THE LIVING CHURCH
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THE MINISTRY of Paul in Ephesus is the longest recorded in Acts so far. He ministered there for over two years we are told in these verses.
Although we are not told, the inference from verse 9 is that the 12 or so disciples spoken of in verses 1 to 8 were Jews. With them Paul commences his ministry in Ephesus, as was his practice, in the synagogue to the Jews. Again we see the harden unbelief and opposition to the gospel there was amongst the Jews, and specially amongst the leaders in the synagogue. We are told that the opposition became obstinate and publicly spoke against the gospel. The Jews refused to give up the religious traditions of their fathers. Such is the power of entrenched religious opinion. No doubt they felt they were upholding the truth against those who would overthrow it. The gospel to them was a novelty which must be opposed at all costs. Yet there was something else. It must have been deeply offensive to them to be told that their leaders in Jerusalem had crucified their own Messiah. The Jews are still locked in this problem, and the most devout and orthodox amongst the Jews are probably the ones who most reject the gospel.
This attitude of the Jews is very sad and deeply painful, and the fact that Paul took the disciples with him and left the synagogue emphasises the pain of the darkness in the synagogue, where truth and light should have flourished. Yet all is not darkness, for the disciples in verses 1 to 8 were Jews, and we are told in verse 10 that both Jews and Gentiles received the gospel word and believed. Though the nation of the Jews in their leaders rejected the gospel, God did not reject his people of the nation of Israel entirely, but called many Jewish people into his kingdom of life.
This syndrome of the nation being rejected, but Jews being saved, was perhaps essential. It proclaimed very powerfully that the Jewish nation did not represent the true Israel of God, and as a nation must not be thought of as God's chosen people. It emphasised the fact that it was always God's gracious purpose that his people, his chosen, were from among all the nations of the earth, and that the true Israel of God are all those, both from the Jews and the Gentiles, who believe on the name of Jesus.
Verses 11 and 12 are quite unique. Although we have been told of miracles being done in the Acts, yet on the whole they have been relatively few. In Ephesus God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, and the suggestion is that miracles were numerous and common. Such was the extent of this blessing that even garments or clothes which had touched Paul retained power so that they could be used to heal people who were sick.
It is easy to get very excited by this testimony. The thought of physical and mental healing on demand is very attractive. In my ministry I have longed to be able to help people in this way as I have seen them suffer, and have been unable. Yet as I have prayed over this impotence in myself, I have realised that it would have been very dangerous for me to have such power, except in very extraordinary circumstances. I do not know what is best for a person, nor what purpose for good is being exercised by God in another person's life. This power given through Paul was extraordinary, and is no authority for Christians to expect this sort of thing as normal. God blesses in this way sovereignly, and gives such blessing as he wills.
Notice how this blessing is spoken of. God did the miracles through Paul. Paul was just the tool which God used for this blessing. It was God who did the miracles and it was his power alone that made the miracles possible and ordained that they should happen. God does not give his power to us for such things. God uses us as a means through which his power can be brought to other people.
What may we learn from this history of miracles here? Firstly, from the fact that the Acts history does not suggest that this sort of blessing of miracles of healing happened everywhere Paul went, we learn that such blessing is not necessarily always given by God. It is not wrong to pray for such blessing, though prayer must be in humble submission to the will of God. Secondly, such power is in God's hands alone, so that although God may be pleased to bestow such blessing, we must never suppose individual human beings can become miraculous healers on demand, or that fellowships should suppose that such healing can be had simply by praying for it. Thirdly, in these miracles here we see God graciously, for a period, removing some of the curse due to sin in our world, and taking away some of the results of this curse, made at the time of Adam's sin. In this city it was part of the blessing of God through the ministry of Paul. The miracles should not cloud our appreciation of the greater and permanent blessing in peoples lives of salvation through faith in Christ.