Paul Goes Back to Ephesus
1While Apollos visited the city of Corinth, Paul went to the city of Ephesus. [1] Paul traveled through the hill country [2] until he finally arrived in Ephesus and met some of the believers there. [3] 2He asked them, “Did the Holy Spirit come to you when you decided to put your trust in Jesus?”“Holy Spirit?” they said. “What’s a Holy Spirit? No one told us there’s a Holy Spirit.”
3Paul said, “What in the world kind of baptism did you get?”
They said, “The kind John the Baptist gave. We got wet.”
4“That’s not enough now,” Paul said. “To qualify for John’s baptism, you had to commit to living a godly life and saying no to sin. But John himself said we were to follow another spiritual leader who would come next. He was talking about Jesus.” 5When they heard this, they got themselves baptized again—this time invoking the name of Jesus. [4] 6When Paul placed his hands on the people in this group, the Holy Spirit came to them. They spoke in other languages. [5] They prophesied too. 7There were about a dozen men in this group.
Paul, Two Years a Guest Speaker
8Paul taught in the Ephesus synagogue for three months. He spoke with confidence, talking with the people and persuading them to believe what he had to say about God’s spiritual kingdom. 9Some Jews got plain ol’ stubborn on him. They weren’t going to believe him no matter what he said. Period. Right out in public they started saying nasty things about this religious movement called the Way. [6] So Paul left the synagogue. He took the believers with him. He started teaching people each day at the Tyrannus Learning Center. [7] 10Paul taught there for two years. Words he spoke about the Lord got picked up, carried, and quoted to Jews and non-Jews all over the Roman province of Asia. [8]Paul’s Miracle Handkerchiefs
11God gave Paul the power to do some pretty unusual miracles. 12When Paul touched a piece of cloth, like a handkerchief or an apron, [9] it had the power to heal. It cured the sick of diseases. It exorcized demons from the demon-possessed.13A group of exorcist Jews arrived in town. They had been traveling around, trying to drive demons out of people. In Ephesus, they tried to do that by invoking the name of Jesus like it was a magical word: “Come out! We command it, using the name Paul uses: ‘Jesus.’” [10] 14The Jews doing this were the seven sons of Sceva, one of the top Jewish priests.
15A demon answered the men: “I know Jesus. I recognize Paul. Who are you?” 16Then the demon-possessed man charged into the group. He tore them up—all seven of them. They ran out of the house, beat up and naked.
17Everyone in town heard about it, Jews and non-Jews alike. It scared people. But it also got more folks treating Jesus with respect. 18Many of the new believers felt compelled to confess their sins by describing them. 19Some of the new believers had practiced magic. They brought their magical how-to books and burned them in public, for everyone to see. Someone tallied up the cost of those books: 50,000 pieces of silver. [11] 20Paul’s message about Jesus spread all over, and people took it seriously.
21Paul felt that God’s Spirit wanted him to move on and head up to Macedonia and Achaia [12] and then back to Jerusalem. He said, “After Jerusalem, I have to go see Rome.” 22He sent two advance men to Macedonia: Timothy and Erastus. [13] But he stayed a bit longer in the province of Asia.
Paul Sparks a Riot in Ephesus
23While he was still there, the Christian movement known as the Way got swept up into a huge problem in the city. 24A silversmith named Demetrius owned a business in town that produced silver idols of the city’s patron goddess, Artemis. [14] His business produced a lot of money for local artisans. 25He called a meeting of all the people in his business network, including those in affiliated trades. [15] He gave a speech: “Gentlemen, I don’t need to tell you that we make a lot of money from this business of ours. 26You also know that a guy named Paul has convinced huge numbers of people in Ephesus and all over the province of Asia to stop worshiping our gods. He has convinced these people that gods we make with our human hands are no gods at all. 27Think of it. This man is disrespecting our entire industry and convincing others to disrespect it as well. We’re all at risk of losing the respect we’ve enjoyed. So is our great goddess Artemis. She’s not going to seem so great anymore. Not here. Not in Asia. Not anywhere in the world that has honored her magnificence.”28Business associates who heard this got mad fast. They started to chant, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!” 29They turned the city into an uproar as they grew into a mob and ran through the streets. They rounded up two of Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia: Gaius and Aristarchus. They carried the men off to the amphitheater. [16]
30When Paul found out what was going on, he wanted to go there. But the believers wouldn’t let him. 31Paul had some friends among the Asia officials. They concurred. They rushed a message to him, pleading with him not to go to the theater.
32The scene at the theater was absolute chaos. People were screaming all kinds of things. Most of the people had no idea what was going on. 33Some Jews prodded one of their representatives to address the crowd, a man named Alexander. He tried to silence the mob by using hand gestures, so he could defend the Jews. [17] 34As soon as the crowd realized he was a Jew, they shouted him down. For two hours they chanted, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”
