What I Noticed Today (Acts 18-19)
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 from now on he would take the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Paul left there and went to the home of Titus Justus, a worshipper of God, whose home was next door to the synagogue. Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, 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 leader of the synagogue, and beat him, but Gallio did nothing.
Note: Gallio was appointed by the Roman senate as proconsul in early A.D. 51, so Paul must have appeared before him sometime 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 began to speak other languages and to 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, and this 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 and 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, there was a silversmith named Demetrius, who 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 comes 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.
