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| Some ruins at Ephesus |
Acts 19: 9 tells us…So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
Paul had prayed for those twelve disciples who had been baptised with the Baptism of John. They received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues and prophecy. Their lives were never the same. Acts 19:1-7
Then Paul entered the jewish Synagogue in Ephesus and spoke there with great freedom and courage for about three months until some of the jews there became obstinate. (They refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. Acts 19:8-9
So Paul left them and had discussions daily in the Lecture Hall of Tyrannus. The Greeks would have these discussions daily between 11am and 4pm. So here was paul’s Opportunity to Spread the Good News at Ephesus.
Who was Tyrannus?
We do not know but he may have been some patron after whom this building was named. In all the ruins of Ephesus today they don’t know of this place. That is beside the point. Paul for two whole years spoke daily here and all the Jews and Greeks of Asia ( the Roman province in Asia Minor) heard the word of God.
So….during his hours of leisure Paul was preaching or discussing the Good News. Perhaps Tyrannus allowed Paul the use of his building during the afternoon hours which was very advantageous in that the hours of 11 am to 4 pm would give him the largest audience possible, and it would afford Paul the morning hours to actually work at his trade which was tent-making.
Demonism Defeated at Ephesus Acts 19:11-20
11 God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands, 12 so that even facecloths or work aprons[a] that had touched his skin were brought to the sick, and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits came out of them.
13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches!” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul—but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit leaped on them, overpowered them all, and prevailed against them, so that they ran out of that house naked and wounded. 17 This became known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. Then fear fell on all of them, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. 18 And many who had become believers came confessing and disclosing their practices, 19 while many of those who had practiced magic collected their books and burned them in front of everyone. So they calculated their value and found it to be 50,000 pieces of silver. 20 In this way the Lord’s message flourished and prevailed. HCSB.
Notes: God was performing extraordinary miracles by Paul’s hands. These were special and unusual miracles. The Contact points for Faith for healing were anointed handkerchiefs and aprons which had touched Paul. This reminds me of how Peter’s shadow was used By God in healing
If it be asked why this was done, it may be observed:
(1) That the working of miracles in that region would greatly contribute to the spread of the gospel.
(2) we are not to suppose that there was any efficacy in the aprons thus brought, or in the mere fact that they had touched the body of Paul, anymore than there was in the hem of the Saviour’s garment which the woman touched, or in the clay which he made use of to open the eyes of the blind man, Joh_8:6.
(3) in this instance, the fact that the miracles were performed in this manner by garments which had touched his body, was a mere sign, or an evidence to the persons concerned, that it was done by the instrumentality of Paul, as the fact that the Saviour put his fingers into the ears of a deaf man, and spit and touched his tongue Mar_7:33, was an evidence to those who saw it that the power of healing came from him. The bearing of these aprons to the sick was, therefore, merely evidence to all concerned that miraculous power was given to Paul. Barnes
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