Paul had a very long and fruitful ministry at Ephesus. It is conveniently broken up into four parts. The first part again involves the question of Baptism. In the last chapter, we met Apollos who had the baptism of John but not the baptism of Jesus. Much as we have today, there was not always unity even in the early church. Obviously the baptism of John stopped, when he was beheaded just as Jesus was starting his ministry. The baptism of John still existed among some but it was not the same as the baptism of Jesus. The baptism of John is unto repentance. The baptism of Jesus is unto forgiveness of sins. The baptism of John does not mean that John was involved. It is taken to mean a Christian water baptism without the Spirit.

Being baptized into John is like courtship. It is a striving toward a desirable but distant goal. Being baptized into Jesus is like a marriage as it is something already accomplished. Courtship is a struggle to attain something. Marriage is the enjoyment and development of something already attained. It does not mean there is nothing more to do. It means the full and mysterious richness of Christianity is available and is still to be explored and developed.

The second part of this ministry involves the synagogue. As always, Paul began in the synagogue just as did Jesus. It was assumed that the most religious people of the day would be most receptive to the words of Christ. But Jesus and Paul were both disappointed. Jesus left the synagogue and preached out of doors. In town after town, Paul left the synagogue in search of a more responsive group. What makes religious people so blind to new truth and a new life? The very strength of their convictions becomes the weakness of their understanding. It is easy to assume the truth is already known in full when it is only known in part. We must always avoid allowing our religious certainty to become religious bigotry.

In this case Paul went to a public lecture hall. He used the room from eleven to four when business took a rest from its labors. This public hall was likely rented to visiting lecturers where Paul was treated as a travelling sophist instead of a religious evangelist. When Paul could not get a hearing in the synagogue, he went to the place where he had the chance of being heard favorably by the most people. Saying that all of Asia (both Greek and Jew), heard the word of the Lord Jesus sounds like an exaggeration. It refers to the belief that Paul used Ephesus as a base while he formed churches in Colossae, Laodicea, and Herapolis.

The early church had many enemies. Most of the Jews were against it. Rome was indifferent if not hostile to it. In many ways, the most dangerous was magic which comprises the third part of this ministry. Magic and the supernatural go together. Magic is the attempt to control the supernatural in favor of man. It is a brash attempt to bend the will of God. Magic fascinates people and short cuts to power are always a temptation. Miracles performed by God through Paul’s hands were astonishing. Soon things Paul had touched were assumed to have the power of his personality and faith. There are still those in the church who believe that the power of the Cross resides in a relic of the original.

Some itinerant Jewish exorcists used magic as their trade. If they learned the proper passwords their fortune would be made. When they heard about the power of Jesus, they added his name to their list of tools. Notice, they made no attempt to take Jesus into their lives; they simply added his name to their magic stock in trade. They tried to drive out the evil spirits by saying, "We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth." The evil spirit responded with, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?" Then the man with the evil spirit overcame them and drove them out of the house naked and wounded. When this word spread, many who used curious arts brought their books and burned them before all men.

The fourth part of this ministry involves a great commotion. Paul always found a way to stir up trouble. In this case it appeared to involve a direct conflict of religions. Diana was the goddess of fertility and her temple in Ephesus was one of the wonders of the world. Her worshipers numbered in the thousands. Images of the goddess could be seen in almost every home. The making of all these images kept scores of silversmiths busy and rich. Jesus, on the other hand, had no temple and only a handful of followers. The only image of him was a mental image, so no business prospered because of him. Jesus’ chances against such a large majority with financial gain at risk seem small at best.

Demetrius began this stir when he formed the equivalent of a labor union. Men who perform the same work find advantage in pooling their common interests and that was his approach. The silversmith’s living was dependent on the sale of images. If there were no more shrines, there would be no more wealth for the silversmiths. Demetrius went on to point out that Paul had already slowed down the traffic in images. Paul and his colleagues were telling people that gods made with hands are not gods. It is a very good indication of the power of Paul’s preaching.

Demetrius did not want an uproar based purely on monetary gain. That would imply that the silversmiths were greedy. He instead appealed on behalf of Diana. What would become of her if this continued? The temple would fall into contempt and she would be deposed from her magnificence. The argument started with hard financial facts but ended with a religious crusade. Nothing stirs people more than a religious battle cry based upon sound business principles.

This approach is used very effectively today. Look at the issues regarding our government. It doesn’t matter which issue you examine. Each gets your attention by appealing to a potential financial loss. Then it is transformed into a cry for freedom and rights. It is never left as a financial issue because they are easy to resolve. If finances are the only issue in a conflict, they can be settled by a compromise. If the issue is freedom and rights, there can be no compromise. We must fight to the death – at least to the death of the issue involved. Polarization based on personal rights and beliefs is effectively keeping our government from accomplishing anything at all.

When the issue was transformed from a financial issue to one of Diana’s rights; the people in Ephesus were so enraged there was a riot. The people poured into the great amphitheater, shouting and yelling, dragging innocent bystanders who just might have had some connection to Paul. They showed the truth about most riots. "Some cried one thing, some another; for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together." The emotions of the people were totally unrestrained and without reason. There are two good ways to inflame an audience to irrational action. First, appeal to their patriotism. Second, appeal to their religion. Demetrius did both by tying the reputation of Ephesus to the honor due Diana.

History is full of examples where people with purely financial motives have been successful at arousing a crowd into a feeding frenzy. It is interesting to note that the disciples kept Paul out of the amphitheater. Had the object of their fury been present in person, violence surely would have resulted.

After two hours of shouting, the town clerk was able to quiet the crowd enough to speak to them rationally. He started by stating what everyone already knew and accepted. Ephesus was the temple keeper of Diana and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky. He reminded them that no one could contradict those facts. He pointed out that none of the people brought into the assembly had been sacrilegious or blasphemers of their goddess. He reminded them that they may one day have to give an account of this event to the Romans and they had no real cause for this unruly assembly. He indicated that the real danger of this riot was not loss of trade, but the risk that the Romans might treat this irregular assembly as rioting and punish the city for it. With that consequence in mind, he was successful in returning the focus of the conflict to the original issue.

However, the damage was done; even though the riot was dismissed peacefully, the scars remained and there was little Paul could do but leave the city. The antagonism was too great and the scars were fresh. So Paul was forced to move on yet again.