrong as far as there experience was concerned. So he asked them this leading question. Since every believer receives five things at the point of salvation in the Church Age but since this was not true in the previous dispensation apparently there is something wrong here. So actually, what he said to them was, “Having believed, did you receive the Holy Spirit at that point?” There is no such thing as “since.” “Ye believed” is an aorist active participle, and here is a case of where the action of the aorist participle is coterminous with the action of the main verb. The main verb is “received” the action of the aorist participle is “believed.” So, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit at the point where you believed?” In other words, these are coterminous. With all New Testament saints the moment you believe in Christ you receive the Holy Spirit. But this was not true of Old Testament saints.

The doctrine of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to Old Testament saints

The Holy Spirit did indwell a few of the Old Testament saints, but less than I per cent. In contrast to that, in the Church Age the Holy Spirit indwells every believer, starting at the point of salvation.

1. As far as the believer is concerned to the Old Testament saints the Holy Spirit only indwelt a few of them and only for special jobs. For example, the Holy Spirit indwelt Joseph in order to help him become the Prime Minister of Egypt Genesis 41:38. The Holy Spirit occasionally indwelt some artisan who had a special job, such as Bezaleel and Aholiab who were responsible for various things in connection with the construction of the tabernacle and the making of the priestly garments Exodus 28:3;31:3. Then we have the elders who assisted Moses in the administration of Israel, and they were indwelt by the Spirit Numbers 11:18. Joshua was said to be indwelt by the Spirit in order to fulfil his responsibilities of rulership Numbers 27:18. Certain judges, such as Othniel, Judges 3:10; Gideon, Judges 6:34; Samson, Judges 13:25; 14:6,15:14. Saul the king was said to be indwelt by the Spirit I Samuel 10:9,10; David, Daniel, and the post-exilic prophets are said to be indwelt by the Spirit. But when you add it all up God the Holy Spirit only indwelt about less than one per cents of all believers in the Old Testament.

2. A believer could be disciplined by losing the Spirit. The Holy Spirit was received after salvation in the dispensation of Israel, not at the point of salvation, and only for special jobs to fulfil the plan of God in the previous dispensation. The disciplinary removal of the Spirit is illustrated by the case of king Saul I Samuel 16:14. It almost occurred in the case of David, so David in Psalm 51:11 when he was just about to lose the Spirit prayed, ‘Take not thy Holy Spirit from me.” Note that you do not pray this prayer today, it is an insult to God. You cannot lose the Holy Spirit. By sin you can grieve the Holy Spirit, by the production of human good you can quench the Holy Spirit, but you cannot lose the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer in the Church Age and He cannot be removed.

3. The believer could attain the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times by asking for Him 2 Kings 2:9,10; Luke 11:12. In Luke 11:12 remember that Jesus lived during the dispensation of the Age of Israel. He died during the Age of Israel, He rose again. He ascended. He was seated at the right hand of the Father, all during the Age of Israel. Ten days after His ascension the Church Age began, so that the entire public ministry of our Lord occurred in the Jewish Age. The eleven born-again disciples were in great need of the Holy Spirit. They were on a special crash program, they were announcing the King, they were fulfilling the ministry that John the Baptist discontinued due to his death, and they had a very special program Matthew chapter 10. In order to fulfil this they needed the Holy Spirit. So Jesus Christ told them to ask for the Spirit and they did not.

Some people are very confused as to which dispensation they are in and consequently we have many people today who try to follow Luke chapter 11 verse 13. This is not for this dispensation, this is for the previous age. This is not said to us, this was said to the disciples because they need the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a very special way.

4. Because the disciples totally failed in this matter of asking for the Spirit, even though Jesus told them several times to do so, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit just before His ascension to all the believers in Jerusalem. The reason was that He ascended and there would be a lapse often days before the Church Age began. In the ten days that would elapse Jesus knew that the 120 disciples who were going to be gathered in the upper room couldn’t stay together for ten days. There would be 120 different organisations fighting each other in Jerusalem and there would be no unity on the day of Pentecost. So in order the head this off and in order to keep the believers in a state of unity and in a spiritual state whereby they would be prepared for the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit was given to them without their asking John 20:22.

5. Once the Church Age begins every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit John 7:39, although the whole subject is found in John 7:37 and 39. In other words, giving the Holy Spirit to every believer was predicated on Jesus Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father. So to all of the Old Testament saints the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Christ was not yet glorified. Once the Lord Jesus Christ is glorified then the Holy Spirit is given to all believers John 16:14. The purpose of the giving of the Spirit is to glorify Jesus Christ, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, then, in this age is taught in I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19,20; Romans 8:9, etc. So the separating point. Why did the Holy Spirit only indwell a few believers for special jobs? The

separating point is the glorification of Christ or Christ being seated at the right hand of the Father. In the two previous dispensations the bestowal of the Holy Spirit was a matter of a sovereign decision of God but in the Church Age the bestowal of the Holy Spirit is automatic, every believer receives the Spirit at the point of salvation.

You have to remember that the Tribulation is the end of the Age of Israel and therefore the ministry of the Holy Spirit, as far as indwelling, goes back to the same principle that existed in the Age of Israel. Every believer will not be indwelt by the Spirit in the Tribulation. The 144,000 Jews, the two witnesses, and a few others will be, but the ministry of the Holy Spirit will be exactly the same as it was in the Age of Israel Then, again in the Millennium, every believer will be indwelt by the Spirit.

Here in the Church Age the apostle Paul looks at these twelve men and he asks, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” since they were saved before the cross and therefore in a previous dispensation they would have to say no. They said no in their own honest way, they didn’t even know there was such a thing as the Holy Spirit. Paul immediately made an estimate of the situation and he knew exactly now what was wrong. These people were actually Old Testament saints and they had lived long enough now to be integrated into the Church Age, and so that is exactly what Paul does.

Now this also answers a question. This undoubtedly occurred at other places throughout the world. This is the only record of it because we only need one record to set a precedent as far as the Word of God is concerned. Undoubtedly when people lived long enough into the new dispensation they were brought into the Church Age. So these twelve men are not going to be Old Testament saints, they were brought into the Church Age and arc so categorised according to the things which followed.

“They said unto him. We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit.”

Verse 3 a question of baptism. “Unto what” is not a correct translation, it should be translated, “On

what basis.”

“did you receive baptism?” The passive voice: the subject receives the action of the verb, and they had actually received some sort of baptism.

They said: “On the basis of John’s baptism.”

Verse 4 — Paul says something that indicates the message of John the Baptist as far as the gospel is concerned. When the Jewish Age was about to be interrupted this was one of the signs, a ritual baptism performed by John. The baptism used water. The candidate was a person who had believed in Jesus Christ, as per verse 4. Having believed in Jesus Christ he was put into the water and this was an indication that he was identified with the kingdom, the kingdom of regenerate, the kingdom of the Abrahamic covenant, the Palestinian covenant, the Davidic covenant, and the New covenant to Israel. This is a kingdom which has an eternal life clause. This person indicated that he was identified with that kingdom.

The exception is when John baptised Jesus. All the water represented where Jesus was concerned was the will of God. Jesus said by His baptism He was willing to do the will of God which was to go to the cross. So actually, you might say that there were two baptisms which occurred at the interruption stage of the Age of Israel. John’s baptism which was a sign, and Jesus’ baptism which was unique

There is a water baptism today which is practised and all it indicates is down with human good and up with divine good. The water represents retroactive positional truth, identification with Christ as He hung upon the cross. As He hung upon the cross He rejected human good. His work was divine good. He handled the sin problem. So when the believer goes into the water he is saying LCI recognise my union with Christ and I recognise there is no place in the plan of God for human good.” When he comes up out of the water he is identified with the air of the atmosphere and this is a picture of current positional truth or union with the Lord Jesus Christ which is the basis for the production of divine good. However, the water baptisms pale into insignificance compared to the dry baptisms found in the scripture.

The first one isn’t so important to us except that it helps to establish the meaning of the word. This is the baptism of Moses. Moses was identified with the cloud, with Christ, and the people were identified with Moses whom they could see. This is strictly an identification thing all the way. No one got wet in this baptism. The second baptism is the baptism of fire. One thing is quite obvious. The believers who are identified with the fire are unbelievers and they are not identified with water. This is identification with fire at the second advent.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit. The believer in the Church Age is taken at the point of salvation and entered into union with Christ. The baptism of the cup is probably the most misunderstood. This is the baptism in which the sins of the world are actually identified with Christ on the cross, and this is what is meant by the blood of Christ. Christ didn’t bleed to death. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

These are four dry baptisms. Now Paul has in mind, “Did you receive a dry baptism when you believed.”

Paul then explains that John’s ministry was a bona fide thing even though it was in a previous dispensation. “Then said Paul, John truly baptised with the baptism of repentance.” The English is very obscure here. The words “of repentance” is what is called in the Greek an accusative or a cognate accusative and it should be “a baptism characterised by repentance.” The word “baptism” is in the accusative; “of repentance” is in the genitive. Genitive of species with a cognate accusative should always be translated “baptism characterised by repentance.” So, “John truly baptised with a baptism characterised by repentance.” In other words, when John baptised people he only baptised people who had changed their minds. The word “repent” means to change the mind, it has no emotional connotation whatever. We have the noun “repentance” here, metanoia. It is always mental: noia is thinking; meta means to change; change your thinking. It has no emotional connotation at all. Repent and believe are two sides of the same coin. Everyone repents when they believe. They change their mind about Christ, even if they are not aware of it. Now Paul says that John’s baptism was something that followed faith in Jesus Christ.

This passage begins with the baptism of the Spirit and continues to speaking in tongues, and winds up with performance of miracles, and none of the three are related. The baptism of the Spirit is not speaking in tongues, it just so happened that at the first time the baptism of the Spirit occurred speaking in tongues was utilised to indicate that the fifth cycle of discipline was approaching to Israel.

In verse 5 we have the doctrine of the baptism of the Spirit “ When they heard this they were baptised into the name of the Lord Jesus.” “Into the name of the Lord Jesus” actually refers to the baptism of the Spirit. The baptism of the Spirit did not occur in Old Testament times. It is not a spiritual blessing as such, that is, an experiential blessing, it is not an ecstatic experience, it is something that God the Holy Spirit does for every believer in the Church Age at the point of salvation. However it did not occur before that time.

The doctrine of the baptism of the Spirit

1. The baptism of the Spirit did not occur in Old Testament times.

2. The baptism of the Spirit was first prophesied by Jesus Christ in Acts 1:5.

3. The mechanics of the baptism of the Spirit are given in I Corinthians 12:13 “For by means of one Spirit are we all baptised into Christ.” There are forty things that happen at the point of salvation. Five of these are actually accomplished by the Holy Spirit, one of them is the baptism of the Spirit. Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father. God the Holy Spirit takes the believer at the point of salvation and enters him into union with Christ. That is the baptism of the Spirit and that is what happened to these disciples of John. It is not something you feel any more than you can feel redemption or reconciliation or propitiation or the giving of a spiritual gift, or any of the other facets involved at the point of salvation. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you have received the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

4. The baptism of the Spirit is the basis of unification for believers during the Church Age Ephesians 4:5. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” The one baptism that unites all believers is the baptism of the Spirit.

5. The implications of the baptism of the Spirit are recorded in Galatians 3:26-28. In this we discover that all human distinctions are eliminated by the baptism of the Spirit.

6. The basis of retroactive positional truth is based upon the baptism of the Spirit. In other words, in Romans chapter six, in Colossians 2:12; 3:4, we are told that we are identified with Christ in His death. This is accomplished through the baptism of the Spirit. When Christ was hanging upon the cross our sins were poured out upon Him and judged. That part of the old sin nature was judged at the cross. But we also produce human good and that human good is rejected. There is no place in the plan of God for human good. So when we receive Christ as saviour we are identified with Christ in His death and this means the rejection of human good. As He rejected human good positionally we reject human good. Retroactive positional truth and the baptism of the Spirit is the basis of this fact.

7. The baptism of the Spirit is the basis for current positional truth. Jesus Christ is now seated at the right hand of the Father and so the baptism of the Spirit includes entering us into union with Christ as He is seated at the right hand of the Father. Because He is seated at the right hand of the Father: Jesus Christ is eternal life, we share His eternal life; we share His righteousness, we share His sonship. His heirship. His priesthood, everything that Jesus Christ has as of the point of salvation. So this is the basis also for current positional truth Ephesians 1:3-6.

8. The baptism of the Spirit begins the Church Age Acts 11:15-17. In this connection we have to remember that Matthew 16:18 has a future tense which says that the Church had not yet begun when Christ was on earth.

So we now have some Old Testament saints who have been brought up to date. This is the Old Testament saint Pentecost and this brings to a conclusion the four different Pentecosts which occur in the book of Acts. The book of Acts is actually the beginnings of the Church just as Genesis is the beginnings as far as mankind is concerned on the earth. In the beginnings of the Church we have four Pentecosts, each one proving a point of doctrine. There is the Jewish Pentecost of Acts chapter two. In this we discover that Jews are brought into union with Christ. There is the Samaritan Pentecost of Acts chapter 8 in which it is demonstrated that those who are half Jew and half Gentile are also involved in the Church Age. There is the Gentile Pentecost of Acts chapter 10 in which it is demonstrated that Gentiles have equal rights with Jews in the Church Age. Finally, there is the Old Testament saint Pentecost of Acts chapter 19 which completes the Pentecost series. In each of these series there is a specific reference not only to the baptism of the Spirit but the tongues phenomena is also used for two purposes: to warn the Jews of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline and, at the same time, to demonstrate that this is a bona fide part of the Church Age.

Verse 6 — “And when Paul had laid his hands on them.” Paul is an apostle and as an apostle to the Church he is identifying himself with them. This is the meaning of the laying on of hands. It always indicates some point of identification. These Old Testament saints are now identified with Paul who is an apostle and a leader in the Church at its beginning.

Immediately there followed the usual results: “and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.” These are both temporary gifts associated with the beginning of the Church. This is the sign of their integration into the Church and is also fulfilling the purpose of the gift of tongues

The true doctrine of tongues

This is necessary because tongues is one of the greatest manifestations of apostasy in our day. There is nothing about the tongues movement at the present time that has anything to do with God, absolutely nothing. It is associated with psychological ecstatic desires which are caused by the frustrations of life, it is also associated with demon activity. Tongues is not a bona fide spiritual phenomena.

1. The principle of the fifth cycle of discipline is given in Leviticus 26:27ff. You have to understand the fifth cycle of discipline in order to understand the gift of tongues. The fifth cycle of discipline is that maximum discipline which comes to the Jews when they are taken out of their land and scattered. For example, in 721 BC the Jews went under the fourth cycle of discipline which means they are ruled by another power Assyria, and a short time Egypt under Pharaoh Necho, and finally the Chaldeans. Then in 586 BC the Jews went out under the fifth cycle of discipline. They were taken out of the land and were taken into what we call the Babylonian captivity, but really the Chaldean captivity. This was terminated in 516 BC with the completion of the second temple. From 516 BC to 323 BC the Jews had their golden age which was terminated then by their cycles of discipline. In 64 BC the Jews were under the fourth cycle of discipline to Rome. In 70 AD the Jews again went under the fifth cycle of discipline and they are scattered until the second advent . This is the most disastrous fifth cycle of discipline to the Jews. This 70 AD fifth cycle has tremendous warnings and signs. God announces these in various parts of the Word and the Jews were very clearly warned when this would occur. The Church Age actually begins in 30 AD which is forty years before the fifth cycle of discipline. The Jews actually had a period of forty years to get ready for the fifth cycle of discipline and, as a matter of fact, to get out of Judaism altogether by becoming members of the body of Christ . So it is essential in understanding the tongues movement as taught in the Word of God that the fifth cycle of discipline is understood.

2. Tongues is a warning of the fifth cycle of discipline Isaiah 28:9-11. In this passage it is made very clear that the way the Jews could tell when their fifth cycle of discipline was approaching was very simple. When the fifth cycle approaches there will be a period in which the Jews who are responsible for disseminating the gospel to all of the Gentiles will actually be evangelised in gentile languages in a miraculous way which is exactly what the gift of tongues is.

3. Isaiah 28:9-11 is quoted in I Corinthians 14:21.22. Chapter 14 is the tongues passage and the quotation indicates the fact that tongues is used to warn the Jews of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline.

4. The purpose of this warning is to turn cursing into blessing Acts 2:1-11. Here we have the fulfilment of this principle for the first time. In the gift of tongues you find people speaking in foreign languages

“we [Jews] heard everyone speak in our own language.” Then we have a list of Gentile languages which were actually used to communicate the gospel, it is never speaking in an unknown esoteric language, and abstruse language, it is speaking in a Gentile language and someone understands it.

5. Once the fifth cycle of discipline begins in 70 AD there is no more speaking in tongues. The bona fide gift of tongues is discontinued and removed in 70 AD. This is very clearly taught in the Greek by comparing 1 Corinthians 13:8 with 13:10. In 13:10 we have the phrase “when the perfect has come.” It is often thought that “the perfect” here refers to Christ. However, this is impossible because “the perfect” is in the neuter gender and the neuter gender is never used for Christ. He is always spoken of in the masculine gender “The perfect” refers to the canon of scripture. So this indicates that the completion of the canon of scripture eliminates all of the temporary gifts apostleship, tongues, healing, and so on.

6. Tongues does continue in the Church Age as a Satanic operation, and tongues will continue until the Millennium, until Satan is removed from the world. So the tongues movement will go from 70 AD until the second advent of Christ but it continues as a Satanic operation 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12.

7. The mechanics of tongues as a Satanic operation is found in Isaiah 8:19: 29:4: Revelation 16:13,14. in these passages, the two Old Testament passages in Isaiah, we have a Hebrew word ob. and ob is a special type of demon who gets control of the vocal cords. He is also called in the Greek E)ggastramuthoj. He is a ventriloquist demon who controls the vocal cords and assimilates the gifts of tongues.

8. Tongues is perpetuated as a system of pseudo spirituality among believers in the Church Age. These are usually believers who use emotion as their criterion or their norm. There are two special warnings about using emotions as your norm. You can use your emotion all you want to in the appreciation of the things of this life. But when you use you emotions as the standard or the criterion for the Christian way of life then you are in serious trouble. The two warnings are found in 2 Corinthians 6:11,12: Romans 16:17.18. Both of these passages need a little clarification from the Greek.

So much for the people here. This is to indicate that they were definitely a part of the Church Age, and whenever there was a representative Pentecost, of which their were four. each representative Pentecost does have the speaking in tongues as a warning to the Jews of the coming of the fifth cycle of discipline.

Verse 7 — there were twelve people involved in this particular activity.

Verse 8 — Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. So far all he has done is to contact some Old Testament saints and bring them into the new dispensation. He now begins, as usual, with the synagogue. He had a great ministry in the synagogue when he began in Ephesus. now he has returned to Ephesus and once again begins at that point. “spake boldly” to speak boldly means to speak with confidence. Paul knew Bible doctrine and when you know Bible doctrine the doctrine produces confidence. The only bona fide confidence in the Christian life is based on doctrine. Cf. 2 Corinthians 5:6-8. Throughout the scriptures there is a constant emphasis on knowing the Word of God “be not ignorant, brethren.’ “know this.” etc. This becomes the highest virtue of the Christian life and it becomes the basis for confidence in the Christian life. Paul spoke with great confidence or dogmatically.

“for the space of about three months, disputing and persuading” — the two verbs actually cover the ministry of the apostle Paul. This is Ins approach as far as the Jews are concerned. The word “disputing” means to argue from a reasonable standpoint, to use logic. The word “persuading” means to influence by presenting correct information. In other words, to present doctrine, it is not that you use logic as a debater’s technique, but you use doctrine. From doctrine you use the logic which has the power to save. Remember it is the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation, not the persuasive speech of some individual. So the word “persuading” here means to present Bible doctrine.

“the things” sometimes, and practically always, when you find the word “things” in the New Testament it is referring to some phase of Bible doctrine.

“concerning the kingdom of God” — this would emphasise the kingdom of regenerate.

Verse 9 — Not only did Paul very clearly delineate the gospel but he went on to persuade these people.

“But when divers were hardened” — some of them when they heard the gospel and they heard it clearly, they rejected it. So we now have a short dissertation of Jews who were negative. The word “divers” means in some part of the group.

“they were hardened” — the imperfect tense says they began to be hardened at the point when they heard the gospel. They passive voice: they received their hardening because in their mentality they were religious and religion cannot accept grace.

“they believed not” a complete and total rejection of the gospel. Not only did they not believe but due to the fact that they had religion and legalism in action they had mental attitude sins which caused them to take a very positive attitude of persecuting him” “they spake evil of that way before the multitude.” To speak evil here simply means to revile or to abuse it. to actually use offensive language in the speaking of the way. The way is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as the way of salvation When negative volition expressed itself Paul separated himself. He was only three months in the synagogue, now he will be nearly three years in a state of separation. And when he separated himself he went to a medical school where they had a very fine auditorium He did his Bible teaching and preaching the gospel in a medical school for over two years.

“lie departed from them” — separation; “and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of Tyrannus,” the medical school. The communication of doctrine demands separation from religion, sooner or later there has to be a separation and people who stay in apostate denominations and think they have influence sooner or later are going to find that their influence is curtailed by negative volition on the part of those who set the policy. When this occurs they have absolutely no influence no matter how accurate they are, it is now time for them to depart. The Bible must be taught under principles of separation in order for it to be that of clarity.

Verse 10 the ministry to the Gentiles. He had two years in that medical school where apparently he taught daily.

“so that all they which dwelt in Asia.” Asia is the Roman province. Ephesus is the capital. People from all over the Roman province came to hear Paul. They did not come to hear him during the three months when he was in the synagogue but once he breaks out of the synagogue, once he is no longer associated with religion in any way, then everyone comes. He had the greatest ministry here of his entire life because people came to him. He was in a neutral spot, he was in the medical school, and there he taught daily where people came to from all over the country to hear him.

Verses 11 and 12, the focusing on the message by means of some miracles.

Verse 11 — “And God” is literally, “And the God” and is a reference to God the Father who is the author of the plan. God gave Paul a special authority and “wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul.” The word for “wrought” is simply the Greek word poiew which means to do. God “did” special miracles by the hand of Paul. The imperfect tense means that these miracles continued over a period of two years. They didn’t occur every day but they did occur periodically. The indicative mood is the reality of these miracles to focus attention upon the gospel. These didn’t happen by chance, these were definite, special miracles. Special means not by chance. These are miracles designed with a purpose. The purpose was to focus attention upon doctrine, it was not to halt or alleviate suffering.

“by the hands of Paul” is literally, “through the instrumentality of Paul,” because we have the preposition dia plus the genitive case. This means that Paul is the instrument or the channel. Whenever God performs miracles it is a lower manifestation. All the power is in the gospel, the power is in the Word. God worked on a lower plane in the first years of the Church because the canon of scripture was not completed. The lower plane was the use of miracles, the gift of tongues, and other extra natural phenomena. God now works today on the higher plane.

Verse 12 — notice there were two different types of diseases mentioned. The first of these is the physiologically induced type, the second is demon-induced illness. The last phrase, “the evil spirits went out of him” is simply dealing with demon-induced illness. The apostle Paul had the ability to perform these miracles for two years only. In that sense it was the lowest part of his ministry because miracles were necessary to focus attention and to establish him as a teacher of the Word. Later on under other circumstances when Paul comes to the point in the Romans imprisonment this was the highest part of his entire ministry and it was a ministry based entirely upon Bible doctrine without the use of any miracles. This is illustrated from both his first and second Roman imprisonment. Philippians 2:27 Epaphroditus was delivered from his illness but not through the hand of Paul. Paul no longer has the gift of miracles, it is now removed. The gift of healing always had the same purpose.

Jesus did not heal everyone. He did not heal to alleviate suffering. The purpose of the healing ministry of Jesus was to focus attention on His message, it is the message that is important. It is the gospel that provides eternal life, not healing. Cf. also 2 Timothy 4:20.

Verse 13 – “Then certain of the vagabond Jews.” When a Jew travels, he travels to make money. A vagabond Jew is a traveling Jew, not a vagrant. These Jews are connected with Sceva in verse 14 and have a traveling medicine show, i.e. it is connected with demonism. They go wherever there is demon possession in order to cast out demons. The word “exorcists” is e)corkisth and it means to remove demons by incantation, the pronunciation of a magic formula. It is in the plural here which means that all seven of the brothers were involved. They have come to Ephesus because there are many demon possessed people in Ephesus.

“We adjure thee [a part of their incantation] by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Paul was preaching daily; present active participle.

Verse 14 – this explains who was doing this. Sceva is the chief of one of the twenty-four orders of the priesthood in Jerusalem at this time. He was a religious person but unsaved; his sons were religious but unsaved.

Verse 15 – “And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know [from experience], and Paul I know [from experience]; but who are you?” – or, “You, who are you?”

Verses 16 – the customer turns on them and the demons do not leave: “leaped on them” – the word is used for the spring of a panther or leopard. It is a very vicious attack; “and overcame them” – one man whipped all seven. This is the abnormal strength that comes from demon possession.

“so that they fled out naked and wounded” – the word for wounding is traumatizw from which we get the word trauma.

Verse 17 – this led to a rebound revival. “And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and [as a result] fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.” This is an imperfect tense which means that the magnification kept going. From this point on the name of Jesus Christ kept on being magnified. This incident was obviously a Satanic attack, subtle but unsuccessful. In the meantime there was a great change of attitude as far as believers were concerned.

“and fear” – this fear was a ministry of the Holy Spirit. There is a ministry of the Holy Spirit which involves occupation with Christ. However, these people have not advanced to that point because they are carnal believers.

Verse 18 – “And many that believed came.” Many were out of fellowship because they were involved in the ‘magic shows,’ these healing things, the sorcerer activities. The word for believing is a perfect tense, which means that they had been saved for some time; “came” – imperfect tense, they kept on coming.

“and they kept on confessing and showing their deeds” – present tense. Their confessing has to do with 1 John 1:9, the mechanics of it. The word is e)comologew, they confessed out of a situation in which they were located. So they confessed that they had been in a situation which led to a perpetual carnality, and rebound was the basis for their breaking with this thing. “Showing their deeds” is amplified in the next verse.

Verse 19 – “curious arts” means magic arts, sorcery; “brought their books together and burned them before all: and they counted the price of all the books that were burned, and founded it fifty thousand pieces of silver” – a lot of books and a lot of money. These books were strictly about demon activity and ways to get rid of demons. They burned the books because they were through with all of that business.

Verse 20 – as a result of Paul’s three years in Ephesus we now have a progress report. “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.” The word “mightily” is literally, “according to power.” It is a prepositional phrase translated like an adverb, and that’s bad. We have the preposition kata [according to the norm or standard] plus kratoj [power]. In other words, doctrine was taught in the power of the Spirit and the Word of God is alive and powerful. The words “grew” and “prevailed” are in the imperfect tense which indicates that this was a constant process without any hindrance. Though there was a great deal of opposition this did not hinder the teaching and communication of the Word of God. The word for “prevail” means to have power as a faculty or an endowment. Gradually throughout Ephesus and the entire Roman province of Asia the Word of God became so widespread and doctrinal viewpoint became so common that it began to cut into some of the activities of heathenism.

Verse 21 – a parenthesis in which we have Paul’s future plans. “After these things were ended [fulfilled], Paul purposed in the spirit” – his human spirit where all of his doctrine was located and from which he was doing his teaching. He has decided that it is time to move on because he begins to see the saturation of doctrine reaching that particular area. There are many areas where the Word of God has not been clearly taught.

“when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia” – he is going to make one more trip through Greece; “to go to Jerusalem” – this was his desire and was going to lead to a number of chapters of Acts in which we will have details of the record of Paul’s discipline. It was not God’s will for the apostle Paul to go backward to Jerusalem but to go forward to Spain by way of Rome.

Verse 22 – “Erastus” is a Corinthians believer. He came to Paul at Ephesus to report the terrible situation there and this resulted in the Corinthian epistles. In Romans 16:23 he is described as a chamberlain or a steward, which means he was a member of the city council of Corinth.

“but he himself stayed in Asia for a season” – he could have left, but he must remain behind because a storm is brewing. There must be a catastrophe out of which the Roman law is going to reach into Ephesus and calm things down so that the Ephesian church can continue to function. If Paul had not been there the crisis would not have developed into such an intense storm. From the storm comes some principles Out of these the mayor of the city will interfere and as a result the Ephesian church will have a more or less stabilized situation.

Verse 23 – the Satanic counter attack begins here and goes through the rest of the chapter. “And at the same time there arose no small stir about that way.” “No small stir” means a great catastrophe; “the way” refers to Christianity.

Verse 24 – Demetrius is the head of the silversmith’s union which has been doing a great business for a long time, having a monopoly on figurines made of silver of Diana of Ephesus and selling them. Paul has not denounced the activities of the worship of Diana in Ephesus, he has simply continued to teach doctrine. The teaching of doctrine has cause great a decline of the statues of Diana in Ephesus. The sale of them has gone down because one of the applications of doctrine is given in this context.

Verse 25 – “Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation.” There were a lot of related industries affected.

Verse 26 – “this Paul.” Everyone knows Paul by this time, the chief communicator of Bible doctrine; “hath persuaded” – the word means to persuade by clear presentation, by logical arguments, by communicating in a manner that people can understand. It means also in the power of the Word and in the power of the Spirit. These are the dynamics of the apostle Paul. The ministry of the Spirit is knowledge of doctrine and his ability to communicate this so that it can be understood. These men had all heard Paul preach and had obviously rejected his message. But there were several things which by way of application disturbed them because it was hurting business—“and turned away much people.” The persuasion has to do with accepting Christ as saviour. After they accepted Christ Paul taught them Bible doctrine. After they had learned doctrine and become spiritually self-sustaining, of their own volition and by their own decision, they cut themselves off from the activities of Diana. Decisions were made on the basis of knowledge of doctrine.

Verse 27 – Demetrius is going to try to do something about this. Not only was their business at risk, but also the whole system of religion: “but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised.”

Verse 28 – the beginning of the formation of a mob: “they were full of wrath, and cried out [shouted in anger], Great is Diana of the Ephesians.” As if shouting repetitiously is going to change anything!—imperfect tense, they kept on shouting. Shouting never takes the place of the power of the Spirit, or even rationalism.

Demetrius knows what he is doing

1. Demetrius knows the effectiveness of Paul’s preaching. He was facing the problem of loss of business: Paul’s preaching.

2. Apparently Demetrius had gone to the meeting but couldn’t debate with Paul, there was no argument to meet the power of the gospel. So he could not argue down with words the apostle Paul.

3. Therefore he must resort to some underhanded tactics—mob violence.

4. Nothing is ever accomplished by mob violence.

5. The weapons used against the gospel at Ephesus: a) Organisation—the silversmith’s union; b) Emotion—the speech of Demetrius; c) Religion—the worship of Diana, emphasizing sex, business, and legalism; d) Mob rule—the action of the mob after the speech; e) Noise—shouting.

6. “Full of wrath.” Wrath is a mental attitude by which mob violence is forged into a weapon.

7. This wrath is expressed by shouting slogans, which is a form of self-hypnosis.

Verse 29 – the whole city becomes involved in this: “filled with confusion: and having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in

travel, they rushed with one accord into the amphitheatre.”

An organized group is always necessary to start mob violence. Behind every mob there is always someone organizing. The mob is the pawn in the game. When it is formed it is usually involved in some form of self-hypnosis and mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is totally minus rationalism. In other words, a mob cannot think.

Verse 30 – “And when Paul would have entered in unto the people.” Paul apparently was very sick, and he desired to go to the amphitheatre and talk to the mob himself. The mob came to the home of Priscilla and Aquila, and Aquila faced down the mob. Paul was there and apparently very ill. Cf. 2 Corinthians 1:8ff; Romans 16:3. Paul indicated that he wanted to go and face the mob in the amphitheatre. There are two Greek words for “would have entered”: boulomai, which means a desire which comes from the mentality of the soul. (There is another word for desire: qelw, which comes from the emotion of the soul) So Paul was not emotional in this thing, he felt that he could reason with the crowd. But even though he had come to this conclusion he was wrong. It was not God’s will for him to face that mob. This mob requires not a preacher, an apostle, but the law; and the law is going to handle this mob. Principle: This mob represents something that is anti-divine institution #4, and divine institution #4 will handle it. Boulomai is a present active participle; Paul kept on wanting to do it.

“the disciples suffered him not” – when Priscilla and Aquila came back inside the house they stopped Paul with the help of some friends. They “suffered him not” – imperfect active indicative. They kept on having to say no. Literally, they kept on not allowing it.

Verse 31 – what finally stopped Paul was the Asiarchs. “Men of Asia” is incorrect. This is a Greek word transliterated, “Asiarchs” – Asiarxhj. A)rx = ruler. These are rulers of Asia. Who are the Asiarchs? This was the month of May the Ephesians had the festival called Artemisium, the festival to Artemis. Artemis is the Greek word for Diana. Diana is Latin. During the month of May Ephesus was the center of a month-long festival in which they lived it up, revelry, the phallic cult, etc. Since this was special time of the year they always had ten people of great wealth elected from the entire Roman province of Asia, and this was for several reasons. Each man had to donate a large amount of money in order to put on some dramas. They also presided over the activities. During the day they would also have athletic events—the Ephesian Games. They also had musical and oratory competitions. The interesting thing is that these Asiarchs were actually friends of the apostle Paul – “which were his friends.”

“desiring him” – they exhorted him; “that he would not adventure [give] himself to the amphitheatre.” They knew he would be killed. Apparently it was well known at this time that Paul wanted to go to the amphitheatre and the people were waiting for Paul to show up.

Verse 32 – back to the mob. “Some therefore cried [krazw = shout; imperfect tense, they kept on shouting].” Shouting never drowns out the truth, no matter how much noise is made to the contrary. Some believers give in to noise, and they stop thinking and vacillate. One lie amplified by 10,000 voices never becomes the truth. These voices are going to shout, “Great is Diana of Ephesus” and it is a lie to begin with because Diana of Ephesus is a demon system, and after two hours of shouting they still haven’t converted one lie into the truth.

“for the assembly was confused” – a mob is always confused. This is a perfect passive participle. The perfect tense means that they were confused from the time they started the mob until the time the mob is dispersed. During the time of the mob action they did not think, so they are minus thought. They do not have the ability to think logically or rationally or clearly; they are incapable of lucid thought. Them passive voice indicates that every person in the mob surrenders his mind, his soul, his ability to think to the mob. This means they receive this confusion by being a member of the mob.

“the more part [majority] knew not wherefore [why] they were come together [they were there]” – Demetrius plus the union are in the mob, and they know why they are there—to get rid of Paul. But the majority don’t even know why they are there. In other words, the people in a mob are always pawns of some organization trying to seize power or to get rid of someone.

Verse 33 – finally the Jews became frightened, knowing that they would be identified with the Christians. “And Alexander beckoned with the hand” – lifting the hand up and down for silence. But they kept right on because they knew he was a Jew.

Verse 34 – they just kept shouting for two hours.

Verses 35-41, the mayor of the city. Under the Roman empire Ephesus is a free city. The mayor is called the grammateuj, the word translated in the KJV “town clerk.” Actually he is the controller of the city, performing the functions of a mayor. Each free city had a different title for their mayor, e.g. Thessalonica had a politarch. Athens’s mayor was an archon. Rome became great not because of its great armies but because Rome had the greatest sense of law in the ancient world, fulfilling the principle of divine institution #4.

Verse 35 – “And when the mayor had appeased [silenced or pacified] the people.” They all knew him as the mayor and did him respect for his office.

“what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of Ephesus is a worshipper of the great goddess” – one of the reasons for Ephesus being a free city is because this is the official place for worshipping Diana.

“and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?” – the temple was built on the site.

Verse 36 – “Seeing then that these things cannot be contradicted, ye ought to be quiet.” It isn’t “quiet,” he uses the word katastellw which means “you ought to maintain order.”

“and do nothing rashly” – “rashly” is the Greek word for precipitous: “do nothing in a precipitous manner.”

Verse 37 – “which are neither robbers of churches [temples]” – the temple at Ephesus was the largest bank in the ancient world; “nor yet blasphemers of your goddess” – they never talked anything about Diana; they talked about Christ.

Verse 38 – “Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open” – in other words, let the law handle it.

Verse 39-40 – look, Rome isn’t going to put up with this. Rome will not tolerate mobs. Everything must be done through law and order: “we are in danger of being called into question [being accused] for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account” – we have no excuse.

Verse 41 – and everybody saw that he was right. He dismissed the assembly. They all went home because Jesus Christ came in the fullness of time: the maximum influence of the Roman empire. Christianity grew in the fullness of time, and while certain Roman emperors led persecutions against the Christians periodically, which was all a part of God’s plan, nevertheless the Roman empire stands as a monument for law and order as few nations or empires in history. Rome would have taken Ephesus over if it had been contrary to law.