And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from the sky? Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. For you have brought these men here who are neither sacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. But if you seek anything further, it shall be settled in the regular assembly. For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.
The above passage gives us much about how the early church fit into society in these days. Paul had come to Ephesus to teach the gospel. In so doing it brought men to Christ. That meant that these men were leaving their formal lives, lives that were dedicated to the goddess Artemis. Ephesus was the seat of worship for Artemis. Artemis was the supposed daughter of the Greek god Zeus and Leto and was the sister of her twin brother Apollon. She was the goddess of wild animals, hunting and the protector of a girls (Her twin brother being the protector of all boys). It was no secret that the city made its fortune off those who worshiped. Artemis. When Paul’s message began to convert the city to Christianity the merchandise revenue dried up. That put powerful people in jeopardy. This is what created the riot that the town clerk attempts to squelch, above. He appeals to the following to get them to disperse. He uses political logic and not truth however.
1. The stability of their false traditions: He tells them to relax because there is no one who doesn’t recognize that Artemis is the center of their universe. Even though the evidence in front of them was that Christ was real, he appeals to their false tradition as hope. He was lying.
2. The security of their artifacts. Apparently a meteorite falling from the sky was attributed to Artemis. This “relic” was enough to convince the people that she was real. Instead of the cross the worshipped a stone. But, this was enough for the town clerk to settle their belief. He tells them that this evidence “can’t” be denied. He was lying.
3. He tells them that Paul and his companions were not trying to be sacrilegious or blasphemous. Yet, if he would have let Paul speak that is exactly what Paul was being to their false belief system. He was lying.
4. He tells them that these things could all be decided by the courts. He appeals to the rule of law. However, Christ is not bound my man’s laws, nor discovered through law. He was lying.
5. He tells them they can all be charged for this false assembly (Rome did not allow these type of public assemblies). He tells them there is no reason for it. Yet, he is lying since Paul’s message of Christ is disrupting their entire ecosystem of thought and economic stability.
The town clerk uses false statements to disperse the crowd. He uses the world’s logic. The message of Christ is disruptive to societies norms and governmental systems. Christ’s ways are not the ways of mankind. When the message of Christ is preached with power it disrupted the world. Or, it should. There is no similarity between what the world thinks and what Christ teaches. The only way the world can keep its system in tack is to create false statements that the unbelieving world will follow.
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