When the disciples heard Paul’s word, “they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus” (v. 5). To be baptized into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19), or into the name of the Lord Jesus (Acts 8:16; Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27), is to be baptized into a spiritual union with the all-inclusive Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. The name denotes the person. To be baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus is to be baptized into the Person of the Lord, to be identified with the crucified, resurrected, and ascended Christ, to be put into an organic union with the living Lord.
Acts 19:6 and 7 say, “And when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. And there were in all about twelve men.” Through the laying on of hands, Paul identified these disciples with the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit honored this and came upon them, signifying their identification with the Body. The case of these twelve believers in Ephesus, like the cases of the Samaritan believers and Saul of Tarsus was extraordinary, needing a member of the Body of Christ to identify them with the Body by the laying on of hands.
According to 19:6, the Holy Spirit came upon these disciples in Ephesus. The word “upon” here is economically different from the essential “in” in John 14:17. “In” is related to the intrinsic essence for life; “upon” is related to the outward element for power. Here the Ephesian believers received the Holy Spirit outwardly.
When the Holy Spirit came upon them, “they spoke in tongues and prophesied” (v. 6). This indicates that speaking in tongues was not the unique issue of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, because prophesying was also one of its issues in this case, as magnifying God was also one of its issues in the case of those in the household of Cornelius (10:44-46). Hence, speaking in tongues is not the only evidence of receiving the Holy Spirit economically, neither is it the necessary evidence, because there is at least one case of the receiving of the Holy Spirit economically, the case of the Samaritan believers (8:15-17), which does not mention speaking in tongues.
In 19:8-20 we have a record of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus and its fruits. According to the book of Acts, Paul did more work in Ephesus than in any other place.
Acts 19:8 says, “And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them concerning the kingdom of God.” As usual, Paul’s purpose in going to the synagogue was to take advantage of the gathering to announce the word of God, to grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel. For three months Paul spoke boldly in the synagogue concerning the kingdom of God. It was sovereign of the Lord that an environment was arranged in the synagogue where Paul could minister for three months. To be sure, his ministry was not only a matter of preaching but also of teaching. For the most part, Paul spoke to Jews, but some Greeks may also have been present. Some of those in the synagogue eventually became members of the church in Ephesus.
In verse 8 we are told specifically that Paul reasoned and persuaded those in the synagogue concerning the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God was the main subject of the apostles’ preaching in their commission after Pentecost (1:3; 8:12; 14:22; 20:25; 28:23, 31). The kingdom of God is not a material kingdom visible to human sight; rather, it is a kingdom of the divine life. It is the spreading of Christ as life to His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life.
Acts 19:9 goes on to say, “But when some were hardened and disobeyed, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.” The Latin name “Tyrannus” comes from Greek. Tyrannus might have been a teacher, and Paul might have rented his school and used it as a meeting hall, apart from the Jews’ synagogue, to preach and teach the word of the Lord to both Jews and Greeks for two years (v. 10).
When the dissenting Jews spoke evil of the way of the Lord, Paul pulled all the believers out of the synagogue and then met in the school of Tyrannus for two years, “so that all those dwelling in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks” (v. 10). Here we have another pattern for us to follow today. At the beginning of his ministry, especially during his first journey of ministry, Paul did not stay very long in any particular place. But now, during his third ministry journey, he remained in Ephesus a much longer time. First he reasoned in the synagogue for three months. Then he met in the school of Tyrannus for two years. Acts 20:31 indicates that Paul was in Ephesus for three years. This may have been the reason that Paul could write the Epistle to the Ephesians and address it to this church. The church in Ephesus was the church that had received the most spiritual education from Paul, since he stayed there longer than in any other place. During his three years in Ephesus, Paul was able to accomplish much in his spiritual ministry.
We need to learn from Paul’s three-year stay in Ephesus that sometimes we also may need to remain in a strategic place for the Lord’s interest. Ephesus was a strategic city in Asia Minor. For this reason, the apostle Paul stayed there for a long time in order to establish a strong testimony for the Lord.
The Lord honored Paul’s stay in Ephesus and used him greatly. His ministry was prevailing, and many miracles were performed (vv. 11-17).
Acts 19:18 says, “And many of those who believed came, confessing and making known their practices.” Here “confessing and making known” denote the fullest and most open confession. The Greek word translated “practices” also has the technical meaning of magic spells, and that may be the meaning here.
According to 19:19, spontaneously “a considerable number of those who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before all; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.” The purpose of this burning was to clear up their sinful and demonic life in the past. The price of the books burned was fifty thousand pieces of silver. Since each piece of silver approximated a day’s wage, we can see that these books were worth a great deal of money. Nevertheless, they were publicly burned.
Acts 19:20 concludes, “So the word of the Lord grew mightily and was strong.” This verse can also be translated, “So by the might of the Lord the word grew and was strong.”