Just Like Ephesus

Acts of the Apostles (47)

Introduction

As it unfolded, all the warnings that Paul had received on the way to Jerusalem came true, almost immediately. If the thing was going to happen, there was apparently no sense in delaying it. We have before us the account of Paul’s attempt at conciliating the Jewish temper, and the riot and arrest that happened anyway.

The Text

“And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present. And when he had saluted them, he declared particularly what things God had wrought among the Gentiles by his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord . . . (Acts 21:17–40).

Summary of the Text

So they were received at Jerusalem gladly (v. 17). There was a political problem in the church there, but no personal problem with the leadership The next day Paul and his group met with James and all the elders (v. 18), greeted them, and reported to them all that God was doing among the Gentiles (v. 19). The response was to glorify God for all of that, and then to point out how many zealous-for-the-law Jewish believers there were in the Jerusalem church (v. 20). These folks had been misinformed; they had heard that Paul was teaching Jews to abandon Moses, reject circumcision, and to walk away from the customs (v. 21). So this Jerusalem congregation will hear Paul had come. What then (v. 22)? They had four men there who had taken a Nazarite vow (v. 23). Paul should “adopt” them, pay their expenses, join them in their vow, and shave his head with them (v. 24). That way everyone will know the charge is false, and that Paul himself walked as a faithful Jew (v. 25). As far as the Gentiles go, the previous Acts 15 letter dealt with all of that (v. 25). That much was settled. And so Paul did what they suggested (v. 26), and they were coming up on the seventh day, the time when they should each one of them present their offering (v. 26). The time was almost completed when some Jews from Asia grabbed Paul and started the riot (vv. 27-28). They had seen Trophimus, an Ephesian Gentile, from their neck of the woods, and had jumped to the conclusion that Paul had brought him into the Temple (v. 29). The whole city was stirred up by this, Paul was dragged out, and the Temple went into lockdown (v. 30). As they were in the process of trying to kill Paul, the Roman officer on site got the word (v. 31). He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran to the scene. When the Romans showed up, the crowd stopped beating Paul (v. 32). The Roman officer took Paul into custody (with two chains) and asked, as policemen do, “What all this?” (v. 33). Some people shouted one thing, and some another, and so he ordered that Paul be taken back to the fortress (v. 34). When they got to the stairs, Paul had to be carried because of the violence (v. 35). The whole crowd followed after them, shouting “away with him” (v. 36). As they were about to go inside, Paul asked if he could speak. The officer was surprised that he could speak Greek (v. 37). He had assumed that Paul was an Egyptian rebel-leader who had earlier caused an uproar, and had led away four thousand men (v. 38). Paul said no—he was a Jew from Tarsus, a notable city, and he asked to speak to the crowd (v. 39).  He was given permission, and so he stood up and motioned with his hand. There was a great silence, and Paul spoke to them in Hebrew (v. 40). This was most likely Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew.

Transition and Hand-Off

The Temple worship, with its blood sacrifices, was in the process of fading away, but the definitive rejection that happened in 70 A.D. had not yet come. This is why it was not inappropriate for Paul to take a Nazarite vow, and to conclude that vow with the requisite blood sacrifices (Num. 6:13-21). This included a male lamb, a ewe lamb, and a ram. So for Paul and the other four men, this would mean five of each. In addition, there was a grain offering and a drink offering (Num. 6:15). The hair of the Nazarite was also shaved off and made part of the offering to God.

The period between the Ascension of Christ and the Destruction of Jerusalem was a forty-year period. This was the church’s wilderness period. The Judaic aeon was coming to a close, and the Christian aeon had already been inaugurated. Think of this time as the part of a relay race where both runners are running. There is overlap between the two ages.

Ephesus and Jerusalem

Now I believe that Luke is clearly intending for us to notice certain clear parallels between Ephesus and Jerusalem. There was a big riot in both cities (Acts 21:30; Acts 19:28). Both of them were instigated by citizens of Asia (Acts 21:27; Acts 19:24). Both riots had a religious point of origin (Acts 21:28; Acts 19: 26-27). Neither of the rioting crowds knew why they were there (Acts 21:34; Acts 19:32). And both riots were calmed down by Roman intervention (Acts 21:32; Acts 19:35ff). Paul wanted to speak at both (Acts 21:39; Acts 19:30-31).

Irrational and malevolent behavior is not a trait of any particular ethnic group but is rather the trait of them all. This is a perennial human problem. This is the human condition. Christ came to save us all, and He came to save us from the problem that all of us have. That problem is slavery to self and sin.

The Wisdom of the Carnal Man

Remember the first three chapters of Romans. The first chapter teaches us that the pagan Gentiles had a problem. The second chapter addresses the Jews—they had a sin problem also. And then in chapter three, Paul ties it all together, and we learn that Jews and Gentiles both had exactly the same problem—that problem being the heart of stone.

The wisdom of the carnal man, however religious, and however true that religion is, will always and necessarily gravitate to the mere externals. And the only one who can deliver us from our addiction to externals is the Lord Jesus Christ. If the religion is true, He unites the heart and the externals, and if the religion is false, He enables us to turn away from our idols. But without true heart conversion, the true religion is every bit as idolatrous as the worship of Diana at Ephesus, and in many cases it is far worse. As the old song Denomination Blues puts it, “You gotta have Jesus, and that’s all.”