1He came to Derbe and Lystra; and behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timothy, the son of a Jewess who believed, but his father was a Greek. 2The brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium gave a good testimony about him. 3Paul wanted to have him go out with him, and he took and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those parts, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered the decrees to them to keep which had been ordained by the apostles and elders who were at Jerusalem. 5So the assemblies were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily.
6When they had gone through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7When they had come opposite Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit didn’t allow them. 8Passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. 9A vision appeared to Paul in the night. There was a man of Macedonia standing, begging him and saying, “Come over into Macedonia and help us.” 10When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go out to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the Good News to them. 11Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the day following to Neapolis; 12and from there to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the foremost of the district, a Roman colony. We were staying some days in this city.
13On the Sabbath day we went outside of the city by a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul. 15When she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
16As we were going to prayer, a certain girl having a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain by fortune telling. 17Following Paul and us, she cried out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us a way of salvation!” 18She was doing this for many days.
But Paul, becoming greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” It came out that very hour. 19But when her masters saw that the hope of their gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men, being Jews, are agitating our city 21and advocate customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or to observe, being Romans.”
22The multitude rose up together against them and the magistrates tore their clothes from them, then commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. 24Having received such a command, he threw them into the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
25But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 27The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!”
29He called for lights, sprang in, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 30brought them out, and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house.
33He took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. 34He brought them up into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly with all his household, having believed in God.
35But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.”
36The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out and go in peace.”
37But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!”
38The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city. 40They went out of the prison and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, then departed.
Lysimachus gained control of Ephesus around 294 BC and moved it from its silted location to a new site between Mt. Coressus and Mt. Pion. Lysimachus was defeated by Seleucus Nicator in 281 BC. The city was then governed alternately by the Seleucids and Ptolemies until 188 BC when the Attalids took control. During the first century A.D. Ephesus was the fourth largest city of the Roman Empire with an estimated population of over 250,000 residents. It was an important port city and commercial center. After the Romans created the province of Asia in 129 BC, Ephesus became an important administrative center. The city was an assize center, and the Greek term for courts (agoraioi) in Acts 19:38 refers to this.
Although a temple to Dea Roma and Divus Julius was built as early as 29 BC, a temple to the imperial cult was not built in the city until 89/90 AD. Ephesus was known throughout the ancient world as the temple keeper of the goddess Artemis (Acts 19:35). The city was also renowned as a center for magical practices. Foremost among these are the so-called “Ephesian letters.” These were written magical spells thought to contain apotropaic power to ward off evil spirits. Acts 19:19 describes how new Christians involved in sorcery renounce such practices by burning these scrolls valued at 50,000 days’ wages.
On his second journey, Paul was attempting to reach the city when the Holy Spirit prohibited him from preaching in Asia (Acts 16:6). On his voyage to Jerusalem he stopped briefly in Ephesus, leaving Priscilla and Aquila there. After preaching in the synagogue, he was invited to return (Acts 18:19-21). On his third journey Paul traveled directly to Ephesus after visiting the Galatian churches. Acts 19 records his 2–3 years of productive ministry in the city, which served as a base for preaching to the entire province of Asia. The riot provoked by Demetrius and the silversmiths forced Paul to leave Ephesus (19:19–20:1). After Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, he apparently returned to Ephesus to deal with problems in the church and left Timothy there (1 Tim 1:3). After Paul’s second arrest, he sent Tychicus to Ephesus to relieve Timothy so his disciple might join Paul in Rome for the apostle’s final days (2 Tim 4:12-13). Ephesus is the first of the 7 churches addressed by John in Revelation (Rev 1:11; 2:1). Ephesus is the first church addressed by Ignatius among the 7 letters he wrote in Asia, while on his way to martyrdom in Rome (110 AD). The third ecumenical council was held in Ephesus in 431.