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Scripture Reading: Acts 18:23-28; 19:1-20
In 18:19-21 Paul made a short visit to the strategic city of Ephesus. When he took leave of them he said, “I will come back to you again, God willing” (v. 21). As we shall see, on his third ministry journey (18:23—21:17), Paul returned to Ephesus and stayed there for three years (18:24—19:41).
Acts 18:23 says, “And having spent some time there, he went off, passing through the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, establishing all the disciples.” This was the start of Paul’s third ministry journey, which ended in 21:17.
Acts 18:24-25 say, “And a certain Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent man, arrived at Ephesus, and he was powerful in the Scriptures. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, knowing only the baptism of John.” In verse 25 “the way of the Lord” is not the doctrine concerning the Lord, but the practical way in which the New Testament believers should walk.
According to 18:25, Apollos knew only the baptism of John. This indicates that Apollos did not have a complete revelation of God’s New Testament economy, although he was instructed in the way of the Lord. Hence, there was a deficiency in the result of his ministry (19:2).
Verse 26 continues, “And this man began to speak boldly in the synagogue. And when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him to themselves and expounded the way of God to him more accurately.” In Acts “the way” (9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22) denotes the Lord’s full salvation in God’s New Testament economy. It is the way God dispenses Himself into the believers through Christ’s redemption and the Spirit’s anointing; it is the way the believers partake of God and enjoy God; it is the way the believers worship God in their spirit by enjoying Him and follow the persecuted Jesus by being one with Him; and it is the way the believers are brought into the church and built up into the Body of Christ to bear the testimony of Jesus.
Acts 18:27-28 go on to say, “And when he intended to pass through into Achaia, the brothers wrote, urging the disciples to welcome him; and when he arrived, he helped much through grace those who had believed; for he vigorously confuted the Jews publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.” Literally, the Greek words rendered “grace” in verse 27 mean “the grace,” indicating the particular grace which Apollos enjoyed in the Lord. This grace is just God Himself in Christ as the portion to the believers in Christ. As we have pointed out elsewhere, this grace is the resurrected Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) to bring the processed God in resurrection into us to be our life and life supply so that we may live in resurrection. Therefore, grace is the Triune God becoming life and everything to us.
We can see from the record in Acts 18 that Apollos was very good. Not only was he pious and godly like Gamaliel; he also knew the way of the Lord. However, although Apollos knew the Lord’s way, he did not know God’s economy in full. This lack of knowledge is indicated by the fact that he knew only the baptism of John. Of course, John the Baptist testified to the Lord, and Apollos received the Lord and knew the way of the Lord to a certain extent. The Lord’s New Testament way had been in practice for many years, but Apollos did not know God’s economy further than the ministry of John the Baptist. Apollos was very knowledgeable in the Scriptures and was regarded as a great teacher, yet in his knowledge of the Lord’s move he had not gone further than the ministry of John the Baptist.
There is a lesson for us to learn from the case of Apollos in Acts 18. We may think that we are in the way of the Lord, but we may not actually be up-to-date with the Lord’s move. We may not have the vision concerning His present move on earth. Apollos was good, scriptural, and powerful in expounding the Word, yet he was backward concerning the Lord’s move. This is the situation among many Christians today. They love the Lord and they know the Scriptures to some extent, but they are not up-to-date in the Lord’s move. During my Christian life I have met a number of saints like this. These saints did not realize that the Lord had gone on further in His move. Their vision fell short of the Lord’s move.
As we consider the case of Apollos, we all need to humble ourselves and empty our spirit. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens” (Matt. 5:3). To be poor in spirit is not only to be humble but also to be emptied in our spirit, emptied in the depths of our being. Many of the Jewish leaders knew of God’s move in the Old Testament, but they did not see that God intended to have a new start for His New Testament economy. These religious leaders were full in their spirit. Therefore, the Lord Jesus pointed out that we all need to be poor in our spirit. We need to be poor in spirit so that we may see the Lord’s up-to-date move.
If we read through the Bible carefully, we shall see that from the time of Genesis 4 onward the Lord has been moving step by step. He moved in a particular way at the time of Enosh and Enoch; in another way at the time of Noah; and in still other ways at the time of Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and Zechariah. The Lord had a further move through John the Baptist.
Because the Lord is always advancing in His move, we should not be content with where we are. Instead, we should humble ourselves and be unloaded of anything that is filling our spirit so that our spirit may be able to receive something new concerning the Lord’s move.
Acts 19:1 and 2 say, “Now it came about that while Apollos was in Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper districts, came to Ephesus and found some disciples, and said to them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him, No, we have not even heard if there is a Holy Spirit.” Here we see the deficiency in the result of Apollos’ ministry, which lacked a complete revelation of God’s New Testament economy. Although Apollos was very good, there was a deficiency in the result of his ministry, and this caused a problem. Therefore, when Paul came to Ephesus, it was necessary for him to fill up the deficiency in the ministry of Apollos.
We need to learn from the situation in 19:1-7 that we may not be complete in our ministry, and this lack may cause a deficiency that will need to be filled up by others. However, before that deficiency can be filled up, trouble may be caused by our imperfect ministry. Because this may be the case with us in our ministry, we need to humble ourselves and pray that no ground will be given to the enemy to come in to damage the church life.
In 19:3-7 we see that the deficiency was filled up through Paul. In verse 3 he asked the disciples in Ephesus, “Into what then were you baptized? And they said, Into John’s baptism.” This is the last mention of John the Baptist in the New Testament. “Here at last, he wholly gives place to Christ” (Bengel). There was in John’s disciples a thought of rivalry between John and Christ (John 3:26). John’s ministry was to introduce Christ (Acts 19:4). Once Christ had been introduced, John’s ministry should have ceased and been replaced by Christ. He must decrease and Christ must increase (John 3:30).
In Acts 19:4 Paul said to those in Ephesus, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the One coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” Here the Greek word translated “in” literally means “into.”
When the disciples heard Paul’s word, “they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 5). To be baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), or into the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), is to be baptized into a spiritual union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. The name denotes the person. To be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus is to be baptized into the Person of the Lord, to be identified with the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, to be put into an organic union with the living Lord.
Acts 19:6 and 7 say, “And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. And there were in all about twelve men.” Through the laying on of hands, Paul identified these disciples with the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit honored this and came upon them, signifying their identification with the Body. The case of these twelve believers in Ephesus, like the cases of the Samaritan believers and Saul of Tarsus was extraordinary, needing a member of the Body of Christ to identify them with the Body by the laying on of hands.
According to 19:6, the Holy Spirit came upon these disciples in Ephesus. The word “upon” here is economically different from the essential “in” in John 14:17. “In” is related to the intrinsic essence for life; “upon” is related to the outward element for power. Here the Ephesian believers received the Holy Spirit outwardly.
When the Holy Spirit came upon them, “they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (v. 6). This indicates that speaking in tongues was not the unique issue of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, because prophesying was also one of its issues in this case, as magnifying God was also one of its issues in the case of those in the household of Cornelius (10:44-46). Hence, speaking in tongues is not the only evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, neither is it the necessary evidence, because there is at least one case of the receiving of the Holy Spirit economically, the case of the Samaritan believers (8:15-17), which does not mention speaking in tongues.
In 19:8-20 we have a record of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus and its fruits. According to the book of Acts, Paul did more work in Ephesus than in any other place.
Acts 19:8 says, “And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them concerning the kingdom of God.” As usual, Paul’s purpose in going to the synagogue was to take advantage of the gathering to announce the word of God, to grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel. For three months Paul spoke boldly in the synagogue concerning the kingdom of God. It was sovereign of the Lord that an environment was arranged in the synagogue where Paul could minister for three months. To be sure, his ministry was not only a matter of preaching but also of teaching. For the most part, Paul spoke to Jews, but some Greeks may also have been present. Some of those in the synagogue eventually became members of the church in Ephesus.
In verse 8 we are told specifically that Paul reasoned and persuaded those in the synagogue concerning the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the main subject of the apostles’ preaching in their commission after Pentecost (1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 20:25; 28:23, 31). The kingdom of God is not a material kingdom visible to human sight; rather, it is a kingdom of the divine life. It is the spreading of Christ as life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life.
Acts 19:9 goes on to say, “But when some were hardened and disobeyed, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.” The Latin name “Tyrannus” comes from Greek. Tyrannus might have been a teacher, and Paul might have rented his school and used it as a meeting hall, apart from the Jews’ synagogue, to preach and teach the word of the Lord to both Jews and Greeks for two years (v. 10).
When the dissenting Jews spoke evil of the way of the Lord, Paul pulled all the believers out of the synagogue and then met in the school of Tyrannus for two years, “so that all those dwelling in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (v. 10). Here we have another pattern for us to follow today. At the beginning of his ministry, especially during his first journey of ministry, Paul did not stay very long in any particular place. But now, during his third ministry journey, he remained in Ephesus a much longer time. First he reasoned in the synagogue for three months. Then he met in the school of Tyrannus for two years. Acts 20:31 indicates that Paul was in Ephesus for three years. This may have been the reason that Paul could write the Epistle to the Ephesians and address it to this church. The church in Ephesus was the church that had received the most spiritual education from Paul, since he stayed there longer than in any other place. During his three years in Ephesus, Paul was able to accomplish much in his spiritual ministry.
We need to learn from Paul’s three-year stay in Ephesus that sometimes we also may need to remain in a strategic place for the Lord’s interest. Ephesus was a strategic city in Asia Minor. For this reason, the apostle Paul stayed there for a long time in order to establish a strong testimony for the Lord.
The Lord honored Paul’s stay in Ephesus and used him greatly. His ministry was prevailing, and many miracles were performed (vv. 11-17).
Acts 19:18 says, “And many of those who believed came, confessing and making known their practices.” Here “confessing and making known” denote the fullest and most open confession. The Greek word translated “practices” also has the technical meaning of magic spells, and that may be the meaning here.
According to 19:19, spontaneously “a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” The purpose of this burning was to clear up their sinful and demonic life in the past. The price of the books burned was fifty thousand pieces of silver. Since each piece of silver approximated a day’s wage, we can see that these books were worth a great deal of money. Nevertheless, they were publicly burned.
Acts 19:20 concludes, “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and was strong.” This verse can also be translated, “So by the might of the Lord the word grew and was strong.”
