Acts 17-19
What I Noticed Today (Acts 17-19)
Acts 17
In verses 1-4, Paul and Silas traveled from Philippi to Thessalonica.
Note: The journey from Philippi to Thessalonica was about 100 miles. They traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, which means they traveled on the Via Egnatia. The Via Egnatia was a Roman road built in the 2nd century B.C., about 700 miles long, running east-west connecting the northern provinces of the Roman Empire.
When they arrived, they taught the Good News in the synagogue for three weeks. Some people were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including some God-fearing Greeks and some leading women.
In verses 5-9, the Jews became jealous of Paul and brought a mob searching for Paul at Jason’s house. The mob claimed Paul was teaching against Caesar when they said Jesus was king. This stirred up the city officials, so they took a bond from Jason and released them.
Note: The bond was likely required to ensure Paul and Silas would leave town and not return. If they returned, Jason would lose his bond money.
In verses 16-15, when it was night, Paul and Silas left for Berea. As usual, Paul taught in the synagogue. The people welcomed them and searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was true. A number of them believed, including a number of prominent Greek men and women.
But when the Jews in Thessalonica heard about Paul’s work in Berea, they sent men to agitate the crowds. The brothers immediately sent Paul away, but Silas and Timothy remained. Paul went as far as Athens and then sent word for Silas and Timothy to join him.
Note: Berea was about 46 miles southwest of Thessalonica on the way to Achaia (Corinth, southern Greece).
In verses 16-21, while Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to arrive, he taught in the synagogue and the marketplace. He noted the city was full of idols. Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers argued with him, saying he was a pseudo (false) intellectual. But they were intrigued by Paul’s teaching and brought him to the Areopagus to teach there to the assembled crowd of Athenians and foreigners.
Note: The marketplace is known as the agora. The Epicureans followed Epicurious, who believed the purpose of man was pleasure and happiness. They believed that if God did exist, He did not involve himself in human events.
Note: The Areopagus means “Hill of Ares” and was the official meeting place of the Council of Areopagus, which was the supreme legislative body in Athens.
In verses 22-34, Paul delivered a defense of his teaching and a sermon in three parts:
- Introduction (vv. 22-23). He mentions they are very religious; they even have an altar to the unknown God.
- The Unknown God (vv. 24-29. He proclaimed the unknown God is the God of heaven and earth who made everything.
- The God of Heaven and Earth (vv. 30-31). God now commands people everywhere to repent because judgment is coming. As proof, He was resurrected.
Some began to ridicule him when they heard about the resurrection, but others wanted to hear more. Paul left them, but some joined him and believed, including Dionysius, the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris.
Note: Dionysius was a member of the Areopagite Council. Damaris may also have been particularly influential since Luke mentioned her by name.
Note: Paul’s efforts in Athens were not as successful as in other cities because there is no formation of a church.
Acts 18
In verses 1-4, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
Note: Corinth is just south of Athens, and because of its harbor was a center of trade around the Mediterranean Sea.
Paul met Aquila, a native of Pontus, and his wife, Priscilla. They had just left Italy because Claudius (the emperor) had ordered all the Jews out of Rome. He stayed with them and worked as they were both tent-makers.
Note: The reference to tent-makers refers to people who worked in leather, not just as a maker of tents.
In verses 5-8, Paul preached in the synagogue every Sabbath. When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was preaching Jesus as the Messiah. But the Jews rejected him, so Paul said he would take the Gospel to the Gentiles from now on.
Paul left there and went to the home of Titus Justus, a worshipper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord, as did his family and a number of others who were baptized.
Note: Paul’s statement in verse 6 is not meant to imply that no Jews believed and accepted his message of the Gospel. As verses 7-8 indicate, Titus, Crispus, and others believed and were baptized.
In verses 9-17, a vision came to Paul in the night from the Lord reassuring him that he needed to keep preaching the Gospel because there were many who would believe. God promised He would protect Paul. So Paul stayed 18 months in Corinth, teaching the Word of God.
When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack against Paul, claiming that he was teaching contrary to God’s Law. Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio rejected their plea saying he did not want to engage in matters of the Jewish religion. The crowd seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him, but Gallio did nothing.
Note: The Roman senate appointed Gallio as proconsul in early A.D. 51, so Paul must have appeared before him some time later that year.
In verses 18-22, Paul left Corinth and sailed for Syria taking Priscilla and Aquila with him. When they reached Ephesus, he left Priscilla and Aquila there but went to the synagogue. The Jews asked him to stay and teach more, but he declined, saying he would return if the Lord wills it.
Paul left Ephesus, sailed to Caesarea, went up to greet the church, and went down to Antioch.
Note: The “church” that Paul greeted after landing in Caesarea must have been the church in Jerusalem because Luke says he went up to it, and Jerusalem is higher in elevation than Caesarea. Then he went down to Antioch, which is lower in elevation.
Note: Caesarea is a seaport close to Jerusalem.
Note: Paul’s arrival in Antioch marks the end of his second missionary journey.
In verses 23-28, After spending some time there, he left and went to strengthen the brothers in Galatia and Phrygia.
Note: Verse 23 marks the beginning of Paul’s third missionary journey.
A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He spoke powerfully about the Lord but knew only of John’s baptism. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him speak in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the Gospel more fully.
Apollos went to Achaia with the blessing of the brothers in Ephesus and vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through scripture that Jesus was the Messiah.
Note: Achaia is Corinth (see Acts 19:1).
Acts 19
In verses 1-7, While Apollos was in Ephesus, Paul arrived and asked some disciples if they had received the Holy Spirit when they believed. They had not heard of the Holy Spirit because they were baptized with John’s baptism. Paul explained John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance; they needed to believe in Jesus and receive His baptism. When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of Jesus. Paul laid hands on them and prayed; they received the Holy Spirit and spoke other languages and prophesy.
Note: This is the only recorded instance in the scripture where someone received a second baptism.
Note: The word translated “languages” is also translated “tongues.” The Greek word used there is glossais and can mean either an excited utterance or a language learned unnaturally.
In verses 8-10, as was his habit, Paul entered the synagogue and taught. He taught for about three months, but some became hardened and slandered the Way, so Paul withdrew from them and taught the disciples every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Paul continued teaching for two years, so all the people of the province of Asia heard about the Lord.
Note: The “Way” is a reference to those following Jesus.
Note: The province of Asia was the west coast of what is Turkey today.
In verses 11-12, God was performing miracles through Paul such that even facecloths and aprons that touched him healed the sick and exorcised demons.
In verses 13-20, some Jewish exorcists, the seven sons of Sceva, the chief priest, attempted to cast out demons by proclaiming the name of Jesus, whom Paul teaches. The demons said we know Jesus and we know Paul, but who are you? The man with the evil spirit leaped on them, and they ran out naked, which became known all over Ephesus.
People were afraid, and the name of the Lord was magnified. Many believers came forward and confessed their bad practices in magic. They collected their magic books and burned them. The value of the books was 50,000 pieces of silver.
In verses 21-41, Luke records the riot that occurred in Ephesus.
In verses 21-22, Paul decided through the Holy Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia, go to Jerusalem, and then on to Rome. He sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia while he stayed a while longer in Corinth (Asia).
In verses 23-41, a silversmith named Demetrius made his living making silver shrines of Artemis.
Note: Artemis was an Ephesian goddess, the daughter of Zeus. She was the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, and virginity. The Roman equivalent of Artemis is the goddess Diana.
Demetrius gathered other silver workers complaining that Paul was hurting their business because he preached about a God not made by hands. Not only that, but his preaching might discredit the goddess Artemis, and her reputation come to ruin.
When they heard this, they grabbed Paul’s companions Gaius and Aristarchus and took them to the amphitheater. Paul wanted to speak, but the disciples held him back.
Note: The amphitheater in Ephesus was capable of seating 25,000 people.
Most of the people didn’t even know why they were there. The Jews who believed only in God pushed Alexander forward to speak, but when the crowd realized he was a Jew, they shouted for two hours, “great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
The city clerk calmed the crowd down by saying everyone knows Artemis is the protector of the Ephesians. Therefore, if Demetrius and his group had some claim against Paul and his companions, they should bring a case before the courts and let the proconsul decide.
He warned them that they ran the risk of being charged with rioting since there was no justification for this gathering.
Note: The concern of the city clerk is they could not justify to Rome this public assembly, and he did not want to risk Rome punishing them for their riotous behavior.
Some thoughts for further consideration:
- While the Jews in Thessalonica rejected Paul, the Jews in Berea studied the scriptures daily and believed. People are much the same today. Some will reject the Good News out of hand, but others will accept the Word based on their study of the Scripture.
- The people of Ephesus confirmed their faith in God when they learned more from Paul. Believers confessed their sin and removed what was sinful in their lives, and as a result, the Gospel flourished.
What did you notice in your study today? Feel free to visit the website and leave a question or a comment.