Why Did Paul Refuse To Stay At Ephesus?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts chapter 18, and Dave, we will pick up with verse 19:“And he (that is, the apostle Paul) came to Ephesus, and left them there:but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.”Paul thought highly of disputing and reasoning and I’m sure he did it in a way that pleased the Lord, but still, he reasoned, Dave, the scripture says, Come let us reason together.Well, that’s an important part of this, isn’t it, evangelizing and presenting Christ?

Dave:

Well, it’s quite clear, as you read the New Testament and read the Bible, faith is not a leap into the dark.Jesus, when He appeared before the disciples after His resurrection, and they thought He was a ghost, He didn’t say, Just take it by faith.No, He said, Look, here, handle me and see, a spirit doesn’t have flesh and bones like you see me have.Paul reasoned, Acts 17, the chapter before, he reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue out of their scriptures.So, we have to reason with people, I believe, Tom.

Tom:

But Dave, when Jesus spoke to Thomas, really a rebuke about him needing to handle and see, rather than just believing.But we’re talking about faith, not necessarily faith in something physical that we’ve seen, or something that we’ve witnessed, it has to do with reason, which is non-physical, right?

Dave:

Right, reasoning is not physical, ideas are not physical.He said, Blessed are they which have not—He said, Because you have seen you will believe; blessed are they which have not seen but have believed.It doesn’t mean that they don’t have any evidence, we’ve got plenty of evidence before the resurrection of Jesus Christ.But if you could only believe only if you saw Christ, then there would be very few Christians, I mean, they would have all died out, but by faith we understand.But furthermore, how do we reason?We reason from the scriptures.So, if you went over to the last verse in Chapter 18, talking about Apollos, says, he mightily convinced the Jews, and that publicly, showing or proving, by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ.So, I can prove from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.We have prophesies that are fantastic, we have eyewitnesses, and so forth.We have the apostles, who all died testifying to the resurrection, and no one is fool enough to die for what he knows is a lie.So, none of them said, Oh, don’t kill me, I’ll tell you the truth, we stole His body, hid it in Peter’s basement, and so forth—we made it up.I mean, No, they all stuck to their story to the death, and that testimony would stand up in any court of law.What would be the point of lying to get yourself killed, you wouldn’t do that.Because we’re telling these lies that Jesus rose from the dead, they are going to kill us.That’s ridiculous!Well then, I’m not going to lie about it, am I?No, I’ll tell you the truth and that will save my life—He didn’t really rise from the dead, we just stole His body, and so forth.Not one of them did that, not one!

Tom:

Dave, I think you said in a program within the last couple of weeks, we were talking about communism, and those who died for that ideal stepped up.But there’s a difference between that and whatyou’re talking about, right?

Dave:

Of course.We’ve got suicide bombers today, Tom, a phenomenon like the world has never seen before, they are willing to die, a lot of people willing to die, but the apostles died testifying to facts.They said, You can kill me if you want, I can't lie.He did rise from the dead, He is alive, He did feed 5,000 with a few loaves and fishes, He did raise other people from the dead, He did walk on water, we saw it with our own eyes!I can’t deny what I know is true.Kill me if you want to, if you’re going to kill me for that, but I cannot back down and lie in order to save my life.So, that is powerful, powerful testimony.Well, he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews, and I think that would be part of Paul’s reasoning.He does that in 1^st Corinthians 15:Look, He was seen of many witnesses.If He didn’t rise from the dead there is no resurrection, so you might as well eat, drink and be merry tomorrow we die.So Tom, we have to reason with people, I believe that.We have to give them the facts, we have to give them a reason, it’s not just a leap of faith.Well, that’s not really faith, faith is based on evidence.

Tom:

Well, obviously, he impressed them; verse 20 it says, “When they desired him to tarry longer time with them,—they were interested, obviously, weren’t they—he consented not; But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem:but I will return again unto you, if God will.And he sailed from Ephesus.”

Dave:

So verse 21 is referring to the first time Paul visited Ephesus, and it was very brief, he promises that he will return.He says, I will return again unto you, if it is God’s will.Now, we always say that, I never say, Well, tomorrow we will do this or that. No, God willing, if the Lord wills, if He spares us.The Bible says you don’t know what will befall on the morrow, you life is but a vapor.

Tom:

It could be the Rapture, Dave.

Dave:

It could be, that would be wonderful.So, I like that, Paul says I will return again unto you if God will, and he sailed from Ephesus.

Tom:

“And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up, and saluted the church, he went down to Antioch.And after he had spent some time there, he departed, and went over all the country of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all thedisciples.”

Dave:

Tom, he was a very energetic man, I mean, he did all this walking—well, sometimes he was on a ship, but very seldom.He was walking from town to town, he went over all the country, Galatia and Phrygia, and he didn’t have a limo, he didn’t have his own jet like some televangelists today.

Tom:

Pair of jets.

Dave:

Right.—strengthening all the disciples.It would be very strengthening for Paul to visit you, I think, this man who has suffered so much, he has been in prison and he has been beaten, and so forth.And yet, to the Philippians he could write from prison:My God shall supply all your needs, according to his riches in Christ Jesus, so this would be quite an event.I don’t know whether the people that he was visiting at this time, whether they knew—wow, this is the apostle Paul!They didn’t know he was going to write most of the New Testament, or much of it, the epistles, and so forth.Strengthening all of the disciples—well, back there in Chapter 14 it says when they revisited them they confirmed them in the faith.So, he’s just saying, Guys, here’s what we believe and here’s the reasons why we believe it, here’s the evidence that we have, now stand fast.

Tom:

Verse 24:“And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus.”Sounds like some credentials, Dave, although we know that’s not the most important part, but it doesn’t hurt to be eloquent, it doesn’t hurt, certainly it not only doesn’t hurt, but it’s important to have a knowledge of the scriptures, I mean, that’s what it’s referring to here, not the only thing.

Dave:

Verse 25:“This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, but knowing only the baptism of John.”That’s amazing!He knew so much about the Bible, but he didn’t understand baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Tom:

Dave, couldn’t we say the same thing about the apostle Paul when he was Saul, learned at the feet of Gamaliel?

Dave:

Yeah, but he wasn’t a Christian yet.Now was this man really a Christian?I think he was, he was a Christian, a follower of the Lord, instructed in the way of the Lord, and he knew the scriptures.Amazing!But there was something he didn’t understand, and the same is true of us.And Tom, we don’t have much time to go through the scriptures as there’s a lot that we are needing for further study for our listeners.