ACTS CHAPTER 18:19-19:10, “THE THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY BEGINS”

Jim Bomkamp

1. INTRO:

1.1. In our last study, we looked at how the church in Corinth was planted towards the end of the second missionary journey

1.1.1. We saw that Paul seemed drawn to that city because he saw that being such a dark area because of the idolatry and the sins of the indulgence of the flesh there, that people saw their need for the touch of God in their lives

1.1.1.1.We saw that the place where our light as a Christian will shine its brightest is the darkest place

1.1.2. We saw that a tremendous revival began in that city and that Paul purposed to spend a year and a half there so that the church could be firmly established

1.1.3. We saw how that Paul had been staying next to the synagogue and that being in such proximity to the synagogue and knowing all of the persecution that he had received at the hands of the Jews that Paul was very fearful and was tempted not to preach the gospel, but God told him not to be fearful

1.1.3.1.We saw how that we should never be fearful to go to a very dark place if that is where the Lord is calling us to go

1.1.3.2.God will be with us and protect us just as He was with Paul and protected him

1.2. Today, we are going to see how the third missionary journey began

1.2.1. Paul heads initially over to the area of the Galatias where he had spent so much time during his first missionary journey

1.2.2. Priscilla and Aquila meet up with a man named Apollos who is mighty in the scriptures, however he has never heard that Christ has been raised from the dead, and thus he knows only about the baptism of John the Baptist

1.2.2.1.Priscilla and Aquila take Apollos aside and help him to more correctly understand the scriptures, and we see that Apollos was teachable and receives their teaching and counsel

1.2.3. Apollos then goes to Corinth to take over the work Paul began on the second missionary journey, and Paul goes to Ephesus to see that the church is solidly planted there

1.2.3.1.Paul spends three years in Ephesus helping to establish firmly the church planted in that city

1.2.3.2.Paul meets 12 men who have never received the Holy Spirit having believed in Christ

2. VS 18:19 - “23 And having spent some time there, he departed and passed successively through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.” - After resting up in Antioch, Paul began his third missionary journey by going back to the Galatias where he spent most of his time in the first missionary journey

2.1. Scripture does not say how long that Paul actually stayed at Antioch upon return from his second missionary journey, however most scholars believe that he spent somewhere around a year in duration there before heading out on this third missionary journey.

2.1.1. Luke writes here that Paul went to each of the cities in the Galatian region successively, so it might be the case that on this missionary journey Paul actually achieved what he intended to achieve on the second missionary journey when he wanted to go and to visit and encourage all of the churches that they planted on the first missionary journey.

2.2. We saw in our previous study, Acts 18:19, that Paul left Priscilla and Aquila at Ephesus.

2.2.1. From that study we also saw that Aquila and Priscilla assisted Paul in Ephesus (Acts 18:18-28) where they also hosted a church in their home (1 Cor. 16:19), so when Paul left the city of Ephesus to head back to the mother church in Antioch of Syria, it was Priscilla and Aquila who were left to do the church planting there in Ephesus, which they accomplished as they opened up their home as the meeting place for the church.

2.2.2. In Acts 19:1, we will see that Paul comes back to the city of Ephesus and then spends the next three years helping to see that church firmly established.

3. VS 18:20-22 - “24 Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. 25 This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John; 26 and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.” - In Ephesus Priscilla and Aquila met up with a Christian brother named Apollos who was a teacher and knowledgeable in the scriptures, but his understanding of the scriptures was a little off base

3.1. Apollos was a man very similar to Paul in many ways.

3.1.1. He was a Jew, however he had been raised in the very Greek culture of Alexandria, just as was Paul, who being a Jew was raised in the Hellenistic city of Tarsus.

3.1.2. Apollos was very eloquent as a speaker, and Paul was very eloquent not as a speaker but as a writer, that is, if you believe what he writes to the Corinthians about himself.

3.1.3. Like Paul, Apollos had probably been raised in the knowledge of the scriptures, so he was ‘mighty’ in his knowledge of them, as well as ability to teach from them.

3.2. There was a flaw in Apollos’ teaching, and that was that he had heard and accepted the preaching of John the Baptist, and his baptism of repentance and looking for the coming of the Messiah, only he had never heard that Jesus Christ had already come, died, and raised from the dead, and as a result he was probably not a born again Christian at this time.

3.2.1. We do not know if Apollos himself had actually heard John the Baptist preach or whether he had simply heard one of John’s disciples preach, and thus he had become a disciple of John’s.

3.2.2. Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos preach, and then in quiet they took him to their home and in a very gentle and tactful way they explained to him all about Jesus’ coming and kingdom, and of the way of salvation that He had opened up.

3.2.2.1.Priscilla and Aquila were at this time hosting a church in their home, and I presume that Aquila was the pastor of the work, and thus I believe that they approached Apollos in a very pastoral manner.

3.2.2.2.This teaching Apollos accepted wholeheartedly from them, and surely he was baptized as a Christian at their hands.

3.3. Apollos’ humble character and single-mindedness for the Lord is revealed in that even though he was a teacher and very knowledgeable in the scriptures, he was willing to be taught.

3.4. Some church leaders have even speculated that because Apollos was so mighty in his understanding of the Old Testament scriptures that he might have been the author of the book of Hebrews. We don’t know for sure if Paul wrote the book, but there is just a possibility it may have been Apollos who wrote it.

3.5. Apollos had a tremendous “fiery” zeal for the Lord, and he preached with “boldness”. He kind of reminds me of John The Baptist. Strong’s Dictionary includes the follow definition for this word translated in these verses as ‘fervent’: 2204 zeo { dzeh’-o} a primary verb; TDNT - 2:875,296; v AV - be fervent 1, fervent 1; 2 GK - 2417 { zevw }

3.5.1. to boil with heat, be hot

3.5.1.1.used of water

3.5.1.2.metaph.

3.5.1.2.1.used of boiling anger, love, zeal, for what is good or bad etc.

3.5.1.2.2.fervent in spirit, said of zeal for what is good

3.6. We Christians can learn some lessons from this story of Apollos.

3.6.1. We Christians can only take people as far as we have come in our walk with the Lord. This is the lesson to be learned from Apollos ministry which did not partake of the full truth of the gospel. If we want to be used by the Lord to take people into a deep relationship with Him and the knowledge of the scriptures, then we ourselves must enter therein.

3.6.1.1.Many people know about Christ, they may attend church, they may pray, they may have been baptized, they may even read the scriptures, but it is not until a person through faith asks Christ to come into his life and be his personal Lord (master) and Savior in the surrender of his life to Christ, that he actually has come to know Him and have eternal life.

3.6.1.1.1.Becoming a Christian is kind of like what happens when a man and a woman marry. A couple may date and spend a lot of time getting to know each other, however they will never be married to each other until they formally commit themselves and say, “I do”. A person is not a Christian until he actually trusts Christ to forgive his sins and come into his life, and he commits himself completely to the Lord and His plan for his life.

3.6.1.2.One of the major things that stumbles those who want to be used in the ministry is that though they want to have God use them in a mighty was as a pastor or missionary, they are not willing to cooperate with the Lord in His plan to first do a work in their life.

3.6.1.2.1.Men go out to begin a ministry, yet they don’t realize that when they go out God’s plan is first to do a ministry within them, and until His preparatory work is completed they will not be effective in the ministry.

4. VS 18:27-28 - “27 And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him; and when he had arrived, he helped greatly those who had believed through grace; 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.” - Barnabas wanted to go over to Achaia and the brethren there in Ephesus encouraged him and wrote a letter of recommendation to the disciples for him

4.1. Apollos had an interest in the church that Paul had started in Corinth, and Aquila and Priscilla encouraged him to go there and to help with the work. Apollos went there but did not last a long time because of the horrible spiritual condition of the church.

4.2. They also wrote a letter of commendation to the church in Corinth for Apollos to take with him and present to the church so that they would welcome him and receive him wholeheartedly into their fellowship.

4.3. When Paul wrote his epistle of 1 Corinthians, the people were divided in camps saying they were of Paul, Apollos, Peter, and even of Jesus. Paul wrote about how the church had been planted in Corinth in 1 Cor. 3:6, “6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth”.

4.4. Apollos seems to have made much more headway in convincing the Jews in Corinth that Jesus was the Christ than Paul ever did, ‘he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ’.

5. VS 19:1-7 - “19:1 And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found some disciples, 2 and he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” 5 And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 And there were in all about twelve men.” - Apollos went to Corinth and Paul went to Ephesus, and in Ephesus Paul found some disciples who had not received the Holy Spirit after believing in Christ

5.1. In our last study, I didn’t really go into much background concerning the city of Ephesus and the church that was started there, so I want to do some of that in this study.

5.1.1. Ephesus was located east across the Aegean sea from the southern part of Greece, and this coastal city was the capital city of pro-consular Asia. We read from Acts 19:31 that it had a great theatre there, and we know that this theater seated 30,000 people. The Temple of Diana was located in Ephesus and it was one of the seven wonders of the world. Ephesus became a missionary hub in is own right for the early church. The epistle to the Ephesians in the New Testament, which Paul wrote many years after the incidents of this chapter, was one of his five prison epistles which he wrote from Rome. The epistle to the Ephesians is an incredibly deep and thought provoking work whose main theme concerns the nature of the church, which he taught is the mystical body of Christ. Paul wrote in the Ephesian epistle many things that deepen our understanding of the nature and function of the church. In that book he taught the most sublime of Christian truths, and I often think of the book of Ephesians as the caviar at God’s table. Paul was able to write to the Ephesians of these very highest of spiritual truths because the church had been planted with a very solid foundation for many in the church were very mature in their Christian walk.

5.1.1.1.Remember that when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, 1 Cor. 3:1-2, that he said that he had not been able to speak to them of the meat of the scriptures, for they could only handle the milk of the Word, “3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.”

5.1.1.1.1.He could only speak to them about the basics of the Christian life because of their immaturity in their walk in Christ.

5.2. Apollos left to go to Corinth to water the work that Paul had planted, and Paul came to Ephesus to be used by God in the building process for that church.

5.2.1. Paul’s 3 years which he spent in Ephesus is a longer amount of time than he spent in any other city which he went to in the book of Acts.

5.2.2. All Christians need to get a solid foundation for their Christian life, as this church in Ephesus had. We need to study God’s Word diligently so that we can have that kind of foundation in our life. We also need to make the best of the opportunities that the Lord provides for us to go to Bible studies where we can learn more and get a better foundation in His Word.

5.2.3. Christians often tend to think that they are more mature than they really are.

5.2.3.1.I heard of a recent survey of Christians that was taken and there were several questions that were asked of them. An interesting statistic came out of this study, one they hadn’t probed for or even anticipated getting: the fewer number of years that someone had been a Christian, the higher they tended to rate their maturity in their walk in Christ.

5.2.3.2.Every Christian ought to be honest with themselves and with the Lord about their Christian maturity level. All Christians need to get a good foundation in their Christian walk, and the church ought to exist to provide that.

5.2.3.3.The leadership in the church need to see their ministry as ‘equipping the saints for the work of service’, as Paul in Eph. 4:11-12 said was the work that those who are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are called to do, “11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”

5.3. In chapter 2 of the book of Revelation, the church of Ephesus was addressed by Christ:

5.3.1. Of the seven churches addressed by Christ in chapters 1-3 of Revelation, the church in Ephesus was doing the very best.

5.3.2. They had however lost their first love, which they needed to get back.

5.3.2.1.Just a note here, but it occurs to me that there are several indications that can occur in our life that reveal that we have lost our first love:

5.3.2.1.1.Our love for the Lord can be replaced with a love for knowledge about God.

5.3.2.1.2.Our zeal to win the lost can be replaced with a contentment over what God has done in the past winning people.

5.3.2.1.3.Our love of worshipping God can be replaced by loving worship itself.

5.3.2.1.4.Our love of fellowshipping with brothers and sisters in the things of God can turn into just loving to get together and talk about everything but God.

5.3.2.1.5.Etc.

5.3.3. They were however a very discerning church as John writes in Rev. 2:2 that they did not endure evil men, and they put to the test those who call themselves apostles and are not - they found them to be false.

5.4. In Ephesus, Paul met up with 12 men about whom he had a certain discernment. They did not have the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, and Paul sensed that about them. Paul asked these men in Ephesus, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’

5.4.1. We must though ask the question of how a person could not have the Holy Spirit and yet be a believer in Christ?

5.4.1.1.Paul wrote in Rom. 8:9 that if a person does not have the Holy Spirit in his life, then he is not a Christian,: “9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him”.

5.4.1.2.These men may have been taught by Apollos, who himself had only come to receive the ministry of John the Baptist, and had not been saved or received the Holy Spirit in his life until Aquila and Priscilla talked with him.

5.4.1.3.I believe that it is probably the case though that these 12 men had believed in Christ and come to salvation, yet they had never really come to the place in their lives where they had been ‘baptized’ in the Holy Spirit, and thus they had never really come to look to Him and His resources and power in their life, and thus they were living their Christian lives in their own strength and power.

5.4.1.3.1.In Acts 8:14-17, we saw that in Samaria there were a bunch of people who had come to believe in Christ for salvation, yet they had not as yet received the Holy Spirit, and I believe that this situation in Acts 19 was very similar in nature to that incident, for these had not yet received the Holy Spirit, “14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.”

5.4.1.3.1.1.When we studied that section of the book of Acts, I quoted pastor Chuck Smith’s very pertinent remarks concerning it, “it is interesting how that this has been a problem to so many Bible commentators. The fact that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. That He had not fallen upon them as yet......It is commonly acknowledged, that a person is baptized by the Spirit into the "Body of Christ". And no man can call Jesus, "Lord", except by the Holy Spirit. And the moment a person receives Jesus Christ and is baptized, the Holy Spirit comes into their lives. We know that you cannot receive Jesus without receiving the Holy Spirit into your life. And so this poses a great problem to the majority of Bible commentators when we find that the people in Samaria had believed and were baptized in water and yet the apostles sent them down that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for He had not yet fallen upon any of them....... I am surprised that with all of these scholars, who are so problemed over this particular text, that they have not noted the Greek preposition. You remember Jesus said, concerning the Holy Spirit to his disciples, "For He is with you and shall be in you." But later Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you." Now this is the same Greek preposition " Hip peeee " that is used here. The Holy Spirit had not yet fallen, " Hip peeee ", upon them. So the commentators have difficulty trying to say, "Well, they were not filled with the Spirit, this was some special case in Samaria, because this was the first time out of Jerusalem and all, and they really wrestle and do all kinds of foolish things with this text because they do not want to acknowledge that there is an empowering experience of the Holy Spirit apart from conversion. But yet that is exactly what the text does prove.”

5.5. So, the Holy Spirit is always with people in this world, He comes into a person’s life when they become a Christian, however as the many stories in the book of Acts point out, the Holy Spirit also will come ‘upon’ a believer in Christ. In the book of Acts we have many times seen Him having ‘fallen’ upon them, or it is written that the people have suddenly been ‘filled’ with the Holy Spirit.

5.5.1. I have always liked Martyn Lloyd-Jones explanation of the filling and baptism of the Holy Spirit, for he describes this experience as being sort of like rainy days. Some days there is a light mist of rain, other days a drizzle, and some days there is a downpour of rain. As we yield our lives to the Holy Spirit’s control and allow Him to do in us what He is wanting to do, then we are placing ourselves in the place where God can fill us and use us mightily, and He may choose to pour out His Spirit upon us in a mighty way as He plans for situations in which He will use us in ministry.

5.5.2. As we have seen in our study of the book of Acts, whenever the Holy Spirit falls upon a person in this way they are suddenly empowered in a great way and used powerfully in effective ministry by the Lord, and this ministry has usually involved winning many to salvation in Christ through the preaching of the gospel.

5.6. These men were baptized in water by Paul, but it was not until he laid his hands on them that they received the Holy Spirit.

5.6.1. This is another verse from Acts that refutes the idea of “Baptismal Regeneration”, since the Holy Spirit was not received by these men until after being baptized, when Paul had laid his hands on them.

5.6.2. In this book of Acts, the Lord has included so many stories that squelch peoples’ attempts to create formulas for producing Spiritual gifts, etc., for here in these stories the receiving of healing as well as the baptism of the Holy Spirit is always occurring in unique circumstances.

5.6.3. Some commentators have commented that it appears that when the Lord wanted to demonstrate apostolic authority, then He led the apostles to lay hands on people in order that they might received the Holy Spirit. We saw Peter and John laying hands on people and having them receive the Spirit in Samaria earlier in chapter eight of this book during what has been called the “Samaritan Pentecost”, and we could see the need for the recognition for apostolic authority needed to unite the young church in Samaria to the mother church in Jerusalem. Apostolic recognition may have been needed in this instance.

5.7. When the Holy Spirit came upon these twelve men, they all prophesied and spoke in tongues, exhibiting the same phenomena which occurred on the Day of Pentecost in chapter 2 of the book.

5.8. I want to personalize this story and these verses for you. If someone close to you were to observe your life would they sense the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in your life? Would you also be one of the ones that Paul would have that discernment about, and would he also ask you if you had received the Holy Spirit when you believed?

5.8.1. Many Christians have experienced little of the Holy Spirit’s work in their life. The Great English preacher Spurgeon once said, "Have ye then received the Spirit since you believed? Beloved, are you now receiving the Spirit? Are you living under his divine influence? Are you filled with his power? Put the question personally. I am afraid some professors will have to admit that they hardly know whether there be any Holy Ghost; and others will have to confess that though they have enjoyed a little of his saving work, yet they do not know much of his ennobling and sanctifying influence."

5.8.2. It will be very obvious to us when the Holy Spirit begins to work mightily in our lives. Again, about this Spurgeon once said, "Give a man an electric shock, and I warrant you he will know it; but if he has the Holy Ghost, he will know it much more."

5.8.3. God changes our lives in a dramatic way when the Holy Spirit begins to empower us in a mighty way, and suddenly we begin to understand God’s Word in a much greater way, we find our character becoming much more Christ like, our prayer life becomes much more exciting and energized, we begin to have a much more genuine care and concern for others around us, and we begin to be effectively used in ministering to others. In the book, “How To Pray”, R.A. Torry wrote, "How many a Sunday school teacher has taught for months and years, and seen no real fruit from his labors, and then has learned the secret of intercession and by earnest pleading with God has seen his scholars brought one by one to Christ! How many a poor teacher has become a mighty man of God by casting away his confidence in his own ability and gifts and giving himself up to God to wait upon Him for the power that comes from on high!”

5.8.4. If you would ever like myself or any of the leaders in this fellowship to pray with you for the fullness of the Holy Spirit in your life, or for any of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, we would be glad to pray with you. Come up after the service or let us know ahead of time and we can plan to pray with you after the service for the Holy Spirit to baptize you and/or give you spiritual gifts.

6. VS 19:8-10 - “8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 And this took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.” - For three months Paul was reasoning with and persuading the Jews in the synagogue concerning Christ from the Old Testament scriptures

6.1. It is incredible that the Lord opened up a door of ministry in the synagogue to the Jews for Paul, one that stayed open for a period of three months. However, eventually the opposition and conflict grew to such a degree that Paul had to leave ministering to them.

6.2. Paul then went and began ministering in ‘the school of Tyrannus’. This ministry within this Jewish school lasted for a period of two years, and Paul reached such a number of people during that time that Luke records that ‘all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks’.

7. VS 19:11-12 - “11 And God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out.” - God performed incredible works of healing through the hands of Paul

7.1. The city of Ephesus was filled with every aspect of the occult religions, and as a result there was an awfully large amount of demonic activity among the people. However, the people did not realize that they were being influenced by demons, but rather they were simply persuaded by acts of the supernatural to be involved in these occultish activities.

7.2. In this city that had so much of demonic supernatural activity, the Lord chose to do the greatest number of miracles through the ministry of Paul. Since these people were persuaded through the miraculous in the supernatural, God reached them with the gospel by demonstrating supernatural acts Himself.

7.3. Luke does not record exactly how these miracles occurred, only that the people would try to grab a handkerchief or apron from Paul, hoping that they would thereby be healed, and indeed the Lord was performing healing in the peoples’ lives. Evil spirits likewise left the demon possessed when people would take these articles of clothing from Paul.

Back Bible Studies Home Page