Blinded by Grace

Ephesus and the Power of the Spirit

After spending some time in Antioch, I felt the familiar stirring in my heart. The mission wasn’t over. The gospel needed to be preached in new cities, churches needed to be strengthened, and believers needed guidance. I knew my time of rest was coming to an end, and it was time to hit the road again.

I set out, traveling through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, encouraging the disciples and visiting the churches we had planted. The believers in these areas had grown, but they still needed teaching and support, especially in navigating the tensions between the Jewish Law and their newfound freedom in Christ. My heart ached for them as I saw the challenges they faced, and I did my best to guide them, always reminding them that salvation was by grace, through faith in Jesus alone.

But my mind kept returning to Ephesus. During my brief stop there after leaving Corinth, I had seen the potential for the gospel to spread in this influential city. Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, a center of commerce, culture, and religion. The great Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, stood as a symbol of the city’s devotion to pagan worship. If the gospel could take root in Ephesus, it could spread throughout the entire region of Asia.

Finally, I made my way to Ephesus, where I reunited with Aquila and Priscilla. They had been hard at work, sharing the gospel and teaching the growing number of believers in the city. But as I settled in, I realized that the Spirit had been at work in an even greater way than I had expected.

Not long after I arrived, Aquila and Priscilla introduced me to a man named Apollos. He was a Jewish believer from Alexandria, a learned man who was well-versed in the Scriptures. Apollos had been teaching about Jesus with great enthusiasm and power, but his knowledge was incomplete. He only knew about the baptism of John, the baptism of repentance, and was unaware of the full story of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Aquila and Priscilla had taken Apollos aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. Now, Apollos was eager to grow in his understanding and be equipped for greater ministry. I was impressed by his zeal and passion for the Lord, and I knew that he would become a powerful voice for the gospel.

While Apollos continued to teach in Ephesus, I felt a burden to check on the believers who had already come to faith there. As I met with them, I quickly noticed that something was missing. There was an energy about them, a hunger for God, but their faith lacked the fullness of the Spirit’s power.

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” I asked them.

They looked at me with puzzled expressions. “No,” they replied, “we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

I realized they were in the same position that Apollos had been. They had only been taught about John’s baptism, a baptism of repentance, but they didn’t yet understand the full message of Jesus or the promise of the Holy Spirit.

I explained to them, “John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. He told the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

When they heard this, they were eager to receive the full message. I baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus, and as I laid my hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them. They began speaking in tongues and prophesying, just as had happened with the first believers at Pentecost. It was a powerful moment, a confirmation that God was at work in Ephesus in a mighty way.

With the Spirit’s power now flowing through the believers, the church in Ephesus grew rapidly. For the next two years, I dedicated myself to teaching in the city, preaching the gospel both to Jews in the synagogues and to Gentiles in the public forums. I also began holding daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, where people from all walks of life would come to hear about Jesus. The word of the Lord spread throughout the entire region of Asia, and people were turning from their idols to follow the living God.