Acts 19 - "Did You Receive the Holy Spirit When You Believed?"

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Paul in Ephesus

Paul asks an interesting question when he goes back to Ephesus and meets some disciples. He asks them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"

This question raises several questions such as: does one automatically receive the Holy Spirit when they believe? Is there a bifurcation between coming to faith and being filled with the Holy Spirit? What is the relationship between water baptism and the baptism of the Holy Spirit? 

Their reply is even more interesting. They say, "We did not even know there was a Holy Spirit!" Paul them asks them what kind of baptism did they receive? And they reply, "John's baptism." John's baptism was a baptism of repentance to prepare people for Christ. 

Then, they were baptized in the name of Jesus.  Then Paul laid hands on them and prayed over them, and they experienced the power of the Holy Spirit and began speaking in tongues. Their speaking in foreign tongues was an evidence or manifestation of the Holy Spirit in them. 

They also "prophesied", which meant they spoke the word of God. Most people equate prophesy with predicting the future, but most of the times prophesying in the New Testament is speaking God's Word in a timely manner. 

As was his custom, Paul spoke in the synagogue an,d argued persuasively that Jesus was the Messiah. Once again this riled some of the Jewish men and they became obstinate. They also maligned the "Way". This term the "Way" became a name for the Christian faith. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."  

The way is the same word for "road". Jesus showed us the way to the Father. Jesus showed us the way to forgiveness. Jesus showed us the way to heaven. When we follow Jesus, we are following the way he has told us to live. The word shows that being a Christian means a conscious decision to follow Jesus. This is why Christians are called "followers" of Christ. Notice the commonality in use of the word "way" is Jesus. 

God also used Paul to do powerful miracles. Even aprons and handkerchieves that were touched by Paul were given to sick people, and they were healed when they touched them and evil spirits came out of them. This method of healing is very unusual and seemed to be something that was unique to the first century church, although there have been variations on this story throughout church history.

Here are some views expressed by commentators on this matter.  

It was unusual for God to use handkerchiefs or aprons in such a way. “The pieces of material were presumably those which Paul used in his tentmaking or leather-working – the sweat-rags for tying around his head and the aprons for tying around his waist.” (Bruce)

We don’t really know how this worked, other than the same way that the shadow of Peter (Acts 5:15) or the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matthew 14:36) might heal: the item became a point of contact by which a person released faith in Jesus as healer.

We can imagine this happening at first almost by accident – perhaps a person in need of healing took a handkerchief from Paul in a superstitious manner and was healed. But it became a pattern that others imitated. As we will see, the superstitious practice of magic and sorcery was prevalent in Ephesus. So, it should not surprise us that some took a quite superstitious view of the miracles done through Paul.

God will stoop down to meet us even in our crude superstitions. This never means that God is pleased with our superstition, but that in His mercy He may overlook them to meet a need.

When some of the Jews saw this power coming out of Paul, they tried to imitate him, even using Jesus' name to cast out demons.  In one such incidence, the Sons of Sceva tried to cast out demons, a man possessed by a demon got up and  beat them up saying, "Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?" 

Not every demon exhibits human characteristics like this, but this one did. It shows us that although demons have power and know things, the power and authority we have in Jesus' name is even greater. Satan and his demons recognize Jesus' name when it comes from a follower of Jesus' filled with the Holy Spirit and they must obey it. This is why we never need to be afraid of evil spirits. With one little word from Jesus, we can subdue any dark power. Jesus defeated the power of our enemy on the cross, and one day every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God!

In this case the demon possessed the man to jump on ALL of them and gave them such a beating they left bloodied and bruised. This left the Jews and Gentiles in Ephesus in awe of the name of Jesus. Many came to faith and openly confessed their sins and doing things like burning the expensive scrolls they used for sorcery. The Word of God both spread AND grew in power! 

The Riot in Ephesus

When the craftsmen, who made idols and statues to goddesses like Artemis, heard about these things, they became very disturbed. With Paul's teaching about the worthlessness of idols, their business was greatly affected. There was a great and famous temple dedicated to Artemis, and they worried that its influence could be discredited as well. 

As the word spread, the whole city came to an uproar, for after all this represented a large part of their economy. Two of Paul's disciples from Macedonia were rushed into a theater by a mob. Paul's disciples warned him not to come, though he wanted to. The Jews in the crowd pushed a man named Alexander to the front, but when the people realized he was a Jew, they shouted all the more loudly, "Great is Artemis." 

The city clerk quieted the crowd down and assured them that the temple of Artemis fell from heaven, so they had nothing to worry about. He agreed to hear Demetrius' case the next day, but dismissed them warning them that they could be accused of rioting because nothing had been proven yet! 

This tremendous temple to Diana (also known as Artemis) in Ephesus was regarded as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was supported by 127 pillars, each 60 feet high, and was decorated with great sculptures. It was lost to history until it was discovered in 1869, and its main altar was unearthed in 1965.

i. “The epicenter of Artemis worship was a black meteorite that either resembled or had been fashioned into a grotesque image of a woman. The lower part was wrapped like a mummy…the idol was covered with breasts, symbolizing fertility.” (Hughes)

ii. “The Temple of Artemis was also a major treasury and bank of the ancient world, where merchants, kings, and even cities made deposits, and where their money could be kept safe under the protection of deity.” (Longenecker)

iii. Whom all Asia and the world worship: The temple of Diana in Ephesus was indeed famous around the world. The trinkets and idols from it must have been a substantial trade, no matter how immoral the worship of the sex-goddess was. - Guzik

“This chapter teaches us all a permanent lesson: that when disciples have a true revival, society gets a revolution. When the Spirit moves mightily upon children of God we may look for other mighty movements among unbelievers, and need not be surprised if the devil himself comes down, having great wrath, as though he knew that his time were short.” (Pierson)