The Ephesians (Acts 18:18 et seq.)

To Ephesus, twice

Paul leaves Corinth with Priscilla and Aquilla.

Meanwhile, Paul has his hair cut and makes a vow.  This seems to be a Nazarite vow in accordance with Numbers 11.

Paul makes his way to Ephesus where the Jews in the synagogue like him and want him to stay. So, although he told the Jews in Corinth that he was going to the Gentiles, it was not an exclusive rule as he still taught in other synagogues outside of Corinth.

Paul promises to come back if it is the will of God.  He then travels around to a few other areas, but does go back to Ephesus where the text focuses on.

In the meantime, Priscilla and Aquilla stay behind in Ephesus and meet a man named Apollos.  Apollos is a bold preacher for Jesus.  Priscilla and Aquilla mentor him before letting him go to Corinth.

We are seeing an exchange of people and leaders between the early churches.  They did not have email or even the New Testament back then, so this exchange of people was an important part of keeping the church unified.

Ephesians and spiritual power

Paul arrives in Ephesus a second time and finds a group of disciples who had received a water baptism (John's baptism), but had never heard of a Holy Spirit baptism.  Paul explains that the water baptism is about repentance.  Paul lays his hands on them and they begin to prophesy and speak and tongues.

This anecdote shows that there really are two baptisms, one of water and one of the Holy Spirit.  One is an introduction to a life of faith and the other is a step further into faith with the potential for the miraculous.  One can have a life of faith without ever having received a Holy Spirit baptism.  

If we contrast this anecdote with that of Cornelius in Acts 10 (esp., 10:44) then perhaps the order can be reversed.

In Ephesus, Paul speaks at the synagogue at first, but then must change to the lecture hall of Tyrannus, where he has daily discussions.

God also seems to have honored the (Nazarite?) vow Paul made and gives Paul more miraculous power.  Paul heals people second-hand in which handkerchiefs that had touched Paul are then used to heal the sick.

This second-hand miraculous power leads to something unusual.  Meanwhile, seven brothers, sons of a Jewish priest named Sceva, are going around casting out demons.  Their ritual is "in the name of Jesus, whom Paul preaches, I command you to get out."

This apparently works for a while, but they come upon a demon-possessed person who resists

  The demon says, "Jesus I know and I know about Paul, but who are you?". The demon-possessed person then beats them all up and leaves them bloody and naked.

The effect of this was that the believers began to publicly speak about their faith.  Likewise, they then burned their sorcery scrolls.  According the marginalia in the NIV, the value of the scrolls was worst about 50,000 daily wages.  (50,000 drachma silver coins).

This is an odd anecdote.  What is going on here?

Ultimately, I think it is about the role of miracles leading to a relationship with God.  Miracles themselves are not the end of faith, rather, they should confirm that it is Jesus that is Lord.  

Here, the seven sons seem to not have a relationship with Jesus.  They are going around and saying his name as if it were an incantation in a spell.  This works at first, but it cannot continue.  They are aware of the spiritual power of the name of Jesus and are aware that Paul is a source of knowledge about Jesus.  

The text is silent about them going up to Paul and then asking him "how can we learn more about Jesus?". 

This story parallels one of the parables that Jesus spoke of.  Jesus had said in a parable that just because people might perform miracles in his name, the Lord might reply "I never knew you".  Here, we have an example of just that.  Performing miracles is not a relationship with Christ.

Looking ahead to Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, perhaps some of this is indirectly discussed in that book.  There, Paul discusses the spiritual armor of God.  Without a relationship with Jesus, these seven sons lack that spiritual armor of God, which leaves them vulnerable to a beating by a demon-possessed man.

The story and its aftermath also gives us a framework to consider Paul's letter to the Ephesians.  Clearly, the volume of the scrolls of sorcery shows the stranglehold that sorcery had on the city and its influence on the believers.

This story also shows that demon possessed people can be supernaturally strong.  This gives caution that it can be a very dangerous field.  On one hand, it should only be pursued within the context of the church with the spiritual guidance to navigate it.  That said, it is an important field as Jesus commissioned and directed his disciples to do it and in fact, told them not to intervene when someone who was not in their group was doing it.

A final note, it faintly echoes the question the Sadducees asked Jesus about the Resurrection.  In the hypothetical, there were seven brothers who each died and the widow married each in turn.  Here, we have seven brothers all doing the same thing with catastrophic consequences.  However, the parallels probably end there.

Kill and eat (Acts 10-11:18)

Cornelius is a centurion stationed in Caesarea.  Clearly, he is a Gentile.  Him and his family are believers.  He regularly prays and gives to the poor.  

Out of nowhere, he has a vision in which an angel instructs him to send men to bring Peter to his home.  Peter is still in Joppa, where he had raised Tabitha from the dead.  Cornelius sends men to Joppa to find Peter.

In passing, the angel states that prayers and gifts to the poor are memorial offerings to God.

Meanwhile, Peter is hungry and waiting for a meal from his host.  He falls into a trance and sees a large sheet descend from the sky.  On the sheet were a large number of unclean animals.  He hears a voice say, "kill and eat".  Peter objects because he has observed the Jewish dietary laws all his life.  The voice states, "don't call unclean what God has made clean". 

This happens three times.  

Peter falls out of the trance as Cornelius' men arrive.  Peter goes to Caesarea and eats in the home of Cornelius.  Before doing so, he interprets the vision to mean that he is not to call the Gentiles unclean.  They also share their recent supernatural stories.  

While at Cornelius' home, the Holy Spirit descends on the Gentiles, who begin speaking in tongues.  This astonishes the Jews that accompanied Peter.  Peter then orders that the Gentiles be baptized.

Peter explains his actions in Acts 11.  He goes back to Jerusalem and explains the story to the leaders of the church.  They also agree that God has granted the Gentiles unto life.

Read narrowly, the story at least stands for that the Gentiles are also to receive the Gospel.  If we apply Peter's interpretation of the vision, this is what we are limited to.  Peter's own contemporary interpretation is silent as to eating meats that were previously considered unclean.

However, this narrow application would almost be redundant in light of the teachings and practice of Jesus and Philip.  Jesus made a few disciples of the Gentiles (Samaritan woman at the well; Greek woman in Tyre) although the primary mission was to the Jews.  But, Jesus did instruct the disciples to go to the four corners of the earth and make disciples of everyone.  Likewise, a number of parables hinted at this.  

Further, Philip the evangelist had made converts of Gentiles, which Peter and John oversaw and approved.  

The vision of the sheet strongly implies a cleansing of the unclean meats.  This is in light of:

(1) Peter being physically hungry.  This gives the sheet a literal application.  Peter wants to literally eat.

(2) seeing unclean animals and being told to eat them.  Peter might be physically repelled at the thought of eating these things.  Just consider the animals you would not want to eat.  For instance, if I saw a slug on the sidewalk and someone told me to "eat it", I would probably gag and consider the thought of it disgusting.

(3) God saying something has been made clean.  If the story is limited to the Gentiles, then this is redundant.

(4) having this done three times.  This seems to be a pattern for Peter.  Peter denied Christ three times and after the resurrection, Jesus reinstated Peter three times.

So, reading this together in light of Peter's actions, it also demonstrates that the eating of unclean foods does not make a person unclean.  This is the practice that the actions of Peter, the vision, and the interpretation thereof are all directed to.  Therefore, if the animals do not make a person unclean, then they must be - clean.  In other words, God has made them clean.

This episode also should be considered in light of what is about to happen at the Council of Jerusalem.  There, the church leaders will decide which of the Jewish customs the Gentiles should practice.  There is no mention of unclean meats.