Acts 19:1-20
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 19
Paul in Ephesus.[a] 1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 He asked, “Then how were you baptized?” They answered, “With the baptism of John.”
4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied. 7 There were about twelve of them in all.
8 He then entered the synagogue, and during the next three months he spoke out fearlessly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. 9 But some remained stubborn in their disbelief and began to malign the Way publicly. So he withdrew from them, taking the disciples with him, and began to hold daily discussions in the hall of Tyrannus. 10 This continued for two years, with the result that all the residents of the province of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
11 New Encounter of the Church with Magic.[b] So extraordinary were the wonders God worked through Paul 12 that when handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, they were cured of their diseases and the evil spirits came out of them.
13 Then some itinerant Jewish exorcists used the name of the Lord Jesus over those possessed by evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish leading priest named Sceva were among those who were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit responded, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?” 16 Then the man with the evil spirit sprang at them, overpowered them, and prevailed over them so violently that they fled out of the house battered and naked.
17 When this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in ever increasing honor. 18 Moreover, many of those who had become believers came forward and openly confessed their deeds, 19 while a great number of those who practiced magic collected their books and burned them publicly. When the value of these books was calculated, it was found to come to fifty thousand silver pieces.[c] 20 In such ways did the word of the Lord spread ever more widely and successfully.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Acts 19:1 The foundation of the Church of Ephesus takes place in the house of a Greek professor. In all likelihood, during this same period Paul’s group established the nearby Churches, such as those of Colossae, Laodicea, and Hierapolis.
- Acts 19:11 Here we have a new account of miracles analogous to those of Peter (Acts 5:15); the Gospel changes one’s life. Then the account becomes picturesque in reporting a new encounter with a milieu influenced by magic. From the Gospels, we know that there were Jewish exorcists (Mt 12:27) and that some even acted in the very name of Jesus (Mk 9:38; Lk 9:49). Those at Ephesus must have moved with ease in this city of superstition where books of magic proliferated. The feeling is that since there is a new name circulating—that of Paul’s Jesus—why not profit from that name so as to be up-to-date! However, once again we see the affirmation of the incompatibility between the magic enterprise and the Christian life. The Gospel will never be a secret act in the hands of sorcerers.
- Acts 19:19 Fifty thousand silver pieces was an enormous sum, representing the wages for 50,000 days of work.
