Acts 19:18

Act_19:18-19

And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

The right confession

I. Its root: faith.

II. Its motive: repentance.

III. Its fruit: obedience. (K. Gerok.)

Conversion

And many that believed came, and confessed, and showed their deeds, etc. (Act_19:18-19). This text proves the power of the gospel in the conversion of these exorcists. The gospel is the greatest power on earth. The gospel alone acts on the heart to change it and renew the man after the image of God. And this is accomplished without any earthly weapon.

I. The nature of conversion. It is not conviction. A man may be convinced and yet carry his bosom sin with him unto the end of life; but conversion implies an inward change, so that sin is cast away as our most bitter enemy. Conversion does not change the original faculties of the soul. Whether a man be of a sanguine nature, or cool and calculative, it does not change Otis, but sanctifies the whole man for the service of Christ. Balaam was convinced but not converted.

II. The signs of true conversion. Anxious people often ask, How can I know that I am converted? Our Saviour answers this, By their fruits ye shall know them.

1. By a spirit of prayerfulness. Christ said of Saul, after his conversion, Behold he prayeth.

2. By joining in Christian fellowship. Like seeks like, similar natures meet. If a man is converted he will seek the fellowship of Christians.

(3) By forsaking evil ways. These exorcists rejoiced to see the books which had been a snare and a curse to them destroyed by the flames. The things which were gain to them they counted loss for Christ.

(4) By delight in Gods Word.

III. The necessity of conversion. It is necessary--

1. In order to be happy.

2. In order to be useful in Christs vineyard.

3. In order to attain heaven at last. (F. Samuel.)

Christianity: nominal and real

I. The nominal Christian--

1. Believes. These Ephesians, like many in the midst of heathendom today, were convinced of the errors of paganism and the truth of Christianity, but no more. And in the midst of Christendom multitudes are believers simply in the sense of accepting the facts and doctrines of the gospel as Divine.

2. Professes, or no one would know that he is a believer. Not indeed voluntarily, except that he does many things that real Christians do--goes to Church, and perhaps to the sacrament. If asked, he says without hesitation that he is a Christian.

3. But this faith and profession are merely superficial, and cover an unrenewed heart and an inconsistent life. The concealment is sometimes successful, and many a nominal Christian passes for a real one, as here apparently--for these Ephesians had to show their deeds. But the covering is very thin and may frequently be seen through by men, and always by God.

II. The nominal Christian becoming real.

1. By a heart faith. The fact of their coming shows that their believing had become a far deeper and more influential act than intellectual assent. With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.

2. By confession of the fact of sin instead of the profession of the fiction of Christianity. With the mouth confession is made of salvation, and the confessor thereby evinces his desire for the real thing instead of the sham.

3. By self-exposure of the real state of heart and life. They shewed their deeds. This was--

(1) Voluntary.

(2) Before man as well as God; for the one had been deceived and the other mocked.

III. The real Christian--

1. Believes. But instead of merely assenting to the generally received doctrine, having refused a saving trust in Christ, he now lives by faith.

2. He confesses Christ instead of professing an adherence to the Christian religion.

3. He shows his deeds which are in conformity with his faith and confession. (J. W. Burn.)

Many of them also which used curious arts.--

The curious arts

(Sermon to business men.) All religions have their mysteries, and the worship of Mammon is no exception to this rule. Perhaps it would require a hierophant of Mammon to set forth properly the mysteries of this most mysterious of arts, which are quite as curious as any of the arts of ancient necromancy, or any of the mysteries of the ancient Greeks or Romans. The effect of those mysteries must have been disastrous upon the ancient worship, for, for a man to know that he was living by chicanery and deceit was for him to lose his own self-respect. In every age of the worlds history, society has had no worse foe than a habitual humbug. It is not an uncommon thing to talk about the humbugs of religion. I am not sure that it might not properly be a more common thing for Christian men to speak about the humbugs of commerce.

I. What shall we say about these curious arts?

1. It is coming to be regarded as a natural thing that there should be an unnatural and untruthful inflation of the market at one time, and then an equally unnatural and untruthful depression at another time; and men who call themselves business men actually lay themselves out to produce such artificial conditions. In other words, this is nothing more or less than a fashionable and a gentleman-like way of picking pockets. There are many men who steal besides those that pick pockets in the street. When a man induces a false conviction with regard to the value of an article, or depreciates it with a view to his own emolument, what is he doing? He is lying; and is making a confession that he is not a business man, because he cannot trust himself to do business with his compeers in commercial life on honourable terms.

2. Another curious art is practised by those most obliging persons who sell goods under cost price. And then, when you look behind the scenes and enter the secret arcanum of this god Mammon, and ask how it is possible, you make the discovery that it is in order that Mr. Smith may undersell Mr. Jones, so that when Jones is got out of the way, Smith can run up his prices to whatever he pleases. And this clever trick is called business. Endeavour to present to yourselves the moral condition of a man who deliberately plots the commercial overthrow of an honester man than himself, in order that he may get the trade that would naturally flow into that mans hands. No man can worship a god without running the risk of becoming as bad as the god he worships. They that make them are like unto them.

3. It seems to me a very curious thing that in the same place the same article should be sold at half-a-dozen different prices. Will you buy some tea of me? said a commercial traveller to an old friend who kept a small shop. Oh, he said, thank you, but I cant do it, sir; I buy all my tea at one place and at one price. But, said the other, I see here marked up in your window all sorts of different prices. Surely there must be different kinds of tea. Not a bit, my dear sir. I buy all my tea in the lump, at one and eightpence a pound, and then I put my tickets on it, and some passes for four-shilling tea, some for three and sixpence, and some for three shillings, and everybody is satisfied. Ingenious trick, isnt it? Quite worthy of those ancient necromancers and their wonderful books of mystery.

II. I wonder what all these tricks look like in the eyes of him before whom we are all going to stand by and by? No, I dont think I wonder at all. Ah! is He gazing down upon man whom He has made in His own image, in order that He may raise him to Himself, and sees man stooping to this degraded condition? How the heart of the great Father must bleed and must needs yearn over us as He sees this deteriorating process going still forward in men whose business, instead of being a blessing to them, is their bane.

III. Our text brings before us a very remarkable transaction. I wish I could see it emulated in modern commerce. Some of the Ephesians were pursuing their commercial career and making money out of it. There comes into the town of Ephesus a stranger. This stranger preaches a new God, who is going to be the Judge of quick and dead, and that He offers Himself as the Saviour of all who will have Him. This stranger proclaims a higher morality, and tells the people that they will be better without their sins. And as the result of it, these professional men who had been making very large sums of money out of their books, made a great bonfire of them. Men of business, choose between your curious arts and your souls.

IV. What is it that enables these men to take this decisive measure? Many of them that believed. They had found something better than the chicaneries of deceit, and hence they were content to renounce the hidden things of darkness, because there is something better than the hidden things of darkness--the open things of light, In the conscious apprehension of the one, they were content to turn their backs upon the other. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

Brought their books together and burned them.

Works meet for repentance

I. No man who desires to turn away from an evil course is wise who does not act with instantaneous and decisive energy. A man who has been in a career of passionate wickedness ought of all men to understand that deliberation is unwholesome. There are some things which are helped by reflection; but what would you think of a man who, if his house was on fire, should sit down and say, Well, let me consider it? And there is no fire like that which breaks out in a mans corrupt nature.

II. When men forsake sin, they ought to break every bridge behind them. After a man is once across the Red Sea, farewell Egypt forever. A man that has been overtaken by great sins ought to create an enmity between himself and those sins, so that there shall be no danger of their ever again coming together. Men who have committed themselves to goodness, should come out earnestly, publicly, and instantly, and show their hand. There is no middle course that is safe--certainly none that is manly. What would you think of a gambler, who, having repented, should store away his instruments, saying, I do not intend to touch these things again; but still, the time may come when I shall think differently; and I will keep them? And yet a great many people keep their old sins warm, while they go to try on virtue, and see if they like it. Such a reformation as this is a sham.

III. Where men have been involved in very guilty and great sins, they owe something more to religion than merely to change from sin to virtue.

1. There is often the necessity of reparation. A man may have wronged a fellow man by his tongue; and it is necessary, if he is going to be a Christian, that that shall be all repaired. A man may have a quarrel, that quarrel must come to an end. A man may be high and obstinate; he must come down and confess, I was wrong, and I give up the transgression wholly. It may be that a man has been living on illgotten gains. No matter if it makes a beggar of him, he must make reparation, and give them up.

IV. Repentance in different men must be a very different thing. Although it is, generally speaking, turning from sin to righteousness, yet this is a very different thing in different persons, as we see (Luk_3:1-38) and its effects from Johns preaching. When men repent, the sign of repentance will be according to the way in which they have been sinning. For instance, if a returned pirate should present himself to me for admission to my Church, I should demand of him a very different confession of sin from that which I should demand from an ordinary moral man. (H. W. Beecher.)

Books and pictures

1. One of the wants of the cities of this country is a great bonfire of bad books and newspapers. The printing press is the mightiest agency on earth for good and for evil. I believe that the greatest scourge that has ever come upon this nation has been that of unclean journalism. The London plague was nothing to it. That counted its victims by thousands, but this modern pest has already shovelled its millions into the charnel house of the morally dead.

2. What books and newspapers shall we read? Shall our minds be the receptacle of everything that an author has a mind to write? Shall there be no distinction between the tree of life and the tree of death? Standing, as we do, chin deep in fictitious literature, the first question that many of the young people are asking me is, Shall we read novels? I reply, There are novels that are pure, good, Christian, elevating to the heart and ennobling to the life. But I believe that ninety-nine out of one hundred are destructive to the last degree. Stand aloof from all books--

I. That give false: pictures of human life. If you depended upon much of the literature of the day, you would get the idea that life, instead of being something earnest, practical, is a fitful and fantastic and extravagant thing. A man who gives himself up to the indiscriminate reading of novels will be nerveless, inane, and a nuisance. He will be fit neither for the store, nor the shop, nor the field. A woman who gives herself up to the indiscriminate reading of novels will be unfitted for the duties of wife, mother, sister, daughter.

II. Which, while they have some good things about them, have also an admixture of evil. You have read books that had the two elements in them--the good and the bad. Which stuck to you? The bad! The heart of most people is like a sieve, which lets the small particles of gold fall through, but keeps the great cinders. Once in a while there is a mind like a loadstone, which, plunged amid steel and brass filings, gathers up the steel and repels the brass. But it is generally just the opposite. If you attempt to plunge through a hedge of burrs to get one blackberry, you will get more burrs than blackberries. You cannot afford to read a bad book, however good you are. Alas, if through curiosity, as many do, you pry into an evil book, your curiosity is as dangerous as that of the man who should take a torch into a gunpowdermill merely to see whether it would really blow up or not.

III. Which corrupt the imagination and inflame the passions. Today, under the nostrils of your city, there is a fetid, reeking, unwashed literature, enough to poison all the fountains of public virtue.

IV. Which are apologetic of crime. It is a sad thing that some of the best and most beautiful book bindery, and some of the finest rhetoric, has been brought to make sin attractive. Vice is a horrible thing. Do not paint it as looking from behind embroidered curtains, or through lattice of royal seraglio, but as writhing in the agonies of a city hospital. Cursed be the books that try to make impurity decent, and crime attractive, and hypocrisy noble! Cursed be the books that swarm with libertines and desperadoes, who make the brain of the young people whirl with villainy! Ye authors who write them, ye publishers who print them, ye booksellers who distribute them, though you may escape in this world, those whom you have destroyed will come around to torment you, and to pour hotter coals of fury upon your head, and rejoice eternally in the outcry of your pain and the howl of your damnation.

V. The lascivious pictorial literature of the day is most tremendous for ruin. These death warrants of the soul are at every street corner. There may be enough poison in one bad picture to poison one soul, and that soul may poison ten, and ten fifty, and the fifty hundreds, and the hundreds thousands, until nothing but the measuring line of eternity can tell the height, and depth, and ghastliness, and horror of the great undoing. At a newsstand one can guess the character of a man by the kind of:pictorial he purchases. Whern the devil fails to get a man to read a bad book, he sometimes succeeds in getting him to look at a bad picture.

VI. Cherish good books and newspapers. Beware of the bad ones. One column may save your soul; one paragraph may ruin it. Benjamin Franklin said that the reading of Cotton Mathers Essay on Doing Good moulded his entire life. The assassin of Lord Russell declared that he was led into crime by reading one vicious romance. (T. De Witt Talmage, D. D.)

The bonfire at Ephesus

1. It was the burning up of books. There has been a good deal of that in history. People have been very fond of burning books, but they have been as a rule other peoples books--not their own.

2. These people burnt their own books. Now, I suppose you have seen some books burned by the owner when they have been of no value. But that was not the reason why these people burnt their books.

3. They burnt costly books. Dean Alford, I think, tells us these must have been worth about £1,750, and Dean Howson says that they must have cost about £2,000.

4. They burnt them because they had found that they were all false. More than that--for I have no doubt they had found that out before now--they had believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and become His disciples, and felt that they could not be both Christians and soothsayers. They must, as disciples of Christ, do away with their old evil habits, and burn their old books.

5. They burnt them openly--in the sight of all. But why did they not burn them quietly, on their own hearths at home? Now, some of us would have done that, so that nobody might laugh at us, and especially that nobody we had deceived might get very angry, and say, I have been paying you so much money for what turns out to be a mere sham. Observe that Luke tells that some did this. I have no doubt that there were others facing both ways, who tried to keep the books and at the same time to be Christians.

6. In conclusion, the people did all promptly and thoroughly. They did not hesitate, or stop short, until every book was burnt. They were in right earnest. Now, I have talked about all this in order just to bring a simple lesson home to you. No doubt you, too, have something to burn for the sake of Jesus Christ. Surely many of you profess to love Him. He exclaims to you, If ye love Me, keep My commandments. But if you keep His commandments you have lots of little things to burn up. It may be some nasty little habit. Give up that lazy disposition, or the Lord Jesus will not own you. There are plenty of hypocrites in the world who pretend to be Christs, and yet cling to their old sinful lives. Now I have no doubt you will say that Ephesus would be much poorer in books after this burning. No. Ephesus was far richer in books after this than ever it was before. Let us see. There was the Eplisle of Paul to the Ephesians; again there were the writings of John the Beloved. All these were given to Ephesus in return for the bad books which were burnt there. God always makes up for the losses we incur by seeking to please Him. And every act of this sort not only blesses us, but also others who see it. (D. Davies.)

The guilt and danger of reading bad books

(Text and Pro_19:27):--The oldest library we know of in history bore on its front this inscription, Food for the Mind. This is what books were designed to be; and it is only when they bear this character that they can be used with safety. Let us note:--

I. Some classes of books which are sources of corruption.

1. Those that wage open warfare against religion. Many of this class are written with ability, are specious, misleading, and almost sure to corrupt religious principles, and fill the heart with bitterness.

2. The licentious and impure. While not written with the same avowed design, they are more hurtful to society. Some of this class are the vehicles of grossest impurity; others, like the sheet let down before Peter, are full of all manner of beasts, but the unclean prevail. Genius is perverted from its high office. Fielding, Smeller, Sterne, Moore, Byron are proud names in the literary annals of the world; but instead of food for the mind they but minister poison to the heart.

3. Works of imagination and fiction. In this we include novels and plays. Not all of them, for some of this class are pure and good. But the mass of them fail to beget hatred of sin and love of virtue. They inflame evil passions, vitiate true tastes, corrupt sound morals, and create false, pernicious ideals and types of life.

II. How these several classes of books work such evil.

1. They waste much precious time.

2. They create a disrelish for serious reading. Good and pure and truthful books become insipid, dull, intolerable to the constant readers of such classes as we have condemned.

3. They inevitably undermine the principles of morality, individual and social, and thereby corrupt the fountain of virtue.

4. They war against the spiritual interest of the soul, and thereby destroy for eternity as well as for time.

Conclusion: Our subject--

1. Furnishes a solemn rebuke to those who, for paltry gain, write, print and sell such works, which they know are adapted to waste the time, pervert the tastes, corrupt the morals and ruin the souls of men.

2. Solemnly urges upon parents and instructors of youth the duty of seeing that they are amply supplied with proper food for the mind, and never indulge in such as tends to corrupt and destroy. (M. W. Dwight, D. D.)

The evils of improper books

I. The classes of books which are pernicious. Those that--

1. Assail the truth of Christianity.

2. Oppose its holiness.

3. Destroy its temper.

II. The danger which attends the indisciriminate use of such books arises from the fact that--

1. The human mind is naturally sceptical.

2. The human heart naturally licentious.

3. The human temper naturally trifling. (J. Blackburn.)

A booksellers sacrifice

Some years before the Revolution, a lady bookseller at Paris, attracted by the reputation of Father Beauvegard, went to Notre Dame to hear him. His discourse was particularly levelled against irreligious books, and the lady had cause enough to reproach herself on that scale, having been in the habit of selling many publications which were contrary to good manners and to religion. Interest had blinded her; but, penetrated by the sermon, she could no longer doubt that impious and licentious books are a dreadful source of poison to the heart; and she was compelled to acknowledge that those who print, or sell, or contribute to circulate them in any way whatever, are so many public poisoners, whom God will one day call to account for the evil they occasion. Impressed with these sentiments, she went to the preacher, and, with tears in her eyes, she said to him, You have rendered me a great service by giving me to see how culpable I have been in selling many impious books, and I entreat you to finish the good work you have begun by taking the trouble to come to my warehouse to examine all the books which are in it, and to put aside all those which may be injurious to morals or religion. I had rather be deprived of a part of my property than consent to lose my soul. Accordingly Father Beauvegard paid her a visit next day, and when he had separated the good books from the bad, she cast the latter, one after another, into a great fire she had taken care to provide. The price of the works thus consumed amounted, it is said, to about six thousand livres. She made the sacrifice without regret, and from that time endeavoured to sell no books but what might tend to counteract the evil done by the others. How many persons will go and do likewise?

The burning at Ephesus

Is such a burning suitable for the present day? Yes; but only--

I. For the proper books.

1. These are not works of exact science, noble poetry, or human law.

2. They are the pernicious fugitive pieces of a frivolous superficial knowledge, the seductive works of an impure light literature, and the arrogant decrees of an anti-Christian tyranny of the conscience.

II. With the proper fire.

1. This is not the gloomy glow of a narrow puritanism, nor the sullen fire of a condemnatory fanaticism, nor the incendiary torch of a revolution.

2. This is the holy fire of a repentance which thinks especially of its sins and wants; of a love to the Lord, which joyfully sacrifices to Him whatever is most costly; and of a zeal for Gods house which desires nothing else than that His Kingdom may come, as in churches, houses and hearts, so also in the state, arts and sciences. (K. Gerok.)

Bad books

Deeds, not words, are the proofs of a mans sincerity. We may say what we will, and make what profession we will; but it is our conduct that must stamp the true value both upon what we say and what we profess. In this passage we have an account of a conversion, which, from the circumstances attending it, we have good reason to believe was real. And fear fell on them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. This was the effect generally. People stood in awe of a religion which was attested by such evident tokens of Divine power, and were disposed to believe that there was something in what was told them of Christianity and its Founder. Thus far, however, people: may go, and often do go, without experiencing any real saving change in themselves. They have a sort of respect for religion; they would not slight it; but there they stop: they do not suffer it to take hold of their hearts. So, no doubt, it was at Ephesus with numbers. But it was not so with all. Many there were, who, as far as we have the means of judging, were savingly converted by what they heard and saw. They believed, and came, and confessed, and showed their deeds. See here the proofs which these men gave of the sincerity of their conversion.

I. It is said, They believed--they believed the gospel which St. Paul preached, and, believing this, they betook themselves to Jesus, that they might be saved by Him. But we cannot betake ourselves to Jesus except we first renounce and forsake those ways and practices which are contrary to Him. This, then, these Ephesians did. They came to the apostle, and confessed their sins, and showed their evil deeds. They did not attempt to excuse themselves, to put a better face upon their past life than it deserved. And this everyone must do who would turn to God in good earnest. Remember, then, that confession is one of the very first steps to be taken, if we would obtain forgiveness and enjoy the blessing of a conscience at peace with God and at peace with itself. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy. Ordinarily we do best to begin with confession. And, no doubt, besides the greater and more heinous sins of our lives, which we have good need to acknowledge with shame, and as the Christian does come short hourly of that standard at which he aims, so it is his wisdom as; well as his duty to confess his shortcomings as minutely and particularly as he can. A man may confess in a general way that he is a sinner, and yet blind his eyes to this or that particular sin to which he is addicted, and so continue in it for all his confession. And this shows the importance of self-examination, as at other times, so especially before our set prayers. But, after all, even confession is not enough. It is, too, possible for a man to confess his sins and yet for all this to continue in his sins. In fact the confession may be used as a sort of cloak, by which a man persuades himself that he is penitent. These Ephesian converts not only confessed their sins, but they forsook them; nay, they not only forsook them, but they put away from them the occasions which led to them, and the instruments by which they practised them. And to show that it was no cheap sacrifice which they were making, the value of them, it was found, was no less than fifty thousand pieces of silver. Well, indeed, might the sacred writer add, after giving this account, So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed. It was a very strong testimony indeed to the sincerity of these converts, and to the power with which the Word of God had laid hold of them. Their conduct was an open confession of the change which had taken place in their views and feelings. But, further, the burning of their books shows the resolution which the Ephesian converts had formed never to return to the use of those arts again to which the books ministered. They had no misgivings in their minds; as though, after all, they might possibly at some future time take a different view of their former course and of the religion they had adopted from what they now did. Their minds were made up. Nor was this all. As far as in them lay they cut off the possibility of a return. It is said of a great captain of former times, that on one occasion when he went with his army to make war upon an enemys country, he set fire to his ships as soon as his army was landed, that both he and they might feel that nothing was left for them but to conquer. They were not even to think of flight or escape. So did these Ephesians by their curious arts. And in this respect, too, every sincere and earnest convert will tread in their steps. As far as in him lies he will cut off from himself the possibility of a return to his former courses. The things which used to minister to his evil practices he will as much as possible put away from him. If he was given to drunkenness, he will keep out of the way of those places and those companions which used to lead him on to that sin. If bad books or other writings were a cause of stumbling to him, putting into his mind bad thoughts and bad desires, he will put these from him for the future. But someone might have whispered to these Ephesians, Why burn the books, after all? They cost a great deal of money. Is it not a pity to destroy them? If you do not want them, others may be glad of them, and glad to buy them of you. And, if they take damage in consequence, that is their look-out, not yours. Besides, if they do not get your books, they will most likely get others. But these good men did not allow any such thought to weigh with them. The books were bad books; they would not leave the possibility of their doing further mischief. They had done mischief enough already. People might remind them of the money which they paid for them, and tell them that at any rate it would be enough to lay them by. But they will feel that the true course is to put it out of their power to do further mischief.

II. Are we following Christ with like sincerity? Are we forsaking and casting away whatever in former times led us astray from God, or served as an instrument of sin? Have we allowed ourselves in anything which Gods Word forbids? I know how men are apt to plead for some of these things; how they say, We cannot, circumstanced as we are, give them up. We have been used to them all our lives. Our living and maintenance depend upon them. If we give them up, yet others will still carry them on. We must trust in Gods mercy, and hope that He will make allowance for us. But, no: whoever reasons thus, and casts about for excuses to justify himself in continuing in a course of sin, does by that very fact show that his heart is not right with God. He is not following the Lord fully. God will not own him, let him speak as he will of his faith, and make what profession he will. As Christians we are to give up everything that is contrary to Gods law. However dear it may be to us, yea, though it be as a right hand, it is to be cut off, or as a right eye, it is to be plucked out: God can and will make amends for it. (C. A. Heurtley, D. D.)

The preaching that is needed

One thing I have against the clergy, both of the country and in the towns. I think they are not severe enough on their congregations. They do not sufficiently lay upon the souls and consciences of their hearers their moral obligations, and probe their hearts and bring up their whole lives and action to the bar of conscience. The class of sermons which I think are most needed are of the class which offended Lord Melbourne long ago. Lord Melbourne was one day seen coming from church in the country in a mighty fume. Finding a friend, he exclaimed, It is too bad. I have always been a supporter of the Church, and I have always upheld the clergy. But it is really too bad to have to listen to a sermon like that we have had this morning. Why, the preacher actually insisted upon applying religion to a mans private life! But that is the kind of preaching which I like best, the kind of preaching men need most, but it is, also, the kind of which they get the least. (W. E. Gladstone.)

Value of a sermon

The value of a sermon consists not half so much in apprehending the method of it, or remembering its form and letter, as in the moral impression it produces on the heart, and by which it takes effect in the life. Just as the effect of art is more than the method of art, so the effect of preaching is more than all its methods. I have heard of a minister who, having a congregation composed chiefly of shopkeepers, and having his doubts that some of these were not so accurate in the matter of weights and scales and measures as they should have been, preached a sermon from the text, A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight. The sermon was much admired by all, but a few days after, when some half-dozen of the congregation were discussing its merits, some of them clearly remembering its heads, divisions, and subdivisions, one of them said: I dont remember much about the sermon now, but I know this, that after I had heard it I went straight home and burnt my bushel. (J. W. Lance.)

A fortune consigned to the flames

When recently Captain Burton, the great traveller, died, he left a book in manuscript, which he expected would be his wifes fortune. He often told her so. He said, This will make you independent and affluent after I am gone. He suddenly died, and it was expected that the wife would publish the book. One publisher told her he could himself make out of it 100,000 dollars. But it was a book which, though written with pure scientific design, she felt would do immeasurable damage to public morals. With the two large volumes, which had cost her husband the work of years, she sat down on the floor before the fire, and said to herself, There is a fortune for me in this book, and, although my husband wrote it with the right motive, and scientific people might be helped by it, to the vast majority of people it would be harmful, and I know it would damage the world. Then she took apart the manuscript, sheet after sheet, and put it into the fire, until the last line was consumed. Bravo I She flung her livelihood, her home, her chief worldly resources under the best moral and religious interests of the world. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The influence of pernicious books

The boy David Hume was a believer in the Scriptures until he ransacked the works of infidels to prepare for a debate in which he was to take part. It is said of Voltaire that when only five years of age he committed to memory an infidel poem, and was never able after that to undo its pernicious influence upon his mind. Thomas Chambers, an officer of the British Government, says that all the boys brought before the criminal courts can ascribe their downfall to impure reading.

Lasting influence of bad books

I would rather be a murderer than write a bad book. A murderer murders a body once, but the writer of a bad book may murder souls as long as the book lasts. Not long ago an eminent public man said when he was young a companion put a bad book into his hands. He could not tell the harm it had done him. For years after he had reached manhood he had not got rid of the influence of that book. But impure books were not the only bad ones. There were sceptical books that had about them a deadly atmosphere. A man might read himself into scepticism. He would not vouch for the faith of any man who should read for twelve months the writings of Darwin, Spencer, Huxley, and the rest--one side only, never caring to read the arguments that had convinced men quite as able as they, of the truth of the Christian religion. (G. S. Barrett.)

The sorcerers sacrifice

I. What a convincing act! The New Testament ever speaks of conversion as a vast change. Born again, turned from darkness to light, are the uncompromising terms employed. Now, what are the evidences that this has been wrought? Loving what was once hated, and hating what was once loved. Let us discriminate. To abhor and avoid certain transgressions is comparatively easy. Many Compound for sins they are inclined to, by blaming sins they have no mind to. The mean man grows eloquent in denouncing extravagance. The good-natured man has small temptation to penuriousness. The man whose animal passions are constitutionally feeble is never in danger of sensuality. A far more searching criterion must be applied. Does the miser loosen his grasp upon his gold? Does the prayerless one abandon his neglect of the mercy seat? Does the victim of vanity become humble and self-abnegating? What things were gain to me, those counted I loss for Christ. Pauls experience is that of every Christian.

II. What a wise act! By burning these books the magicians consulted their own welfare. Had they put them away, resolving to keep them only as mere literary curiosities, they might have been tempted at some future time to return to their old practices. When duty takes us into places and among persons that are spiritually perilous, we need not fear. God will protect us then. Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness; and left it, unconquered by the Prince of Darkness. But no Divine command or holy impulse moved Achan to the spot where the forbidden treasures lay, hence he was ensnared by them. If we go needlessly into scenes of temptation we must not be surprised if we become its victims. During one stage of his journey, Pilgrim sees a man confined in an iron cage. I have tempted the devil, he cries, and he has come to me. Quaintly, but impressively, does one say, Those who would not fall into the river should beware how they approach too near to its banks. He that crushes the egg need not fear the flight of the bird. He who would not drink of the wine of wrath let him not touch the cup of pleasure. He who would not hear the passing bell of eternal death should not finger the rope of sin. A person who carries gunpowder about him can never stand too far from the fire. If we accompany sin one mile, it will compel us to go twain. The fable saith: That the butterfly inquired of the owl how she should do with the candle which had singed her wings. The owl counselled her not so much as to behold the smoke. If you hold the stirrup, no wonder Satan gets into the saddle.

III. What a benevolent act! They were worthy of all praise in burning the books, because, in the course of time, the books might have fallen into the hands of others, and instigated them to sorcery. The lesson is palpable. We should try to keep others from the evil into which we have once been led. Suppose a man obtains his livelihood by occupation which is clearly injurious to society. If converted, his duty is to abandon it.

IV. What a blessed act! Yes, God blessed it. The magicians had a compensation. They burned books for Christ, and they received books from Him--Pauls Epistle to the Ephesians, and the letter from the Saviour to the angel of the Church at Ephesus. Thus is it always. None serve Christ without rich remuneration. (T. R. Stevenson.)

Sacrifice of unlawful means of gain

Like other grocers, Samuel Budgett, the Successful Merchant had been in the habit of adulterating his pepper with some innocent preparation, which he kept in a little barrel labelled P.D.--pepper dust. But as he grew in Christian intelligence his conscience troubled him about the matter, until one night he rose from his bed, went to his store, took the little barrel, and knocked in the ends of it. Is there no P.D. about you? If there be do as Budgett did: Knock it an the head. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Instruments of evil to be destroyed

If property, now applied to a wicked purpose, can be used for a good end--if a house once rented for an immoral employment can be occupied for a business that is moral--if a piece of machinery which has been employed for evil can be used in a lawful avocation--if a vessel used before for piracy or in the slave trade, can be employed in legitimate commerce--if a sword can be beaten into a ploughshare, or a spear into a pruning hook, then principle would not require that these should be destroyed; but if no such lawful use of property can be made, then the principles of Christianity do not allow that it should be transferred to other hands, but that it should be destroyed at once. Christian honesty demands the sacrifice; a Christian conscience would prompt it. (A. Barnes, D. D.)

They counted the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.--The coin referred to was the Attic drachma, usually estimated at about 8½d. of English money, and the total amount answers, accordingly, to £1,770 17s. 6d., as the equivalent in coin. In its purchasing power, as determined by the prevalent rate of wages (a denarius or drachma for a days work), it was probably equivalent to a much larger sum. Such books fetched what might be culled fancy prices, according to their supposed rareness, or the secrets to which they professed to introduce. Often, it may be, a book was sold as absolutely unique. (Dean Plumptre.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 19:18. Τὲ, and) The others, beholding the sons of Sceva, the more withdrew themselves from all wickedness.—ἤρχοντο, came) of their own accord. The efficacy of the Divine word (is hereby illustrated), penetrating into the inmost recesses of souls, so that of their own accord they confess that which they would not be brought to confess by any natural sincerity, or by any tortures.—ἐξομολογούμενοι, confessing) From this verb, it is evident that those actions were bad actions which had been perpetrated before that they had received faith.—ἀναγγέλλοντες, announcing, showing) The beginning of confession is difficult. Once that a beginning is made, the statement of the whole matter is afterwards easy: and this is an indication of a mind freed from the dominion of sins.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Act 19:18 . πολλοί τε : the τε shows another immediate result in the fact that those who were already believers were now fully convinced of the pre-eminence of the name of Jesus, and were all the more filled with a reverential fear of His holy name: “many also of those who had believed,” R.V. So Wendt in latest edition. ἤρχοντο ultro , Bengel. ἐξομολ .: Rendall renders “giving thanks” to God for this manifestation of His power. But it is usually taken, not absolutely, but as governing πράξεις , cf. Mat 3:6 , Mar 1:5 , Jas 5:16 ; Jos., Ant. , viii., 4, 6; B. J. , v., 10, 5, so in Plutarch several times, “confessing,” cf. also Clem. Rom., Cor [329] , Lev 3 ; Barn., Epist. , xix., 12; Kennedy, Sources of N. T. Greek , p. 118, and Mayor on Jas 5:16 ; Felten, Apostelgeschichte , p. 361. πράξεις , cf. Luk 23:51 ; also in a bad sense. So too in Rom 8:13 , Col 3:9 , so often in Polyb. ( 3Ma 1:27 ). Deissmann Bibelstudien , p. 5, maintains that the passage before us shows acquaintance with the technical terminology of magic, and instances πράξεις as a terminus technicus for a magic prescription; see also Knabenbauer’s note in loco . ἀναγγέλλοντες : instead of continuing secretly practising or approving of the deeds of magic, they declared their wrongdoings. Rendall takes it as meaning that they reported the deeds of those men, i.e. , the magicians; but can the Greek bear this?

[329] Corinth, Corinthian or Corinthians.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Confessed their errors, and detested them openly, being terrified with the fear of the judgment of God: and what is this to ear shrift?

Conjuring and sorcery is condemned by open testimony, and by the authority of the Apostle.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

many that believed came and confessed . . . their deeds--the dupes of magicians, &c., acknowledging how shamefully they had been deluded, and how deeply they had allowed themselves to be implicated in such practices.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18. Many which believed. Luke bringeth forth one token of that fear whereof he spake. For they did indeed declare that they were thoroughly touched and moved with the fear of God, who, of their own accord, did confess the faults and offenses of their former life, lest, through their dissimulation, they should nourish the wrath of God within. We know what a hard matter it is to wring true confession out of those who have offended, for seeing men count nothing more precious than their estimation, they make more account of shame than of truth; yea, so much as in them lieth, they seek to cover their shame. Therefore, this voluntary confession was a testimony of repentance and of fear. For no man, unless he be thoroughly touched, will make himself subject to the slanders and reproaches of men, and will willingly be judged upon earth, that he may be loosed and acquitted in heaven. When he saith, Many, by this we gather that they had not all one cause, for it may be that these men had corrupt consciences a long time; as many are oftentimes infected with hidden and inward vices. Wherefore, Luke doth not prescribe all men a common law; but he setteth before them an example which those must follow who need like medicine. For why did these men confess their facts, save only that they might give testimony of their repentance, and seek counsel and ease at Paul’s hands? It was otherwise with those who came unto the baptism of John, confessing their sins (Matthew 3:6). For by this means they did confess that they did enter into repentance without dissimulation.

But in this place Luke teacheth by one kind, after what sort the faithful were touched with the reverence of God, when God set before them an example of his severity. For which cause the impudence of the Papists is the greater, who color their tyranny by this fact. For wherein doth their auricular confession agree with this example? First, the faithful confessed how miserably they had been deceived by Satan before they came to the faith, bringing into the sight of men certain examples. But by the Pope’s law it is required that men reckon up all their words and deeds and thoughts. We read that those men confessed this once; the Pope’s law commandeth that it be repeated every year at least. These men made confession of their own accord; the Pope bindeth all men with necessity. Luke saith there came many, not all; in the Pope’s law there is no exception. These men humbled themselves before the company of the faithful; the Pope giveth a far other commandment, that the sinner confess his sins, whispering in the ear of one priest. Lo, how well they apply the Scriptures to prove their subtilities.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(18) And many that believed.—More accurately, many of those that had believed. The word is probably used, as in Act_19:2, for the whole process of conversion, including baptism, confession in this instance following on that rite, instead of preceding it. The words do not definitely state whether the confession was made privately to St. Paul and the other teachers, or publicly in the presence of the congregation; but the latter is, as in the confession made to the Baptist, much the more probable. (See Note on Mat_3:6.) The feeling of a vague awe at this contact with the Unseen in some, the special belief in Christ as the Judge of all men in others, roused conscience into intense activity; the sins of their past lives came back upon their memories, and it was a relief to throw off the burden by confessing them.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. And many that believed] i.e. who had made a profession of their faith. It was clearly as yet but an imperfect faith. The Rev. Ver. “had believed” is the more correct tense.

came, and confessed] Came before the Apostle and the Christian brethren, and in their fear owned that their profession had not been followed completely by their practice.

and shewed their deeds] The verb implies “making a public announcement,” therefore “declaring” (as R. V.) is perhaps nearer to the sense. The “deeds” were those courses of action, connected with witchcraft, sorcery, and exorcism, that were inconsistent with the Christian life. Thus “deeds of the body” is used for evil deeds only (Rom_8:13). Cp. Luk_23:51.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed. Over conjuring books, conjurers themselves, yea, even the devils; the power of God going along with it, many were converted; which is meant by the increase of it, and were delivered from the power of darkness, out of the hands of Satan, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. Beza's ancient copy reads, the "faith" of God; and the Syriac version, "faith in God".

So mightily grew the word of God, and prevailed. Over conjuring books, conjurers themselves, yea, even the devils; the power of God going along with it, many were converted; which is meant by the increase of it, and were delivered from the power of darkness, out of the hands of Satan, and translated into the kingdom of Christ. Beza's ancient copy reads, the "faith" of God; and the Syriac version, "faith in God".

Acts 19:21

act 19:21

act 19:21

act 19:21After these things were ended,.... After that the apostle had disputed with the Jews in their synagogue, for the space of three months, and in the school of Tyrannus about two years; and after many souls had been converted at Ephesus, and were formed into a church state, and were established in the faith:

when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia: in the former of which were the cities of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, and in the latter, Corinth; where the apostle had already been, and preached the Gospel with success, and had laid the foundation of a Gospel church state in each place; but was willing to visit them again, both to confirm them in the doctrines of the Gospel, and, if it was the will of God, that he might be the instrument of converting others, and adding them to them, as well as to make some collections among them, for the poor saints at Jerusalem: for through these places he intended

to go to Jerusalem; to visit the church there, and distribute to the poor what he had gathered, or should gather for them among the Gentile churches:

saying, after I have been there, I must also see Rome; the metropolis of the empire, and the glory of the whole world; and which to see was one of Austin's three wishes: but the apostle's desire was not so much to see the magnificence of the city, as the saints in it; and that he might impart some spiritual gift unto them, and have some fruit among them; and be a means of quickening and comforting them, and of gaining others to them; and it was the will of God that he should go there; and this he spake by a prophetic spirit, and as being under the impulse of the Spirit of God; see Act 23:11.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

Ver. 18. Confessed and showed their deeds] With detestation, being moved thereto by the fear of God’s judgments. This they did publicly, not in the priest’s ear, as Papists, nor out of a brain sick humour, as the Anabaptists at Sangall ( Coeperunt plurimi enormia sun delicta profiteri, alius furta, alius adulteria, alius alia, non sine admiratione audientium, non sine stomacho coniugum maritis talibns nihil non imprecantium, saith Scultetus); but with discretion and detestation. Oftentimes the very opening of men’s grievances easeth the conscience, as the very opening of a vein cools the blood. Howbeit it is neither wisdom nor mercy to put men upon the rack of confession, further than they can have no ease any other way. (Dr Sibbes.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Their deeds - Their actions; their evil course of life. The direct reference here is to the magical arts which had been used, but the word may also be designed to denote “iniquity” in general. They who make a profession of religion will be willing to confess their transgressions, and no man can have evidence that he is truly renewed who is not willing to confess as well as to forsake his sins, Rom 10:10; Pro 28:13, “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Confessing and declaring their deeds, as penitents do in the sacrament of penance, and not only in general declaring or confessing themselves sinners. See Matthew iii. 6. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Many that believed came; that believed the power which God alone had over Satan, and were convinced of their sin and danger in being led captive by him.

And confessed, and showed their deeds; openly declared their evil deeds. They durst keep the devil’s counsel no longer, but expose and manifest it, that their sores being laid open, the balm of the gospel might more effectually be put into them. Thus with the mouth confession is made unto salvation, Rom 10:10.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Many that believed—That is, many who were members of the Church before this transaction.

Showed their deeds—Revealed how in spite of their Christianity they had still indulged in pagan dealing with the lower powers of nature and demonism. And, as above remarked, even through the Christian centuries there has run a streak of this same paganism.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Many also of them that had believed for and many that believed, A.V.; confessing and declaring for and confessed and showed, A.V. Many also of them that had believed. This and the following verse speak of that class of converts who had previously been addicted to magic arts. It gives us a curious view of the extent to which magic prevailed among the Jews at this time. Nor was it less prevalent in heathen Ephesus. The magic formulae of Ephesus were famous under the name of jEfesia grammata (see Renan, pp. 344, 345, note), and the belief in magic seems to have been universal. Hesychius gives as the names of the oldest Ephesian charms, Aski, Kataski, Lix, Petrax, Damnameneus, Aesion, which he explains as meaning severally "Darkness, Light," "the Earth," "the Year," "the Truth" (Lewin, p. 334).

Vers. 18-20. The sign of sincerity.

We are reminded by the text

I THAT WHEN WE ACCEPT JESUS CHRIST WE YIELD OURSELVES TO HIM. To exercise a living faith in him is to take everything from him and to give everything to him; therefore to give ourselves to him and to his service. It is to recognize and respond to his supreme claims on heart and life.

II THAT TO GIVE OURSELVES TO CHRIST MEANS TO ABANDON ALL THAT IS HATEFUL TO HIM. HOW can we love him and not hate and shun the things which are painful and offensive in his sight?

III THAT TO ABANDON WHAT 1.8 HATEFUL.TO CHRIST IS TO PUT AWAY ALL THAT IS FALSE AND IMPURE. To live a life of imposture; to be systematically enriching ourselves at the expense of the credulity of others (as these Ephesians had been doing); to be acting falsehoods daily, or even frequently; to be introducing a large measure of vanity or folly into that which should be good and pure; this is hateful to him who is the holy and the true One; this is unendurable by him in one who bears his name and professes to be like him and to follow him.

IV THAT TO PUT ASIDE THAT WHICH IS PROFITABLE OR PLEASANT FOR CHRIST"S SAKE IS A SURE SIGN OF SINCERITY. The burning of these profitable "books" was the very best guarantee that could be given of the sincerity of the Ephesian converts. If we want to know how deep and true is a man"s conviction, we do not ask what strong things he can say in its favor, or how eloquently he can descant upon it, or what fervor he shows on one or two occasions respecting it, but how much he is prepared to part with on its account. We ask what deep-rooted habits he will cut away, what cherished treasures he will put aside, what keen enjoyments he will forego, what money he will sacrifice, what prized but hurtful friendships he will surrender. This is the test of sincerity. A man that will do one or more of these things, "we know the proof of him.

V THAT DELIBERATE SELF-SACRIFICE IS THE MOST APPRECIATED WITNESS WE CAN BEAR FOR CHRIST. "So mightily grew the word of God," etc. (ver. 20). There is no way by which we can so powerfully affect the judgment and win the sympathy of men as by sacrificing for Christ"s sake that which all men prize and strive for. When the world sees all who "profess and call themselves Christians" not only engaging in devotion, and endeavoring to make converts, but also denying themselves pleasures they would otherwise enjoy, spending on others the money they would else have spent on themselves, foregoing worldly advantages which they cannot conscientiously appropriate, then it will be convinced by arguments which now are without any cogency, and will be won by persuasions which now are urged in vain. C.

Vers. 18-20. Practical evidence of genuine repentance.

The evidence which" many of them that believed" now came and gave, of the vitality of their faith and the reality of their repentance, was conclusive. And the very thought of it is refreshing as we read it. Here follow four grand evidences of a genuine "faith in Jesus" and "repentance from dead works.

I TO COME VOLUNTARILY AND CONFESS.

II TO DISCLOSE, AND TO DISCLOSE VOLUNTARILY, UNDER NO PRESSURE OF TORTURE OR INDUCEMENT OF FEAR OR BRIBE.

III TO REPUDIATE FORMER WAYS, EVEN THOUGH THEY WERE THE WAYS OF LIFE"S LENGTH, OF GETTING A LIVELIHOOD.

IV TO PUBLICLY RENOUNCE THE VERY INSTRUMENTS BY WHICH THE FORMER LIFE AND PROFESSION WERE SUSTAINED. This renunciation was particularly satisfactory in the present instances, inasmuch as it was:

1. Public.

2. A renunciation of large value of capital.

3. A determined putting away from the eyes the things that had often fed temptation.

4. And an effort to put the old evil course, as far as might be possible, out of memory itself. To this hardest thing of all God would give his gracious and effectual help, for its very endeavor"s sake. B.

Vers. 18, 19. Signs of religious sincerity.

The incidents narrated in these verses suggest the subject of the demands which men feel that a Christian profession makes upon their practical life and conduct. It appears that these disciples at Ephesus had been converted for some time before they made these sacrifices; but presently the relation of the Christian truth to their magical and superstitious sentiments was fully recognized, and they were impelled to destroy the books which had been associated with their early religious beliefs. "Ephesus was the chief seat of the black art at this time, and the popular mind was familiar with the pretension to supernatural gifts and endowments, and by its experience in sorceries and charms was in a measure hardened against the due effect of miracles." "Magicians and astrologers swarmed in her streets, and there was a brisk trade in the charms, incantations, books of divination, rules for interpreting dreams, and the like, such as have at all times made up the structure of superstition." "By actually destroying the books, they not only acknowledged the sinfulness of the practices taught therein, but also cut off at once and absolutely the possibility of relapse on their own part, or of leaving a temptation or stumbling-block in the way of others." But the books burned were private property, and did not stop the evil work of those who made and sold such books. In one form or in another the question always comes before the new converts What are you prepared to give up for Christ"s sake?

I SINCERE AND EARNEST CHRISTIAN LIFE IS ALWAYS, IN GREATER OR LESS DEGREE, ANTAGONISTIC TO THE FORMER LIFE. A man may take up with religion as a mere matter of profession, and find that such a religion makes little or no demand for change in his general sentiments or conduct. But if a man is truly regenerate, if religion is to him a serious, searching reality, he will soon find out that it is out of harmony with much in his former life, and as he cannot give up the religion he must give up the old habits and indulgences. This applies not only to such evils as intemperance and immorality, but also to more minute forms of questionable indulgence. Earnest Christian life is found to be corrective of even our cherished ideas, our views of truth and duty; and the most moral and amiable man is made so sensitive to purity and truth by a Divine regeneration that he finds something in his former life and thought which is out of harmony with his new feeling. It appears, therefore, that our Lord"s principle is much more minutely searching than we imagine it to be: "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." The point of this head may be represented in full detail, as it concerns the several classes of a congregation. The principle enunciated will gain force by precise application to the class evils which sincere piety resists.

II SINCERE AND EARNEST CHRISTIAN LIFE CAN ONLY BE MAINTAINED BY SETTING LIFE, ACTION, AND RELATIONS IN RIGHT TONE. A man may feel how opposed his sentiments and his habits are to the Christian profession he makes, and yet he may do nothing towards readjusting their relations. He may try to live his old self-willed life, and at the same time try to keep his faith in Christ and his soul-allegiance to him. But the point on which we now insist is, that he cannot do this. He imperils his Christian life in the attempt. He keeps himself open to Satanic temptations. He is in the almost hopeless, and certainly dishonorable, condition of those who, in olden times, "feared the Lord and served other gods." Full consistency between life and profession is absolutely necessary. In any case of conflict between the two, the Spirit of God will help us to a victory. If, even in small matters, we fail to keep the full harmony between piety and conduct, piety loses its tone, and gradually its very life. Formalism can allow license. Piety never can.

III EFFORTS TO ADJUST CONDUCT SO AS TO MATCH RELIGION MAY INVOLVE SERIOUS SACRIFICE. As in the case of these Ephesian Christians. They destroyed books representing a great wealth. They might have sold them; but since others might be injured by them, they destroyed them, at great personal sacrifice. Illustration may be taken from certain forms of trade, which Christians feel they can no longer carry on; or from certain pleasures, in which they feel they can no longer indulge. Impress, in conclusion, the teaching of our Lord about the foolishness of the man who would take up a Christian profession, and does not "sit down first and count the cost. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Many came confessing - Of their own accord, and openly declaring their deeds - The efficacy of God's word, penetrating the inmost recesses of their soul, wrought that free and open confession to which perhaps even torments would not have compelled them.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A further result of this event:

v. 18. And many that believed came and confessed, and showed their deeds.

v. 19. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men; and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

v. 20. So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed.

The beating which the exorcists received in consequence of their unwarranted use of the name of Jesus had a good effect also upon the disciples that had come to faith, that had joined the congregation at Ephesus. The fear that Jesus was mightier than all idols and demons was spread far and wide, Now, the city of Ephesus, like most of the large cities of that day, was full of witchcraft and superstition. And this fact was here brought out in a remarkable way, since fear of punishment opened the mouth of many. They confessed, openly declared, their wrongdoings in this respect; they disclosed the magic spells which they had used. And many of those that had practiced magical arts collected their books on these subjects, burning them openly, in the sight of all the people. They also computed the price of these books and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver, almost ten thousand dollars. "Their value depended not so much on their number or their size as on their contents; for they contained plainly written directions for the performance of tricks of jugglery and magic, and the purchaser, by a little practice, could be just as skillful a juggler as the original owner. " So did the Word of the Lord grow with power, with such irresistible force did it persuade the hearts of men and gain new converts. And such strength did it exhibit in changing the hearts of these converts that they voluntarily renounced all connection with superstition and witchcraft. This power of God, even today, is exerted through the Word and shows the same results. The foolishness of men’s perverted minds, together with the power of the kingdom of darkness, is helpless before the power of God in His Word.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. “And many of those having believed, came confessing and renouncing their practices.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18-20. The exposure of the seven exorcists reflected discredit upon all the pretenders to magic in Ephesus, while the name of Jesus was magnified. The effects upon the public mind were immense and astonishing. (18) " Then many of those who believed came and confessed and declared their practices. (19) And many of those who practiced curious arts, brought together their books, and burned them before all. And they counted the value of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. (20) So mightily did the word of God grow and prevail. "

The believers who "came and confessed and declared their practices," had not, till now, realized the impropriety of those arts, which their heathen education had taught them to regard with reverence. That others, who were not yet disciples, did the same thing, and even burned up their books, is a striking proof of the fear that fell upon them all. The pieces of silver in which the value of the books was computed were doubtless the Attic didrachma; for it was a Greek city, and this was the most common silver coin among the Greeks. It was worth fifteen cents of Federal money, and the value of all the books was seven thousand five hundred dollars; a sufficient indication of the extent to which these arts prevailed, and of the number and value of the books written in explanation of them. This whole account is in full accordance with the profane history of Ephesus, which represents it as the chief center of magic arts in the whole Roman empire.

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Connecting Statement:

This ends the story about the Jewish exorcists. (See: End of Story)

brought their books

"collected their books." The word "books" refers to scrolls on which magical incantations and formulas were written.

in the sight of everyone

"in front of everyone"

the value of them

"the value of the books" or "the value of the scrolls"

fifty thousand

"50,000" (See: Numbers)

pieces of silver

A "piece of silver" was the approximate daily wage for a common laborer. (See: Biblical Money)

So the word of the Lord spread very widely in powerful ways

"So because of these powerful deeds, more and more people heard the message about the Lord Jesus" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

believe

confess

evil

magic

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

18. πολλοί τε τῶν πεπιστευκότων, and many of those who had believed, i.e. who had made a profession of their faith. Clearly it was as yet only an imperfect belief. But the N.T. charity often names those ‘saints’ who are only on the way to become so.

ἤρχοντο ἐξομολογούμενοι, came and confessed, i.e. came before the Apostle and the Christian brethren, and acknowledged that their profession had not as yet been completely followed by their practice.

καὶ ἀναγγέλλοντες τὰς πράξεις αὐτῶν, and published their deeds. ἀναγγέλλω implies the ‘making of a public announcement.’ The πράξεις were the practices connected with witchcraft, sorcery and exorcism, that were inconsistent with the Christian life. πρᾶξις is thus used, without any defining word, of an evil course of action in Luk 23:51.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18.] The natural effect of such an occurrence was to induce a horror of magical arts, &c., which some were still continuing to countenance or practise secretly, together with a profession of Christianity. Such persons now came forward and confessed their error. The πράξεις of this verse denotes the association with such practices: the next verse treats of the magicians themselves.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Confessed and shewed [εξομολογουμενοι και αναγγελλοντες] . The two words denote the fullest and most open confession. They openly [εξ] confessed, and declared thoroughly (ajna, from top to bottom) their deeds. See on Mt 3:6.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.