WWUTT 2681 Paul Comes to Ephesus (Acts 19:1-10)

The Apostle Paul came to Ephesus and he came upon some disciples who knew about John's preaching but they didn't know about Jesus. It's not enough to know the stuff that's in the Old Testament though.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Paul's Arrival in Ephesus and the Three Episodes

Thank you Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we come to chapter 19 as the Apostle Paul comes to the city of Ephesus while on his third missionary journey. I'll begin reading here in verse 1. Let's read the first 10 verses.

Hear the word of the Lord. Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. And he said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

And they said to him, No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received. And he said, Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John's baptism. Then Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.

And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying.

Now there were in all about twelve men. And after he entered the synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. But when some were becoming hardened and were not believing, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he left them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.

This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Now this chapter, chapter 19, is about Paul's time in Ephesus. And this chapter is divided into three episodes, if you will.

So the first one is what we just read. Paul coming to Ephesus and finding these disciples, and then speaking of him preaching there for two years. After this, we read the saga of the sons of Sceva. That's in verses 11 to 20, and we'll get to that episode tomorrow.

And then after that, the famous riot in Ephesus. That's about half the chapter, and that goes from verses 21 to 41. Now after this, Paul is going to depart from Ephesus, but he's still going to call the elders from the church in Ephesus to himself in chapter 20.

And we have a long speech from Paul to those elders, so we'll get to that as well. That doesn't take place in Ephesus. That actually happens in Miletus. The elders from Ephesus come to meet Paul there because of the animosity that had built against Paul while he was in Ephesus.

We see that with the riot that comes up a little bit later on in the chapter. So what we're going to be looking at today is this first episode, verses 1 through 10. We'll divide this up this way. Paul's speaking to these disciples and having this exchange about the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

I want to take a moment in there to talk about the Holy Spirit coming upon them and them speaking in tongues in about verses 5 through 7. And then finally, we look at the ministry that Paul did in Ephesus, starting in the synagogue and then going out to the Gentiles in Ephesus.

Ephesus as a Center for the Gospel in Asia Minor

And that's in verses 8 through 10. Now you probably know a little bit of something about Ephesus, especially if you've read Acts chapter 19. You know that the temple of Diana is there or the temple of Artemis.

This was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was a massive temple structure with many, many columns. That was kind of the architectural wonder of this particular structure. So there was a lot of commerce that came into Ephesus, a lot of religion, a lot of worship.

This was a coastal city on the southwest part of what was known at this time as Asia Minor. Today it is modern day Turkey. It's very interesting to think about how Paul preached there in Ephesus. The gospel spread to all of Asia.

That's what we had in verse 10. This took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. This was widespread Christianity that was happening even in the lifetime of Paul, even within those two years that he was there preaching in Ephesus.

So Ephesus is such a major city that Paul could set up shop there, as it would be. That's probably not the best expression. He could do ministry there and it would spread out to so many other places there in Asia Minor so that all who lived in Asia would hear of the gospel.

Even though this gospel message spread in such a short time and really overtook that region while Paul was preaching there, what do we know of that area today? Again, this is modern day Turkey. What is the religious makeup of that area today?

It's Muslim, greater than 98%. So it's sad really to think about how the gospel had spread through this region so deeply. And yet to this day, the gospel can hardly be found there at all. It is a false religion, a religion of Antichrist that is taken over in that place.

You can still go to Ephesus to this day and you can tour some of the ancient ruins. You can see the very theater where Paul had preached for so long and a riot was stirred up there against the apostle Paul.

You can see many of those of those artifacts and landmarks even today, though not much of the gospel can be found there anymore. Ephesus also became the first stop for the apostle John when he sent the letter that we know is revelation to the seven churches in Asia Minor.

The first church that the letter came to was the church in Ephesus. And John spent a lot of time there as well. So this was a church that the apostle Paul loved. He loved this church so much that he sent his most trusted protege, Timothy, to them.

The letters first and second Timothy were written to Timothy while he was a pastor in Ephesus. And then after Timothy was gone from their church, history holds that that Timothy actually died in Ephesus, trying to minister to some people who were going to worship a false god.

And while he was trying to stop them and preach Christ to them, they killed him. That's according to church history. But then the apostle John came to that place and he was a pastor there that also, according to history there in the church in Ephesus.

So this was a landmark church. And we're reading here about the planting of that church. Really, this started at the end of chapter 18, because Paul was in Ephesus first before he had to travel back to Caesarea was where he went.

Now, I said last time that as Paul concluded his second missionary journey, that he actually came to Jerusalem. That was incorrect. He didn't go to Jerusalem because he was a wanted man there because hostilities had still built against Paul there.

So we came to Caesarea. He does not return to Jerusalem until the end of this missionary journey. And then, as we know, his arrival there in Jerusalem ends up stirring up a riot against him and he gets thrown in prison.

He appeals to Caesar. You have then what becomes his fourth missionary journey when he gets taken to Rome. Anyway, we'll get to all of that later. But that's that's when Paul comes to Jerusalem. So he didn't really go to Jerusalem at the end of the third missionary journey, went to Caesarea, then back up to Antioch.

This missionary journey has started in Antioch. And we're reading about that travel as we open up chapter 19 here. So it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, remember that you had Priscilla and Aquila who shared the gospel with Apollos, helped him to understand the way of Christ better.

And he's gone from Ephesus to Corinth. So now Apollos is not there. Paul is coming back and he's going to resume the ministry that he started. Apollos picked up and now Paul is grabbing the baton again.

John's Baptism and the Disciples' Knowledge of Jesus

So Paul passed through the upper regions and he came to Ephesus and found some disciples. Now the upper regions would have been like the higher portion of Asia Minor where he's been through before visiting places like Galatia, for example, would have stopped in those churches and encouraged the Christians there.

Verse two, he said to these disciples that he came upon, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, no, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received. Now that is a phrasing that I believe you only find in the legacy standard translation.

And that's the translation that I'm reading from here for this lesson, where they reply to Paul, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received. If you read it in the legacy, those words being received are italicized.

And the reason they're italicized is because they don't actually appear that way in the original Greek. So those words have been inserted as kind of an editor's preference to give meaning to the sentence, because otherwise, no, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is, doesn't really make a lot of sense.

So we're understanding what they mean by their response to the apostle Paul. It's unlikely that they've never heard of the Holy Spirit. If they are students of even the Old Testament scriptures, then they do know of the spirit of God.

But they don't know of the Holy Spirit being upon people or being given or received in a certain way. That's what it is that they don't know of. So when Paul says, did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?

Their answer is basically, no, we didn't even know that was a thing. How can we receive the Holy Spirit? So those two words that are added there at the end of their answer in the legacy standard, it's not like liberties are being taken outside of what can be understood from the original Greek, because they're answering the question as Paul has asked it, did you receive the Holy Spirit?

And they're saying, no, we didn't even know the Holy Spirit was being received based on Paul's question. Now these men were most likely Jews. It is likely that Paul has come upon them in the synagogue or somewhere thereabouts, wherever the scriptures are being shared and talked about as Paul is looking for a place to come and share the gospel.

He has happened upon these men and being Jews. They most likely were in the Palestinian region during the ministry of John the Baptist. And they heard John the Baptist preaching. They received John's baptism.

So that's the next question. And their answer, verse three into what then were you baptized? And they said into John's baptism. So they heard him proclaiming repentance because the savior was coming. So they were baptized by John, a baptism of repentance in preparation for the coming savior.

But they never got to hear who that savior was. They just heard John the Baptist preaching, prepare the way of the Lord. Just as Isaiah said, John would come preaching. So they received this baptism, but they don't end up knowing that the one John was talking about was Jesus Christ.

So they may not have known of Jesus baptism. They didn't know of his life and ministry, or if they had heard anything about it, they didn't hear about his death and his resurrection. So these are the things that Paul then shares with them.

They essentially get the gospel. Now these were like many Jews during this time, many old covenant Jews who believed in God. They feared God, but they did not yet know his son, Jesus Christ. So you have in this 40 year period between Jesus ascension into heaven and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, 40 years between 30 and 70 AD, you have in this period, God is giving a lot of grace to those who have not yet heard the gospel.

So this is not to say that these men are unsaved. They feared God and God had obviously chosen them. And then they hear the gospel and believe in Jesus. So just like we had seen with Cornelius or just like we had seen with Apollos, so we see with these men as well.

And so Paul informs them about what Priscilla and Achilla had informed Apollos about, about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So Paul goes on to say in verse four, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in him who was coming after him.

And then Paul lays down exactly who that was. That is in Jesus. You are to believe in Jesus. And so he tells them about Jesus Christ. And when they had heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Now it said here in verse four that Paul tells them to believe in Jesus. And then when they heard this, they're baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. But there would have been more in there than that.

It would have been more than just Paul saying, believe in Jesus. OK, we're baptized in Jesus. He would have explained to them who he was and what he did. His death on the cross, his resurrection from the grave.

So those things are implied, even though the text doesn't tell us that explicitly. That's what it was that Paul shared with them. It was more than just an exchange of a few lines. And then they're going, OK, yeah, let's get baptized.

So they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And then when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them. Now, this is to be understood as the Holy Spirit coming in a certain measure to do ministry with the apostle Paul.

They already being believers in the Lord Jesus Christ would have received the Holy Spirit who would have dwelled in them. But they had not yet received these giftings of the Holy Spirit that would come upon them.

And Paul meant for them to receive the spirit so that they might continue to do ministry with him. Now, that doesn't mean that Paul had the power to confer the spirit on whoever he wished to give the spirit to.

This was still by the will of the spirit, as talked about in Hebrews chapter two. It was as he willed. But Paul's laying hands upon them is so to appeal to God that his Holy Spirit would come upon these men for the ministry that they were about to do.

So that a sign or an indication of their having received the spirit might be seen. And what is seen then is that they begin speaking in tongues and prophesying. And that's exactly what they're going to go out with Paul to do.

They're going to prophesy. They're going to proclaim. They, along with Paul, are going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with people in Asia Minor. And now he's got a gathering of disciples there with him.

Tongues in Acts and the Abuse of the Passage

Men who were kind of native to the area. And then they continue on this missionary work that Paul is set forth to do. Now, this is the last time in the book of Acts that speaking in tongues comes up. In fact, we don't even see a mention of speaking in tongues again until 1 Corinthians.

1 Corinthians chapter 12 and chapter 14 especially. Speaking in tongues in Acts is only and ever talked about in one way. And that is the speaking of other languages, other known human languages, not known to these men.

They didn't know how to speak those languages. But when the Holy Spirit came upon them, they did begin speaking in those other languages. A miraculous occurrence. You would have looked at these men and seen a miracle taking place with the speaking in tongues.

They were not speaking gibberish. And it's this passage right here that will be used by many oneness Pentecostals to say that you need to be baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus, not in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as talked about in Matthew 28, 19.

It's only in the name of Jesus. And to show that you have actually received the Holy Spirit, you need to come up from your baptism speaking in tongues. And they'll tell you, you have to speak in tongues.

If you don't speak in tongues, then you don't really have the Holy Spirit. But what they mean by speaking in tongues is speaking in this gibberish nonsense. So this is a verse that tends to be abused to talk about that.

But again, speaking in tongues in Acts is only ever about known human languages. And the manifestation of speaking in tongues is a clear and obvious miracle. So these men could see and know that the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

Paul knew it as well and any others who may have been observers to this occurrence. They begin speaking in tongues and prophesying. And it says in verse 7 that there were in all about 12 men. So these men coming to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ would have received the Holy Spirit.

But then Paul laying his hands upon them, they receive a gifting of the Spirit in a certain way that they might be ministers with him. Now, the statement that there were about 12 men, this could mean that there were more than 12 men.

So there were 12 core men that were with Paul, but then there may have been some others that were kind of part of this group, but may not have been of those specific persons that Paul was using and entrusting this missionary work to.

So 12 were receiving the missionary work. There may have been a few more disciples than that. We see the same thing with Jesus and his disciples. There were 12 core men, 12 men who were closest to Jesus, but there were many other disciples as well.

Remember Jesus sending out the 72, for example. So then this final portion here tells us about the work that Paul did, first of all, in the synagogue, and then in the rest of Ephesus and the surrounding region for the next two years.

After he entered the synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. So already we can deduce from verses 8 through 10 that Paul was there for at least two years and three months, though it was probably longer than that.

We're looking at a time span of about two and a half years that Paul is in Ephesus planting this church, preaching the gospel, making disciples of all who would hear and believe and be baptized. So he enters the synagogue, he speaks out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.

And since he's there for three months, that's a reason for us to believe he was at first persuasive to them. They enjoyed listening to him. They wanted to hear more. But when some were becoming hardened, then after enough time passes by, they're going, I don't believe what Paul is saying after all.

They were not believing. They were speaking evil of the way, referring to the faith in Jesus Christ. They were speaking evil of the way before the multitude. And so Paul left them just as we saw in the previous chapter in Corinth, when Paul shook out his garment and said, and said, your blood is on your own heads.

From now on, I'm going to the Gentiles. So he does the same thing here. He leaves those Jews who are rejecting him, and he takes the disciples reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. So he's speaking to, again, those who would have been like Greek and Roman philosophers.

He's coming into that area and he is sharing the gospel with them and making converts of the Gentiles. This, we also saw Paul do when he was in Athens. And then verse 10, this took place for two years so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks, widespread gospel sharing that was going on in Ephesus.

And this would have been the central base of operations for the apostle Paul. He probably didn't venture too far outside of Ephesus, but we know from the ministry that Paul did there, the churches in Colossae and Laodicea would also be later planted.

There was a guy by the name of Epaphras or Epaphroditus who came to Ephesus. He hears Paul share the gospel. He returns to his city of Colossae and shares the gospel with them. And the church in Colossae is planted.

And since Laodicea was very close by, missionaries go to there, share the gospel there. And a church in Laodicea is planted as well. So this was all coming out of that gospel work that Paul was doing in Ephesus, preaching the Lord Jesus Christ, he who died on the cross, rose again from the dead, and all who believe in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

Prayer for Holy Living and Gospel Witness

That's where we're gonna stop the lesson for today. And then we'll pick up with Paul's time in Ephesus tomorrow, reading this episode about the sons of Sceva. Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read here.

And I pray that these things remind us of the goodness of God that has been given to us in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your Holy Spirit is dwelling within us even now. So with your Holy Spirit within us, let us not commit this temple of the Holy Spirit that we are to doing sinful things, but walking in holiness, desiring to do that which is pleasing to God, demonstrating the very righteousness of Christ that we've been given by faith in him.

Thank you for your love and your grace to us daily and help us to show this love and grace to others, even sharing the gospel with those who have yet to believe. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Thank you for listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website, www .wutt .com, and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study When We Understand The Text.