The Beginning of the Church in Ephesus

Why Ephesus? What is so significant about this city? ⭐ [Ephesus image]
“‎Ephesus was a thriving port in the first century, situated on the only major east-west road system in the area. Nearly a century had passed since it had last been invaded. The city was proud and prosperous, and a strong Jewish community thrived there.”
Ephesus was the capital of Asia Minor and a major Roman port. As we will see in Acts 19, and in the artifacts that remain in Turkey, it housed some amazing structures like the ancient wonder, the temple to Artemis, and a theater that could seat 24,000 people!
We will learn more as we continue in Acts, and perhaps some time in the future when we study the letter written to the church in Ephesus.
In chapters 18-19, the emphasis is on Ephesus. Luke provided details of Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos, and Paul that are all focused on Ephesus. ⭐[MAP: second missionary journey]
18:19-21 - Paul first visited Ephesus and left A & P there, then he left
⭐ [MAP: third missionary journey]
18:24 - While Paul is in Galatian, Apollos lands in Ephesus and teaches Jesus in the synagogue. He is given more instruction by A & P and then leaves for Corinth 18:27, presumably still leaving A & P in Ephesus.
18:23 - While Apollos was in Ephesus, Paul was beginning his 3rd journey and was in the regions of Phrygia and Galatia.
When we get to our passage this morning, we read: ⭐

Paul said in Acts 18:21 “... “I’ll come back to you again, if God wills.””, so we know he had a desire to come back, and apparently it WAS God’s will for him to return! This would be sometime around 52-54 AD.
When he arrived in Ephesus he found “some disciples”. This is the only place in Acts that this phrase is used, and it is a bit ambiguous. Here is what we can gather from the passage:
They were disciples. ⭐
ask: Were they disciples of John, or Jesus, or of both?
I am going to leave this question hanging because we have some other things in the passage that may influence how we answer that question.
There were about 12 of them. ⭐
I do not think there is much being drawn by the specific number, especially since Luke records, “about twelve”, which is a fuzzy number.
They believed. ⭐
In what, or in whom did they believe? In the Messiah. But did they understand that Jesus was the Messiah? Did they believe in Jesus?
Paul did not ask them IF they believed, but he asked them if they received the H.S. WHEN they believed. Since Luke only uses “disciples” to describe Jesus followers everywhere else in the book of Acts, some view that this should be the case here. If you hold this view, these are people who know about Jesus but had an incomplete understanding like Apollos had (and is likely they were taught by him). They lived in the OT, not the NT.
They did not know the H.S.
They had not heard of the Holy Spirit. Apparently they had heard about Jesus and how he fulfilled the role of the Messiah, but they had not heard about the events that took place at Pentecost.
There are some that believe these disciples did not know Jesus. The argument here is that they did not have the Holy Spirit, and Paul says: ⭐

However, we have another instance where we had people who believed in Jesus and did not have the Spirit - in the book of Acts. I personally lean towards the view that they DID believe and this is a mirror of what took place in Acts 8. ⭐

In that passage, the Samaritans believed in Jesus and were baptized but had not yet received the Holy Spirit. This seems to be the same situation we have in chapter 19 with these “disciples” who “believed”.
They knew of John the Immerser. ⭐
They were baptized in the tradition of John, though they may have never met John. John was baptizing people in the Jordan River, in the Judean wilderness. He baptized Jesus around 26AD and was beheaded by Herod around 30AD - so about 20 years before Paul’s encounter with these disciples.
John’s Baptism.
What is John’s baptism?
From what I have read, historically, there were religions that were immersing people in water as a sign of cleansing prior to John the Baptist. This was something new. ⭐

John spoke of the Messiah who had come, and the response to that Anointed one was to be repentance: confession of sin and a change in actions.
John also spoke of a different baptism. John immersed people in water, but Jesus would baptize, or immerse, with the Spirit. What a cool picture!
What is Baptism?
You will notice I use the word, “immerse” interchangeably with “baptize”. That is because that is the meaning of the word. ⭐ We have transliterated the Greek word “βαπτίζω” (baptizo). I means to dip or immerse.
From a ritualistic perspective, this demonstrates the entire person being washed. Not just hands, or head, but every part of our flesh. That is what the baptism of John demonstrated.
They were re-baptized in Jesus name. ⭐
Once they understood how John pointed to Jesus, they were baptized again in the name of Jesus.
What is Christian baptism?
While baptism by immersion is a symbol of new life, it is also a beautiful representation of the work that Jesus (the Christ or Messiah) has done for us. This is one of the ordinances of the church and something that we still practice today! ⭐

We were buried is illustrated as we sink beneath the water. Water, and being submerged is sometimes used to refer to death in the scriptures. But we know death is not the end because we have eternal life in Jesus. This is illustrated as we come up out of the water.
In his letter to the Romans, Paul connects baptism to new life like this: ⭐
Romans 6:3–11 (NLT)
3 Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5 Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. 6 We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. 8 ⭐ And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. 11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
The image of being buried and raised to new life is evident. The act of being submerged under water and being pulled up out of it is a beautiful picture of this reality. We are not overcome by death but raised to new life through Jesus.
I really love how “immersion” symbolizes the theology of salvation!
When John was immersing people in water he was preparing the way for Jesus, and was demonstrating what Jesus would come and do for people who would repent and believe in him.
And then, we read that Jesus will “immerse” his followers with the Holy Spirit. Same word. John immersed in water, Jesus will immerse in the Spirit. This is what was demonstrated in Ephesus.
They received the Spirit. ⭐
After being baptized in Jesus’ name, the Apostle Paul laid hands on them and they began doing 2 things:
Speaking in other languages
Prophesying
These were signs that they had received the Holy Spirit.
What are tongues?
⭐ Tongues: γλῶσσα (glossa) = language. They spoke in other languages. We have seen this a few times in the book of Acts, including the Day of Pentecost in chapter 2 where the people visiting Jerusalem from all over the world heard the good news of Jesus in their own language: ⭐

Speaking in other languages was a miraculous event that required the divine to accomplish. As such it was proof that the group of disciples had received the holy spirit.

The purpose of tongues in the book of Acts is for the spreading of the good news of Jesus to all the nations of the world.
We just flashed back a few years in the book of Acts, when Paul was not in the picture. This was about 49 days after the resurrection of Jesus. What I want you to notice is the list of where the people came from that were in Jerusalem: ⭐

Peter is going to write a letter, which we call 1 Peter, and it opens this way: ⭐

Then, we read of more regions: ⭐

⭐ Phrygia -> Paul went there (Acts 16:6, 18:23)
Pamphylia -> Paul was there (Acts 13:13, 14:24)
Egypt/Cyrene -> There were men from Cyrene in the church at Antioch (Acts 11:20, 13:1)
Rome -> Where Paul is headed.
Crete -> Paul will be there on his way to Rome (Acts 27)
Luke already prepped us in Chapter 2 for the movement of the gospel message that would take place later in his account of the early church.
GOD used his disciples in Jerusalem to share the gospel with regions from around the world at Pentecost so that years later when Paul and company visited there would already be people who heard about Jesus!
Back to our story in Ephesus, there is a group of disciples who are baptized in Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit and start speaking in other languages. WHY? Why here? Why now? Not everyone who received the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts spoke in other languages. So why this group?
ask: what was the purpose of tongues in Acts?
Let’s continue reading what took place in Ephesus: ⭐

As usual, the Jews rejected Paul. He left the synagogue… and took the disciples with him. Which disciples? The most logical and direct reference would be ANY disciples, INCLUDING some or all of the twelve that received the Holy Spirit and spoke in other languages.
Paul took them to a public lecture hall of Tyrannus, which most likely had to be rented, and had discussions with the people who came by.
Archeologists have not yet uncovered the lecture hall, according to Bible Archeology Report so we do not have a good image of what that might have looked like. (https://biblearchaeologyreport.com/2017/11/06/evidence-from-ephesus-for-the-reliability-of-scripture)
However, Ephesus was a major educational center. It attracted people from all over the world. It would make sense that speaking in other languages would help to spread the good news of Jesus to the ends of Asia.
The result: “all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord.” ⭐
This would be a consistent interpretation of the use of “tongues” in the book of Acts -> the disciples received the Holy Spirit, spoke in other languages, and the gospel spread to all the nations. This has been one of the themes of Acts since chapter 2. This is also a great reminder that God wants to use all his people, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to take the good news of freedom from sin and death through faith in Jesus to all the people around us.

That is a lot to take in on a group of obscure disciples, in Ephesus, on Paul’s second visit to the city during his third missionary journey. Why did Luke record this little encounter?
Paul stayed in Ephesus for about two years, and this is the story that Luke honed in on?

There is a foundation for the church, and it is Jesus.
The disciples knew about God and the law, and even about John and the coming Messiah, but they still needed Jesus. You can be religious, know the Bible, go to church, but if you do not know Jesus, you are still a lost soul.
The church is a group of people who:
Confess Jesus. ⭐We believe that Jesus is the son of God and that he died for our sins.

Repent of Sin. ⭐Belief must also be accompanied by repentance. To repent is to turn away from sin and choose to live in a way that honors God’s name. This is what John’s baptism was about. It was a ritual cleansing from sin. Belief requires action, or it is meaningless.

Are Baptized. ⭐We are baptized, after believing, in Jesus name as a public profession of our faith in Him and as a testimony of the new life we have because of the resurrection of Jesus.
Live for God. ⭐Having received the Holy Spirit, we now have the power and privilege to live for the Kingdom of God, as his children, heirs of grace and a light to the nations.

We see this example in Acts 19 and we see this in practice in the church today. How about you? Have you confessed your faith in Jesus as your Savior? Have you repented of your sins? Have you been immersed in water and the Spirit? And are you living in a way that pleases God?
The life transforming power of Christ is available to all who will believe and act on it.