No one can fabricate God's divine power.
Bible Study Ideas and Commentary for Acts 19
In this week's passage, we read three very different stories of spiritual warfare: God working great miracles in Paul's ministry; some charlatans utterly failing in a dangerous exorcism; new Christians burning their former occult items. Ephesus was a city that depended on its religious tourism, and Paul's arrival in the power of God put the city on the defensive.
20 In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.
Getting Started: Things to Think About
The Costliest Thing(s) You "Gave Up" When You Became a Christian
In today's passage, some new Christians in Ephesus burn their old occult paraphernalia. The sum total of everything they destroyed was pretty expensive (more on this below). New Christians still do similar "burning" today -- they discover things in their home that represent their former sinful way of life, and they get rid of them. Sometimes, those things are pretty expensive.
The first year or two after I became a Christian, I found a lot of books and movies and CDs that I needed to get rid of, but nothing was really that expensive. (Obviously, the later in life you became a Christian, the more you might have to get rid of.)
How about you?
Another way you could take this topic is to focus on the occult/New Age/pagan trinkets that you may have removed from your home after you became a Christian. It's amazing the bizarre things a person can collect over the years -- Ouija board, tarot cards, horoscopes, those cool-looking "dreamcatcher" things. All of those are associated with false religions, and they really have no place in Christian's life or home. What are the sorts of things you had to get rid of when you became a Christian? (Or perhaps, when you became a more serious Christian?)
If You Knew a Magic Spell...
This is like my "if you could have a superpower..." topic. What magic spell would you love to have? Become invisible? Turn metal into gold? Flying broomstick?
And then after you have that discussion, you're all immediately going to pray and thank God that people don't walk around with those magical powers. (Can you imagine?) (By the way -- seriously coveting a magical power is a sin. Let's be clear about that.)
The World's Fascination with Magical Objects
Your mileage may vary with this topic. The world seems to be pretty fascinated with objects that people claim to be "magical". I still see the "Man Sees Jesus in His Grilled Cheese" stories from time to time. Then the grilled cheese shows up on ebay.
Have you ever been curious about an object that someone said had magical/mystical powers? Like, say, the Holy Grail? What was that object, and what did you learn about it?
In Catholic practice, these objects (the ones that are officially recognized) are called "relics", and they're pretty common in the Catholic and Orthodox worlds (for example, the "shroud of Turin"). It's a really, really deep rabbit hole, so you might just want to leave off with this "top ten" list from USA Today:
If you don't care about "magical objects" (good for you), you might care about superstitions. Do you have anything like a "lucky rabbit's foot"? Or have you tossed a coin in a fountain for "good luck"? If so, that's a superstition. Do some research, then ask yourself if you believe in any of these superstitions:
If you have ever not opened an umbrella inside for fear of "bad luck", what you're saying is you believe that object (the umbrella) has some sort of control over the things that happen to you. In other words, superstitions turn things into magical objects.
Believe it or not, there are types of "magical objects" in Christian practice, too. I'll talk more about this below. You might be able to think of some things that hold the place of a "magical object" in a church you know about. In an article I'll share below, the author makes the great point that those objects (things like "healing handkerchiefs") are not innocent, but rather they become a crutch for a person's faith. Either the person puts more faith in the object than God, or the person lets that object "do the work of their faith" for them.
In this week's passage, Christians in Ephesus got rid of a bunch of such magical objects. They took their new faith in Jesus very seriously and wanted to get rid of any connection with their old fake religions.
The World's Fascination with Exorcisms
A darker turn of a topic might be exorcisms. In this week's passage, we also read about a few Jewish exorcists. And let's be honest, the world is still fascinated by this kind of thing. Here are three I'm-serious-these-were-in-theaters-this-year movies:
Every year, more of the same. A common subgenre of horror is "exorcism horror". And studios like to release horror movies around Halloween (so, now). (Apparently, we don't have a new exorcism movie coming out this Halloween. Instead, we have a movie about Hugh Grant trying to entrap and kill two Mormon missionaries who came to his door. I'm not joking.)
Why do studios keep putting these movies out? Because people keep paying money to watch them. This Presbyterian site had an interesting take on "why":
The author sees it as a combination of two things: (1) a way to show the (purported) helplessness of the church in the face of evil, and (2) a way to inject their own (heretical) beliefs into an otherwise "religious" setting. Let's just say that they aren't making these movies because they like Jesus.
So, put your group on the spot. Do any of them like to watch these "exorcism horror" movies? If so, why?
We will talk a very very little about this in the second part of the lesson. Suffice to say right now that the power and activity of Satan and his demons on the earth is nothing to laugh about, joke about, attempt to exploit, or otherwise mess with in any way.
Where We Are in Acts
I know it's only been a week and a few verses, but Paul's "Second Missionary Journey" has ended and his "Third Missionary Journey" has begun. In last week's passage, Paul dropped Priscilla and Aquila off in Ephesus and returned to Antioch. This is the very next verse:
23 After spending some time there, he set out, traveling through one place after another in the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. (Acts 18)
Luke then takes the time to tell us that while Paul was traveling, a man named Apollos showed up in Ephesus and was trained and commissioned by Priscilla and Aquila. Then, they sent Apollos off to Corinth to help the church there, and that's when Paul returned to Ephesus. (Apollos must have been a big deal in the early church.)
Paul ultimately spent 3 years in Ephesus, making good on his promise to the Christians there. Ephesus would be his "base of operations" for the larger Christian work in Asia. It's a widespread belief that the so-called "Seven Churches of Revelation" were all planted during this missionary journey.
Paul says that this was a very difficult time of great spiritual warfare.
If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus as a mere man, what good did that do me? If the dead are not raised, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. (1 Cor 15:32)
We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. (2 Cor 1:8)
And thus Luke focused on a few key moments of spiritual conflict during Paul's ministry there.
We skip over the strange story of some men who had been taught about John the Baptist, and then Paul taught them about Jesus and they received the Holy Spirit when Paul laid his hands on them. Remember how I said that Luke wanted to present Paul's ministry as a parallel to Peter's (and thus elevate both)? Well, go and read Acts 10:46.
Luke's presentation of Ephesus is one of great spiritual conflict.
This Week's Big Idea: When You Can't "Get Rid Of" Your Unchristian Stuff
Here's my fear -- your group will read that the new Christians in Ephesus got rid of their magic spells and say, "Phew! I don't have any of that stuff in my house; I'm good!" That would be missing the application. The spiritual war going on in Ephesus was straight up sorcery and witchcraft. The spiritual war going on today is a little more subtle. Kyle Idelman's excellent book Gods at War explains that the spiritual battles today are over things like money and sex and clicks. So, you not having "magical incantations" in your house doesn't mean that there aren't things of a spiritual nature that you need to burn!
Admittedly, a lot of the things Idleman talks about are things we can't get rid of -- things like food, money, a job, the internet. So, what do we do when we can't "get rid of" our unchristian stuff?
I just saw this headline on Baptist Press:
"Porn" absolutely falls under the category of "things you should have gotten rid of when you became a Christian", right? Well, today, porn is found on the internet; can you get rid of the internet from your life?
A similar category today would be gambling. I know many Christians who became a Christian and said, "I'll never go to a casino again." But now, we can carry a casino around with us 24 hours a day! Because online gambling has been legalized, you can download any number of apps to your phone that allow you access to just about any kind of Vegas gambling experience.
It's very possible that people in your Bible study group will go through this week's lesson and say something like, "I wish it were so easy for me to take my old non-Christian stuff and burn it like the new Christians in Ephesus!" This is a big, practical deal that I wish more Christians took the time to acknowledge and work through.
If this concern comes up, I would approach it like this. The new Christians in Ephesus took their new faith so seriously that they actually destroyed those elements of their former, pagan lifestyle. If you can't "destroy" those connections with your former non-Christian self, what can you do? When we studied 2 Timothy, we noted that Paul doesn't give a lot of ground to messing around with sin -
If there is sin in you or around you, you need to flee from it. Now, what if those things that cause you to sin are on your computer or on your phone? What can you do with them?
We all probably know multiple steps we could take. We can block sites on our computer. We can delete apps and memberships. We can give our spouse access to our histories and bank accounts. There are steps we can take short of throwing away our computer. But we also need to be honest that those steps can be circumvented. If a person wants to sin, they can find a way. My heart broke for this young man and his family as he finally acknowledged that he had a gambling addiction:
This is where Christian friends ("accountability partners") and small groups can help one another overcome sin in the power of the Holy Spirit.
I feel pretty confident saying that some of the new Christians in Ephesus were tempted to cast a spell on somebody, or tell somebody's fortune. And I also feel pretty confident saying that their friends from a similar background helped them work through those temptations.
All of that to say this -- it's possible that in this week's group discussion, you might learn of a situation or a need where your group can help one of your members work through a lingering temptation to return to a sinful pattern of living. Part of your small group's "job" is to help your members overcome sin in their lives.
Part 1: God Did the Miracles (Acts 19:11-12)
11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that even facecloths or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
You might be surprised to learn that modern Pentecostalism has tried to normalize these "healing facecloths". This is a pretty in-depth article, and I highly recommend it if you want to know how some Christians have interpreted these two verses.
I want to camp out on the same thing that author did: whatever we take away from the miracles, Luke is very clear that God did them, not Paul, and certainly not the inanimate objects!
If you do look up those "relics" I mentioned, or if you have ever read about the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant, the popular theory is that the power of God is contained within those objects. The person who has the Holy Grail has the power of God at his disposal. That's why a person might want to steal the "shroud of Turin" -- they would then have the power to heal people (and charge a lot of money in the process).
Those sorts of beliefs completely misunderstand what Luke was saying here. Yes, people could take cloths that had touched Paul to a sick person and heal them. (Modern Christians can really get hung up on that.) But the point was and is and always shall be that God performed the miracle. God made these miracles in Ephesus happen.
Why didn't these miracles happen everywhere Paul preached? Because Paul did not have the power to perform these miracles!!
So -- the much bigger and more appropriate question becomes this: why did God make all of these miracles happen in Ephesus?
This Week's Bonus Big Idea: Ephesus
I mentioned last week that Ephesus was the regional capital of Asia and one of the most important cities in the ancient world. With a population of 250,000 at the time of Paul, it might have been the fourth-largest city in the world at the time. Ephesus was located on a natural harbor that intersected two river valleys, making it a critical commercial and trading center. Its Temple of Artemis (Diana) was one of the "seven wonders of the ancient world" -- 4 times the size of the Parthenon. Its amphitheater could seat 24,000!
It also has some of the most impressive Greek ruins outside of Athens, making it an important archeological site for understanding Greek architecture.
More to the point for us, Ephesus was also a city in decline. The Greeks had overgrazed and overcut and overindustrialized the river valleys, causing the rivers to choke off. (Today, the ruins of Ephesus are some 6 miles inland). This slowly but surely eroded its commercial importance. And so the city pivoted to focusing on religious tourism (primarily the Temple of Artemis). This attracted all manner of charlatans and cults. In many ways, we can think of Ephesus as the embodiment of humanity trying to use religion for profit. Satan, of course, would love to support that effort. And so God, through Paul, decided to act against it and help build His church there. (We will talk more about this next week with the riot in chapter 20.)
And as I mentioned above, Ephesus would go on to be an important church in that part of the world.
Part 2: Demons Know the Difference (Acts 19:13-16)
13 Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded.
Knowing what I just said about Ephesus is very helpful for understanding this week's passage. More than a few Bible readers have read this week's story and concluded something to the effect of "this is nuts; the author of Acts must have accidentally put some weird legend in here".
But when we remember that Ephesus had attracted plenty of weird religious practitioners trying to take advantage of the religious tourism in the city, this week's passage makes a lot more sense.
I'm not going to say very much about this episode. No offense, but it's really not important who exactly these "itinerant Jewish exorcists" were, and it's not important who Sceva was. What's important is that they observed what Paul was doing, and they tried to do it themselves (to cash in on the religious tourism). Terrible idea.
About Demon Possession and Exorcisms
This topic is almost certain to come up from some curious group member. I strongly encourage you not to go very far down this rabbit hole. Instead, I would suggest the approach that Russell Moore takes in this short article --
Mistake #1: think that anybody today can replicate the practices of Jesus and the apostles. This causes people to put faith in the ritual itself (and can also cause people to ignore the role of mental illness in some "possession-like behaviors").
Mistake #2: think that exorcisms and demon possessions are silly. If we believe the New Testament is true, then we know that demons can possess people. We ignore demonic activity to our great peril -- like failing to put on the full armor of Christ.
However -- I can answer one common question: can Christians be possessed by a demon? No.
1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
Do you believe that Satan is greater than the Holy Spirit? I hope not! So then, how should we understand this teaching?
Matt 12:25 Every kingdom divided against itself is headed for destruction, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28 If I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 How can someone enter a strong man’s house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
If this primarily proves that Jesus is greater than Beelzebub, then the corollary is equally true: Beelzebub is lesser than Jesus (and by extension., the Holy Spirit). If the Holy Spirit has taken up residence in a person, Satan cannot "drive out" the Holy Spirit.
I don't think you want to go any further than that. Dabbling in matters related to demons has caused great anguish in many Christians' lives.
Part 3: The People Turned Their Faith to Action (Acts 19:17-20)
17 When this became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, they became afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high esteem. 18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.
This contains the easiest and most direct application to us today: the people came to faith in Christ and made immediate and measurable changes in their lifestyles.
I like the way that Lifeway contextualized the value of the magical items -- a piece of silver (drachma) was about a day's wage. 50,000 would mean the equivalent of burning 137 years of wages. In other words, a sacrifice that meant something.
Verse 17 also gives us insight into why God chose Ephesus for this display of spiritual power: it was something the people would pay attention to. The demon's behavior indirectly bolstered Paul's ministry (which is a weird thing to say). Jesus Christ is the true source of spiritual power in Paul's ministry, and Paul's ministry could not be denied or overlooked.
Like with exorcism, I really don't think you should get sidetracked as to "what exactly were these magical scrolls and incantations?" Christians just don't need to concern themselves with that kind of thing at all. Incidentally, this is the reason why some Christians are so vocal against Harry Potter. (I get it -- let's just be honest though, Harry Potter is ridiculous and silly. I don't think J.K. Rowling has tapped into some actual residual Roman-era magic cult. It's all just very silly.)
I've said more than a few times that I love magic tricks. I love "Penn and Teller's Fool Us". But those things are just tricks. Sleight of hand. Psychology. Not "supernatural magic". Magic of the kind in this week's passage is related to the occult, to the world of demonic power. We want absolutely nothing to do with it.
Like I suggested at the top, in our lives, we probably have something non-magic-related that we did (or need to) give up as part of becoming a Christian. This week is a good time to take inventory of your life. Have you gotten lax about avoiding behavior that characterized your pre-Christian days? Or worse, have you brought some kind of sin into your life recently?
This week's passage is about putting Jesus so first in your life that you physically remove from your life anything that would distract you from Him. That kind of commitment gets the attention of the watching world. And you can see how the world reacted -- the word of God spread ... and prevailed.
I believe that the word "prevailed" is Luke's key to this passage. There was a spiritual war going on in Asia, and Ephesus in particular. God's word "won" through the faithful witness of Paul and his team. God fought the battle; God's people enjoyed the victory.
Comments