Acts 19
CHAPTER 19
Rebaptizing some of John the Baptist’s converts
And it came to pass, that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus and found some disciples. 2 And he said to them: Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? And they said to him: No. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. 3 And he said: Into what then were you baptized? And they said: Into John's baptism. 4 And Paul said: John baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe in him that should come after him, that is, on Jesus. 5 And when they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. 7 And they were in all about twelve men.
Paul preaches at Ephesus
8 And he entered into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space of three months, reasoning and persuading as to the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the crowd, he departed from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this continued for the space of two years, so that all those who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles. 11 And God did special miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and their mental illnesses were cured.
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had manic illnesses, saying: I command you in the name of Jesus, whom Paul proclaims. 14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, a chief priest, who did this. 15 And the maniac answered and said to them: Jesus I know and Paul I know, but who are you? 16 Then the man who had the mania jumped on them and subdued and overpowered all of them, so they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all that dwelt at Ephesus, both Jews and Gentiles; and fear fell upon them all. And the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 Many also of those that had believed came, confessing and declaring their sinful deeds. 19 And not a few of those that practised magical arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
21 When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the Spirit to go up to Jerusalem after he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, saying: After I have been there, I must also see Rome. 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of those that assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he stayed in Asia for a while.
23 And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way. 24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Diana, brought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 He gathered them together, with the workmen of similar occupation, and said: Sirs, you know that by this business we have our wealth, 26 and you see and hear, that not only at Ephesus but throughout most of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and led astray many people, saying that they are no gods that are made with hands. 27 And not only is there a danger that this our trade will come into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana will be made of no account, and that she whom all Asia and the world worships should even be deposed from her magnificence.
28 And when they heard this, they were filled with anger and cried out, saying: Great is Diana of Ephesus! 29 And the city was filled with confusion; and they rushed with one accord into the theatre, having seized Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And some also of the Asiarchs, being his friends, sent word to him, pleading that he not venture into the theatre. 32 Therefore, some cried one thing and some another. For the assembly was in confusion and most did not know why they had come together. 33 And they brought Alexander out of the crowd, the Jews putting him forward; and Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made a defence to the people; 34 but when they perceived that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out: Great is Diana of the Ephesians!
35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said: You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple-keeper of the great Diana and of the image which fell down from Jupiter? 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought here these men, who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 Therefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen that are with him have a matter against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them accuse one another. 39 But if you seek anything about other matters, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion. 41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Commentary
19:5 This could be used as an example of re-baptism. But the people who had been baptized by John were baptized before Jesus had died and resurrected- Christian baptism is into the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the command to be baptized was only given by Jesus after His resurrection. Re-baptism must be a personal choice. If we were baptized by sprinkling or as an infant, then that’s not real baptism. Re-baptism after we more accurately understand the things about Jesus is a very personal decision.
19:18 Those that had believed- After seeing what happened to the sons of Sceva, it would appear that some who had ‘believed’ went up to a higher level of commitment. This would seem to imply that despite having ‘believed’, perhaps with the same level of shallow conviction as some ‘believed’ in the teaching of Jesus during His ministry, their faith wasn’t so deep. They were taken up to an altogether higher level of commitment, resulting in ‘confessing and declaring’, and quitting their involvement with magic. There are levels up the ladder of faith and commitment. The language here seems to be intended to connect with the description of baptism in Mt. 3:6, where converts confessed and shewed their deeds at baptism. The way the Ephesians made their statement "before all men" again recalls the concept of baptism as a public declaration. Yet the Ephesians did all this after they had believed. It would seem that we are being invited to consider this as a re-conversion; and we can all go through such a process.
19:21 Paul had great spiritual ambition; he was determined to take the Gospel as far as he could, even to Rome. Within the limitations of our lives and situations, we can have the same spirit.
19:23 Christianity was called “the Way” because it is a way of life in practice; but there is also an allusion to how the Angel-cherubim keep the way to the tree of life (Gen. 3:24). Our life in Christ is a walking along the “way” to eternal life, watched over by the Angels.
