Acts 19:38-41

38 After showing them that the men they had led to the theater were not guilty of any overt act against the temple or goddess he reminds them that there are legal means of redress for any wrong which they may have committed.

39 We have purposely retained the uniform rendering ecclesia here, for it gives us a true idea of its meaning in ordinary Greek. It was a town council before which any matter such as this might be brought for settlement. A select portion of the population convened for public business was so called.

40 The Romans would not tolerate any disorderly assemblage, and would soon recall any liberties and privileges accorded to a city if disorders were not promptly suppressed. Thus God overrules to deliver Paul from "so great a death" even though the spiritual powers of evil, the avaricious mob, and the Jews were all combined against him. As in Corinth, he uses the power of Rome to protect him from false brethren and fanatical idolaters led on by his unseen spirit enemies.

1 During Paul's stay in Ephesus he penned the two epistles to the Corinthians. In these we find a full account of much which is outside the scope of Acts. They trace the gradual change which is coming over his teaching, for his ministry went "from glory to glory" (2Co_3:18). As associated with the proclamation of the kingdom, his ministry seems to fail, as did that of the twelve. This is what is recorded in Acts. But as associated with the secret which was not made publicly known until after his final appeal to the Jews in Rome, his ministry ascended to the heights of Ephesian truth by gradual degrees.

2 While in Corinth he wrote the epistle to the Galatians and that to the Romans. Thus, within a few months he writes all the Preparatory Epistles, in the central crisis of his ministry, after his determination to give the flesh no further place.

6 Luke seems to have rejoined the apostle at this point, as he now uses the pronoun we.

7 At Paul's first visit to Troas, the vision of the man of Macedonia caused him to pass through without delay. The door was shut (16:8-9). At his second visit a door was opened, in the Lord, but as he had no rest in his spirit because of the absence of Titus, he again left for Macedonia (2Co_2:12-13). Nevertheless a considerable number seem to have believed. Conscious that he would probably never see them again, Paul lingers and prolongs his farewell exhortation.

9 There is a contrast as well as a similarity between the miracles wrought by Peter and Paul. Peter raised Dorcas to life as Paul raised Eutychus. Much stress is laid on the good works and almsdeeds that she did. Nothing of the kind is recorded of Eutychus. Indeed, he was not sufficiently watchful to keep awake when the apostle was preaching. Are not these types of the resurrection of Israel and of the ecclesia which is Christ's body? Those in the former resurrection (Rev_20:4-5) have worked as well as believed, and their resurrection is, in measure, deserved. But the saints of the present economy of grace are like Eutychus. Paul's preaching fails to keep them awake. They are drowsy and undeserving. Nevertheless, such is the superabundance of grace, that, in the secret resurrection (1Co_15:51) revealed about this time by the apostle Paul, merit has no place, for we shall live together with Him whether we are watchful or drowsy (1Th_5:10).

13 We may see something of the tense solicitude of the apostle's heart in his actions. For the sake of a few more hours at Troas he walked twenty miles after having preached most of the night. He would not trust himself in Ephesus, lest he should linger and defeat his purpose to be in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Yet he could not sail past without at least a parting word to the elders of the ecclesia he had come to love so well. It becomes more and more evident that the new departure in his ministry included the cessation of his own physical presence with the ecclesias. It was to be communicated in true spiritual style by means of epistles. It must be remembered that Paul's ministry was continually changing. As the apostasy of the Jews progressed, the evangel of the kingdom became less pronounced and he was entrusted with a secret, which, depending on Israel's failure, could not be made known publicly until Israel was set aside. Hence there is a great gulf between this address and the Ephesian epistle, which he wrote to them from Rome some years later. His career at this time was still imperfect. Writing to the Corinthians a short time before, he says that the saints are still in the period of minority and that maturity, or perfection, had not yet been attained (1Co_13:9-12).