The seven sons of Sceva 19:13-20The following incident throws more light on the spiritual darkness that enveloped Ephesus as well as the power of Jesus Christ and the gospel to dispel it. It also presents Paul as not only a powerful speaker (Acts 19:8-12) but also a powerful miracle worker. read more
Some people in ancient times believed that the power of sorcerers’ rites and incantations lay in their secrecy, as noted above. Magical secrets supposedly lost their power when they were made public. The fact that the converted Ephesian magicians disclosed these shows the genuineness of their repentance. Likewise the burning of books symbolizes the public and irreversible repudiation of their contents. Luke did not describe the silver coin to which he referred in enough detail to determine its... read more
Ephesus1-41. Paul at Ephesus. Opposition of the manufacturers of idols. St. Paul, leaving Antioch in S. Galatia (see Acts 18:23), approached Ephesus not by the usual level route leading through Colossæ and Laodicea (see Colossians 2:1), but through the northern and more mountainous route leading down the Cayster valley (see Acts 19:1, ’the upper coasts,’ RV ’the upper country’). He stayed at Ephesus over two years and three months, see Acts 19:8, Acts 19:10, Acts 19:22 (in Acts 20:31 the... read more
(19) Many of them also which used curious arts . . .—The Greek word expresses the idea of superstitious arts, overbusy with the supposed secrets of the invisible world. These arts were almost, so to speak, the specialité of Ephesus. Magicians and astrologers swarmed in her streets (comp. the reference to them as analogous to the magicians at the court of Pharaoh in 2 Timothy 3:8), and there was a brisk trade in the charms, incantations, books of divination, rules for interpreting dreams, and... read more
There Is a Holy Ghost (For Whit-Sunday) Acts 19:1-2 This singular incident is remarkable as showing that in the apostolical age, as now, there were persons and bodies of persons in possession of fragments of revealed truth, yet altogether strangers to some of its most essential features. I. Real belief in the Holy Ghost implies an habitual sense of the reality of a spiritual and super-sensuous world. If any one thing is certain about Christianity, it is that Christianity is an appeal from the... read more
CHAPTER 19 1. The second visit of Paul to Ephesus. The twelve disciples of John (Acts 19:1-7 ). 2. The Apostle’s continued labors. The separation of the disciples. The Province Asia evangelized (Acts 19:8-10 ). 3. The Power of God and the Power of Satan (Acts 19:11-20 ). 4. Paul plans to go to Jerusalem and to visit Rome (Acts 19:21-22 ). 5. The opposition and riot at Ephesus (Acts 19:23-41 ). The disciples whom Paul found at Ephesus were disciples of John. The question the Apostle asked... read more
19:19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all [men]: and they counted the price of them, and found [it] {i} fifty thousand [pieces] of silver.(i) Those that give the lowest estimate, reckon it to be about eight hundred pounds English. read more
Paul returned to Ephesus, as he had promised. Of course there was an assembly there already, as chapter 18:27 intimates; but he found certain disciples who, at his questioning, tell him they had not even heard that the Holy Spirit had come. They had been baptized, but only with John's baptism. Therefore they were Jewish, of course. No doubt they had believed John's message that announced the Messiah as coming after him, but they had not been baptized to the name of the Lord Jesus. This shows... read more
THIRD JOURNEY As in the last lesson, it is recommended that the text of the present one be read through at a single sitting, and two or three times if possible, before considering the comments, which then will be more valuable. Some time had been spent again in Antioch, after which the whole territory of Phrygia and Galatia, in Asia minor, was once more traversed for the purpose indicated in 18:23. Ephesus was duly reached (Acts 19:1 ), where Paul found a condition of things explained by the... read more
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Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Acts 19:6-20
C. The extension of the church to the Aegean shores 16:6-19:20The missionary outreach narrated in this section of the book took place in major cities along the Aegean coastline that major Roman roads connected. read more