Acts 19:23
in Acts 19About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And about that time there arose no small stir concerning the Way.
KJV
And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
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This verse in Acts 19
Commentary
12 notes on this verseBy silver temples are perhaps meant small shrines. Notice: everywhere idol-worship was defended on account of money. And this Demetrius was agitating on account of money. He was agitating not because their impious religion was in danger, but because he was being deprived of the …
This site's exposition
purposed in the spirit
on Acts 19:21-23
Paul purposes in the spirit to pass again through Macedonia and Achaia toward Jerusalem, adding a further intention, after I have been there, I must also see Rome, a plan that will not be fulfilled until the final chapters of the book, and then only as a prisoner. He sends Timothy and Erastus ahead into Macedonia while he himself stays on a while longer in Asia, and it is at this moment, with the apostle's departure already in motion, that a serious disturbance arises about the Way. Luke's naming of the disturbance as no small stir foreshadows the riot to come while keeping the focus on Paul's own settled purpose rather than on the danger closing in around him. The bench notes how the two-part ambition, Jerusalem then Rome, gives Acts its remaining shape all the way to its final verse.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
A great good is affliction: and we learn this from our own children: for without affliction a boy would learn nothing useful. But we, more than they, need affliction. For if there, when the passions as yet are quiet, chastisement benefits them, how much more us, especially possessed as we are by so many! Nay, we behoove rather to have schoolmasters than they: since the faults of children cannot be great, but ours are exceeding great. Our schoolmaster is affliction. Let us then not draw it down willingly upon ourselves, but when it is come let us bear it bravely, being, as it is, always the cause of numberless good things; that so we may both obtain grace from God, and the good things which are laid up for them that love Him, in Christ Jesus our Lord.
"There arose no small stir about the Way." Do you see the renown acquired? They contradicted, it says: then came miracles, twofold: then again, danger: such is the way the threads alternate throughout the whole texture of the history.
"Now at that time there had arisen no small disturbance about the way of the Lord," etc. An uproar about the Christian religion arose likewise in Ephesus. There was a certain Demetrius who made silver shrines in Diana's temple. He used to bring no small …
"And the same time" etc., for indeed the superstition was excessive.
Seest thou how God permits trials, and by them stirs up and awakens the disciples, and makes them more energetic? Then let us not sink down under trials: for He Himself will "also make the way of escape, that we may be able to bear them." Nothing so makes friends, and rivets them so firmly, as affliction: nothing so fastens and compacts the souls of believers: nothing is so seasonable for us teachers in order that the things said by us may be heard. For the hearer when he is in ease is listless and indolent, and seems to suffer annoyance from the speaker: but when he is in affliction and distress, he falls into a great longing for the hearing. For when distressed in his soul, he seeks on all sides to find comfort for his affliction: and the preaching brings no small comfort.
5 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
Afflictions cut us off from the sympathy we have for the present world, as appears in this, that we wish for death immediately, and cease to be loving of the body: which very thing is the greatest part of wisdom, to have no hankering, no ties to the present life. The soul which is afflicted does not wish to be concerned about many things: repose and stillness are all it desired, content for its part to have done with the things present, even though there be nothing else to follow.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. The Syriac version reads, "the way of God"; and the Vulgate Latin version, "the way of the Lord": that is, the Christian religion, and the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, which the saints were directed to walk in; and the Ethiopic version renders it, "about this doctrine"; which mightily grew and prevailed, and which such numbers embraced; and how great the stir was about it, and from whence it arose, who began it, and what were the consequences of it, are hereafter related.
Some historians say that the famous impostor Apollonius Tyanæus, who set up for a rival with Christ, and gave out himself, as Simon Magus, to be some great one, was at Ephesus about this time that Paul was there. But it seems the opposition he gave to the gospel was so insignificant that St. Luke did not think it worth taking notice of.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
No small stir - No little excitement, disturbance, or tumult τάραχος tarachos. Compare Act 17:4-5. “About that way.” Respecting the doctrines of Christianity which Paul preached. See the notes on Act 9:2; Act 18:26; Act 19:9.
No small stir about that way - Concerning the Gospel, which the apostles preached; and which is termed this way, Act 9:2, where see the note.
The words behind it
12 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἐγένετο | egeneto | Arose | G1096 → | 667 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| κατὰ | kata | at | G2596 → | 468 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| καιρὸν | kairon | time | G2540 → | 84 times |
| ἐκεῖνον | ekeinon | same | G1565 → | 260 times |
| τάραχος | tarachos | a disturbance | G5017 → | |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ὀλίγος | oligos | small | G3641 → | 40 times |
| περὶ | peri | concerning | G4012 → | 332 times |
| τῆς | tes | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὁδοῦ.¶ | hodou | Way. | G3598 → | 101 times |
ἘγένετοArose
egenetoG1096 →667 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
κατὰat
kataG2596 →468 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
καιρὸνtime
kaironG2540 →84 times
ἐκεῖνονsame
ekeinonG1565 →260 times
τάραχοςa disturbance
tarachosG5017 →
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ὀλίγοςsmall
oligosG3641 →40 times
περὶconcerning
periG4012 →332 times
τῆςthe
tesG3588 →19766 times
ὁδοῦ.¶Way.
hodouG3598 →101 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Acts 9:2and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
it leads to
- Acts 24:14
I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 19:9
But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
- Acts 22:4–5
I persecuted this Way even to the death, detaining both men and women and throwing them into prison,
- Acts 24:22
Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, adjourned the hearing and said, “When Lysias the commander comes, I will decide your case.”
- Acts 24:14
Through
Acts 24:14I do confess to you, however, that I worship the God of our fathers according to the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is laid down by the Law and…
it leads to
- Acts 9:2
and requested letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way, he could bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 3:21
But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, as attested by the Law and the Prophets.
- Acts 3:13
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus. You handed Him over and rejected Him before Pilate, even though he had decided to release Him.
- Acts 9:2
Through
Acts 19:9But when some of them stubbornly refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way, Paul took his disciples and left the synagogue to conduct daily discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.
it leads to
- Acts 18:6–8
But when they opposed and insulted him, he shook out his garments and told them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent of it. From now on I will go to…
- Acts 18:6–8
Where this verse is studied
About Acts
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cassiodorus, Complexiones on the Acts of the Apostles; John Chrysostom, Homily on Acts 42; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Acts and William Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen.