The Ephesus Riot
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 1 October 2023
This section is just a historical narrative dealing with an incident that occurred in the city of Ephesus. There’s not a lot of doctrine here. Let the Holy Spirit teach us spiritual truth through this historical event. One thing the history of Christianity has taught us is that the church thrives best when it is persecuted. The persecuted church confronts the world, and grows and has effect.
The church is the conscience of the community, not the comforter of the community. And in the book of Acts, the church grew when it was persecuted. When the church begins to play sociological or political games, then it gets into trouble. Now, we find ourselves in the city of Ephesus with the apostle Paul. He has been there for nearly three years. This is his third missionary journey.
As he arrives at Ephesus, God has already done a marvelous work. We find that the groundwork had been laid by some friends, namely Aquila and Priscilla. That Apollos, that great orator, also laid some groundwork. And now, Paul arrives and great things happen. In Acts 19:1-7, the church was founded. It was established as twelve disciples of John the Baptist were brought to Jesus Christ.
Because Satan cannot tolerate the presentation of the pure Word, so that the prevailing of the Word has two results. Progress for the gospel and persecution from Satan. Now in Acts 19, we find that this pattern had happened in Ephesus. Satan started out by verse 9 just having people speak evil about Christianity. Then, all of a sudden, he brought along these people who were exorcists.
And they tried to mimic what Paul was doing and did not succeed. And now from verse 21 on, Satan really used all of his powers to create a riot through the entire city of Ephesus in an effort to counteract the work of Paul. And so we see persecution. Satan always opposes the progress of the Gospel. In Jerusalem, Satan sent the opposition of organized religion, Judaism.
But first, it was the opposition here in Ephesus of verbal slander in verse 9, and then of Satanic infiltration in verse 13, where Satan tried to slide into the Christian community and just become one of them. But thirdly, it’s a riot comes when sort of a pseudo religious materialism comes to the forefront. In Ephesus there were three approaches of Satan. Hardness, hypocrisy and hatred.
Before we get into the riot, look at verse 21, “After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.” After he sees the church at Ephesus is established, and after he sees that these people bring all their magical books and burn them, the Christians are mature.
Why does he want to go to Macedonia and Achaia?” He’s just been there. He established all those churches there, like Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. He wanted to go there and then to Jerusalem. And Paul wanted to take a love offering from his churches as a gift to the church at Jerusalem. The reason he wanted to go to Macedonia and Achaia was to collect this offering.
Here he makes reference to Macedonia and Achaia. He goes on to talk about their giving all the way down in this. He makes a note of this particular thing of their gift elsewhere in Corinthians. And Romans 15:25 -26 says, “Right now I am traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints, 26 because Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor saints in Jerusalem.”
Why did he want to do that?” Well, because they had a need. Paul was teaching the lesson of the unity of the body, that a church in one place is greatly responsible for a body of believers in another place. And secondly, Paul wanted to teach the practical lessons of love. Love gets right down to the simplicity of giving your money for the sake of somebody else, self-sacrifice.
Now, in verse 21 he says, “After that, I must also see Rome.” Paul’s plan was to plant the gospel in key cities on a line from Antioch to Rome. And, that wasn’t the end of it either. There was already a church in Rome, but perhaps he could enhance the witness and then it would spread. He believed in the process of evangelism by reproduction, where you would establish a church that would send out others.
In Romans 15:24, he says, “Whenever I travel to Spain. For I hope to see you when I pass through and to be assisted by you for my journey there, once I have first enjoyed your company for a while.” People need to hear about the Lord. And Spain was a great place. And Paul could see that conquering Spain would be fantastic. This was in his mind to do. He was a strategist planning his conquests.
There’s a break right here in the book of Acts. Because from here on, the whole goal in the mind of Paul is Rome. And, finally, at the end of Acts, he gets there. But he doesn’t get there in the way that he thought he would get there. Verse 22, “After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.”
We all know who Timothy is. He had been at Corinth and Ephesus and now Paul sends him to Macedonia together with Erastus to let them know he’s coming, but we don’t know who Erastus is. But Paul himself stayed in Asia for a season. He sent these two advance guys out to get things ready for his coming to Macedonia to make the collection and do some preaching.
Why did he stay? Well, Paul was writing Corinthians. And he said in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9, “But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a wide door for effective ministry has opened for me, yet many oppose me.” He realized God had some more work for him to do. Well, the adversary comes to the forefront, beginning then in verse 23 as we see the riot comes about.
Now, there are three thoughts: the causes of the riot, the characteristics of the riot and the calming of the riot. Now, the real cause of the riot was Satan’s antagonism to the prevailing of the Word. But as we look at these verses, there were some superficial reasons that actually brought this riot to pass. Look at verse 23, “About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way.”
“The Way” was a reference to Christianity. Jesus had said, “I am the Way.” And so here, they were really uptight about the Christian message and started to persecute Paul. Now this riot, will provide for you some great insights into the typical approach of mob psychology, as well as an insight into how Satan operates. But there were some specific causes and meet a man called Demetrius.
Verse 24, “For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen.” Demetrius was an important person in the guild of silversmiths. What he did was contract out to the rest of these silversmiths to make these shrines. In many archaeological discoveries around Ephesus, there is evidence of a trade as silversmith.
Now, he was a wealthy and an influential man. The temple of Diana was a big place, 420 by 250 feet. And people preached to eunuchs, priestesses, prostitutes, all worshipping up there. And this temple also was a treasure house for gold and silver. So tourist traffic in the worship of Artemis was really big business. And the silversmiths made their living by selling these little shrines.
Verse 25, “When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business.” The gospel was fouling up their business because people were accepting the truth of Christ and turning from idols. It was becoming an economic problem because Christianity was having such a tremendous spread of power.
Verse 26, “You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.” He says, “Do you realize that all over Asia Minor, Paul has made people believe that these gods we’re making are not gods? So Demetrius confessed that the apostolic preaching was successful.
Why does God take 20 verses to tell us about a riot? To see the successes of Christianity put in the mouths of the pagans. The pagans are admitting it. So God is turning people from idols, and secondly, there’s nothing you can criticize Paul for. Paul committed to Jesus Christ came into this city and turned the province for Christ. Night and day, praying and teaching with tears the Word of God.
The success of the gospel was dependent upon one dedicated man and a purified church. People who become temples of the Holy Spirit don’t need temples of Artemis. There was no demonstration against idolatry, there was just salvation and the new forced out the old. It was the growth of new life in the church that just pushed out the old. And what the outside could never accomplish, the inside life did.
If you want to change the people for Jesus Christ, don’t protest against the community. Just live a holy life and start leading people to Jesus Christ. And the end result is the community won’t be able to handle you. And one by one you begin to affect your community. So we’re just interested in winning people to Jesus Christ and pushing off the old by the new life that comes.
Verse 27, “Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.” Listen to Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” In Luke 16:13, the Bible says, “you can’t serve God and money.”
And many people are in hell because they loved money more than God. Secondly, Demetrius appeals to their piety. Here comes the pseudo religious thing. Our god is being defamed. Two hundred and twenty years in building. And thirdly, he appeals to their patriotism. In verse 27, he says this. “And her magnificence should be destroyed whom all Asia and the world worship.”
Christianity hit them economically, religiously, politically and socially. Well, the speech caused a riot. Let’s look at the characteristics of the riot. Verse 28, “When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” They just started yelling. “Fired on by the incendiary speech, they ran into the open street and started invoking their goddess.”
It’s just anger run wild against Christianity. People don’t like to be confronted with the sinfulness of their sin and their entire way of life and their system is wrong. Then there is confusion. Verse 29, “So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions.
Verse 30, “Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him.” Why? Sometimes reason is better than foolish faith. It is presumptuous to put yourself in danger and then expect God to deliver you. Verse 31, “Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater.”
Verse 32, “Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.” It indicates a continuous confusion. Verse 33, “Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people.”
Verse 34, “But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” We don’t know who Alexander was. Verse 35, “When the city clerk calmed the crowd down, he said, “What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?”
The city clerk was the chairman of the town council. See this black image of Diana they assumed had fallen from Jupiter. Don’t you all know that this city is the temple warden of the goddess Artemis? Verse 36 - 37, “Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess.”
Verse 38, “So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, there are courts in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.” Verse 39-40, “But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly.” 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification for this disturbance.”
Verse 41, “After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.” The town clerk did no favor for the church. He agreed and confirmed the superstition of the people. The last we know of the Ephesian church are in Revelation 2:4, “I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first.” If you go to Ephesus today, what is there? A Muslim village that doesn’t have one single Christian. Let’s pray.