Sunday: Paul, Evangelist to Ephesus
What does Paul do on his first visit to Ephesus, at the end of his second missionary journey? (Acts 18:18-21).
Ephesus was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, with a population of about 250,000. It was the capital of one of the Empire’s richest provinces, the province of Asia, which covered much of what we know today as Asia Minor. In Paul’s day, the province was enjoying a time of growth and prosperity.
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A port city, Ephesus was also at the crossroads of important land routes. While the people worshiped many deities in the city, Artemis, regarded as the protector goddess of the city, was supreme. Her worship was the focus of civic ceremonies, athletic games, and annual celebrations. (Artemis was called Diana by the Romans; see Acts 19:24, Acts 19:35, KJV; NKJV).
Paul later returns to Ephesus on his third missionary journey (Acts 19:1-12), and remains there “for three years” (Acts 20:31). The apostle makes a significant time commitment to Ephesus, with the intention of firmly founding Christianity there.
What strange event leads to widespread reverence for “the Lord Jesus” in Ephesus? (Acts 19:13-20).
Luke shares the strange story of seven itinerant, Jewish exorcists in the city. Mingling the names of both Jesus and Paul in their incantations proves to be a misguided venture for these exorcists. When the news flashes through the streets of the city, “everyone was awestruck; and the name of the Lord Jesus was praised” (Acts 19:17, NRSV). The event also had a profound impact on some of those who had already become believers, who publicly burned their expensive handbooks of magic arts, worth “fifty thousand silver coins” (Acts 19:19, NRSV). With the wider residents of the city, believers learn that the worship of Jesus must not be diluted with the worship of anything or anyone else.
| What did the burning of their own books signify, even at such an expense to themselves? What does that say about a total commitment to the Lord? |
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While modern scholarship puts the population of Ephesus at around 70,000 people (Price, 2011; Hanson, 2011) it was still one of the largest cities in the ancient world. Nowadays, we take for granted services like water supply and sewerage and sometimes forget that in ancient times cities had fairly sophisticated engineering to provide these services. This was no mean feat because they did not have electrical pumps and had to rely on gravity. I sometimes watch archeological programs where they discuss ancient engineering and I take my hat off to their ingenuity and inventiveness.
I mention this because Ephesus was not an unsophisticated backwater. It was a highly sophisticated city that valued education, commerce, entertainment, and culture. Paul was bringing to it an upstart religion that looked a bit like a Jewish cult. There was already a fairly big Jewish population in the city. And right from the start, he had issues with differentiating his message from Judaism and opportunistic "look-a-likes".
I am writing this bit a week late so most of you will probably not read this, but I wanted to give a bit of background about the value of the magic books that were burned.
Firstly you need to understand that in New Testament times a book was something of considerable value. You did not just go down to the corner bookstore and browse the shelves and buy the latest book on a whim. You had to order the book and have it hand-craftedof. I found out that a hand-crafted Torah today would take about a year to make and cost somewhere between $80-$100,000. It seems reasonable to assume that the 50,000 silver coins were silver drachma, and a drachma was about a day’s wages. Thus the 50,000 coins represent about 135 years of labour. That could mean 135 “Torah-sized” books or a lot of smaller books.
Now I admit that I have made some conservative assumptions in these calculations, but it gives a reasonably realistic understanding of what was involved in this book-burning event.
When you possess items which were causing you to sin,or something which is inconsistent with your life as a Christian,and you repent,you are not to give them to others as they will cause them also to sin.They will be defiled by that which you now abhor.What of some books with false teachings which you were reading before conversion?What of your businesses eg. Bar,cigarette manufacturing,drugs etc.Blessings will be obtained from destruction of them.
Deutronomy 7:25-26 “The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God.Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.”
A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting Ephesus! And no, it was not an unsophisticated backwater city. It was quite an elegant, luxurious city. Lots of baths, streets lined with oil lamps, running water, and lots of art work, sculptures, painted pictures on walls, mosaic floors. Houses had many rooms around an open court in the center which often contained a fountain, terraced houses built on the hills. Only about 20% has been excavated so far. According to one estimate, Ephesus in its heyday had 55,000 people.
The real reward of visiting these "ruins" of an ancient great city, was sensing the reality of the place. The city's open town square area where Paul would have stood to preach, and where the people would have gathered to burn those books. The huge amphitheater where they dragged two of Paul's companions during their riot.
The hill where once stood one of the "seven wonders of the world" the temple of Diana (Artemis) overlooking the city. Just imagine all the people streaming down that hill chanting, "Great is Diana"
Quite a challenge for Paul to stand and preach in this city! It was definitely a pagan city, with more temples to gods besides the main one for Diana. It wasn't the most moral city.
A little ways apart from the main part of Ephesus is another house, (we did not go there, it's more of a Catholic shrine) but it supposedly was the house of John the apostle and Mary, the mother of Jesus, where they lived after Jerusalem was destroyed.
When we cannot tell about our own experiences, either because our expertise is weak or we think that sharing is not essential, God finds a different and efficient way to spread the good news about His love for us! "If we do not preach, the stones will do it"... thus, let's get involved and be thankful for all the blessings each of us has received daily!
Time to tell the story a missionary told back in the 90's. It was of his personal experience of doing what Christ did on earth, which is casting out devils. This missionary who was a new missionary, came to another village, and there was a family who asked him to cast out devils from their daughter. He prayed and then told the devils to depart. The devils did not listen. Then he went back and prayed more earnestly, the devils did not depart. When he went back and pleaded with the Lord in desperation the devils departed.
Relevance: a modern day example of what Paul was up against. Christ said in my name ye will cast out devils. And then He told His disciples it happens with much prayer. No doubt Paul prayed much for the people he came in contact with and preached to.