42 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth,.... Whither he came after the Apostle Paul, and where he watered what the apostle had planted, and where he became very famous and eminent; insomuch that he was set up, though not with his will, at the head of a party, in opposition to the chief of the apostles, Peter and Paul; see 1...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
We left Paul in his circuit visiting the churches (ch. xviii. 23), but we have not forgotten, nor has he, the promise he made to his friends at Ephesus, to return to them, and make some stay there; now this chapter shows us his performance of that promise, his coming to Ephesus, and his continuance there two years; we are here told, I. How he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
He said unto them, have ye received the Holy Ghost,.... Meaning, not the special regenerating and sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost, for that is supposed in their being disciples and believers, but the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost, for it follows, since ye believed? that is, in Christ; which is taking it for granted, that they had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto them, unto what then were ye baptized?.... The apostle takes it for granted that they were baptized, since they were not only believers, but disciples; such as not only believed with the heart, but had made a profession of their faith, and were followers of Christ; but asks unto what they were baptized; either in whose name they...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then said Paul,.... In reply to their answer, understanding them that they were baptized by John, he takes it up, and gives an account of John's baptism: showing how agreeable it was, and that it was the same baptism with the baptism of Christ, being administered in his name: John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance; which required...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
When they heard this,.... That is, the people to whom John preached, his hearers; when they heard of the Messiah, and that Jesus was he, and that it became them to believe in him: they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus; not the disciples that Paul found at Ephesus, but the hearers of John; for these are the words of the Apostle Paul,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when Paul had laid his hands upon them,.... They having been before baptized, not by him, but by John, or one of his disciples, in the name of the Lord Jesus; just as Peter and John laid their hands upon the believing Samaritans, who had been before baptized by Philip, Acts 8:14 and the same extraordinary effects followed: the Holy Ghost came...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the men were about twelve. The Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, have not the word "about"; but affirm, that the men were twelve; and indeed the number being so small, the historian might be at a certainty about it: these seem to be the first materials of a Gospel church at Ephesus, which afterwards was very large and flourishing, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went into the synagogue,.... Of the Jews at Ephesus, for it seems to have been a private house, where he had met with the twelve baptized disciples, and had laid his hands on them; and these being Jews, as it seems most likely, by their having been baptized into John's baptism, the apostle went along with them to the synagogue on the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But when divers were hardened and believed not,.... For though some were affected with and convinced by the arguments the apostle used, others were but the more hardened and remained incredulous: for the Gospel, while it is the savour of life unto life to some, it is the savour of death unto death, to others; as the sun melts the wax, and hardens...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And this continued by the space of two years,.... Reckoning from the end of the three months, which had been spent in teaching in the synagogue: so that all they which dwelt in Asia; in the lesser Asia, called the proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus was the chief city: heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks; these, as they came to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul. For the confirmation of the doctrine which he preached, and of his mission, as an apostle; and these were not any sort of miracles, common and vulgar ones, and much less things of chance, and what were merely accidental, as the word may signify; but they were rare and uncommon ones, and in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So that from his body were brought unto the sick,.... The Ethiopic version renders it, "from the extremity", or "border of his garment"; and the Syriac version, "from the garments which were upon his body"; were brought and put upon the sick; that is, of the clothes which the apostle wore, some of them were taken and carried to sick persons, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then certain of the vagabond Jews,.... Who strolled about from place to place, pretending to tell fortunes, cure diseases by charms, and dispossess devils by conjuration, and therefore are called as follows, exorcists; such there were among the Jews, as Justin Martyr observes (h), who adjured by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: these took...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And there were seven sons of one Sceva a Jew,.... Who strolled about the country, and used exorcisms: and chief of the priests; that were at Ephesus; not the high priest of the Jews, for he would have been at Jerusalem, and not at Ephesus; though indeed it does not necessarily follow from the words, that Sceva himself was there, only his seven...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the evil spirit answered and said,.... The Alexandrian copy, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, add, "to them"; to the seven sons of Sceva: Jesus I know; to be the Son of God and Messiah, and own that he has power of dispossessing spirits, of which there were many instances in the days of his flesh: and Paul I know; and own to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the man in whom the evil spirit was,.... Being agitated by him: leapt upon them; with great agility and force, and laid hold on them, and struggled with them, and beat and wounded them, and stripped them naked: and overcame them, and prevailed against them; the Alexandrian copy, Beza's most ancient one, and some others, and the Vulgate Latin...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And this was known to all the Jews,.... These men being Jews: and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus: for though it was done in a private house, yet there might be many spectators and witnesses, both Jews and Greeks, who spread this fact about the city, and who, were to be depended upon: and fear fell on them all; on the enemies of Christ and his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And many that believed,.... In Jesus Christ, whose name was spoken of with great respect, and which spread fear in every person: came; to the apostle: and confessed; their sins; and acknowledged what a wicked life they had led: and showed their deeds; their former evil deeds, which they had been guilty of; one copy reads, "their sins"; see Matthew...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Many also of them which used curious arts..... Magic arts, soothsaying, necromancy, conjuration, and the like, being convinced of the folly and wickedness of them: brought their books together; by which they had learned these arts; Ephesus was famous for this sort of learning; here Apollonius Tyaneus, in the beginning of Nero's reign, opened a...