For a certain [man] by name Demetrius, a silver-beater, making silver temples of Artemis, brought no small gain to the artisans;
Paul's long stay at Ephesus had emptied the city's magic books and thinned the crowds around its famous goddess. Now the trouble starts in a workshop instead of a synagogue, and one silversmith's accounts show what the gospel had been doing across Asia.
What Demetrius sold was not the great temple but a pocket version of it:
Small copies of pagan temples, at Ephesus or elsewhere. The word is ναός (naos), often translated "temple." Acts 19:24.
The ESV calls the goddess Artemis; the older translations these writers use call her Diana. Her worship gave these models a market:
The trade of Demetrius was to make small silver models of the goddess's shrine. People set them up in houses, kept them as reminders, and carried them on journeys. But the coming of Christianity was bound to hurt the sale of these models. So Demetrius stirred up the pagan workmen to raise a public cry for Diana and against the Christians.
The phrase "no little business" measures the scale of what was now at risk. Every believer in Asia was one customer fewer:
The large number of converts now in Asia, of whom Epaenetus was the firstfruits (Rom. 16:5), was bound to reduce the demand for silver shrines of Diana. It was this manufacture which proved so profitable to Demetrius and his companions. So the drop in his trade gave him a complaint his fellow-craftsmen could easily understand.
Demetrius will soon speak up for the honour of the goddess. Hole reads that as a cover story:
The success of the Gospel had endangered the trade of the silversmiths. It was easy for them to try to revive it under cover of zeal for the reputation of their goddess Diana. Was her greatness to be despised and her magnificence destroyed? Here was excellent camouflage for their real concern about their own money-making prospects!
That pairing of piety and profit is not a one-off scandal but a standing arrangement:
In this world Satan works to weave degrading, destructive superstition into people's daily interests and honour. So it is no wonder that most people catch fire when the truth threatens their religion and their property. It is the same today, in principle, as it was then at Ephesus.
Paul had not campaigned against the silver trade. He preached one truth, and the trade suffered as a side effect:
A certain man, Demetrius, earned large sums from making little silver shrines to Diana. He earned so much because this Diana was famous in the whole pagan world, and her temple was one of the seven wonders of the world (v. 27). Driven by the desire for gain, he gathers the craftsmen to oppose the truth that was destroying all their trade (vv. 25, 26). That truth showed that gods made with hands are no gods. How deep is the gloom into which man throws himself when he is without God, and by his very need of a God!
Kelly explains why the reaction was so strong:
Man, ignorant of God, will fight for nothing harder than for his wealth and his religion.
Read in sequence, the uproar is not a setback but a report on the previous verses:
Many who believed opened their hearts in confession of their deeds and of the Name of the Lord. This stronghold of Satan must have been shaken to its foundations when "a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all." Such was the triumph of the Gospel: "So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily." The outcry of Demetrius and his fellows only showed Satan's rage at being robbed of his goods.
- Craft — Demetrius made small silver copies of the goddess's temple for homes and journeys. "Shrine" here is simply the word for a temple.
- Cash — his workshop "brought no little business" to a whole guild. Every convert in Asia was one customer less.
- Cover — zeal for the goddess hid the real complaint. Money came first, and religion made it look respectable.
- Cause — Paul had only preached that gods made with hands are no gods. Men fight hardest for their wealth and their religion, and he had touched both.
- Consequence — the riot is evidence, not defeat. The magic books had burned, the word had won, and the uproar is the enemy's rage at losing his goods.
whom having brought together, and those who wrought in such things, he said, Men, ye know that our well-living arises from this work,
Demetrius says nothing about the goddess when he opens his meeting. He starts with money, reminding the silversmiths of Ephesus where their income comes from. Here the gospel stops being an idea and starts costing people their trade. What will a man do when the truth threatens his living?
Their craft was a real and profitable industry. It grew up around the famous temple of Diana (also called Artemis) in Ephesus, a goddess worshipped far beyond the city.
The trade of Demetrius was to make small models in silver of the shrine of the goddess. These were set up in houses, kept as memorials, and carried about on journeys. But the coming of Christianity was bound to cut the sale of these models. So Demetrius stirred up the pagan craftsmen to raise a public cry for Diana and against the Christians.
Money, not belief, drew the workmen together:
A certain man, Demetrius, made large sums from the manufacture of little silver shrines to Diana. This Diana was celebrated in the whole pagan world, and her temple was one of the seven wonders of the world (v. 27). Moved by the desire for gain, he gathers the craftsmen to oppose the truth which was destroying all their trade (v. 25, 26) — the truth which showed that gods made with hands were no gods. See how deep the darkness man throws himself into — without God, and by his very need of a God!
The order of Demetrius' arguments is itself revealing. He begins with the wallet and only then reaches for the honour of the goddess:
Satan succeeds in working on the greed of Demetrius, a silversmith. He suggests to him that Paul's teaching was robbing him of customers for his silver idol shrines. Demetrius calls together other silversmiths and impresses on them the need to protect their financial interests. This is his first concern, though he adds that Paul's teaching was also endangering the magnificence of their great goddess Diana. He knew well that this latter accusation would likely have more weight with the people.
The gospel's success is what set the whole scheme in motion:
The success of the Gospel had endangered the trade of the silversmiths. So it was easy to try to revive their trade under cover of zeal for the reputation of their goddess Diana. Here was excellent camouflage for their real concern about their own money-making prospects!
Commentators see a standing tactic here, not a one-off local quarrel:
In this world Satan works to weave degrading and destructive superstition into the present interests and honour of mankind. So it is no wonder that most men are quickly enraged by the testimony of the truth. It threatens to undermine both their religion and their worldly property. It is the same today, in principle, as then at Ephesus.
The same writer sums man up in one line, and notes how far Paul's preaching had already reached:
Man, not knowing God, will fight for nothing harder than for his wealth and his religion. And no one could deny it. Far beyond Ephesus, and beyond Asia too, Paul had persuaded many people and turned them away from their many gods and many lords.
Demetrius meant to sound an alarm. Instead he proved that the preaching he hated was working:
In Ephesus, that stronghold of idolatry, the truth won its way. It did so in full sight of the temple of the so-called goddess Diana, whom all Asia and the Roman world worshipped. Worshippers were drawn away from her worship, and interest in her was clearly declining. Christians were found throughout the province of Asia, and assemblies had sprung up... The gospel was indeed triumphing, and Demetrius and his fellows could not but admit it.
This complaint did not die at Ephesus. As Christianity spread, the same economic pressure produced the same outcry:
People deserted the pagan temples, neglected the worship of the gods, and seldom bought animals for sacrifice. This naturally raised a popular cry against Christianity, such as we had at Ephesus... People whose living depended on the worship of the pagan gods brought many serious complaints against the Christians before the governors.
The words are also turned inward, as a test for any religious arrangement that profits from keeping people at a distance from God:
But this would raise a great outcry, and the unwanted officials might say, as Demetrius of old said to his fellows, "Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth."
- Gain gathers. The desire for money moved Demetrius to call the meeting, not concern for Diana.
- Gain disguises. Money came first in his speech. He added the honour of the goddess because that argument would sway the crowd.
- Gain defends. Satan weaves religion and money together, so that men fight hardest of all to keep both.
- Gain confesses. By admitting his trade was failing, an enemy proved the gospel was winning. Across the province, worshippers had left the idol.
- Gain warns. Wherever a living depends on false worship, the cry of Demetrius rises again — it did across the empire, and commentators say the principle is unchanged today.
and ye see and hear that this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great crowd, not only of Ephesus, but almost of all Asia, saying that they are no gods which are made with hands.
Demetrius calls his fellow tradesmen together, and without meaning to he reports what Paul's preaching had done. He names the message, measures its reach, and admits its effect — then treats it all as a threat.
Demetrius repeats the charge: handmade gods are not gods at all. But Paul's preaching was not only a denial. It also said who the true God is, and what He now commands.
There was no doubt that he really did mean that those are no gods which are made with hands. He meant that to us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. We ought not to think, therefore, that the divine being is like gold, or silver, or stone, shaped by the art and imagination of man. And that one God now commands all people everywhere to repent. He has fixed a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness, by the Man whom He has appointed. He has given proof of this to all by raising Him from the dead.
"Almost all Asia" sounds vast to a modern reader. The name covered a much smaller area then.
This term in the New Testament does not refer to the part of the earth now called Asia. It does not include the whole of Asia Minor either. It applies only to the western part of Asia Minor... The province, with Ephesus as its capital, included Caria, Lydia, and Mysia.
Looking back over the whole visit, one writer describes what the preaching had already done to Diana's cult:
In Ephesus, that stronghold of idolatry, the truth won its way in sight of the temple of the so-called goddess Diana. All Asia and the Roman world worshipped her. Worshippers were drawn away from her cult, and interest in her was in noticeable decline... The gospel was indeed triumphing, and Demetrius and his fellows could not help admitting it.
Ephesus had heard idols mocked before, and no riot followed. The difference this time was money.
Their rage against Paul was not because he had said that they are no gods which are made with hands. Many of their own wise men had said the same. It was because he had persuaded and turned away a great crowd, not only of Ephesus, but of almost all Asia, so that their means of livelihood is threatened.
The speech sounds like religious devotion. One writer names what was underneath it:
The success of the gospel had endangered the trade of the silversmiths. It was not hard to try to revive their trade under cover of zeal for their goddess Diana. Was her greatness to be despised and her magnificence destroyed? Here was excellent camouflage for their real concern about their own money-making prospects!
This mix of money and religion is not just an Ephesian problem. One writer sees a deliberate design behind it:
In this world Satan works to tie degrading and destructive superstition to people's present interests and honour. Given that, it is no wonder that most people are so easily inflamed. Nothing stirs them like a testimony to the truth that threatens to undermine their religion and their worldly property. It is the same today, in principle, as it was then at Ephesus.
In that city, the plainest words in the verse became an offence. Numbers, not argument, decided what counted as absurd.
What an absurd thing to deny what all Asia and the world worship!... So saying there are no gods made with hands can come to count as heresy. And the town clerk can shame a crowd out of taking it seriously.
Behind Demetrius's scheming lies something sadder about man himself:
The desire for gain drove him. He gathered the craftsmen to oppose the truth that was destroying all their trade — the truth which showed that gods made with hands were no gods. How deep the gloom into which man, without God, and by his very need of a God, throws himself!
- Message. Paul preached that handmade gods are no gods. With it came the positive truth: one God the Father, one Lord Jesus Christ, and a coming day of righteous judgment.
- Reach. "Asia" here means the Roman province of western Asia Minor. Ephesus was its capital, and the message spread out from there.
- Admission. The complaint is a report of success — Demetrius could not deny that worshippers were leaving Diana.
- Motive. Wise men had mocked idols with no trouble. The rage began when the preaching hit people's income — then it dressed itself up as zeal for the goddess.
- Pattern. The enemy ties false worship to people's livelihood. Writers say the same principle is at work today.
Now not only there is danger for us that our business come into discredit, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis be counted for nothing, and that her greatness should be destroyed whom the whole of Asia and the world reveres.
Demetrius has just warned his fellow silversmiths that Paul's preaching is emptying their market. Now he adds a grander reason for anger — the temple of Artemis, or Diana, may be despised — but whose "magnificence" was really at stake?
Notice the order of his argument. Demetrius starts with the money, and only then names the goddess.
Satan could not stand by and see one of his great strongholds attacked and weakened by the power of the Spirit of God. So he works on the greed of Demetrius, a silversmith. He suggests to him that Paul's teaching was robbing him of customers for his idolatrous silver shrines. Demetrius then calls together other silversmiths. He presses on them the need to protect their money. This is his first concern, though he adds that Paul's teaching was also endangering the magnificence of their great goddess Diana. He knew well that this second accusation was likely to carry more weight with the people.
The appeal worked because money and religion pulled together. Commentators see an old and lasting tactic here, not a one-off at Ephesus.
Religious motives, poor as they were, even here cast a holy glow over something selfish and sordid. No device of the enemy is more common or more lasting. In this world Satan weaves degrading and destructive superstition into people's daily interests and honour. So it is no wonder that most people flare up fastest at a testimony to the truth that threatens to undermine their religion and their property. It is the same today, in principle, as it was then at Ephesus.
Demetrius names no teaching here. But one writer traces the riot back to the single claim that made every silver shrine worthless.
Demetrius made large sums from manufacturing little silver shrines to Diana. Driven by the desire for gain, he gathers the craftsmen to oppose the truth that was destroying all their trade (vv. 25, 26). That truth showed that gods made with hands are no gods. How deep is the gloom into which man throws himself when he is without God, and by his very need of a God!
One Greek word, sebomai, lies behind "worship" in this verse. It names the act, and says nothing about whether its object is real.
Sebomai occurs ten times in the Greek New Testament. Six times it appears as worship: Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7; Acts 16:14; 18:7, 13; 19:27. Three times it appears as devout, and once as religious. So we can see that the basic meaning of sebomai is "I worship." But note, the worship may be right or wrong, true or false. Matthew 15:9 reads: "in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." And Acts 19:27 speaks of the worship of the idol, Diana of the Ephesians. Both of these are wrong worship.
The boast about "all Asia and the world" was not empty. The shrines Demetrius made were the export arm of the cult.
Ephesus… was the main seat and centre of heathen idolatry. It was the stronghold of Satan's power, and from it idolatry spread all over the known world (Acts 19). Strangers eagerly bought the small silver shrines of the goddess Diana and set them up as household gods in their distant homes. The wealth of Asia adorned and beautified her huge temple, and people counted it one of the seven wonders of the world.
Demetrius was a hostile witness, but an accurate one. His complaint doubles as evidence of how far the gospel had gone.
How the truth had triumphed! In Ephesus, that stronghold of idolatry, the truth won its way. It did so in full sight of the temple of the so-called goddess Diana, whom all Asia and the Roman world worshipped. Her followers were leaving her cult, and interest in her was clearly declining. Christians now lived throughout the province of Asia, and assemblies had sprung up… The gospel was indeed triumphing, and Demetrius and his companions could not help admitting it.
Demetrius feared that his goddess would lose her magnificence. Time settled the question: one writer sets her temple beside the temple believers belong to.
The temple of Diana? How little we know of it today! Crumbled, and gone forever; all its glory and all its licentiousness gone. But the temple we belong to still exists today, and God is worshipped, and will be worshipped, eternally.
- Cause: the riot began with money, not conscience — Paul's preaching was costing the silversmiths customers.
- Cover: he re-labelled the threat to his income as a threat to the goddess, because that would move a crowd.
- Claim: the doctrine behind it all was that gods made with hands are no gods.
- Reach: the boast about all Asia and the world was true — Ephesus exported its idolatry in silver.
- Collapse: Demetrius feared rightly — his goddess is gone, while the temple made of believers stands.