AaSelect font size
Set to dark mode
Set to dark modeAaSelect font sizeSet to dark mode
Set to dark modeThis website uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalized content. By continuing to use this site, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Privacy Policy.
Acts 19:1-10 meaning
Acts 19:1-10 describes Paul’s return to Ephesus and the ministry he begins there.
The immediate context for this passage is from the last part of Chapter 18. Paul has embarked on his third missionary journey. His first stops on this journey were the churches in Galatia (a province in the center of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey) which he planted during his first missionary journey. In the meantime, Paul’s old friends and ministry partners Priscilla and Aquila had temporarily settled down in the city of Ephesus, in the Roman province of Asia (in western modern-day Turkey). Priscilla and Aquila are fellow Jews who fled Rome due to persecution and initially met Paul in Corinth (Acts 17:1-2).
A man named Apollos came to Ephesus. Apollos was knowledgeable about the Old Testament and preached fervently about Jesus. However, Priscilla and Aquila noticed some gaps in Apollos’ knowledge, so they took the time to disciple him and complete his knowledge of Jesus. Eventually, Apollos crossed the Aegean Sea to help minister in Corinth, Greece, where he had public debates with Jews hostile to the gospel.
Now, to begin Chapter 19, Luke, the author of Acts, switches perspective from narrating about Apollos, who is now in Corinth, back to Paul. Luke updates us on Paul’s travel progress:
It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples (v. 1).
We see that it was concurrent that while Apollos was at Corinth defending the gospel, Paul journeyed across Asia Minor’s upper country (modern-day Turkey) and returned to Ephesus. Paul had briefly stopped in Ephesus at the end of his second missionary journey, where he left some new believers and Priscilla and Aquila (Acts 18:18-21).
In the first century, Ephesus was the capital of the province of Asia. It was a large, important city. It was a major port for trade, connecting Asia Minor (Anatolia/Turkey) to Greece and Italy. The Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, was in Ephesus, attracting many worshipers and pilgrims. A riot against Paul will occur during his stay in Ephesus, stoked by angry craftsmen who are losing money because many Ephesians are putting their faith in Christ and refusing to purchase shrines or idols of Artemis.
Upon arriving for the second time in Ephesus, Paul found some disciples. Based on the following interaction Paul has with these disciples, it seems unlikely that these disciples were those to whom Paul had preached the gospel during his first visit to Ephesus. Nor is there any mention of Priscilla and Aquila, or the church they started in Ephesus. The word disciples is a translation of the Greek word “mathētēs” which means “student, pupil, follower.”
The disciples being referred to seem to have been disciples of John the Baptizer (Mark 2:18, John 3:25). They appear to have only partial knowledge of God’s recent work and revelations in the world, not fully knowing about Jesus or the victory of the cross and the resurrection. Since these disciples are in Ephesus and it is roughly more than twenty-five years since John the Baptizer was executed, it is possible these disciples did not know John personally, but had heard of his teaching about repentance and were adherents to what had been taught to them by others.
Paul asks these disciples a question:
He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” (v. 2).
They respond:
And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit” (v. 2).
Paul’s question indicates that these disciples claimed to have believed in something. His inquiry contains an important test for what exactly they have believed: whether or not they received the Holy Spirit when they believed.
As Paul will write in his epistle to the Romans, anyone who does not have the Holy Spirit has not believed in Jesus (Romans 8:9). This would apply to the New Testament era, as Old Testament believers were reckoned by God as being righteous because they believed God (Romans 4:1-3). However, the pattern in Acts is that the Jews receive the Holy Spirit through baptism and laying on of hands while Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit upon initial belief.
That these disciples follow the teachings of John and receive the Holy Spirit from the laying on of hands would indicate that they are Jewish. Also, Paul’s next action in Ephesus will be to teach in the Jewish place of worship, the synagogue (Acts 19:8). It was his practice to go to the Jews first, then the Gentiles. So this would also indicate that these initial disciples were Jewish believers.
In the book of Acts, there are four examples of believers receiving the Holy Spirit after a time delay from their initial belief in Jesus (Acts 2, 8, 9, 19 and ). Each of these examples concern Jewish or half-Jewish believers.
For the first nine chapters of Acts, the Holy Spirit does not come upon the Jewish believers until after repentance, baptism, and sometimes when an Apostle puts hands on them. This is because this generation of Jews was under a curse given by Jesus. Jesus repeatedly warned this generation about its lack of repentance, corruption, and faithlessness (Matthew 12:41, 17:17).
This pattern of Jewish believers receiving the Holy Spirit after being baptized, repenting, and through laying on of hands was outlined by Peter to the Jews gathered on the day of Pentecost:
“Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”
(Acts 2:38)
In the days before His crucifixion, Jesus pronounces judgment against that generation of Jews for rejecting Him (Matthew 23:35-36). This curse is in line with the covenant made between God and the Jewish people, where disobedience brings about a curse from God (Deuteronomy 28:1, 15, 49, 52).
The coming judgment for the current generation would turn out to be the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple (Matthew 24:2). One generation (40 years) after Jesus’s ministry, the Romans destroy the Temple (70 AD).
This pattern for Jews likely only applied to the first generation after Jesus. Because of the hardness of their hearts, the Jews needed to repent and be baptized to “Be saved from this perverse generation!” (Acts 2:40).
It is not until Acts 10 that the gospel comes to the Gentiles. Cornelius the Centurion, his friends, and family believe in Jesus. Cornelius is the prototype of Gentile salvation. But the order of receiving the Spirit is different for Gentiles compared to the Jews. For the Gentile, upon faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit arrives upon the believer. Only after the Spirit comes are the believers baptized (Acts 10:43-48). There is no mention of repentance either. It would appear that the Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit the moment they believe because they were never under Jesus's curse.
The Jews and Samaritans (who were half-Jewish) were called to repentance, baptism, and sometimes special laying on of hands as Paul does here in Acts 19. This rescued them from the perverse generation and the wrath to come to punish it. Only then were they able to receive the Holy Spirit.
The following are instances or explanations in Acts where the Jews/Samaritans receive the Spirit only after repenting, being baptized, or having hands laid on them:
The Gentiles only have to believe and immediately receive the Spirit:
Here are other instances in Acts of specific Gentiles receiving salvation (the reception of the Spirit is implied):
Paul also describes in his church letters how the Gentiles received the Spirit upon belief (Galatians 3:2, Ephesians 1:13-14).
Since John the Baptist was a forerunner of Jesus (John 1:20, 23), he could be considered an Old Testament prophet. Therefore, we can consider these Ephesian believers as being like those who believed prior to Jesus’s advent to earth and His death and resurrection.
Notwithstanding the distinction that occurred for Jews during this period of transition from the Old Covenant to the New, the Holy Spirit is for all believers in Jesus. Paul will write to the Ephesians themselves years from now that they were sealed with “the Holy Spirit of promise” after they put their faith in Jesus (Ephesians 1:13).
The Holy Spirit’s presence in each believer is like a down payment that assures us of our unconditional acceptance by God as His children, securing our eternal future with God (Ephesians 1:14). If someone in the New Testament era does not have the Holy Spirit, they have not put their faith in Christ. But if anyone has the Holy Spirit, then that means they have believed in Jesus. The two go hand in hand.
When asked whether they had received the Holy Spirit, these disciples answer with honesty, but in the negative, No. None of them had even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit. This can also be translated that they have not even heard whether the Holy Spirit has been given or sent. They knew nothing about the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity of God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit), or they knew nothing about the Spirit’s current role and presence among those who feared God.
Paul follows up with another good question:
And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” (v. 3).
Their answer is clarifying:
And they said, “Into John's baptism” (v. 3).
This means that these particular Ephesian disciples were possibly baptized years earlier by John in Israel, or that John’s teachings had spread into Egypt and Asia Minor, as far as Ephesus. We know from the previous chapter that Apollos of Alexandria was well versed in John the Baptizer’s teachings (Acts 18:24-25) but had limited knowledge of Jesus and the full extent of what Jesus had accomplished.
These Ephesian disciples are sincere, but do not appear to know the good news of God’s messiah, Jesus.
Since they neither received the Holy Spirit when they believed nor even heard that the Holy Spirit had been sent to help, they must not know about Jesus and His death and resurrection. What then had they believed in?
Probably the coming Messiah, since that was John the Baptizer’s message (John 1:19-36, John 3:26-30, Mark 1:2-12). Also in repentance and doing good deeds in keeping with righteousness (Matthew 3:11). John’s ministry was to pave a path for the coming Messiah, to call the Jewish people to repent of their sins and expect the Son of God’s imminent appearance.
This is what these disciples likely believed. But they apparently did not know that John’s teachings had been fulfilled (John 10:41). These disciples are stuck in the past, through no fault of their own, and have not yet heard that the Messiah came to Israel, died, and resurrected. They are still anticipating the Messiah’s arrival. Thus, they are likely illustrative of those who believed during the era of the Old Testament, like Abraham, who believed God’s promise and it was reckoned to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:1-3).
After learning that they had only been baptized into John’s baptism, Paul now understands where their knowledge begins and ends, and he proceeds to explain the rest of the story to them:
Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus” (v. 4).
Paul explains the limitations of John’s teachings and his baptism. John the Baptizer was as great a man as any who had ever lived, according to Jesus (Matthew 11:11). He faithfully fulfilled the purpose God had given him. But he was merely to “make straight [or prepare] the way of the Lord” (John 1:23).
Now, the Lord had come. The Lord had died and been raised to new life, so that all who believed in Him could also have everlasting life and be accounted as sinless in the sight of God through Christ. John had baptized men and women with the baptism of repentance. Thousands flocked to John to hear him preach that the kingdom of God was coming, that the promised Messiah was coming, and that those who heard him needed to practice repentance.
Israel needed to get ready for the coming Messiah and His kingdom, and the first step in getting ready was to disassociate from the corrupt practices and teaching of the Jewish leaders of that day (Matthew 3:7-9). Through repentance, the Jewish people could turn away from sin and false righteousness and return to God and His good design. John taught that God’s Messiah was coming, and everyone needed to align themselves with Him, which many did by being baptized by John and putting their hope and faith in the coming Messiah.
Paul explains that John’s message was telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus. Here Paul names the Messiah: Jesus. Jesus is “Joshua” in Hebrew, and means “Yahweh is salvation.” Yahweh was God’s covenant name for Israel. God’s Messiah—Him who was coming after him (John)—had come. His name was Jesus. John’s baptism had served its purpose. And his message was for the people to believe in the Messiah, Jesus.
The disciples in Ephesus respond to this message with faith:
When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus (v. 5).
While the text does not explicitly say that they believed in Paul’s message about Jesus, it is implied. Since they believed the message of John, they had already believed in God’s coming messiah. Now they had what they had believed explained more fully and were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Paul’s point to them was that since they followed the teachings of John, they should know that John pointed to Him who was coming after him, and that the goal of John’s ministry was for people to believe in Jesus when He came.
These Ephesian disciples apparently believed as soon as they heard this, and immediately followed up their belief by being baptized again. This time, rather than being baptized with the baptism of repentance as before, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. They immersed themselves into water and came up out of it, symbolizing how their old life was dead and they now lived the new resurrection life of Jesus, while publicly declaring themselves as believers in the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. They were baptized in His name, aligning themselves with Him. No longer were they disciples of John the Baptizer, but of the Lord Jesus.
Paul prays over them, and something wonderful happens:
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying (v. 6).
That morning, none of these men knew whether there was a Holy Spirit (v. 2). Now, after being baptized in the name of Jesus and having hands laid on them, the Holy Spirit came on them. The fact that the Spirit came on them was apparent based on the spiritual gifts they suddenly had and could display, like speaking with foreign tongues and prophesying. The new ability to speak with tongues means these Ephesians could unexpectedly speak foreign human languages that they formerly had no knowledge of.
This is the same sign given by the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit first came down to dwell in the apostles and disciples. All the believers in Jesus at Pentecost could suddenly speak in foreign languages (Acts 2:4). In Acts 2:9-11 Luke, the author of Acts, listed people from 15 different regions/languages who could understand what the disciples were saying as they were speaking with tongues. People from Rome to Mesopotamia could understand “them in [their] own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:11).
These were human languages the disciples were speaking, the point of which was to speak of the wonderful things God has done. It was a sign God sent so they could believe, as God had foretold through the prophet Joel (Acts 2:17-21). Similarly, the first Gentile believers in Caesarea could also speak in tongues when the Holy Spirit came upon them. Fitting with the pattern in Acts, these Gentile believers received the Holy Spirit upon believing (Acts 10:44-48).
These Ephesian disciples were also prophesying. The spiritual gift of prophesying was something the Holy Spirit empowered certain believers to do for the benefit of other believers (1 Corinthians 14:39). Prophets help sort what is true and guide others to make wise choices. Occasionally, and especially in the Book of Acts when the gospel was first spreading, prophets were given more direct commands from God through the Spirit, emphasizing calls to action, challenging people to follow God's ways (Acts 11:27-30, 13:1-3).
These men were prophesying as a result of the Spirit coming upon them. They were speaking words from God under the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit. The Gentile believers in Caesarea were speaking in tongues and “exalting God” when they first believed (Acts 10:46), which may be what these newly Spirit-indwelled believers were doing in Ephesus, exalting God and speaking His words.
Luke, the author of Acts, informs us that these disciples who were baptized was a small group of men:
There were in all about twelve men (v. 7).
After this initial encounter with these twelve men who now had the Spirit, Paul goes to the central meeting place for Jews and proselytes in Ephesus: the synagogue. Paul’s practice was to minister first to Jews when he came to a new city.
It was Paul’s mission strategy to go to every city’s synagogue to preach the gospel as soon as he could, if a synagogue was present (Acts 17:2). Paul had already visited this synagogue during the final stage of his last missionary journey, where he promised to return to them if God allowed him to (Acts 18:19-21). Now he has returned, just as he hoped to:
And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God (v. 8).
Paul has a good run for a while. In past cities, he has been driven out of the synagogue in as little as one or two weeks (Acts 13:43-44). Here in the Ephesian synagogue, he continued speaking out boldly for three months. This was a continuous effort from Paul, likely every Sabbath (Saturday) when Jews would gather to hear scriptural readings and teachings. Paul was speaking boldly, not shyly.
He was forthright with the preaching of the gospel, not fearing rejection from the world, which he was well acquainted with (2 Corinthians 11:23-29). He had faith that those whom God called would know their Lord’s voice and respond with faith of their own (John 10:27-28). Paul was living as an example of someone who is the kind of faithful witness who is an overcomer, overcoming as Jesus overcame (Revelation 3:23).
Paul made his best case for the truth of the gospel, not teaching simply on a “take my word for it” basis. He was reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. In doing this, Paul is honoring the people to whom he is ministering, recognizing that God gave each one of them stewardship over their own choices.
Since he was teaching to Jews and Gentiles who feared God, he was able to point to the Old Testament prophecies which spoke of the coming Messiah sent by God. Paul could cite the testimonies of the apostles who knew Jesus, learned from Him, and saw Him perform dozens of miracles.
Paul was able to describe what Jesus’s followers had witnessed, how He healed the sick, commanded demons, revealed His own glorious form, and raised the dead. Most important of all, Paul could talk of how Jesus died and resurrected, just as the Jewish scriptures said He would. Paul was reasoning and persuading by possibly using passages such as Psalm 22, Isaiah 49, 53, and many more. We can review Paul’s letters and note that they are filled with Old Testament references.
Paul’s most personal evidence which aided him in reasoning and persuading the Ephesian Jews was his experience on the road to Damascus, when Jesus appeared to him, spoke to him, and blinded him. It spoke of God’s power and love that Jesus came to Paul to call him to service when Paul had formerly persecuted believers in Jesus. Paul taught that the kingdom of God was coming, and everyone has the opportunity to be a part of it if they put their trust in the king, Jesus.
After three months of boldly preaching the gospel in the synagogue in Ephesus, a contingent of Jews oppose Paul and his message:
But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them (v. 9)
This was typical of every city Paul visited. He preached as long as he was able in any given synagogue, and most of the time many people in attendance would respond to his message by believing in Jesus. But eventually the Jews who disbelieved would seek to drive him out of the synagogue, and Paul would comply.
He usually would give a final rebuke to those who were hostile to Jesus (Acts 13:46-47, 18:6), but he sought to teach those who had ears to hear, rather than waste time with people who wished him and other believers harm. This was usually how a Christian church was formed in each city, made up of the Jews and proselytes who believed in Jesus but were no longer welcome in the synagogue (Acts 18:7-8). At the end of his ministry, Paul instructed his disciple Timothy to continue the same practice, only investing time in “faithful men who will be able to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2).
Here in Ephesus, some Jews were becoming hardened and disobedient. They resisted the gospel with hardened hearts. They did not want to hear any more about the Messiah, about Jesus of Nazareth, about the claim that He died, resurrected, and would come back to establish the kingdom of God. The word disobedient is from the Greek “apeitheō,” which can also be translated as “disbelieving,” but in the sense that they disbelieved out of spite, out of resistance to the message, rather than simply being unconvinced.
These who were hardened and disobedient refused to believe. They chose not to believe. There are some people who do want to believe in God but sincerely do not have faith. Their unbelief is still unbelief, but it is honestly come by. Using the word “apeitheō” to describe the Ephesian Jews’ attitude toward the gospel paints a more aggressive and emotional picture of disbelief; it is more akin to rejection of the message. This would explain their resulting hostility.
With hardened, hostile hearts, the opposing Jews began speaking evil of the Way before the people (v. 9). This opposition group stood up in the synagogue, before the people, and publicly denounced Paul and his message. The Way was an early term for Christianity, meaning the Way of Jesus Christ, who taught that He was the only “way, the truth, and the life” to receive eternal life and right standing in the sight of God (John 14:6, Acts 9:2).
The phrase speaking evil is a translation of the Greek word “kakologeō,” which can also be translated to mean someone was uttering a curse. This opposition was totally and completely denouncing the Way of Jesus, slandering it, cursing it, spitting it out as something they could not tolerate anymore. So after three months of boldly teaching the gospel in the synagogue, Paul withdrew from them. Paul typically handles rejection well. He leaves the matter of who believes in Jesus up to God and the choice of others. If the gospel is rejected, then Paul leaves those who reject it alone and spends his time elsewhere.
But there were a number of Ephesian Jews and proselytes who had believed in the Way of Jesus and had devoted their lives to it. They go with Paul out of the synagogue to live as followers of Jesus, as disciples. A new meeting place for the Ephesian believers in the Way is found:
Paul took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus (v. 9).
This may be the formal founding of the Ephesian church. During his stay in Ephesus, Paul writes to the Corinthian church a number of times. In one of his letters he references the church that meets in Priscilla and Aquila’s house. Priscilla and Aquila have been in Ephesus since sailing there with Paul at the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:18-19). In the interim, Apollos came to Ephesus and taught “boldly” about Jesus in the synagogue as well, where Priscilla and Aquila first met him and went on to disciple him (Acts 18:24-26).
We are not told precisely how much time has passed since Paul’s first visit to Ephesus and this second visit in Acts 19, but it was at the very least multiple months. The gospel has been taught in Ephesus during that time period and in the three months Paul has been in Ephesus on this second visit. Not until now is there any reported opposition to the gospel. For whatever reason, the oppositional Jews have had enough, and the disciples of the Way of Jesus are no longer welcomed in the synagogue.
Thus, Paul begins teaching in the school of Tyrannus. It is not exactly known what the school of Tyrannus was. It was obviously a school, a building with the purpose of serving as a place for teaching. Some believe it was some kind of lecture hall which could be rented or used freely.
Tyrannus may have been a believer in Jesus who allowed Paul to use his school to teach the gospel. Or, Tyrannus may have simply been the owner/benefactor of the school. He may have not been living at the time of Paul’s tenure in Ephesus, and was merely the founder or namesake of the school originally. Regardless, there was an available alternative gathering place for Paul to teach about Jesus now that he was rejected from the synagogue. To this day, newly planted churches often still rent school buildings in their initial startup phase.
The school of Tyrannus would prove to be a hugely beneficial venue for Paul’s ministry, as it allowed him to teach daily, rather than just once a week in the synagogue at Sabbath. Furthermore, he was able to teach in the school of Tyrannus for two years (v. 10). This is the longest period of time Paul has been allowed to freely and safely teach abroad in a Greco-Roman city, beating his residency in Corinth of one-and-half years (Acts 18:11):
This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks (v. 10).
Asia here is not used in the same geographical sense we use it today, to refer to the continent of Asia. Here Asia refers to a large province of Rome that was located in what is now the western region of modern Turkey. It is believed that Asia may have been derived from an ancient Akkadian word “asu,” meaning “rise” (like “sunrise”) or “east.”
The Roman province of Asia was due east from Greece, just across the Aegean Sea. Ephesus was the capital of the province of Asia and one of its most influential cities. Other cities in Asia mentioned elsewhere in scripture include: Pergamum, Thyatira, Laodicea, Colossae, Troas, Philadelphia.
The effects of Paul reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus for two years was that the gospel spread throughout the entire province of Asia. All people who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, the good news that the one, true, all-powerful God had sent His Son to die for the sins of the world and gift any who believes in Him with eternal life. We know that churches were established in the major cities of Asia because, in the book of Revelation, Jesus gives specific messages to seven churches, all of which were located in Asia (Revelation 2:1, 8,, 12, 18, 3:1, 714).
Not only the Jews in Asia heard the word of the Lord, but the Greeks also. Since Paul was able to root himself in the most important city in Asia and teach constantly, the gospel was made known to all. Ephesus was a port city. People from all over Greece and Asia journeyed to it to trade, sell, buy, and travel, as well as visit the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
And all who lived in Asia at one point or another might have visited the hall of Tyrannus, or heard from someone who had listened to Paul teach the word of the Lord. Paul’s teaching during those two years was so widespread and noteworthy that most if not all heard about Jesus Christ and His work to save the world from sin and death.
This spread of the gospel was in God’s timing. On his second missionary journey, Paul determined to head to Asia but the Holy Spirit forbade him, and redirected him to Macedonia (Acts 16:6, 9-10). Now the door is open, and the gospel spreads throughout Asia.