Come, Let Us Reason Together - Acts 19:8-10

From the synagogue to the lecture hall

In Ephesus, we see a familiar pattern of Paul’s: he preaches first to the Jews in their synagogue. The duration that he spends there depends entirely on how receptive the Jews are to the Gospel. In Thessalonica, he preached in the synagogue for “3 sabbaths” before being run out. At Corinth, it does not say how long he was there, but they were eventually kicked out and Paul kicked the dust off his shoes and declared, “I will go to the Gentiles,” and then proceeded to conduct preaching services next door to the synagogue. Now we see that he preached in the synagogue for 3 months, disputing and persuading the Jews.

Disputing: to converse, discourse, argue, discuss

the Greek word that underlies the English disputing is used 10 times in the book of Acts and every time it is describing Paul interacting with those he is either preaching to or discipling

it is also used in Mark 9:34 when the disciples of Christ were arguing about who was the greatest in the kingdom

another place it is used is in Jude verse 9 when it says the archangel Michael disputed with the Devil over the body of Moses

these context and linguistic clues help us understand what Paul was doing in the synagogue...he was arguing and discussing with them about the Scriptures

Persuading: convincing through persuasion

this word does not need a lot of explanation or clarification

it carries a sense of convincing, or attempting to convince

another time we will see that Festus is almost...persuaded to become a Christian

in Matthew 27:20, the chief priests persuaded (or convinced) the multitude to request that Barabbas be released from custody rather than Jesus

Both of these verbs describe something that is sorely lacking in the lives of Christians, generally, and in our churches, more specifically. Discourse, arguing, discussing, persuading, convincing. In just the past 6 chapters we have seen Paul using this method a dozen or so times in every city that he visited. Some of these instances were in public places, such as in Athens, but the majority of them were among professed followers of Yahweh.

When we began studying the book of Acts, my desire was for us to grow together in our understanding of what the early church looked like, how it operated, and what challenges it faced so that we might better grasp our own situation and understand where we are in contrast or comparison to them. Much has changed in 2,000 years, not the least of which is culture and language. So we cannot do a 1:1 comparison of the American church to the churches at Jerusalem, Antioch, Philippi, or Ephesus.

However, the more I study Acts, and the more I study the situation of the church and Christians, the more I see a need for this method of discipleship. The few recorded times that Paul preached in a monologue, very few people were converted. In fact, only in Pisidian Antioch (at the beginning of his first missionary journey) and his sermon on Mars’ Hill (in his second missionary journey) do we see any converts following a “sermon.” The rest of the times, he stood and boldly proclaimed the Gospel, but it fell largely on deaf ears. But time and again, he lingers in the synagogues first, then in other venues and debates the Scripture. This indicates a dialogue between him and the other people gathered. It could be a question and answer style, or perhaps a debate style, or simply a teaching followed by questions and clarifications.

One of the signs of an unhealthy relationship is the prohibition of asking questions. Too often, this plagues our churches and even our own hearts. We may have an understanding of the Scripture that has more root in tradition than it does in actual truth and we never allow it to be challenged, either by other Christians or by the Holy Spirit Himself. As Paul later writes to these Ephesian believers, we must be grounded in truth and not easily persuaded (Ephesians 4:14-16) by “every wind of doctrine,” but this does not prevent or discourage disputing and persuading the truth.

These Jewish people in Ephesus, as with everywhere else, knew the Scriptures. But like many of us, their understanding of the Scriptures was not always accurate and true. It may have been accepted as fact, and taught by many of their best and brightest theologians, but they were blinded by tradition so they could not see another perspective, and in this case, the Gospel truth.

So Paul disputed and persuaded them for 3 months in the synagogue until the faction that was not persuaded hardened themselves and began to stir up evil speech against Paul. So he departed from the synagogue as so often before, and rented out the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

The lecture hall of Tyrannus

Not much is known about this man called Tyrannus. His name means “ruler” or “master” and is the word from which we get “tyrant” and “tyrannosaur.” It is likely he was the master of a school and owned a venue that he used for debates and lectures in the Greek style. It is believed that such a venue typically would have been available to rent out during the mid-day hours, as it was common for the lecture halls to close during the day, being used for their common purposes in the mornings and evenings. Verse 9 of our text says that Paul took the disciples of Christ from the synagogue and he disputed daily in Tyrannus Hall for 2 years! And look at the result of this kind of teaching: all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus.

Remember back in Chapter 16 when Paul desired to go into Asia with the gospel, but the Holy Spirit prevented him? Instead, he was told to go into Macedonia and preach there. That was at the beginning of his 2nd missionary journey. Now in his 3rd journey, the gospel is being heard by EVERYONE in Asia!

You may wonder how all of Asia heard the word of Jesus because of the disputing at Tyrannus Hall.

The early church only met in homes?

There are those today who insist on meeting in homes for “church.” One of their arguments for this is that the early church only met in people’s homes: the house of Chloe, the house of Lydia, the house of Jason, the house of Mary, and so forth. While this is certainly descriptive of what occurred in many cities while the church was small and simultaneously persecuted, it is by no means prescriptive of God’s design for the church. In fact, there is probably no one way to meet together for “church,” but the New Testament is clear in what the structure and method of church should be: a clear delineation of leadership, discipline, ordinances (baptism and communion), singing, teaching and preaching, collection of money for the ministry, caring for the poor among us, discipleship, and sending out missionaries. If all of this can be accomplished among a group of believers who only meet in a person’s home, then praise be to God!

But as the church of God grew (and grows) worldwide, so did the scope and nature of the gatherings. And here in Ephesus, we see the clearest example of this when after 3 months, the number of disciples grew to the size that it was necessary to rent out the public lecture hall in order to accommodate the number of people who met daily to dispute and hear Paul explain the scriptures.

The result of this is people began to grow in the Lord, and this church began to send out from their own assembly church planters throughout all of Asia. By the time of Paul’s death, there were likely close to a dozen churches in Asia, including but not limited to:

Ephesus

Laodicea

Colossae

Hieropolis

Smyrna

Pergamum

Thyatira

Sardis

Philadelphia

Troas

Miletus

Of all of these, Paul only founded one church, and that is Ephesus. The rest of these, and perhaps more, most likely were founded by Christians who were discipled and trained by Paul and the church at Ephesus. This was only made possible because of the method and mode of teaching, training, and discipleship that Paul practiced. We know this because the second half of verse 10 says “so that all...heard the word of the Lord Jesus.” The hearing of the Word by all those in Asia was a result of the 2 years of disputing in the hall of Tyrannus. The cause is the disputing; the effect is the spreading of the Word.

Let the reader observe that Paul did not demand strict adherence to one form of teaching or one denominational understanding of Scripture. To be sure, he taught the truth as revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, and that truth is the only truth. However, the way that we understand and interpret it may ebb and flow over time, and that is both the beauty and danger in having the Scripture in our own language.

For a thousand years, the Roman Catholic church held tightly to the Scriptures, but they did not allow the common man to understand it for himself. This gave way to the so-called Dark Ages, and not because the sun did not shine or because innovation ground to a halt, but because the Light of Christ was hidden from the masses behind the veil of “authority.” Only the “church” had the authority to interpret Scripture, and while that is certainly one way to ensure continuity among the various congregations, this also creates a bottleneck of doctrine that allows for one man to corrupt the church rather than many men to corrupt the church. But corruption by any means is still corruption.

There are certain parties within the 21st century church that are erring in the same manner. They insist their interpretation of the Scripture is the only one and all others are heresy. In the lesser cases, they are willing to break fellowship over these differences, but in some extreme cases, they are eager to anathematize them and declare those who differ to be unbelievers. This grieves me because the cause of Jesus Christ is so much more important than squabbles over an understanding of the Scripture. Where is the disputing and persuading? It has been replaced with dismissal and petulance.

So our access to the Scriptures comes with a greater responsibility to rightly divide and understand it, and to be as the Bereans and cross-reference and examine the things that we both hear and believe. To pigeon-hole our doctrines is to commit a great offense to Christ. This is why we have such denominational divide and factions within these denominations. I believe most of these divisions stem back to one or more parties embracing culture or tradition over Scripture.

Paul said in Galatians 1:8-9

Galatians 1:8–9 LSB

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is proclaiming to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed!

He is very clear in this passage: the Gospel is something that we must divide over. A false gospel, one that declares salvation aside from faith in Jesus Christ’s blood, is a damnable doctrine that must be cast out from us and avoided. This is the only thing that we must elevate to that tier of importance. To preach any other doctrine is to lead others away from Christ and that is to lead them as the pied piper straight into Hell.

Other doctrines have great significance, and I think it is important that we have a correct understanding of the Scriptures so that we embrace the truth, but how can we properly understand them if we live in an echo chamber? If we do not allow disputes and debates, how can we persuade or be persuaded?

There are certain topics that I believe are settled in Scripture: the so-called Doctrines of Grace, Baptism, Evangelism, and a handful of others. I am firm in my belief on these, and I am willing to discuss them with anyone to attempt to persuade them. However, I do not put those on the level of importance of Salvation.

Other topics that I am not so settled on include eschatology, spiritual gifts, the doctrine of hell, and ecclesiology. In these matters and more, I am also willing to debate and dispute them from Scripture in an attempt to be persuaded.

And this is how I think all Christians should be. This is how Paul taught and discipled, and how I hope to be as well. To be sure, Paul had the anointing and calling of an apostle, which none of us have, but he had the same Scriptures we do and we have the ability to reason and argue same as he did. Isaiah 1:18 gives us a launch pad when it says:

Isaiah 1:18 LSB

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says Yahweh

Let us change how we approach studying and understanding the Scriptures. The health of the church and the expanse of the Gospel depends on it!