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Paul at Ephesus: magic books, a riot and the armour of God

Ephesus and its Temple of Artemis, the seven sons of Sceva, the burned books of magic, the theatre riot, the ruins today, and the armour of God.

Paul spent more than two years in Ephesus, "so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:10). It was a city full of idols and magic, and the gospel shook it.

A great city of Asia

Ephesus, on the west coast of modern Turkey, was the leading city and port of the Roman province of Asia. Its pride was the Temple of Artemis, whom the King James Bible calls by her Latin name, Diana. The temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, was about four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens. As GotQuestions.org explains, the Artemis of Ephesus was a local mother and fertility goddess who shared a name with the Greek huntress, and much of the city's trade depended on her pilgrims.

The seven sons of Sceva

"God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul" (Acts 19:11). Some travelling Jewish exorcists tried to copy him by using Jesus' name like a spell:

And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? (Acts 19:14-15)

The possessed man overpowered them, and they fled "naked and wounded" (Acts 19:16). Nothing else is known of Sceva. The lesson is plain, and GotQuestions.org draws it out: the name of Jesus is not a magic formula. They claimed an authority they had never been given. As a result, "the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified" (Acts 19:17).

The burning of the magic books

Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed. (Acts 19:19-20)

The phrase "curious arts" means magic. If each piece of silver was a drachma, about a day's pay for a working man, these books were worth a fortune, and the new believers burned them rather than sell them. GotQuestions.org describes Ephesus as a battleground between magic and the miracles of God.

"Ephesian letters"

Ephesus was so linked with magic that ancient writers spoke of "Ephesian letters" (Ephesia grammata): strange, hard-to-understand words used as spells and worn as charms. Greek writers mention them from the fourth century BC onward, and Clement of Alexandria listed six of the words. The Byzantine encyclopedia called the Suda tells of an Ephesian wrestler at Olympia who could not be beaten while the letters were tied to his ankle, until they were found and removed. Luke does not use the phrase, but books of spells like these are very likely the kind that went into the fire.

The riot in the theatre

Then Demetrius, a silversmith "which made silver shrines for Diana," gathered the craftsmen and warned that Paul was saying "that they be no gods, which are made with hands" (Acts 19:24, 26). As GotQuestions.org notes, his real worry was his profits. The crowd rushed into the theatre and "all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19:34). The town clerk finally calmed them.

That theatre still stands, built into a hillside and able to seat about 24,000 to 25,000 people. A Greek inscription found at Ephesus shows the silversmiths' trade and the cult of Artemis still thriving around a century after Paul. James R. Edwards, writing in Biblical Archaeology Review, points out how many details in Acts 19 fit Ephesus in particular.

What remains today

The ruins lie near the town of Selçuk and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The river silted up and the coast moved west, so the old harbour is now far inland. Visitors can still walk to the Great Theatre and the Library of Celsus, built a few decades after Paul. Of the great Temple of Artemis, little remains: a single column.

The armour of God

Years later, Paul wrote to these same believers:

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)

Following GotQuestions.org, each piece is God's provision, not our own strength:

GotQuestions.org also warns against two errors: blaming every problem on demons, and ignoring the spiritual battle altogether.

Christ has already triumphed

The believers in Ephesus did not need stronger magic, because Jesus had already won. Of the cross, Paul wrote: "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15). GotQuestions.org explains that these powers were disarmed at the cross, so believers need not fear them. As John wrote, "greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

Paul himself knew he was no hero. He had once hunted down Christians, and he called himself "less than the least of all saints" (Ephesians 3:8). "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief" (1 Timothy 1:15). The power at Ephesus was never Paul's. It was the name of the Lord Jesus.

Sources

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