This week's ongoing Bible study will be part 3 of Acts chapter 19

The Lucrative Business of Fake gods

Acts chapter 19, verses 23-31

For a website view, click here :-)

Last week when we finished part 2 of Acts chapter 19, the apostle Paul was performing many miraculous healings after his arrival in Ephesus, which we also discussed the previous week in part 1. After traveling all through the province of Asia, which took may months of arduous walking since Paul had no transportation, he arrived at Ephesus and made it his home for the next 2 years. This week as we begin part 3 of this 4-part series on Acts chapter 19, the effects of Paul's long stay in Ephesus are beginning to be felt far beyond their base at the lecture hall of Tyrannus (see verse 9). As a result, the leaders of other pagan religions there in Ephesus began to feel that Paul is encroaching on their 'territory'.

As time goes on, the growth of Christianity (called “The Way” back then, see verse 9) is spiking to the point that the other religious leaders feel threatened by the activities of Paul, and indirectly the other Twelve as well. But for now we will continue to focus on Paul's missionary journeys, with this being his second of three, not counting his journey to Rome, which was his last and which cost him his life. Concern is running so deep among those whose businesses were associated with all these various pagan religions that an emergency meeting has been called by a man who we would call the foreman, or maybe “lead craftsman”, for those who were associated with this pagan industry. So let's take up where we left off last week, beginning at verse 23.

“23) About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. 24) A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in a lot of business for the craftsmen there. 25) He called them together, along with the workers in related trades, and said: 'You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26) And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all. 27) There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.'”

Here again in verse 23, we have an example of the early Church being called “The Way”. I wish that it were still so, since the name makes a lot more sense than all the various denominational names, which are like grains of sand on a beach. But Jesus Christ is The Way, the Truth and The Life, as John's gospel relates it to us, and that's where that name came from. So we have this individual Demetrius who makes silver shrines for their pagan god Artemis, and you can be sure he was charging a premium price for each and every one of those idols. He says in verse 25 and 26, “You know, my friends, that we receive a good income from this business. 26) And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that gods made by human hands are no gods at all.” To these people, Paul's activities had become intolerable in much the same way as the activities of Christ Jesus had infuriated the Jews in Jerusalem more than a decade earlier.

The apostle Paul, it seems, had “led astray large numbers of people” (according to Demetrius) by convincing them that “gods made by human hands are no gods at all”. How dare he do such a thing! After all, if their pagan gods were as fake as Paul said, then why were their businesses so successful? After all, they reasoned, we can judge things by the fruit that they bear. Since their idol-making enterprises were doing so well, that counts as 'bearing good fruit'. This, of course, was what I would now call defective reasoning, but never mind all that for the moment. Those who had been worshiping false gods, or none at all, found themselves being introduced to the real God, whose only Son died for us all. Some believed Paul and some did not, and those who didn't opposed Paul vigorously.

“27) There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited; and the goddess herself, who is worshiped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” Today we have a goddess that is worshiped throughout the Western world, in all the capitalist countries, and that goddess is material prosperity and the things it can buy, including the world's largest military to protect it all. The driver of all this prosperity is the stock market, which is funded by banks. The banks, in turn, run on credit, which runs on confidence which keeps the whole thing going. But if everyone loses confidence (in their ability to repay each other), then the whole thing comes unraveled and falls apart. That's what happened during the 2008 crash on Wall Street that started the Great Recession.

So Demetrius and his cronies were afraid that Paul and The Way were going to destroy 'confidence' (the misplaced faith of their customers) in their businesses and cause them all to crash, sort of like what happened in 2008, except with religious overtones. And they were all livid with Paul and his helpers to such an extent that a mob scene and a riot unfolded, as we will see in part 2 of today's lesson. “28) When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: 'Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!' 29) Soon the whole city was in an uproar. The people seized Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s traveling companions from Macedonia, and all of them rushed into the theater together. 30) Paul wanted to appear before the crowd, but the disciples would not let him. 31) Even some of the officials of the province, friends of Paul, sent him a message begging him not to venture into the theater.” (Acts 19, verses 28-31)

Understand that when the text says, “The whole city was in an uproar”, Ephesus at that time had a population of about 225,000 men, women and children. So it's easy to see that this crown easily numbered into the tens of thousands, possibly in excess of 100,000 people! Paul didn't stand a chance of being heard over all the noise and confusion, and yet evidently he wanted to try anyway. But as you can see, any attempt to do so would have cost him his life, and it wasn't Paul's time to depart this earth just yet. God had lots more work for Paul to do. That's why he was stopped by his associates and helpers from doing so. They were simply doing God's will. So how does the riot finally end? What will become of Paul and his helpers? To find out, you'll all have to come back next week for the conclusion of Acts chapter 19.