And powerful deeds, quite out of the ordinary, God performed through Paul's hands. Handkerchiefs or aprons which he had touched were taken to those who were sick - diseases left such people and evil spirits came out. There were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who presumed to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, with these words, "I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." There were seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva who were involved. But the evil spirit had an answer for them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" And the man with the evil spirit leaped upon them, strong arming them and overpowering them all, so that they fled from out of that house naked and wounded. This became well known to all of Ephesus, Jews and Greeks; fear fell upon them all; the name of the Lord Jesus was held in respect. As well many who had become believers openly revealed their (magical) practices. And a number of those who had practiced magical arts brought their books and burned them so all could see; the estimated value came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. In this way the word of the Lord grew and prevailed mightily.
In a Nutshell
Paul continued to preach the word of God. Many involved in that city's commerce were strongly under the influence of magic and superstition. In time the preaching of the gospel brought about a change to that.
Questions
Think about what Luke is telling us about Paul's activities in the midst of all these powerful "out of the ordinary" events? Who was it that brought about the change? What was it that changed in the city?
Paul
turned away from the strife-torn synagogue. His daily routine was to teach in
Tyrannus Hall. He developed a curriculum for teaching Jews and Gentiles about
Christ Jesus the Lord in that Gentile-dominated context. Luke tells us that
this action proved to be very successful. For two years Paul kept on teaching.
The entire region heard that Jesus has brought God's mercy and refreshment to
the world. Luke tells us that the city was drawn into a profound spiritual
change; a deep-seated spiritual conflict breaks out in response to Paul's
message. His concerted teaching efforts reaped a wonderful harvest. Here, the
"downstream" impact is described with Paul portrayed in passive
terms. This teacher was but one actor in the fabric of Ephesian society. His
Tyrannus Hall lectures gained wide attention.
Paul
wrote sternly to the church at Corinth when they split into various factions -
some were barracking for Paul and others for Apollos. Paul wrote: What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you Corinthians
believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God
gave the growth. In this neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything,
but only God who gives the growth (I Cor 3:5-7).
In Ephesus these roles were reversed. Paul's work began with twelve disciples of John the Baptist taught by Apollos. And from this Acts passage we note that Luke is telling us that Paul meant what he wrote. He was not just trying to appear to be a humble sort of guy. He had been humbled. He did what he had been called to do and he knew that the results (what Luke has described for us) did not come about because of what he had done. He knew such "growth" could only come by God's own action. Paul said he was nothing. Or to put another way: in so far as Paul was anything it was because he was the Lord God's handiwork. That is the humbling reality. Luke didn't know everything about Paul and at times it seems he just didn't understand God's dealings with him. But he was convinced God had been pleased to use this humbled man so Ephesus could witness the mighty works of Christ Jesus.