Acts 19:17
And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
Paul's work at Ephesus took place in a busy commercial center whose people came from many countries and which offered a promising field for missionary effort. The city was given to curious arts and the worship of Diana, and God met that need with mighty miracles worked through Paul by the Spirit, displaying a power above all the powers of the magicians. Those miracles showed God's power against the lying wonders of magic, which sorcerers' tricks could not match.
Jewish exorcists, the seven sons of Sceva, tried to imitate the miracles by invoking the name of Jesus in sorcery without faith in the divinity and divine mission of the Saviour. The evil spirit acknowledged Jesus and Paul but overpowered them, so they fled naked, wounded, beaten and bruised. Sorcery and the name of Jesus cannot mix at all.
The defeat and the miracles became known to all the Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles, dwelling throughout Ephesus. Fear and awe fell on them all, leading them to reverence. The power of the Lord Jesus was thus made known among both Jews and Greeks living there.
It was the name of the Lord Jesus, not Paul's name nor human exorcists and magical arts, that was magnified, exalted and honored. The verse shows Christ as the one to whom all evil spirits are subject and who gives His servants authority over them. He brought shame and defeat on those who despised and profaned His holy name, giving unmistakable proof of the sacredness of the name of Christ and of the peril and danger of invoking it without faith in the divinity of the Saviour's mission.
As a result many stopped speaking the name with contempt, regarded the gospel with reverence, recognized Christ as the gospel proclaimed Him, and turned from sorcery. Converts burned their magic books and accepted great money loss as a precious waste in order to cut off every temptation to return and to put up every bar before the enemy. The verse calls people now to be afraid of learning Satan's art of captivating human minds, to cease prying into magical science and to burn books dealing with it, so that God is not dishonored where His name should be magnified.
The chapter records the early apostles receiving the promised blessing and power, including speaking in other tongues as the Spirit gave utterance. That apostolic experience corroborates and matches the same blessing and speaking in tongues received now, together with the accompanying persecution.