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Building The Body Study 3 - Reach of the Body

  • 6 hours ago
  • 14 min read

Acts 19:1, 20 NIV 

[1] While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples  
[20] In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. 

The places where Christianity first arrived in the UK are well renowned and places to where people journey as a pilgrimage. Whithorn and Iona, linked with Columba, which brought Christianity to Scotland, are known for deep Celtic spirituality. There are monasteries there and have been since the sixth century. In England, Canterbury Cathedral is one of the most famous churches in the world. 


The establishing of Christianity and the creation of the first churches is a significant step for any nation. 


And no less the Asian city of Ephesus. A Greek port city that flourished under the Romans and became the second city of the Empire, this was a very significant place – particularly as it was the seat of one of the Ancient Wonders of the World: the Temple of Diana/Artemis. It was a place of great learning, great architecture, great wealth. It would have been cosmopolitan, with residents and visitors from across the Greek-speaking world. 


Establishing Christianity here would be quite the feat. 


Yet that is what happened. And it happened through a Jewish man: Paul the Apostle. 


And how it happened is quite extraordinary. 


Now that we have the background of what the church is for and what it should do, as well as why it was instituted in the first place, we will spend the next three studies examining the historical context of this extraordinary city and how the church came to be there. After that, we will look at the letter Paul wrote to them. 


Before we get into it, I want to assure you that this study will not be dry and boring, because the establishment and growth of Christianity in this great city was anything but boring. 


We will begin by looking at three founding events of the church in this place under three headings. The first of these headings is Completeness. 

 

Completeness 

Acts 19:1-7 NIV 

[1] While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. There he found some disciples [2] and asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They answered, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” [3] So Paul asked, “Then what baptism did you receive?” “John’s baptism,” they replied. [4] Paul said, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” [5] On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. [6] When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. [7] There were about twelve men in all. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.19.1-7.NIV)


Have you ever been surprised by someone you met in an unexpected place? 


My wife comes from a small village well off the tourist trail in the Philippines. A number of years ago we were visiting her family when a neighbour paid a visit with his new wife. We were very surprised to discover that she was from Romania, where I had been a missionary. And there I was, five thousand miles from European shores, chatting away in Romanian in scorching Asian temperatures in the back of Filipino beyond. 


Paul had just arrived in the second city of the Roman Empire. It was a Greek city. It was a pagan city. It was hundreds of miles from Judea. 


So how could he have expected to bump into some disciples of John the Baptist – and disciples that were so far from Judea that they had not heard about Jesus? 


This was quite an extraordinary meeting. 


Yet these disciples are the beginnings of the fledgling Ephesian church. 


This event seems to be quite a peculiar one, and one that is often misunderstood.  However, if we take another look at John’s role in the Gospels we will truly understand what was happening here. 


Look at what John said about his role: 


John 3:27-30 NIV 

[27] To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. [28] You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ [29] The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. [30] He must become greater; I must become less.” 

John’s ministry was vital. It fulfilled prophecy (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4 – see the prophesied it fulfilled in Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1). It prepared the way for the Messiah to come. 


But – and this is very important to know – John the Baptist was not the Messiah. He was not the main man. He was the warn-up act. Jesus was the headliner. 


It was the same with his teaching. Both John and Jesus taught that we should repent (Matthew 3:1-3, 7-13; Luke 3:7-18; Matthew 4:17). 


However, there was one critical difference. Jesus called people to repent and believe in His Gospel (Mark 1:14-15). John told people to repent and believe not in him but in Jesus (John 1:29-31). 


These believers in John the Baptist only had half the message. What they had was good, but not enough. It was incomplete. 


It was good in the sense that it required repentance from sin and leading a good life. It was not enough because Jesus was not in it. 


A lot of religion is like this. It teaches that we should renounce sin and live morally upright lives. That is a good thing to do. 


But without Jesus it is not enough. 


That is why these men needed to hear the whole Gospel. 


When they accepted Jesus, they were filled with the Holy Spirit. They spoke in other languages (not necessarily ecstatic – the Greek word can also refer to human languages) and prophesied. These were signs for the Apostles as much as for the new converts. They proved to the Apostles that God was blessing their work; that these men had been saved and should be accepted as part of the church.


So we have, then, a group of people who had repented and changed their own lives by their own efforts but had not yet believed in Jesus. When they did, they were saved. They were the first converts in Ephesus. 


We move on from completeness to things taking a slightly darker turn: Controversy. 

 

Controversy 

Acts 19:8-10 NIV 

[8] Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. [9] But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. [10] This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord. 

There are many religions in the world that are classified as ‘peaceful’. However, those who disagree with them sincerely doubt this tag.


For example, the Abrahamic religions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism are often labelled as ‘warrior-like’, despite peace/salaam/shalom being a critical concept in all three, because of the aggressive character and behaviour of some of their ‘believers’. Whereas Buddhism and Hinduism are classified as peaceful. 


Yet those who are neither Buddhist nor Hindu in majority Buddhist or Hindu nations testify to aggressive and unrelenting intolerance.


Peace is consistently preached as part of Christianity. And that is rightly so. When Jesus was born, the angels proclaimed this: 


Luke 2:14 NIV 

[14] “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/luk.2.14.NIV)


Yet Jesus Himself proclaimed this: 


Matthew 10:34-36 NIV 

[34]  “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. [35] For I have come to turn “ ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— [36]  a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 

That seems to be the exact opposite of peace. Bringing strife into our houses, homes and families is not what we would expect a man of God to do. 


So what’s going on here? 


This is where the birth of the church in Ephesus – indeed, any church – becomes very interesting. Even a little too interesting for some. It’s something even I experienced in my short missionary career, and something we will see repeated in a later study. 


To understand it, we must go back to the prophecy spoken by Simeon the priest over Jesus: 


Luke 2:34-35 NIV 

[34] Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, [35] so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 

This is what we see throughout the Gospels. The Presence of Jesus in first century Israel was very divisive. 


Yes, this happened: 


John 8:30 NIV 

[30] Even as he spoke, many believed in him. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.8.30.NIV)


But also this: 


John 7:48-49 NIV 

[48] “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? [49] No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.” 

The reason was simple but profound: Jesus was a threat to the established order. He was a threat to power bases and positions that had served the Jewish establishment very well over the years. They were afraid of His growing influence because they could not control it. That’s why we see verses like these: 


John 11:47-48 NIV 

[47] Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. [48] If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.” 

They feared whom they could not control because they were afraid that Jesus would turn the masses against them and rise up in rebellion against the Romans. 


So they crucified Him. 


Again, in Ephesus, we see a similar controversy. We see Paul, formerly a Pharisee himself, and also a man who had experience in refuting arguments against Jesus being the Messiah (Acts 9:22), in dialogue and lively discussion with the Jews in the synagogue. These arguments likely came down to debates over interpretations of law and prophecy (Acts 18:14-16 is the outcome of similar discussions in Corinth). 


Now, this is we have to understand what is happening here. Paul’s case is compelling. We know that from his early arguments with the Jews in Damascus. Paul was one of the foremost theologians of any type in the first century. He knew his Bible very well. 


But we also see that some of them did not believe and became obstinate. They did not believe because they could not believe. 


They could not believe because to do would be to admit two unbearable truths: 

  • Their Messiah has been in their midst, but they had missed Him 

  • Their Messiah had been in their midst, but they had killed Him 


Look at the objections that arose against Peter when he preached the Gospel to the Sanhedrin: 


Acts 5:27-28 NIV 

[27] The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. [28] “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” 

The preaching of the Gospel was controversial because it cannot be controlled. 


The preaching of the Gospel was controversial because they had rejected it. 


The preaching of the Gospel was controversial because it exposed their sin.


So it had to be silenced. 


John 3:19-21 NIV 

[19] This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. [20] Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. [21] But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God. 

The Gospel is still controversial now, for all these reasons. 


Just as at in Ephesus, we should be prepared for push-back from those who despise the Message and wish it would just go away. 


But it will not. 


It will spread. 


It will flourish. 


It cannot be silenced. 


So we see, then, the completeness of the Gospel and how this caused controversy in Ephesus, and still does nowadays. 


Lastly, let’s look at the third aspect, that of Command. 

 

Command 

Acts 19:11-20 NIV 

[11] God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, [12] so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them. [13] Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” [14] Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. [15] One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” [16] Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. [17] When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. [18] Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. [19] A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. [20] In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power. 

This passage is way outside the experience of most Western Christians.  


How are we to understand it? 


People become Christians in many different ways, according to their culture, upbringing, personality and many different variables.


Some receive the Word of God right away. Others take time. Some are brought close to God through the warmth of John 3:16. I heard of one building engineer who was convinced by Deuteronomy 22:8, because he believed that a God who cared for His people’s safety enough to command them to build a parapet around their rooftops was worth knowing. 


And then there are verses like these. 


Now, some of us might get a little covetous of what happened here. We might long for similar experiences.  


However, the Bible actually warns us against it. Take this verse: 


John 4:48 NIV 

[48]  “Unless you people see signs and wonders,” Jesus told him, “you will never believe.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.4.48.NIV)


What we have to understand is that this is actually a rebuke, akin to this verse: 


John 20:29 NIV 

[29] Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/jhn.20.29.NIV)


And again here: 


Matthew 12:38-40 NIV 

[38] Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” [39] He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. [40] For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.  

Miraculous signs should not be needed for us to believe the Word of God. If they are, then that is not a good indication of the strength of our faith. 


But the reality is that sometimes they are needed. In a city such as Ephesus, where paganism was strong and, as we will see, occult spirituality was also active, miraculous signs – what we sometimes call ‘power ministry’ nowadays, was needed to convince the Ephesians that God was more powerful than the false gods they were worshipping. These were Mount Carmel moments – similar to what Elijah did with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 18:16-39). 


However, with this type of ministry comes a particular danger: veneration of the means through which the miracle has taken place. 


Look at these verses: 


Numbers 21:6-9 NIV 

[6] Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. [7] The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. [8] The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” [9] So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/num.21.6-9.NIV)


2 Kings 18:4 NIV 

[4] He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.) 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/2ki.18.4.NIV)


This kind of fetishism still happens in some branches of the church today, where relics are regarded as holy and prayed towards as if they were God. 


They are not. 


Now that we have seen a bit more background information on the miraculous signs that were taking place in Ephesus, let’s look at them more closely to see why they were needed.

 

What we see here is how Paul had power over two types of sickness: physical and spiritual. 

 

Now, we have to be very careful here. The church has often elevated people with this kind of power until they are almost a god. Paul himself utterly rejected that type of thinking (Acts 14:8-18). Paul was not able to do these things in his own power. Instead, he received this power from God, as Acts 19:11 states.  


Because of that power, and only because of that power, Paul was able to heal the sick and cast out demons. 


We then see seven sons of a Jewish priest who decided they would get in on the act and use Jesus' power without ever believing in Him or trusting in Him. 


They were imposters. 


It ended very badly for them (Acts 19:16). 


This triggered a mass repentance. This power ministry had the desired effect. Ephesians who had been involved in the occult now renounced their practices and burned their books – in British currency this works out at approximately £4.5 million worth of books! 


They made this sacrifice of repentance for one reason and one reason only: it was clear that Jesus was God and there was no other. Everything they had believed in had been proven to be a lie. The only thing they could do was repent. 


This truly was a Mount Carmel moment. 


Revival had come to Ephesus. 

 

Conclusion  

Acts 19:1 NIV 

[1] While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul took the road through the interior and arrived at Ephesus. 

(Read the full passage at: https://bible.com/bible/111/act.19.1.NIV)


There are some times in our lives that are very significant, seminal moments. Some of these are when we meet someone important to us. 


One of the most significant days in the history of the Ephesian church, and Ephesus as a whole, was when Paul the Apostle arrived in town. 


It wasn’t so significant because of who he was, it was more significant for what he brought with him: 


The Gospel. 


Paul brought the complete Gospel, which is salvation through Jesus Christ and not even through repentance alone – although faith in Jesus Christ should produce repentance. This Gospel dealt with the insufficiencies of a religion based on works alone. 


The preaching of this complete Gospel also showed up the insufficiencies in the Jewish religion too. Their law could not save them (Romans 8:1-4). Only Jesus could. 


It also showed up the insufficiencies in the religious shysters and conmen and frauds. They played a dangerous game in trying to use the Name of Jesus Christ to exalt themselves, for their own personal gain.  


They ought to have known better than that (Acts 5:1-11 – which had a very similar outcome). 


Our next study will look at the persecution that arose in Ephesus. In a sense, this was inevitable. When the Gospel enters your life, it exposes all the insufficiencies in any life without Jesus. That can be hard to hear. 


But in Ephesus a revival took place because these ancient Asians did what we should do: 


They set aside the insufficient lives they were living and they followed Jesus. 


Shouldn’t you do the same? 

 

Prayer 

Lord Jesus, I have to admit that it is painful when Your Gospel light shines on my life and it exposes just how insufficient my life is. I bring it all to You right now. I give it to You. You are everything I need. I need nothing and no-one else. Amen. 


Questions for Contemplation 

  • What was wrong with the faith of the believers Paul met in Ephesus? Does your faith have the same issue? Why / why not? What will you do about it? 

  • Why did some of the Jews become obstinate over the Gospel? What can we learn from this? 

  • What hard lesson did the seven sons of Sceva learn? Is this a lesson you need to learn too? 

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