The Book of the Acts

21When all this had been done, Paul planned in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and then go to Jerusalem. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must also see Rome.”

22So, sending two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, he himself stayed on for some time in Ephesus.

21 The period of Paul’s Ephesian ministry drew to an end. It had been a most fruitful and encouraging ministry, even if it was attended by personal dangers of which little is said in Acts, although there are several allusions to them in the letters which Paul sent elsewhere (especially to Corinth) about this time.41 Now some two and a half years had passed since he made Ephesus his headquarters. Christianity had established a firm foothold on the east shore of the Aegean (as previously on the west shore), and the young churches of Asia (as of Macedonia and Achaia) could safely be left to continue their life of fellowship and witness under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Paul’s activity could be transferred to other areas, and he looked around for fresh worlds to conquer for Christ. His settled policy not to build on someone else’s foundation (Rom. 15:20) forbade him to consider missionary enterprise in Egypt or Cyrene; in Rome, too, there was already a Christian community.42 He looked forward, however, to visiting Rome, not with the intention of settling down there but of halting there for some time on his way to Spain. For Spain, the most westerly outpost of Roman civilization, was the new Macedonia which called him to come over and plant the faith among its hitherto unevangelized inhabitants.43 But Rome is the goal of Luke’s narrative, and he is more interested in Paul’s plan to visit Rome than he is in his Spanish project. Whether or not Paul’s Spanish project was ever realized is something which Luke knew by the time he published his work, but something which we do not know. It is probable, too, that Rome played a part in Paul’s missionary strategy, which makes Luke’s choice of it as the goal of his narrative doubly appropriate.44 From this point on, then, we follow Paul to Rome until, at the end of Acts, he reaches the imperial city by an unforeseen route and is busily preaching the gospel there when the readers take their leave of him.

Before putting his plans into execution, however, Paul intended to visit his friends in Macedonia and Achaia, and then go to Jerusalem. Luke does not mention the main reason for this visit to Jerusalem,45 but Paul’s own writings make it clear that he wished to be there in person, along with delegates from his Gentile churches, east and west of the Aegean, in order to hand over to the leaders of the Jerusalem church the proceeds of the fund which he had organized in those churches for the relief of the poor in Jerusalem.46

22 So he sent two of his companions, Timothy and Erastus, over to Macedonia in advance of his own journey thither. Timothy has not been mentioned in the record of Acts since he returned from Macedonia to rejoin Paul in Corinth (18:5). But he was certainly with Paul for part at least of the Ephesian ministry; at some point in the course of that period Paul sent him to Corinth and expected him to return to Ephesus (1 Cor. 4:17; 16:10–11). It is uncertain if that was the trip referred to here.47 It is unlikely that the Erastus mentioned here is identical with Erastus the city treasurer of Corinth, to whom Paul refers in Rom. 16:23.48

2. The Riot at Ephesus (19:23–41)

a. Indignation of the Silversmiths (19:23–28)

23About that time a serious disturbance broke out in connection with the Way.

24A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver49 shrines50 of Artemis and provided considerable business for his fellow-craftsmen,

25called them together, along with those who were engaged in the same line of business, and addressed them as follows: “Gentlemen,51 you know that our prosperity is based on this business.

26Now, as you see and hear, not only in Ephesus52 but almost throughout the whole province of Asia this fellow Paul 53 has persuaded a great number of people to go over to his way of thinking: he insists that gods made by hand are no gods.

27There is a twofold danger here: not only is our line of business54 likely to be discredited, but the temple of the great goddess Artemis will become of no account, and she who is worshiped by all Asia and indeed by the whole world will be dragged down from her preeminence.”55

28Hearing this, they were filled with fury and56 kept on shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”57

23 The narrative style of Acts has been compared to “a lecture with lantern-slides; the pictures are shown one after another illustrating the story the lecturer wants to tell while he makes the transition from one plate to another by some general remarks.”58 This comparison is specially apt in the account of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus. Three “pictures” have already been shown (the incident of the twelve disciples, the program of discussions in Tyrannus’s lecture hall, and the encounter with the magicians); now comes the fourth, which is the most vivid of all. It is postponed until Paul’s further travel plans have been announced—partly to give prominence to those plans, and partly because the disturbance about to be described took place very shortly before Paul’s departure from Ephesus.

The disturbance, which might have led to very ugly consequences, arose out of the threat which the gospel presented to all pagan worship, and especially to the cult of the great goddess Artemis, and to those industries which were largely dependent on the cult.

The cult of Ephesian Artemis was of earlier date than the Greek settlement at Ephesus; the name Artemis is non-Greek. Artemis was traditionally venerated as the protector of wild creatures.59 This association with wild creatures survives, in an altered form, in her worship on the Greek mainland as the “queen and huntress, chaste and fair” of Ben Jonson’s poem;60 Ephesian Artemis, on the other hand, seems to have acquired some of the features of the great mother-goddess venerated from time immemorial in Asia Minor. Her temple, replacing an earlier one which was destroyed by fire in 356 B.C., was reckoned one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It covered an area four times as large as that of the Parthenon in Athens; it was supported by 127 pillars, each of them sixty feet high, and was adorned by Praxiteles and other great sculptors of antiquity.61 It stood about a mile and a half northeast of the city which Paul knew. All knowledge of its whereabouts had been forgotten for centuries, when its foundations were discovered on the last day of 1869.62 The great altar, west of the main building, was discovered in 1965.

24 The silversmiths of Ephesus regarded their guild as being under the special patronage of Artemis, in whose honor so many of their wares were manufactured. Among these wares were miniature silver niches, containing an image of the goddess, which her votaries bought to dedicate in the temple.63 The sale of these was a source of considerable profit to the silversmiths, and they were alarmed at the fall in the demand for them which the spread of Christianity was causing. When religious devotion and economic interest were simultaneously offended, a quite exceptionally fervid anger was aroused.64

25–27 Demetrius, a prominent member of the guild of silversmiths, probably their president, called a meeting of those who were involved in this trade, and persuaded them to stage a mass protest against the subversive propaganda spread by Paul and his colleagues. Those preachers, by denying all existence to divinities that were made by human hands,65 and condemning any attempt to represent the divine likeness in visible form, were threatening the livelihood of those who carried on such a profitable business in the manufacture of images of Artemis. More than that, they were challenging the preeminent majesty of the great goddess herself—a goddess venerated not only at Ephesus and throughout the province of Asia, but over the whole civilized world.66 It was intolerable that they should stand idly by and allow such an affront to be offered to the goddess and her temple, the most magnificent shrine on earth.

28 Fired by the words of Demetrius, his hearers ran into the open street (as the Western text expressly says), acclaiming their goddess aloud with the cultic cry, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

b. Demonstration in the Theater (19:29–34)

29The city was filled with the uproar, and all rushed as one man into the theater. They seized on two of Paul’s traveling companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia,67 and took them along with them.

30Paul wanted to go in to confront the populace, but the disciples would not allow him.

31Some of the Asiarchs also, who were well disposed to him, sent to urge him not to venture into the theater.

32So some were shouting one thing, some another, for the assembly was in a state of confusion, and most of them had no idea why they had come together.

33Some of the crowd put Alexander up;68 the Jews had pushed him to the front. Alexander, motioning with his hand, wished to make a speech of defense to the populace.

34But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they shouted continuously for two hours, saying one thing only: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”69

29 The enthusiastic resentment of the silversmiths infected their fellow-citizens. Ramsay may be right in thinking that the silversmiths, on leaving the place where Demetrius addressed them, ran into the street later reconstructed as the Arcadian Way, leading from the harbor up to the left front of the theater.70 When the excitement spread to the crowd, the theater was the natural place for them to stage a demonstration. The theater of Ephesus, cut out of the western slope of Mount Pion (modern Panayirdaǧ), could accommodate nearly 25,000 people.71 It was the regular meeting place of the civic assembly, which was held three times a month; on this occasion the demonstrating populace appears to have constituted itself as a meeting of the assembly, but a highly irregular one.72 As the people rushed along, they laid hands on two of Paul’s companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and dragged them into the theater with them. It has been conjectured that the vividness of Luke’s description of what went on in the theater owes something to the account given by one or the other of these two men.

30–31 The crowd had not been able to lay hands on Paul himself, but as soon as he knew what was afoot, he prepared to go and face the unruly assembly in person. But the Ephesian Christians, in alarm, forcibly prevented him from doing what seemed to them such a mad thing. The Asiarchs also, leading citizens of Ephesus, sent him a message to dissuade him from running such a risk to his life. The title Asiarchs was given to leading citizens of those cities in the province which were linked in a league, more particularly to those who were currently holding high office in the league, or had formerly done so. (It was apparently from their ranks that the annually elected high priest of the imperial cult in the province was drawn.)73 That such men were friendly to Paul suggests that imperial policy at this time was not hostile to Christianity, and that the more educated classes did not share the antipathy to Paul felt by the more superstitious rank and file.

32 In the theater, however, the popular indignation was enjoying uninhibited expression. There was total disorder, for the majority of the crowd had no clear idea of why they were there—a remark which reveals Luke’s Greek sense of humor.74

33–34 One group of residents in Ephesus had special cause for anxiety at this turn of events. This was the Jewish community. True, the prime occasion of the riot was Paul’s mission, but Paul was a Jew, and Jews were known to be disbelievers in Artemis and all other pagan divinities. Those members of the populace who were insufficiently informed about the cause of the demonstration were likely to indulge in general anti-Jewish agitation when they learned that the honor of the great goddess was in peril.

The Jews of Ephesus judged it necessary to dissociate themselves openly from Paul and the other missionaries, so they put forward Alexander,75 one of their number, to make it plain to the crowd that they had nothing to do with the present trouble—that they were as much opposed to Paul, indeed, as the demonstrators were. But when Alexander got up to speak, the people were in no mood to listen to him. All that they cared about was that he was a Jew, and therefore no worshiper of Artemis; some of them may even have thought that he was the cause of the trouble, seeing that he appeared so eager to make a speech for the defense. When he beckoned for silence and attention, therefore, they howled him down, and for the next two hours they kept up the cry: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

c. The Town Clerk Calms the Agitation (19:35–41)

35At last the town clerk quieted the crowd. “Gentlemen of Ephesus,” he said, “no one in the world is unaware that the city of the Ephesians is temple warden of Great Artemis and of the image that fell down from the sky.

36This is indisputable; therefore you must calm down, stay quiet, and do nothing rash.

37You have brought these men here, although they are guilty neither of sacrilege nor of blasphemy against our goddess.

38If Demetrius and his associated craftsmen have a case to bring against anyone, assizes are in session and there are such persons as proconsuls; let them state their charges against one another.

39If you want any further action taken, the matter will be settled in the lawful assembly.

40Indeed, we are in danger of being charged with riotous assembly for this day’s action: we can show no cause to plead in justification of this commotion.”

41So saying, he dismissed the assembly.

35 There was one citizen of Ephesus who was particularly alarmed by the people’s riotous conduct. This was the town clerk,76 the executive officer of the civic assembly, who took part in drafting the decrees to be laid before it, and had them engraved when they were passed. He acted also as liaison officer between the civic government and the Roman provincial administration, which had its headquarters in Ephesus. The Roman authorities would hold him responsible for the riotous assembly, and might impose severe penalties on the city. He therefore did his best to calm the assembly, and when at last he succeeded, he addressed them.

They need not be alarmed for the honor of the great goddess, he said, for her fame and majesty were universally acknowledged. Everyone knew that her image was of no mortal workmanship but had fallen from the sky77 to be guarded by the people of Ephesus; everyone knew that in consequence the city bore the proud title, “Temple Warden of Artemis.”78 (There were several images in antiquity which were reputed to have fallen from the sky. Originally the term was used of meteorites, but was later extended to include sacred objects of other origin or material.)79

36–37 Therefore, the town clerk went on, the divine power of the goddess was undeniable and unassailable. The citizens ought to keep calm and not be led by excitement into some course of behavior which they would later regret. The men whom they had dragged into the theater were guilty of no crime: they had committed no act of temple robbery or other form of sacrilege; they had spoken no evil of Artemis.80

38–41 If Demetrius and his fellow-craftsmen had a serious complaint to make, said the town clerk, let them make it in the appropriate manner. There were regular assize days81—the days when the convention of citizens met under the presidency of the provincial governor (perhaps it is implied that the assizes were being held right then). The provincial administration was functioning, even if at the moment there was an interregnum between two proconsulates.82 The aggrieved parties should avail themselves of these legal means of redress. If the matters which caused them concern were such as might more suitably be dealt with by the citizen body of Ephesus, they should wait for one of the regular meetings of the civic assembly, instead of convening an irregular and riotous assembly like this.83 The Roman authorities would not tolerate such disorderly proceedings; as it was, they might very well arraign the city on a charge of riot in consequence of what had happened, and the city could plead no justification for it. By this time the people were considerably subdued, as they listened to the town clerk’s sobering arguments, and when he spoke the words of dismissal (as he would have done at the end of a regular assembly), they went quietly home. The town clerk’s reasoned rebuttal of vulgar charges brought against Christians, not only in Ephesus but in other places too, is an important element in the apologetic motive of Acts.