Paul’S Apostolic Meeting
PAUL’S APOSTOLIC MEETING
ACTS 19:8-20
Here we see the impact of the good news on a famous pagan city and the surrounding district.
Paul’s Ephesian ministry took on some features which are now familiar from our earlier readings. A ministry in the Jewish synagogue met with opposition and defamation (19:8-9), which obliged him to continue on neutral ground. The lecture-hall of Tyrannus is the new meeting-point, made available to Paul during the hot afternoon hours from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (a credible addition, supplied by the Western text, printed in RSV margin) when the room would be unused. The townspeople would then be enjoying their midday siesta, while Paul and his devoted followers met to present Christ’s claims to any who cared to come.
Paul gained some notoriety as a worker of miracles (19:11). This reputation induced some itinerant Jewish magicians to capitalize on his success, and to try their hand at using the name of Jesus as a formula of exorcism (19:13).
The spiritual power released by the apostolic ministry had other beneficial effects (19:18-20), with a notable display of the gospel’s effectiveness to counter and overcome false religion. No price was too high to obtain release from the tyranny of bad religion and crippling superstition which plagued the first-century world of Hellenistic people—and still grips modern humanity in spite of its technocracy and sophistication.
Notes 19:8: “the kingdom of God”: not a very common theme in the epistles, but we may refer to 1 Thessalonians 2:12; Romans 14:17, and Colossians 1:13. 19:9: “the Way,” as at 9:2, a name for the early believers who were committed to the way of life ruled by Jesus Christ. Tyrannus was evidently a professional lecturer who hired out his room during its unused hours. 19:9,11 tell us that he had a very full day! 19:12: these garments are described in trade terms and refer to items which Paul used in his manual work. 19:13: a surviving papyrus has a list of such exorcisms, including “I beseech you by Jesus the God of the Hebrews.” 19:14: possibly “high priest” was a pretentious claim Sceva made for himself, not to be taken too seriously.