in the name of the Lord Jesus' refer to what took place when men believed the testimony of John the Baptist, and not

to the re-baptism of the twelve disciples by Paul himself.

c 1.

Paul's arrival at Ephesus.

d 1.

Certain men. Their character. Disciples.

e 2.

Spiritual gifts. Their ignorance of them.

f  3.

What they had received. John's baptism.

g 4,5.  What Paul said. Paul's description of John's action.

g 6.

What Paul did. Luke's description. Paul's action.

f  6.

What they now received. Special gifts.

e 6.

Spiritual gifts. Their use of them.

d 7.

The men. Their number. About twelve.

c 8-12. Paul's continuance at Ephesus.

The words pneuma hagion (`the Holy Ghost') in verse 2 refer to spiritual gifts, and not to the Holy Spirit

Himself. These coming gifts of the Spirit had been spoken of by John, but the men concerned here had not heard of

Pentecost. After this interview with the apostle, we read that `the holy spirit came on them; and they spake with

tongues, and prophesied'.

After this the apostle spends three months in the synagogue, `disputing and persuading the things concerning the

kingdom of God'. We read that some of those who heard `were hardened', and once again there is a movement

towards the Gentiles:

`He departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus' (Acts 19:9).

This `school of Tyrannus' was probably what the Jews called Beth Midrash, a kind of private rabbinical

seminary, and here the apostle continued for the space of two years, so that all in Asia `heard the word of the Lord

Jesus, both Jews and Greeks'.

`And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul' (Acts 19:11).

Why should God have wrought `special' miracles by the hands of Paul, just at this point? The word translated

`special' is not easy to explain, because it changes its meaning and application at different times. The word

tugchano means `to hit a mark, as with an arrow' (Homer II. xii. 394), and then, by an easy transition, `to hit upon',

`to light upon', with the element of chance attached, as in Acts 17:17, `to meet by chance' (paratugchano). Ho

tuchon means `an everyday man', or, with the negative, `no ordinary man'; and the word is used by Josephus in

describing Herod's temple as `no common work'.

Coming back now to the record of Acts 19, let us notice the two kinds of miracles that are particularized.

`So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them,

and the evil spirits went out of them' (Acts 19:12).

These miracles are said to be `special' - miracles with `no chance work about them', intended to `hit the mark'.

Paul was in a city full of `magic' (see 19:19). In his opening ministry at Philippi he had been the subject of Satanic

attack through the instrumentality of the damsel possessed by the spirit of Python, and here again in Ephesus we

have the same sort of contrast. The complete failure of the Jewish exorcists to cast out the evil spirit by calling over

him the name of `Jesus', is exactly parallel with Paul's refusal to allow Satan to bear witness to the fact that he was

showing to the people `the way of salvation'.

As a result both of the positive witness of the `special' miracles, and of the utter failure of the Jewish exorcists,

we read that `fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified'. Moreover, there was a public

confession and a burning of the books relating to `curious arts' to the value of 50,000 pieces of silver. Many of

these magical books and leaves of papyrus - known as Ephesia grammata - have since been discovered.