Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Acts 19:41
And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
41. And assembly ] This he could do in his official capacity. Probably the last argument which he used would have most weight with his audience. If such riotous conduct were reported at Rome it might lead to a curtailment of the privileges of their city.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Dismissed the assembly – ten ekklesian. The word usually translated church. Here it is applied to the irregular and tumultuous assemblage which had convened in a riotous manner.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 41. He dismissed the assembly.] . Another proof that the word , which we generally translate church, signifies an assembly of any kind, good or bad, legal or illegal.
1. How forcible are right words! From the conduct of this prudent, sensible man, we may learn how much influence persons of this character may have, even over the unbridled multitude. But, where the civil power associates itself with the lawless might of the many, THERE must be confusion and every evil work. What a blessing to the community is the civil law! Were it not for this, the unthinking multitude would destroy others, and at last destroy themselves. Law and justice are from God; and the civil power, by which they are supported and administered, should be respected by all who regard the safety of their persons or property.
2. Though the ministry of St. Paul was greatly blessed at Ephesus, and his preaching appears to have been very popular, yet this sunshine was soon darkened: peace with the world cannot last long; the way of the Lord will always be opposed by those who love their own ways.
3. How few would make an outward profession of religion, were there no gain connected with it! And yet, as one justly observes, religion is rendered gainful only by some external part of it. For this very reason, the external part of religion is always on the increase, and none can find fault with it without raising storms and tempests; while the internal part wastes and decays, no man laying it to heart. Demetrius and his fellows would have made no stir for their worship, had not the apostle’s preaching tended to discredit that by which they got their wealth. Most of the outcries that have been made against all revivals of religion-revivals by which the Church has been called back to its primitive principles and purity, have arisen out of self-interest. The cry of, the Church is in danger, has been echoed only by those who found their secular interest at stake; and knew that reformation must unmask them and show that the slothful and wicked servants could no longer be permitted to live on the revenues of that Church which they disgraced by their lives, and corrupted by their false doctrines. He that eats the Church’s bread should do the Church’s world: and he that will not work should not be permitted to eat.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The people were persuaded quietly to depart to their homes. Thus God one way or other, sometimes by friends, and sometimes by foes, kept his church and people from being ruined; and his hand is not shortened.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
35-41. when the town-clerkkeeperof the public archives, and a magistrate of great authority.
had appeased“calmed.”
the people“themultitude,” which the very presence of such an officer would gofar to do.
he said . . . what man . . .knoweth not that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of thegreat goddess Dianaliterally, the neocoros or “warden.”The word means “temple-sweeper”; then, “temple-guardian.”Thirteen cities of Asia had an interest in the temple, but Ephesuswas honored with the charge of it. (Various cities have claimed thistitle with reference to the Virgin or certain saints)[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
and of the imagewhich fell down from Jupiter“from the sky” or “fromheaven.” See on Ac 19:27.”With this we may compare various legends concerning images andpictures in the Romish Church, such as the traditional likenesses ofChrist, which were said to be “not made with hands””[WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when he had thus spoken,…. Or delivered this oration, made use of the above arguments, reasonings, and expostulations:
he dismissed the assembly; he ordered them to break up, and every one to return home in peace, and go about his own business; and thus Paul, and his companions, were delivered from an imminent danger they were exposed to.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Dismissed the assembly ( ). The town-clerk thus gave a semblance of law and order to the mob by formally dismissing them, this much to protect them against the charge to which they were liable. This vivid, graphic picture given by Luke has all the earmarks of historical accuracy. Paul does not describe the incidents in his letters, was not in the theatre in fact, but Luke evidently obtained the details from one who was there. Aristarchus, we know, was with Luke in Caesarea and in Rome and could have supplied all the data necessary. Certainly both Gaius and Aristarchus were lively witnesses of these events since their own lives were involved.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And when he had thus spoken,” (kai tauta eipon) “And having said these things repeatedly, very clearly, understandably;” When the town clerk had announced his judgement regarding the complaints and calculated mob violence, agitated and led by Demetrius, Act 19:24-26; Act 19:35.
2) “He dismissed the assembly “ (apelusen ten ekklesian) “He dismissed or released the assembly,” at the theatre, where the people had gathered for a public hearing, that was illegally called or assembled. He pronounced the assembly dissolved, to be dispersed, scattered, or advised them to leave, break it up. As Gallio knew his business at Corinth, so the town clerk at Ephesus knew his business in these circumstances, Act 18:12-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
41. Dismissed the assembly The movement of Demetrius had suddenly miscarried; his victim had escaped, and the Church stood intact under Roman law. Yet, on the other hand, the supremacy of Artemis had been reasserted, and the lost ground was so far recovered as that Ephesus felt herself as unanimously as ever pagan and Artemisian. But the words before which the religion, the idol, and the temple should wane away into ruin had been spoken. The spot where the edifice once stood cannot now be identified, and its very materials have been embodied into some of the churches of Christendom.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.’
Then having spoken in this way he quickly dismissed the assembly hoping that its convening, and his part in it, might not have been noticed or might be overlooked. But in Luke’s eyes it was a clear and unequivocal declaration that the authorities saw nothing about the Christian church to disapprove of.
We can summarise a number of lessons that Luke wishes us to see from this passage:
1) That the Christian church was publicly approved of by those set in authority by Rome including the respected and loyal Asiarchs.
2) That it reinforces the idea of the unquestionable and widespread impact that Christianity had made on the whole of Asia Minor
3) That it brings out how Paul’s ministry was becoming more and more difficult in this area, and indeed in many areas round about. He had too great a reputation. It is in complete contrast with chapter 28 where Paul can calmly continue his witness to his heart’s content, and has no reputation (Act 28:21; Act 28:30-31).
4) That the political-religious alliance of Ephesus, with its temple dedicated to a prestigious local deity combined with its temples dedicated to Roma and the imperial cult, is the very antithesis of the Kingly Rule of God. The cults of Ephesus were for the Gentiles what Herod Agrippa had been for the Jews (Act 19:12). It must surely be significant that Acts opens with the sending forth of the message freely and without restraint in Jerusalem and that this led up to the false religious and political alliance in Jerusalem in chapter 12. Now here we have the false religious and political alliance in Ephesus (subtly symbolic of the Roman Empire), which will lead up to the message of the Kingly Rule of God going out in Rome without restraint in chapter 28. Having been rejected by Jerusalem Christ is seen as having ‘conquered’ Rome.
5) That the magnifying of the name of the LORD Jesus (Act 19:17), stands over against the magnifying of the name of Artemis, the one defeating the powers of evil and rejecting the occult, burning its instruments in fire, the other exalting the powers of evil and the occult and manufacturing its occult instruments. What happened to the sons of Sceva illustrated what would one day happen to the cult of Artemis.
Thus this was God’s message to Paul that He intended to take him away from this parody of Royal Rule to Rome where he would be able to proclaim the Kingly Rule of God freely. Luke no doubt saw it as ironic that Satan chased Paul out of his ministry at Ephesus in order that he might set up his ministry in Rome.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
REFLECTIONS
See, my soul, in the history of those disciples Paul met at Ephesus, how easy it is to have a name to live, and yet be virtually dead before God. Oh! how sweet the baptisms of the Spirit. Lord, let my soul seek thy daily baptisms, thy sweet anointings, without which all outward ordinances, how good soever in themselves, will profit nothing!
Oh! for a portion of the same Spirit as Paul had, when speaking boldly for the space of three months in the Synagogue, and contending for the faith once delivered to the saints. Oh! how cold and languid are our warmest arguments, compared to the burning zeal of this Apostle. Ye ministers of my God! beg of Him who touched the Prophet’s mouth, to touch yours, that the words of God’s grace may not freeze as they drop, but from being warm yourselves, your souls may kindle others, and from the abundance of the heart the mouth may speak.
Blessed Lord Jesus! we would praise thee, that even in the darkest days, as here, so now, thy miracles of grace upon the heart are plainly distinguished from all counterfeits, like those vagabond Jews. Thy work, Almighty Lord, in conversion, manifests the people of thy love from all idol worshippers. Great is the cry of the world in their various schemes of creature perfection. But, oh .! thou dear. Lord! do thou hold up thy faithful servants, as thou didst Paul, by giving testimony to the word of thy grace, and granting signs and wonders in the conversion of the heart to God, to follow a faithfully preached Gospel.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.
Ver. 41. Dismissed the assembly ] And so Demetrius was deceived. See here the power of civil prudence and flexanimous eloquence. (See Cic. de Oratore, i.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Act 19:41 . : the word may imply, as Ramsay thinks, that the secretary thus recognised the meeting as an to shield it, as far as he could, from Roman censure. The attitude of the secretary is that of a man altogether superior to, and almost contemptuous of, the vulgar mob ( cf. in , Act 19:38 ), and there is no apparent desire on his part to deny Paul’s right to preach, provided that the Apostle respected the laws and institutions of the city.
On the historical character of the incidents narrated at Ephesus, the graphic description and the intimate knowledge of the life of the city, see Ramsay, Church in the Roman Empire , p. 143, and the same writer “Ephesus,” Hastings’ B. D. Every detail tends to confirm the faithfulness of the picture drawn of Ephesian society A.D. 57 ( cf. Knabenbauer, p. 340). Wendt also is so impressed with the vividness of the scene as it is narrated, that he considers that we are justified in referring the narrative to a source which we owe to an actual companion of St. Paul, and in regarding it as an historical episode, and he refers in justification to Lightfoot, Cont. Rev. , p. 292 ff., 1878; see Wendt’s edition, 1888, pp. 429, 430, and also edition 1899, p. 316, note. Whilst Baur and Overbeck give an unfavourable verdict as to the historical truthfulness of the Ephesian tumult, a verdict which Wendt condemns, Zeller is constrained to acknowledge the very minute details which tell in favour of the narrative, and for the invention of which there is no apparent reason. Amongst more recent critics, Weizscker can only see in the story the historian’s defence of Paul and the same tendency to make events issue in the success of his missionary propaganda: 1Co 15:32 he takes literally, and the tumult recorded in Acts gives us only a faint and shadowy outline of actual reminiscences: nothing is left of the wild beasts except a tumult in the theatre, and the Apostle against whom the violence is mainly directed is himself absent. But as Wendt rightly maintains, 1Co 15:32 is much rather to be taken as referring figuratively to a struggle with men raging against the Apostle’s life; nor are we shut up of necessity to the conclusion that 1Co 15:32 and Act 19:23 ff. refer to one and the same event (so Hilgenfeld, Zckler), see note on p. 414. McGiffert, whilst taking 1Co 15:32 literally (although he inclines to identify Act 19 with 2Co 1:8 , so too Hilgenfeld), admits as against Weizscker the general trustworthiness of St. Luke’s account, since it is too true to life, and is related too vividly to admit any doubt as to its historic reality (p. 282). Hilgenfeld too, Zw. Th. , p. 363, 1896, agrees that the whole narrative is related in a way true to life, and refers it with the possible exception of in Act 19:34 to his good source : it could not possibly have been invented by the “author to Theophilus”. Even here Clemen and Jngst can only see an interpolation, referred by the former to Redactor, i.e. , Act 19:15-41 with the possible exception of Act 19:33 to Redactor Antijudaicus; and by the latter also to his Redactor, i.e. , Act 19:23-41 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
when, &c. = having said these things.
dismissed = dissolved. Greek. apoluo. App-174.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
when: Pro 15:1, Pro 15:2, Ecc 9:17
he dismissed: Psa 65:7, 2Co 1:8-10
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
Act 19:41. The mob was dispersed without further disorder, because the people had been shown the lawlessness of their actions.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
See notes on verse 35
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
41. And saying these things he dismissed the church. Where E. V. reads assembly, the Greek has ecclesia, the word throughout the Bible translated church. Why do we have the word church used relative to this Ephesian mob? Because it is all right and used correctly, not the Church of God, but Dianas church, i. e., the church of Satan. Good Lord, help us to wake up to the fact that the world is full of the devils churches, this day as in by-gone ages! Ecclesia is from ek, out, and kaleoo, call, the called out. All the people in the world who hear the call of the Holy Ghost come out from this wicked world and all of its sins, leaving the devil forever and identifying themselves with God, are members of the Church of the First-Born. Satan, the great counterfeiter, has done his biggest work on the church line, filling up all lands with his churches, deceiving millions and sweeping them into hell by wholesale. The members of Satans churches, deluded by him, worship him under a vast diversity of names, thinking that they are worshipping God. In the Paganistic and Mohammedan churches, the devil calls himself by the names of their various idolatrous divinities and false prophets; while in the fallen churches of Christendom, he actually gets them to worship himself under the name of God, passing himself on them for God (2 Thessalonians 2). The devil is so much more intelligent than any human being, that the wisest and the most learned are in constant liability of mistaking Satan, the god of this world, for Jehovah, the God of heaven. While all sinners are led by demons in Satans midnight, so long as Christians have depravity in them, these evil Spirits can bivouac amid the dark jungles, play off on them for the Holy Ghost and deceive them. When you are emptied of sin, filled with the Spirit, your eye on Jesus, you have cloudless light within and without, qualifying you readily to detect the most stealthy approach of an evil spirit. Good Lord, save us all from delusion and entanglement in the devils church.