Artemis vs Jesus
Mike Biolsi
Acts • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Transcript
OK, let’s jump right back into chapter 19 of the book of Acts:⭐
21 After these events, Paul resolved by the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. “After I’ve been there,” he said, “It is necessary for me to see Rome as well.” 22 After sending to Macedonia two of those who assisted him, Timothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia for a while.
Revival had broken out in Ephesus as people understand who Jesus is and the power that Jesus has over sin and death. But there was an uneasiness within Paul. His calling was not to be the leader of the Ephesus mega-church. If you remember, Paul’s calling was to take the message of Jesus to kings and rulers: ⭐
15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
Paul was not looking to make a name for himself. He was resolved to do what God wanted him to do - knowing that the peace and relative comfort he was experiencing in Ephesus was only temporary.
He sent Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia, ahead of himself, and he stayed in Asia a bit longer.
NOTE: they were sent in twos - Timothy & Erastus.
We know about Timothy⭐, right. His character is pretty well developed in the New Testament:
He was from Lystra and had a good reputation (Act 16:1-2)
raised in the faith by his mom and grandma (2 Tim 1:5)
selected by Paul to travel with him (Acts 16:3)
Timothy will eventually accompany Paul to Rome.
While Timothy is leaving Ephesus now, he will go back to Ephesus and be an elder there. The letter of 2 Timothy is written to Timothy which he is in Ephesus and Paul is in prison in Rome.
But who is Erastus? ⭐
We have only 3 mentions of this name in the New Testament. It is possible that all three reference the same person. The first is this one, were Paul send⭐ Timothy and Erastus to Macedonia.
[MAP]
The second reference is in the benediction of Paul’s second recorded letter to Timothy:
19 Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus. 20 Erastus stayed at Corinth, and I left Trophimus sick at Miletus.
We know that Priscilla and Aquila stayed in Ephesus in Acts 18, and they were apparently still there when Paul was in prison in Rome. Paul sent greetings to them in his letter to Timothy, and also mentioned that Erastus stayed in Corinth. It is possible this is the same man, and Timothy would have wanted to know any updates on him because they had been ministry and travel partners.
The other reference we have to an “Erastus” was the treasurer of Corinth: ⭐
23 Gaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus greet you.
Paul wrote the letter to the Romans while staying in Corinth, and we read in 2 Timothy that Erastus stayed in Corinth. Apparently, the Erastus mentioned here was a treasurer, which would have been a high paying job that might have allowed him to help finance the work and the church.
But this is all we know. We cannot prove these verses speak of the same person, but they certainly could be. Regardless, Timothy and Erastus set sail for Macedonia and Paul stayed behind in Asia/Ephesus for some time longer before heading out for Macedonia himself.
Paul’s GOAL was to get back to Jerusalem and then on to Rome. ⭐
23 About that time there was a major disturbance about the Way. 24 For a person named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, provided a great deal of business for the craftsmen. 25 When he had assembled them, as well as the workers engaged in this type of business, he said, “Men, you know that our prosperity is derived from this business. 26 You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods. 27 Not only do we run a risk that our business may be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be despised and her magnificence come to the verge of ruin—the very one all of Asia and the world worship.”
So, we finally have the inevitable conflict! It is “Artemis vs The Way”. Jesus vs Artemis.
Who is Artemis? ⭐
Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible Artemis
Greek goddess of the moon, wild animals, and hunting. The cult of Artemis at Ephesus, where she is called Diana by the Romans (Acts 19:23–41), regarded her especially as a fertility goddess
The craftsman made idols of Artemis. ⭐Some idols depicted her with hunting dogs around her. Others presented her as having many “eggs” around her, demonstrating life and fertility.
The CONCERN of the artisans is that their business, their temple and their goddess were at risk. So they had to do something to stop it.
question: if Artemis was a true goddess, why not ask her to take out the competition?
We have seen in Acts that when the good news of Jesus has the potential to affect business or a way of life, it is viewed as a threat and is attacked.
⭐When the values of Christianity collide with the values of the world, there will be friction and even attacks.
For instance: It is obvious that God values all life - including the unborn. When you take a stand that abortion is wrong and call it murder you will be standing for the value of life that God has. In doing so you will become a target by those who believe it is their right to chose to take an innocent life.
In an interesting twist, an non-Christian, blunt, and often raunchy comedian actually called abortion “murder” this year:
Host Bill Maher made the comment on his show “Real Time.” (I think it was in April of this year)
“I can respect the absolutist position, I really can,” Maher said speaking of pro-lifers. “I scold the left when they say ‘they just hate women.’ They don’t hate women… they think it’s murder. And it kind of is. I’m just okay with that. I am. There’s 8 billion people in the world. I’m sorry, we won’t miss you.” https://youtu.be/XQvB55pAFy0?si=zMtUKRrfOq25svK6
I think it is sad that a quite liberal comedian with no religious values and no filter has the boldness to call abortion what it really is, and many, many Christians in our country would disagree with him.
Churches that have taken the stand that abortion is wrong have been vandalized and threatened.
Hostility against churches in the United States appears to be on the rise, according to a recent Family Research Council report that identified 436 incidents against churches in 2023, more than double the amount reported by the group in 2022 and eight times the number identified in 2018.
https://www.christianpost.com/news/436-acts-of-hostility-against-us-churches-documented-in-2023.html
Why? It is the pattern we see over and over again: when Christianity collides with culture there is often conflict.
In our passage in Acts it is a bunch of tradesmen that have seen that when people leave cults to follow Jesus it impacts business for the cults. These guys made idols, statues of Artemis, their resident god. So they have a collective meeting to rally all of the craftsmen to their cause: ⭐
28 When they had heard this, they were filled with rage and began to cry out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with confusion, and they rushed all together into the amphitheater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions. 30 Although Paul wanted to go in before the people, the disciples did not let him. 31 Even some of the provincial officials of Asia, who were his friends, sent word to him, pleading with him not to venture into the amphitheater. 32 Some were shouting one thing and some another, because the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
So, two of Paul’s companions are dragged to the amphitheater: Gaius and Aristarchus. We do not know much about these two except that they were from Macedonia and they travel with Paul.
They drag these two guys to the “Amphitheater”⭐
It was carved into the site of a mountain.
This theater is one of the largest of its kind. It was expanded by the Romans to seat about 25,000 people in about 40AD, so just 15-20 years prior to our passage in Acts.
It had tremendous acoustics - you could talk in a normal voice at the bottom and be heard near the top.
It is a violent mob but Paul wants to go in and talk to them, and probably try to protect his friends. Mobs are not rational. There is a frenzy, and people are aggravated. But “most of them did not know why they had come together”. Mob mentality is not usually very stable. ⭐
33 Some Jews in the crowd gave instructions to Alexander after they pushed him to the front. Motioning with his hand, Alexander wanted to make his defense to the people. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted in unison for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
So, Alexander tries to speak, but is shut down by the mob. For two hours the mob is in the theater shouting “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”. I would say that is a pretty good showing for a religious rally! This might be the first recorded filibuster 🤣
Remember the acoustics… this would have been VERY loud if you had hundreds of people (or more) all shouting in unison! ⭐
35 When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn’t know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven? 36 Therefore, since these things are undeniable, you must keep calm and not do anything rash. 37 For you have brought these men here who are not temple robbers or blasphemers of our goddess. 38 So if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have a case against anyone, the courts are in session, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further, it must be decided in a legal assembly. 40 In fact, we run a risk of being charged with rioting for what happened today, since there is no justification that we can give as a reason for this disturbance.” 41 After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.
The city clerk mentioned they were the guardians of the temple of Artemis. ⭐
The temple of Diana at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The impressive building was supported on 100 large columns. The local legend was that there her statue fell from the sky (Acts 19:35). This may have been a reference to a meteorite.
This thing was HUGE!
According to Pliny the Elder in his Natural History (36.97), the temple measured 129.5 metres (425 ft) in length and was 68.6 metres (225 ft) wide, almost double the size of the 5th-century BCE Parthenon at Athens (69.5 x 30.9 m). It had 127 columns which were 18.3 metres (60 ft) high and 1.2 metres (4 ft) in diameter. The columns were arranged in a double row on all four sides, eight or nine on the short sides and 20 or 21 on the long sides. Those columns on the facades were decorated with relief figures from Greek mythology.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Temple_of_Artemis_at_Ephesus/
This temple was 2 times bigger than the Parthenon! - that probably does not mean much to you unless you have seen the Parthenon - so how about this: a new Dicks sporting good store just opened in Watertown. Have you been? It is approximately 50,000 sq feet. That is BIG! The temple was just shy of 100,000 square feet! Double the size!
On 21 July 356 BCE original temple was burned to the ground. It was rebuilt, though slightly smaller, (344 x 180 ft) with columns 17.65 metres (58 ft) high. Though Alexander the Great offered to pay for the new temple, the Ephesians declined and paid for the rebuilding of the temple with their own resources - by taking up a collection of jewelry. So there was a lot of pride in the temple and a lot of ownership by the Ephesians. This is the version Paul and his companions would have seen.
You really have to appreciate the wisdom of the clerk!
if there is a legal case, we have courts, otherwise, go home. No crime has been done.
THE LOGIC is that one small group of people (Christians) could not possible interrupt the worship of a goddess who was famous throughout the Roman world, who had a temple twice the size of the Parthenon!
There was fear by the artisans that the message Paul shared would cause the temple to be defamed and the worship of Artemis to be stopped. They were not wrong… but it came about 350 years later.
The temple was plundered and destroyed by the Goths in 267 AD, and then rebuilt one last time before a group of Christians around 401 AD , under orders from Roman emperor Theodosius I when he made a decree against pagan practices. Today, all that remains is a foundation and a single column. ⭐ [IMAGE] https://www.worldhistory.org/Temple_of_Artemis_at_Ephesus/
So the clerk dismissed all the people in an effort to enforce the “Pax Romana” and avoid the wrath of the Romans. ⭐
1 After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.
Paul bid farewell to the disciples and departed to meet up with Timothy and Erastus in Macedonia.
---
That is the end of the narrative for today. However, there is something else I think we should discuss. Let’s read 19:6 again: ⭐
26 You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this man Paul has persuaded and misled a considerable number of people by saying that gods made by hand are not gods.
OK… I think the first think I want us to wrestle with is the question, “Are there other gods” or “Do other gods exist”?
The word in the NT for ⭐god/gods is “theos” θεός - and it appears in the NT over 1300 times. It does not always refer to Yahweh.
For instance, in his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote:⭐
2 Corinthians 4:4–6 (CSB)
4 In their case, the god (θεός - theos) of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (θεός - theos). 5 For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’s sake. 6 For God (θεός - theos) who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s (θεός - theos) glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
Who are the gods of this age? We often define them as idols, but idols are different than gods. Idols are inanimate objects, not beings. An inanimate object cannot “blind the minds” of people. It could be other people; it could be spiritual beings.
But what in Paul’s theology would make him talk about “the god of this age” and also “the God who said ‘Let there be light’”? Why would he call both of them gods?
I think we have to go back to his training in the Torah. Let’s look at some other verses from the OT: ⭐
Psalm 95:3 (CSB)
3 For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods.
In English we lose some of the nuance of verses like this. First, it references the actual name of God, Yahweh. I am not a huge fan of LORD, as that is a title, or a position, and not a name. I understand that we often do this in our culture out of respect, such as the MR PRESIDENT vs Joe Biden. We show respect by referencing his office or position as opposed to his name. Similarly, when we use LORD we reference the position and show reverence. However, I also think it is one of the beautiful things about our God - and that is that he is a personal God. When King David penned these words, he used then name, Yahweh.
I think I like the way the Lexham Bible keeps Yahweh’s name in the scriptures and I wish more translations did this. ⭐
Psalm 95:3 (LEB)
3 For Yahweh is the great God, and the great king over all gods,
In the Hebrew there is: ⭐
el - god, or deity (sing)
elohim - gods or deities (pl)
There is no capital “G” or lower case “g” - there are just “gods” or “god”. In English, we put a capital “G” on the times that we believe it is referring to Yahweh, and lower case “g” on all of the other “gods”.
According to the Chicago Manual of Style:
In general, when “god” is used nonliterally (as in, "oh, my god!), or when the reference is to plural “gods” (or to one god among many), lowercase g is the better choice; … a capital G is normally reserved for literal references to the supreme being (or … to a specific God) worshiped according to any of a number of monotheistic religions.
https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Capitalization/faq0099.html
Hebrew does not have the options with capital letters. They used another method to distinguish Yahweh from ther “el”, which was talking about a singular being, but referring to him in the plural: ⭐
Psalm 18:28 (LEB)
For you light my lamp; Yahweh, my God (elohim), lights up my darkness.
When we go back to Psalm 95, we notice that the word “elohim” is used, but is not referring to Yahweh. Instead, it reads that Yahweh is the “god” who rules above all other “gods”. He also used a position or title of “king” or “ruler”.
Psalm 95:3 (LEB) - For Yahweh is the great god (el) and the great king (ruler) over all gods (elohim).
Why do I bring this up?
First, I think it is important to understand that the Bible does teach that there are other gods.
This often trips up Christians, but it should not.
Yahweh is the ruler of all other gods. He is the supreme above all other gods. That claim is worthless if there are no other gods! And passages like this are diminished when we fail to acknowledge other deities: ⭐
Philippians 2:9–11 (CSB)
9 For this reason God (θεός - theos) highly exalted him (Jesus) and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (ruler/master) , to the glory of God (θεός - theos) the Father.
We need to be careful to study the scriptures the way were written, not the way we want them to be written. We serve the “one true God”. That does not mean there are no other gods. Think of these passages:
⭐Exodus 34:14 “14 Because the Lord is jealous for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god. He is a jealous God.”
⭐Psalm 86:8–10“8 Lord, there is no one like you among the gods, and there are no works like yours. 9 All the nations you have made will come and bow down before you, Lord, and will honor your name. 10 For you are great and perform wonders; you alone are God.”
⭐Exodus 20:3 “3 Do not have other gods besides me.”
If no other gods exist, then one of the 10 commandments was a waste of stone tablet. Think about that.
However, it is important to note that these lesser gods that we have been talking about are all considered spiritual beings, not inanimate objects. Paul does NOT say there are no other gods. Paul says that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. That is a totally different theological position.
Paul explains it this way in his letter to the Romans: ⭐
25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
This is the case with religions that worship nature and creatures. Some religions today still have animals that are sacred to them and worshipped. If God made all of mankind, and mankind makes something and calls it a god, how crazy is that?
Let’s think about the golden calf that the Israelites made in the wilderness. It was an image of a calf that was made from gold. You and I cannot make a living calf. You and I cannot fabricate gold from nothing - or we would! So, the Israelites made an image of a created creature out of materials that already existed, and called it a god? ⭐
Exodus 32:4 (CSB) [Aaron] took the gold from them (the Israelites), fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, these are your gods (elohim), who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
Was that golden calf a god? NO! Absurd, right?
In Paul’s day, and in the city of Ephesus, there was a lucrative trade of making gods for people out of precious metals like silver. These were placed in their homes and may have had little shrines dedicated to them in the house. They were your “household” gods. People would turn to them for fortune, success, pleasure and meaning.
While most Americans do not have shrines and household gods that they serve and worship, we do have a problem with worshipping things made with our own hands:
technology [iPHONE 1 - hold it up and use it as an example]
money
entertainment
houses
cars
video games
How do we make them gods? We place them in a position of extreme importance.
* We spend more money on video games than we give to God.
* We spend more time scanning our social media sites than God’s words.
* People work seemingly endless hours to build their house, buy their cars, have their toys and they live for those things without even acknowledging that they are from God and meant to be used for His glory.
This is a KEY statement I want to focus in on. Gods made by hand are not gods. Regardless of the materials we use to create “gods”, they are still created by a human. By definition, a god must be something greater than human:
god (noun) ˈgäd also ˈgȯd -
1. God : the supreme or ultimate reality: such as the Being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshipped (as in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism) as creator and ruler of the universe
2. God : a being or object that is worshipped as having more than natural attributes and powers
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/god
When the natural man, creates something from natural resources, it does not magically become super-natural.
When humans create objects of worship they lack the life or spirit that a deity must have.
The problems:
when we create gods they are limited by our own imagination and power. ( the Jews made a calf?)
when we create gods they are created to serve us and our pleasure.
when we create gods we are basically demonstrating that we are more powerful than that god.
That which is created it never greater than the one who created it. ⭐
20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
That which is created is never above the one who created it. Therefore, Paul’s theology is true, that a god made by human hands is no god at all.
There are other gods… and if Yahweh is the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that fills both, then those gods were also created by him, and therefore must also be less than He is.
In the end, I think that none of us really wants a god fashioned in our image. That would be pointless.
So what are the take-aways from this passage?
Obedience to God is more important than my immediate pleasure.
Living in a way that pleases God will create conflict with our culture.
There are other gods, but Yahweh is the ruler of all, including those gods.
Be careful not to try to make God out in your image, to please and satisfy you.
We are never above the one who created us.
