And entering into the synagogue, he spoke boldly during three months, reasoning and persuading [the things] concerning the kingdom of God.
Paul's work in Ephesus starts in the synagogue, and he stays there three months. Two questions sit behind the verse. Why did he begin with the Jews? And what did he press on them when he spoke of God's kingdom?
Paul took his message to his own people before anyone else. One writer reads the three months as a matter of order and priority.
For three months he patiently preaches Christ in the synagogue and reasons with the Jews, sure of God's strength and of the truth. He gives first place, as the field of testimony, to the people who had been God's instrument: "To the Jews first." It is no longer said, "Salvation is of the Jews," but it is still preached to them first.
The subject he chose fitted the people in front of him. They already had the law and the prophets.
For three months he spoke boldly in the narrow setting of the synagogue. He argued and urged on them "the kingdom of God" (v. 8). Of all subjects it was the one best suited to searching Jews, who knew the law and the prophets. The godly, as we hear of Joseph of Arimathea, were looking for the kingdom of God (Luke 23:50-51). This involved his opening to them the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these. He never thought of belittling that kingdom, still less of denying it, because Christians now have higher possessions and richer grace in the great mystery about Christ and about the assembly (Eph. 5:32).
The phrase is about rule. One writer defines it by God's authority over His subjects, and links it with the gospel of grace.
The kingdom of God is the realm where the authority of God rules. This kingdom had to be set up even before the gospel of the grace of God was announced, which came after the death and resurrection of the Lord. Paul preached both (Acts 20:24-25). There are not two gospels. The kingdom speaks of the authority of God set over His subjects. The grace of God is vital too, for authority and grace complete one another.
That authority is not only future. Another writer shows what Paul's kingdom preaching meant for believers here and now.
Everywhere he preached the kingdom among the disciples. This clearly touches the present. No doubt he spoke of the kingdom God will set up in public view, when he spoke of things to come. But he also kept it before them that in receiving Christ as Lord they had already come under the authority of God. And he showed them what it meant, in daily life, to be subject to God's holy will.
Paul reasoned and persuaded as a teacher who could hold his ground in open discussion. His ministry in the word came first.
He was a teacher, and no ordinary one. He could take on both Jews and Greeks in discussion (Acts 19:8-10), and no one had yet beaten him in fair argument… In his ministry of the Word, Paul, as usual, brought the truth to his own people first, in the synagogue. There he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. The earlier work of Apollos must have given the Jews there some preparation, though the Apostle surely widened the teaching. He reasoned and persuaded with a fullness that Apollos likely did not have.
The bold speaking ran on until the hearers divided. Then Paul moved out.
At the end of that time he saw that his work there was finished. The remnant chosen by grace now stood out, and the rest were hardened. So he made the break complete. He left the synagogue and took the disciples with him, to continue his service in the school of Tyrannus — just as at Corinth he had left the synagogue for the house of Justus. This made it quite plain that God was not establishing a fresh group of enlightened believers among the Jews. He was establishing a new thing altogether, taking in both Jews and Gentiles.
- First — Paul gave the synagogue the first hearing. He gave first place to the people who had been God's instrument.
- Subject — his theme was the kingdom of God, the realm where God's authority rules. He preached it alongside grace, for the two belong together.
- Method — he reasoned and persuaded as a teacher who could meet both Jews and Greeks in argument.
- Patience — three months of bold speaking in a narrow setting. He opened the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow, and never belittled the kingdom his hearers hoped for.
- Parting — when some believed and the rest hardened, his work there was done. The break made plain that God was forming something new out of Jews and Gentiles alike.
But when some were hardened and disbelieved, speaking evil of the way before the multitude, he left them and separated the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus.
Paul preached boldly in the Ephesian synagogue for three months. Then some of his hearers hardened against him. He did not stay to argue. He took the disciples with him and taught daily in a lecture hall.
The thing they slandered had a name. Outsiders gave it; Christians did not choose it.
The reader will find the unusual expression "the way" in Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23. We have translated it word for word from the Greek. We have no doubt it was a nickname given to Christianity, just as the world has always invented one for true godliness.
Yet the nickname fitted. What people saw was not just belief but a whole manner of living.
At that time, being a Christian meant more than believing on the Lord Jesus and enjoying peace with God — blessed though these things are. It was a way of life, and not in some parts of life only but in every part. The walk of the believers, alone and together, was so distinctive that people could see it as a particular "way."
Preaching had done its work in two directions at once. Staying longer would have gained nothing.
The truth preached in the synagogue had now brought out plainly those who received the love of it so that they might be saved. It brought out no less plainly those whose hard rejection of it led them to speak evil of the Way in front of the crowd. Staying longer could have served no good purpose. It would have led to bitter quarrelling and abuse from the opponents. To withdraw from them at this point was clearly of God. The synagogue was no longer a fitting place. A room large enough was owed, not only to the disciples, but to the testimony. So the apostle carried on his daily teaching in the school of a man who, as far as we can judge, taught rhetoric or philosophy.
Until now, Jewish believers had kept their place in the synagogue. Paul ended that, and only after long patience.
This led the apostle to the decisive step of leaving them and separating the disciples. A new era began. Until now the converts from among the Jews seem to have kept their place in the synagogue. But now the time had come when believers in Christ must stand apart from His enemies, and must be gathered together as the assembly. God had borne with His ancient people with much patience. Paul loved his own countrymen deeply, and he had gone in and out among them. He kept hoping against hope that their hearts would open to receive his message.
Paul left when the work in the synagogue was finished. The break also settled a question of identity.
For three months he reasoned with the Jews in the synagogue, persuading them of the gospel. At the end of that time he saw that his work there was finished. The remnant according to the election of grace was now clear, and the rest were hardened. So he made the break complete. He left the synagogue and took the disciples with him, to continue his service in the school of Tyrannus. At Corinth he had done the same, leaving the synagogue for the house of Justus. This made one thing quite plain. What God was establishing was not a fresh group of enlightened believers among the Jews. It was something entirely new, taking in both Jews and Gentiles.
The new meeting place had no religious status. The text tells us almost nothing about its owner.
The name is Greek, and nothing is said about Tyrannus being a disciple, so the Christians may have rented the "school," just as halls are rented today.
That was no loss.
So the place of testimony was of no importance: all the value, virtue, truth, grace, and glory we boast in is in the One preached.
The hostility that pushed Paul out made his audience larger.
The opposition in the synagogue really helped the work forward. Gentiles would no doubt come to the school more readily than to the synagogue. And Jews, if they wanted to learn, could just as easily listen to one of their own nation teaching there. This went on for about two years, so that, as the historian tells us, "all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 19:10).
- Rejection. Three months of bold preaching sorted the hearers. Some received the love of the truth. Some hardened and slandered "the Way" in public.
- Withdrawal. Paul left only after long patience. Staying would have bred bitter quarrelling. The move was of God.
- Separation. Paul drew the disciples out of their old ties. A new era began: believers now stood apart from those opposing Christ.
- Something new. God was not improving a group inside the synagogue. He was forming something new, holding Jews and Gentiles together.
- Reach. Two years of daily teaching in a rented hall carried the word to all Asia. The opposition widened the hearing it meant to stop.