3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

More documents

Recommendations

Info

of thing in His saying in Matt. 12:17 (// Lk. 11:19): If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges, καὶ εἰ ἐγὼ ἐν Βεελζεβοὺλ ἐκβάλλω τὰ δαιμόνια, οἱ υἱοὶ ὑμῶν ἐν τίνι ἐκβάλλουσιν; διὰ τοῦτο αὐτοὶ κριταὶ ἔσονται ὑμῶν. Paul’s experience here in Ephesus, more so than his earlier experience on Cyprus with Elymas, stands in parallel to Peter’s experience with Simon Magnus in Samaria. Luke names seven sons of a Jewish priest named Σκευᾶ, Sceva. This person is never mentioned anywhere else either in the New Testament nor in ancient literature, although a variant of it in Latin, Scaeva, shows up as the name of a Roman soldier (Plutarch, Caesar 16.2; Appian, Bellum Civile 2.9.60; Dio Cassius, Roman History 56.16.1). Consequently we know very little about him. Page 396 67 His name never shows up in any of the ancient Jewish lists of high priests, and his presence in Ephesus, so far from Jerusalem, would have presented serious problems for someone that closely connected to the temple in Jerusalem. 68 A greater likelihood is that he either falsely claimed this title, or else that the term ἀρχιερέως actually identifies him as a one time leader of one of the twelve courses of priests who functioned in the Jerusalem temple ceremonies. 69 This would mean that ἀρχιερέως is best translated as chief priest. Whatever the specific situation may have been, he had seven sons (ἑπτὰ υἱοὶ) who were practicing Ἰουδαίων ἐξορκιστῶν, Jewish exorcists. They had observed Paul’s use of the name of Jesus and sensed that such a name possessed magical powers. So they decided to try using it themselves in their money making scheme: ἦσαν... τοῦτο ποιοῦντες, they were doing this. But it had totally unexpected and dangerous consequences for them. First, the evil spirit challenged their use of the name of Jesus: ἀποκριθὲν δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πονηρὸν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· τὸν [μὲν] Ἰησοῦν γινώσκω καὶ τὸν Παῦλον ἐπίσταμαι, ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνες ἐστέ; But the evil spirit said to them in reply, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?” There is a somewhat comic tone here. As is consistent with exorcism narratives in the gospels, the demon clearly knew Jesus (γινώσκω) and further respected (ἐπίσταμαι) Paul. The first verb stresses experienced based knowledge of Jesus, and the second verb emphasizes a knowledge based esteem for Paul. But the demon did not know these seven exorcists, since they possessed no genuine power or authority over him. They were just originary human beings who stood at the mercy of the demon. What a shock these men had! They discovered 67 “Many interpreters translate Ioudaiou archiereōs as “a Jewish high priest” (e.g., RSV, NRSV, NAB) and encounter no little difficulty in explaining what a Jewish high priest with seven such sons would be doing in Ephesus. For this reason Conzelmann regards him as ‘a purely legendary figure’ (Acts, 164).” [Joseph A. Fitzmyer, vol. 31, The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 649.] 68Another interpretive alternative but with less possibility is that Sceva was a ἀρχιερέως of the Roman emperor cult that thrived in the province of Asia. This term is commonly used in secular literature written in Greek to describe the regional leaders of this cult, as is noted below. The decisive problem arguing against this view is Luke’s use of the adjective Ἰουδαίου, Jewish. It would have been enormously unlikely for even a Diaspora Jew to have achieved leadership rank in this emperor cult. Fitzmyer’s arguments seem reasonable, but at the same time ignore compelling contextual arguments against this viewpoint. His views haven’t gained much acceptance in the scholarly community. Third, the matter is not so simple, since archiereus was also used in the eastern Mediterranean world in an entirely different sense. Although Augustus did not like the ruler cult of the eastern empire, he tolerated a temple being erected in the province of Asia to “Roma and Augustus.” The commonalty (to koinon) of Asia held annual meetings to further this cult, and the main leader of the commonalty was archiereus tēs Asias, “the high priest of Asia.” See D. Magie, Roman Rule in Asia Minor to the End of the Third Century after Christ (2 vols.; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950; repr. Salem, NH: Ayer, 1988), 446–49, 544, 1298–301. Possibly from the time of Claudius, and certainly from Nero on, many cities of Asia had such archiereis; sometimes the list of them even bears the location, en Ephesō, “in Ephesus.” These archiereis were sometimes called Asiarchai, the very term that Luke uses in 19:31. Hence Sceva may have been “a renegade Jew” (B. A. Mastin), who served in the imperial cult as a “chief priest.” In that case, Ioudaios would be a substantivized adj., “a Jew,” and archiereus would refer not to the Jewish priesthood of Jerusalem, but to that of the Roman imperial cult. The activity of his seven sons, then, takes on a different character. See Fitzmyer, “ ‘A Certain Sceva, a Jew, a Chief Priest’ (Acts 19:14),” Der Treue Gottes trauen: Beiträge zum Werk des Lukas: Für Gerhard Schneider (ed. C. Bussmann and W. Radl; Freiburg im B.: Herder, 1991), 299–305; H. Engelmann, “Zum Kaiserkult in Ephesos,” ZPE 97 (1993): 279–89. [Joseph A. Fitzmyer, vol. 31, The Acts of the Apostles: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008), 650.] 69 “The reference to Sceva’s high priesthood creates a problem. Josephus lists all the names of the Jewish high priests up to the fall of the temple, and none is named Sceva. Evidently the scribes of the Western text were the first to note this, for they altered the text to simply read ‘priest,’ not ‘high priest.’ 20 More recent scholars have taken other routes to solve the problem, such as arguing that Sceva was not a Jewish but a pagan high priest. 21 Now it is true that the same term, ‘high priest’ (archiereus), was often used in pagan cults, indeed in the imperial cult at Ephesus; but Luke plainly described this high priest as Jewish. Perhaps the key is that Sceva belonged to one of the priestly families from whom the high priests were drawn, i.e., he belonged to the high priestly ‘circle.’ 22 Perhaps Sceva or those who claimed to be his sons made a false claim to a high priestly lineage in order to enhance their reputation. As high priest, the only one who could enter the holy of holies, he would have been deemed to have extraordinary powers among those who practiced the magical arts.” [John B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 403-04.]
a real power existed in the name of Jesus, but not power which they had any connection to. They were playing with fire and were about to get severely burned because of it. 70 Second, the demon used his human inhabitant to attack these men: καὶ ἐφαλόμενος ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς ἐν ᾧ ἦν τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πονηρόν, κατακυριεύσας ἀμφοτέρων ἴσχυσεν κατʼ αὐτῶν ὥστε γυμνοὺς καὶ τετραυματισμένους ἐκφυγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ οἴκου ἐκείνου, Then the man with the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered them all, and so overpowered them that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. They got a whipping of a lifetime! 71 Consistently in the exorcism narratives regarding Jesus, Peter, and Paul the demons are under absolute control and thus completely unable to attack the individual calling them out. But not so here, since these seven men had no divine power granted to them. Their fleeing the house stripped of their clothes further stresses the humilation of them from this encounter. What lessons emerge from this part of the episode? For one thing, don’t mess around with the occult. The power of the demonic is enormously greater than yours. And none of us -- even as Christians -- has authorization from God to exert His power over the demonic in order to drive them out of people’s lives which they control. There may be -- and I stress ‘may’ -- rare Christian leaders whom God has so gifted, but such authorization is not given to Christians generally. Whoever ignores this supernatural evil power will inevitably get hurt, physicially, spiritually, and otherwise, by it. The presence of the devil is real in our world, and we dare not mess around with him! Impact of Gospel, vv. 17-20. The impact of this kind of preaching of the Gospel had an enormous impact not only on this large city of perhaps upward of half a million people but throughout the surrounding region as well. Luke stresses several aspects of consequence in these verses. First, it created fear among the people: τοῦτο δὲ ἐγένετο γνωστὸν πᾶσιν Ἰουδαίοις τε καὶ Ἕλλησιν τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν τὴν Ἔφεσον καὶ ἐπέπεσεν φόβος ἐπὶ πάντας αὐτοὺς, When this became known to all residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks, everyone was awestruck. In traditional idiomatic expression Luke indicates that news (γνωστὸν) of this attack on the seven men coupled with the connection of the name of Jesus to the Gospel message over time became widely known in the city and region. Note: it would be a gross mistake to absolutize Luke’s expression here to imply that every last citizen in Ephesus learned about what had happened. To the contrary, Luke simply expresses here widespread awareness of the event among the residents (τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν) of that region. Coming out of this spreading knowledge was φόβος, fear. Luke says that this fear ἐπέπεσεν φόβος ἐπὶ πάντας αὐτοὺς, fear fell upon them all. 72 Fear is an emotion that develops internally, but often is triggered (ἐπέπεσεν 73 ) by some external cause. To be sure some sense of being ‘awestruck’ as reflected in the NRSV translation was present, but overwhelmingly in that enormously superstitious world this was simple raw fear and fright. The mentality of the first century was virtually pure dread of being utterly helpless against the invisible spirits that controlled the fate of humans. Magicians and exorcists thrived simply out of claiming to know special 70 “Whoever these would-be exorcists were, their attempt to invoke Jesus’ name failed. It is interesting that the targeted demon, not Paul, was responsible for their undoing. Luke must have enjoyed writing this episode. It is filled with humor. Upon their abjuration, the demon responded: ‘Jesus I know [ginōskō], and Paul I respect [epistamai], but who are you?’ (author’s translation). As so often with the exorcisms performed by Jesus, the demon confessed Jesus and even acknowledged that the power of Jesus worked through Paul. He was, however, not about to yield any turf to these seven. They had no power over him whatever.” [John B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 404.] 71 “He turned on them with a vengeance, overpowered them, and sent them running naked from the house. 23 With the extreme sense of modesty characteristic of Judaism, the nakedness of the Jewish exorcists was almost symbolic of their total humiliation in the incident.” [John B. Polhill, vol. 26, Acts, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 404.] 72 For earlier somewhat similar crowd reactions by Luke see Acts 2:43; 5:5, 11, regarding Peter and the other apostles in Jeru- salem. 73 ἐπιπίπτω 2 aor. ἐπέπεσον (-σα v.l. Ro 15:3); pf. ἐπιπέπτωκα (s. πίπτω; Hdt. et al.; ins, pap, LXX; pseudepigr.; Philo, De Jos. 256; Jos., Ant. 6, 23; 8, 377) gener. ‘fall upon’.... 2. to happen to, befall, of extraordinary events and misfortunes: come upon ἐπί τινα someone. ὀνειδισμοί reproaches have fallen upon someone Ro 15:3 (Ps 68:10). φόβος ἐ. ἐπί τινα fear came upon someone (Josh 2:9; Jdth 14:3; Job 4:13) Lk 1:12; Ac 19:17, cp. Rv 11:11. φόβ. ἐ. τινί (Da 4:5; Job 13:11.—ἐ. τινί also Memnon [I B.C./I A.D.]: 434 Fgm. 1, 28, 3 Jac.; Synes., Kingship 16 p. 18c δέος ἐπιπεσεῖν ἅπασιν) 1 Cl 12:5. Abs. ἐπέπεσεν στάσις τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων a quarrel broke out betw. the Ph. and S. Ac 23:7 v.l. Of the Holy Spirit: comes upon someone ἐπί τινι 8:16. ἐπί τινα (cp. Ezk 11:5) 8:39 v.l.; 10:44; 11:15; 19:6 D. Of a trance ἔκστασις ἐ. ἐπί τινα (Da 10:7 Theod.) 10:10 v.l.—M-M. [William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, <strong>3rd</strong> ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 377.] Page 397
Page 1 and 2: The Apostle Paul, Servant of Christ
Page 3 and 4: coming out of the lengthy earlier s
Page 5 and 6: cause the borders of the province s
Page 7 and 8: to Christian communities at Ephesus
Page 9 and 10: What I find most encouraging here i
Page 11 and 12: Paul’s lengthy ministry at Ephesu
Page 13 and 14: καὶ ἐπροφήτευον, Wh
Page 15 and 16: It is important to note the way in
Page 17 and 18: the Gospel in the Jewish synagogue
Page 19 and 20: terminating their ministry in the s
Page 21 and 22: Gospel upon the lives of thousands
Page 23 and 24: Luke has an interesting depiction o
Page 25: is not the language that authentic
Page 29 and 30: But the major thrust of the term τ
Page 31 and 32: μηδενὸς αἰτίου ὑπ
Page 33 and 34: Paphos. 86 Given previous patterns
Page 35 and 36: ἱκανὸν ὄχλον λέγω
Page 37 and 38: At Ephesus, more than in other plac
Page 39 and 40: 4 Hence, as to the eating of food o
Page 41 and 42: ger: γενόμενοι πλήρε
Page 43 and 44: The imperfect form of this verb ε
Page 45 and 46: Upon recognizing Alexander as a des
Page 47 and 48: Δημήτριος καὶ οἱ σ
Page 49 and 50: 7.1.2.2.5 Snapshot glimpses of Paul
Page 51 and 52: conversion (33 AD) on to the writin
Page 53 and 54: make the trip at this moment. Paul
Page 55 and 56: cally and emotionally. His experien
Page 57 and 58: ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῷ πν
Page 59 and 60: after a lengthy ministry of 18 mont
Page 61 and 62: did not find my brother Titus there
Page 63 and 64: tant principles about Christian giv
Page 65 and 66: having enough of everything, you ma
Page 67 and 68: Rom 15:30-32 (plans) 30 Παρακ
Page 69 and 70: expression and gesture, normally a
Page 71 and 72: Gaius number four in the New Testam
Page 73 and 74: ness? Or what fellowship is there b
Page 75 and 76: one he calls τοῦτο τὸ μ
Page 77 and 78:
joyous report from Titus regarding
Page 79 and 80:
Bread, and in five days we joined t
Page 81 and 82:
He is mentioned as having caught th
Page 83 and 84:
of this Christian meeting at night
Page 85 and 86:
Luke with his distinctive use of th
Page 87 and 88:
es. 220 In a somewhat similar situa
Page 89 and 90:
And now, as a captive to the Spirit
Page 91 and 92:
hometown was Ephesus, to recover fr
Page 93 and 94:
διαμαρτυρόμενος Ἰ
Page 95 and 96:
Just as in 2 Tim. 4:7, Paul views h
Page 97 and 98:
his flock, if he is to be a good sh
Page 99 and 100:
The next item Paul touches on comes
Page 101 and 102:
the words of Christ. If we have any
Page 103 and 104:
No indication is given whether a Ch
Page 105 and 106:
Paul not to go on to Jerusalem, as
Page 107 and 108:
8 τῇ δὲ ἐπαύριον ἐ
Page 109 and 110:
days: Ἐπιμενόντων δὲ
Page 111 and 112:
Paul accepted as God’s will. It w
Page 113 and 114:
century. What was this trip? The ab
Page 115 and 116:
ditional letters that Paul wrote to
Page 117 and 118:
used of God in miraculous healings,
Page 119:
Some in Paul’s day recognized thi
show all

3rd Missionary Trip - Lorin

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?