Acts 19:23-41

A Stirring in Ephesus On Account of the Name of Artemis (19:23-41).

In considering what follows we should note two things about its context:

· Firstly that it introduces the final section of Acts (Acts 19:21 to Acts 28:31) which leads up to the triumph of the Kingly Rule of God in Rome (Acts 28:30), by illustrating the emptiness of the royal rule of Artemis and of Rome, a royal rule which seeks to undermine those who proclaim the Name of Jesus.

· Secondly that it follows up Acts 19:17 where the previous main section has ended with the idea of ‘the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified' and the equivalent of 50,000 pieces of silver were burned up by Christians in full rejection of the occult as they turned their backs on it because they were following the Way. Here at the commencement of this new section which leads up to the triumph in Rome, what follows reveals that it is greed for silver obtained through the sale of occult items which causes an attack on the Way, and it is the name of Artemis which is continually held up for idolatrous worship. ‘Great is Artemis of the Ephesians' is set up in opposition to the Name of Jesus, and is rebuked by its own leadership.