CRITICAL REMARKS
Acts 19:13. Vagabond.—I.e., wandering about, or strolling Jews, exorcists, by profession (compare Matthew 12:8). “They appear to have regarded Paul as one of their own class, but of a higher order” (Hackett). For we read I.
Acts 19:14. Which did so should be doing this, as a habit—i.e., pretending to do so, because it cannot be assumed that they did so in reality. Christ’s language (Matthew 12:27) does not necessarily imply that the Jewish exorcists could successfully expel demons.
Acts 19:16. And overcame them.—The best MSS. read both instead of “them.” Naked need not signify more than “stripped of their outer garment.” Compare Mark 14:52; John 21:7.
Acts 19:17. And this was known should be rendered and this became known. Fear fell.—ἐπέπεσε φόβος, as in Luke 1:12.
Acts 19:18. Many that believed.—Rather, of those who had believed—i.e., not of those who were newly converted by this occurrence (Alford, Meyer, Holtzmann), but of those who had believed and were still believers (Lechler, Zöckler, Plumptre, Spence). Confessed and shewed would be better translated confessing and declaring. Their deeds.—Not their sins in general (Kuinoel), but their superstitious practices (Olshausen, Meyer, Holtzmann).
Acts 19:19. Those who used curious arts.—Lit., practised things over-wrought—i.e., superfluous, curious things—a mild expression for magical arts. Their books.—Those which contained their spells, charms, magical formulæ, and such like. The so-called “Ephesian letters,” γρἁμματὰ Ἑφέσια, were “small slips of parchment in silk bags, on which were written strange cabalistic words, of little or of lost meaning” (Plumptre).
Acts 19:20. With regard to the preceding verses Ramsay (St. Paul, etc., 273) says:—“In this Ephesian description one feels the character, not of weighed and reasoned history, but of popular fancy; and I cannot explain it on the level of most of the narrative.… The puzzle becomes still more difficult when we go on to Acts 19:23 and find ourselves again on the same level as the finest part of Acts. If there were many such contrasts in the book as between Acts 19:11-20; Acts 19:23-41, I should be a believer in the composite character of Acts. As it is, I confess the difficulty in this part; but the existence of some unsolved difficulties is not a bar to the view maintained in the present treatise”—the view, namely, of the historical credibility of Acts as a whole. The literary contrast may be perfectly explained by supposing that Luke compiled this chapter from papers written by separate authors.
HOMILETICAL ANALYSIS.—Acts 19:13-20
An incident in Ephesus; or, the Story of Sceva’s Sons
I. Their social standing.—
1. Their father’s name. Scæva, or Skeva, Σκευᾶ, otherwise unknown. The number of obscure individuals whose names have found a place in Holy Writ is remarkable. Fathers of no celebrity have frequently had sons who have risen to celebrity or achieved notoriety.
2. Their father’s dignity. A Jewish chief priest. Whether an actual high priest who had been deposed, or an individual connected with the high priest’s family, or the head of one of the twenty-four courses that officiated in the temple, or a priest of the higher class, or head of the priests attached to the local synagogue, cannot be determined. “There is no warrant in the text for the view sometimes advocated that Scæva was merely an impostor who pretended to be a chief priest” (Ramsay).
II. Their professional character.—“Vagabond”—i.e., wandering “exorcists.” According to the best information, the whole Orient at this time was full of such worthies, exorcists of demons, interpreters of dreams, fortune-tellers, charmers, masters of the black art, jugglers; which renders the presence of such a detachment of this fraternity as Scæva’s sons formed perfectly credible.
III. Their ill-advised experiment.—
1. The nature of it was to attempt the expulsion of demons by calling over such as were possessed the name of the Lord Jesus, and saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.”
2. The motive which impelled them was undoubtedly a consciousness that Paul, by employing the name of Jesus, could do in reality what they with their incantations and mystic arts only pretended to do, but were well aware they did not and could not do (see “Critical Remarks”).
3. The number of those who took part in the particular attempt recorded is not clear. According to one view, while all the seven addicted themselves to this practice of imitating Paul, only two (after the best reading in Acts 19:16) were engaged in this special instance (Lechler, Alford). Another explanation runs that though all the seven employed themselves about the business, only two, who acted as ringleaders, were set upon by the demon. A third suggestion (but not so good) is that all were overcome by the demon on both sides—i.e. when they stood before and afterwards when they fled from him (Ewald).
IV. Their richly-merited punishment.—
1. From whom it proceeded. The man in whom the evil spirit was, and who now fiercely turned on the impostors. As, however, the man was more or less the involuntary instrument of the demon, the real author of their punishment was the “spirit” rather than the man.
2. To what extent it was carried. The man leaped upon them with wild fury, and, endowed like the Gadarene demoniac, with almost preternatural strength (Mark 5:3-4), overcame and prevailed against them both, stripping their (outer) garments from them and inflicting on them bodily wounds, so that, like the cowards they were (and all like them are), they were glad to flee from the house in a semi-nude and, perhaps, bleeding condition.
3. By what argument it was justified. This was contained in the saying of the man, “Jesus I know (or recognise) and Paul I know; but who are ye? “For the moment the consciousness of the man was taken possession of by the demon, who, as in the similar instance mentioned in the gospels (Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:28), acknowledged the authority of Christ, and, as in the case of the pythoness at Philippi (Acts 16:17), recognised that of the apostle as Christ’s servant; but had no knowledge whatever of the sons of Scæva.
4. To what good results it led.
(1) To the impression of the public mind. Becoming known it caused a tremendous sensation in the city among both Jews and Greeks. “Fear fell upon them all” (compare Acts 5:11).
(2) To the exaltation of the name of the Lord Jesus. The occurrence showed that Christ’s name, which Paul preached in the school of Tyrannus, stood on a different platform from that of any of the names which had been employed by the exorcists (see Philippians 2:9).
(3) To the repentance of many in the Church. This humiliating admission that many of those who had professed to believe under Paul’s ministry in the city had been leading lives wholly inconsistent with the holy gospel, to the extent even of trafficking with these “vagabond exorcists,” indirectly proves the historic faithfulness of Luke; while the confessions of the converts themselves offered no small testimony to the impression created by the incident and to the sense of the unseen felt by the Ephesian Christians. Whether this confession was made to Paul in private or in public before the Church is not stated. The Romish Church accepting the former hypothesis grounds on this text the institution of the confessional.
(4) To the conversion of not a few of the exorcists themselves. The practisers of curious or magical arts, literally of things over-wrought, curious and recondite, were so struck with awe that they renounced their superstitious practices, collected their books which contained their magical incantations, charms, nostrums and such like, to the value of fifty thousand pieces of silver—nearly £2000 of English money—and burned them in the sight of all. “It was a strong proof of honest conviction on the part of the sorcerers, and a striking attestation of the triumph of Jesus Christ over the powers of darkness” (Conybeare and Howson).
(5) To the accelerated progress of the gospel. “The word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed,” as it did years before in Jerusalem on the death of Herod (Acts 12:24).
Learn.—
1. The danger of using Christ’s name unlawfully.
2. The sin of preaching Christ’s gospel without knowing Christ Himself.
3. The involuntary testimony Christ can extract from His foes.
4. The certainty that all who oppose either Christ or His gospel will ultimately suffer loss.
5. The impossibility of hindering the progress of the gospel.
6. The duty of believers acknowledging their sins.
7. The power of the truth to excite to repentance.
8. The great sacrifices to which Christianity sometimes calls its adherents.
9. The absolute exclusiveness of Christianity which admits of no compromise.
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Acts 19:13. The Name of the Lord Jesus.
I. The most exalted in the universe.
1. In heaven higher than that of principalities and powers.
2. On earth more widely known than that of any other teacher or founder of religion.
3. In the Church, more trusted, loved and honoured by believers than any other.
II. The most powerful in the universe.—
1. The Healer of disease.
2. The conqueror of Satan.
3. The Saviour from sin.
4. The awakener from death.
III. The most permanent in the universe.—“His name shall endure for ever.”
Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
I. Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, sent forth in the fulness of the times and declared to be God’s Son by His resurrection from the dead.
II. Jesus, the sinner’s substitute, set forth to be a great propitiation through faith in His blood.
III. Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, proved to be so by the meeting in Him of Old Testament prophecies.
IV. Jesus, the Saviour of believers, who accept God’s testimony concerning Him, and trust in His finished work, who renounce their own righteousness and embrace the righteousness which is of God by faith.
V. Jesus, the conqueror of the devil, who came indeed to destroy the works of the devil, and who triumphed over the principalities and powers of darkness through His cross.
Acts 19:15. Jesus and Paul.
I. The Saviour and the saved.
II. The Lord and the servant.
III. The agent and the instrument.
IV. The sovereign and the ambassador.
V. The subject and the preacher.
Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”—A sermon by an evil spirit; or the (sound) doctrines of devils.
I. That Jesus is the Son of God and the conqueror of the devil (Matthew 10:29; Luke 4:34; Hebrews 2:14).
II. That the gospel is a message of salvation for guilty men, or of deliver ance from the bondage of the devil (Luke 4:18; Hebrews 2:15).
III. That the ministry is an institution appointed by Jesus Christ for the propagation of this gospel of soul emancipation.
IV. That those who preach the gospel without themselves standing in personal relation to Jesus Christ or having been appointed by Him are false teachers and cannot really harm them, the devils (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 2:4; 1 Timothy 4:1).
V. That false teachers will eventually bring upon themselves swift destruction (2 Peter 2:1).
Acts 19:17. The Name of the Lord Jesus magnified. This happens—
I. When it is openly, widely and courageously preached as by Paul.
II. When it is explicitly, extensively and firmly believed in.
III. When it is seen to be powerfully influential over men’s hearts and lives, leading the unbelieving to faith, and the faithful to repentance and self-sacrifice.
Magnifying the Name of the Lord Jesus.—The Ephesians saw in this, and so should Christians to day—
I. The founder of God’s kingdom on the earth.
II. The author of salvation in the individual soul.
III. The conqueror of the devil and his emissaries.
IV. The deliverer of the captives of Satan and sin.
V. The ruler of His people’s hearts
Acts 19:19. The Burning of the Books.
I. Some books have been burnt which should have been preserved.—E.g., many noble volumes of science, philosophy and literature in the library of Alexandria.
II. Some books are preserved which should be tossed into the flames.—E.g., “the pernicious fugitive pieces of a frivolous superficial knowledge, the seductive works of an impure light literature, and the arrogant decrees of an unchristian tyranny of the conscience.”
III. Some books, though cast into the fire, will not burn.—The magical books of the Ephesians perished; but the sacred books of the Old and New Testaments though they have often been committed to the flames, have always come forth again fresher, livelier and with more power than ever.
Acts 19:20. The Growth and Power of the Word of God.—Exemplified in Ephesus.
I. The word grew.—Mightily:
1. In clearness of exposition. This to be expected considering that Paul was the preacher.
2. In intensity of impression. Also natural, remembering what was Paul’s theme—the things concerning Jesus and the kingdom of God, and who was Paul’s keeper—the Holy Ghost.
3. In extensiveness of reception. “All they which dwelt in Asia.” heard the word, while “many believed.” Scarcely less wonderful, seeing that Paul’s word was accompanied by special signs.
4. In productiveness of fruits. It led to marvellous deeds of self-renunciation as well as to the manifestation of great solemnity and joy.
II. The word prevailed.—Also mightily.
1. Over the corruption of the natural heart. Leading those who heard the gospel to turn from dead idols to serve the living God.
2. Over the opposition of the powers of evil. Manifested in the exposure of Scæva’s sons and the deliverance of the man possessed.
3. Over the besetting sins of believers. Enabling those who had received the word to shake themselves free from the love of magic and the fascinations of money.
Acts 19:8-20. A Three Years’ Mission in Ephesus.—During this period the cause of the gospel as represented by Paul was—
I. Energetically pushed.—Paul’s activity was remarkably displayed in three directions.
1. In preaching the word of God (Acts 19:8; Acts 19:10).
2. In working miracles, or signs of the Holy Ghost (Acts 19:11).
3. In founding churches of Jesus Christ. Though not stated, it was doubtless during this period that the Churches of Ephesus, Colossæ, Laodicea, and Hierapolis were founded.
II. Vehemently opposed.—By the attempted imposture of Scæva’s sons.
1. The form it took. Attempting to exorcise an evil spirit by naming over it the name of Jesus.
2. The motives inspiring it. Many. Perhaps
(1) On the part of the devil, to counterfeit the work of the Holy Ghost.
(2) On the part of the Jews, to oppose the work of Paul as a preacher of the cross.
(3) On the part of the jugglers, to make money, since they saw that Paul’s charm was more effective than theirs.
3. The result to which it led. Defeat, exposure, and damage. So will every attempt to hinder Christ’s cause eventually recoil on its author’s head.
III. Wondrously prospered.—The impression made upon the community as well as on the Church was deep and lasting.
1. On the community. It led to fear and veneration, if not to conviction and conversion.
2. On the Church. It stirred to confession and reformation, both voluntary—“they came”—and real—they burned “their books.”