Acts 19:27
So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
Demetrius the silversmith warned his fellow workmen that Paul's teaching that gods made with hands are no gods had turned away many people not only at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia, putting both their profitable trade in shrines in danger of losing all value and the temple of Diana in danger of being despised and stripped of her magnificence. This came at the close of over three years of work centered in Ephesus that raised up a flourishing church and spread the gospel through the province, just as Paul planned to leave for Macedonia and Jerusalem and Rome, and during the yearly festival of Diana when falling attendance and waning enthusiasm showed that many had lost confidence in the heathen gods. The threatened loss of wealth from making and selling small shrines and images was the real cause of the uproar, while danger to Diana's temple and worship was the public cause used to rouse the crowd to cry out for Diana of the Ephesians. The craft at stake was the widespread making of portable models of the temple and image to be carried and worshiped, on which the makers' livelihood and honor depended. The temple at stake was the great temple at Ephesus, a wonder of the world for its size and splendor and a source of civic pride and wealth, housing an uncouth wooden idol, whose worship extended through Asia and the wider world and was imitated in grand buildings elsewhere.
Setting and Uproar at Ephesus
The saying belongs to the close of more than three years of labor centered at Ephesus, where a flourishing church had been raised up and from which the gospel had spread throughout the province of Asia among both Jews and Gentiles. At that time Paul had purposed in spirit, after passing through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem and afterward to see Rome, and he had sent Timothy and Erastus on into Macedonia while deciding himself to remain at Ephesus until after Pentecost, until an event hastened his departure.
The crisis broke during the yearly festival in honor of Diana, which drew great crowds from all parts of the province with utmost pomp and splendor. Labor carried on from the school of Tyrannus had given heathen worship a telling blow, producing a perceptible falling off in attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the worshipers. Its influence reached far beyond actual converts, enlightening many who had not openly accepted the new teaching until they lost all confidence in their heathen gods. The company of believers thus stood as an inharmonious note in the festive chorus, and the gala season became a trying time of ridicule, reproach, and insult for those newly come to the faith.
The words are the warning of Demetrius, a maker of silver shrines, to the workmen of his craft, reminding them that their wealth came from this business. An extensive and profitable trade had grown up at Ephesus from making and selling small shrines and images modeled after the temple and the image of Diana, and gains were diminishing because of Paul's labors. Demetrius charged that Paul, by saying that gods made with hands are no gods, had persuaded and turned away much people, not only at Ephesus but almost throughout all Asia. He warned that not only was their trade in danger of losing all value, but the temple of the great goddess Diana would be despised and her magnificence destroyed, though she was worshiped throughout Asia and the wider world. His words roused the excitable passions of the people to wrath, until they cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
The threatened loss of profit was the real cause of the tumult, while danger to Diana's temple and worship was the public cause invoked. The spread of the gospel threatened the income drawn by image-makers and pagan priests from the profitable making and selling of idols, so the craftsmen stirred bitter opposition against Paul. They would not receive or examine the gospel that could have made them wise unto salvation.
Craft, Temple, and Worship
The danger to the craft was danger to a widespread livelihood of making and selling portable images and small models of Diana's temple, which were carried in processions and on journeys and treated as objects of worship. The makers feared both the loss of their trade and the loss of honor for Diana and her temple, because their income was bound up with preserving her worship and reputation. That fear was sharpened by the breadth of her devotion, which extended throughout Asia and beyond into the wider world, so that any dishonor to her greatness threatened ruin on a large scale. Paul's teaching that gods made with hands are no gods struck directly at this business, persuading people to despise the temple and its splendor.
The temple in danger of being despised was the great temple of Diana at Ephesus, central to the city and to its civic and national pride. Its vast size and splendor made it a repository for much of the wealth of Western Asia and caused it to be regarded as one of the wonders of the world. The city's devotion to Diana and to her temple shaped its reputation. The idol itself, in contrast to that magnificence, was an uncouth wooden image marked with symbols believed to have magical power.
The magnificence said to be worshiped by all Asia and the world belonged to a grand pre-Christian building devoted to Diana that was imitated in other places. Among those imitations was a large, immense temple of Diana at Nimes, now standing partially torn down. Its worship involved marble statuary and Roman masonry, baths and inscriptions, with statues of the goddess with her family and others set on an island formed by a pure bubbling spring.