Ministry in Ephesus
TRANSLATION
(1) While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples (2) and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered him, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” (3) Then he asked, “What baptism did you receive?” They responded, “John’s baptism.” (4) Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe on the one who was coming after him, that is, on Jesus.” (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit filled them, and they began speaking tongues and prophesying. (7) These were about twelve men in all.
(8) Paul entered the synagogue and taught boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the Kingdom of God. (9) Some resisted, refusing to believe, and spoke maliciously about the Way to the congregation. He left them and took the disciples with him. He held discussions daily in the school of Tyrannus, (10) continuing there for two years. As a result, everyone who lived in the province of Asia heard the Word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
(11) God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, (12) so that when handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were carried to the sick, their diseases left them and evil spirits departed from them. (13) Some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried invoking the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits saying, “I command you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” (14) Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were attempting this. (15) One day the evil spirit responded to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” (16) And the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. (17) When this became known to everyone in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. (18) Many believers came forward, openly confessing their sins. (19) Those who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls and burned them in public. When they had totaled up the value, they found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. (20) So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and grow in power.
OBSERVATIONS
Having established a thriving church in Corinth, Paul left after eighteen months to carry the Gospel to other unevangelized areas including Ephesus. There he stayed for an eventful and productive two years. Luke’s account contained several repetitions that help us determine this segment’s message. Repeated proper names included “Paul” (six times in vss. 1, 4, 6, 11, 13, & 15), “Ephesus” (vss. 1 & 17), “Holy Spirit” (three times in vss. 2 & 6), “John” (vss. 3 & 4), “Jesus” six times, three times alone and three times linked to the word, “Lord,” (in vss. 4, 5, 13, 14, & 17). Other repeated words included “disciples” (vss. 1 & 9), “believe/believed/believers” (vss. 2, 4, & 18), “bapized/baptism (vss. 3, 4, & 5), “evil spirit(s)” (vss. 12, 13, 15, & 16), and “all/everyone” (vss. 16 & 17).
OUTLINE
I. Paul introduced the Holy Spirit’s ministry to believers already gathered in Ephesus. (1-7)
II. As in Corinth, Paul in Ephesus first proclaimed the Gospel in the synagogue and then shifted his focus to the Gentiles after the Jews had rejected his message. (8-10)
III. The miracles of healing and deliverance God enabled Paul to perform generated a great spiritual revival among the believers in Ephesus. (11-20)
IDEA STATEMENT
During Paul’s extended stay in Ephesus, God’s power was on display in many miracles and in the transformed lives of those who were added to the church.
APPLICATION
Many consider Paul’s time in Ephesus to be the highlight of his earthly ministry. For those two years, his preaching and teaching were so energized by the power of the Holy Spirit that many were physically healed while others abandoned their sinful ways and pursued lives of commitment to Christ. Among the highlights that Luke recorded were the many healings that took place through the items of fabric that had touched Paul’s skin, the demonic backlash that occurred when the sons of Sceva rashly attempted an exorcism in Jesus’ name, and the burning of the valuable scrolls of sorcery that were gathered from those who had repented of their idolatries.
We should note that these verses included the final reference in Acts to the Holy Spirit being given to those who had already trusted Christ as Savior (vs. 5). Normally, the baptism of the Holy Spirit takes place at the moment a person believes the Good News (1 Cor. 12:13). However, in a couple instances Luke recorded that the Spirit was given after the new birth had taken place. In Acts 10 & 11, the Spirit visibly came upon the members of Cornelius’ household to indicate to everyone present that Gentiles were to be included along with Jews in the church (Acts 10:44 & 45 and Acts 11:15-18). In this chapter, the Holy Spirit was likewise given to believers who had been disciples of John to indicate that they had now become part of the church (vs. 6).