Acts: Lesson 10

Study Guide Questions for Ch. 19-20

If you are looking for the beginning of this study you can start HERE with the brief introduction. At the bottom of that introduction will be the links to each section of the study guide as it becomes available. For this study the English Standard Version is the translation that is being utilized and you can read it online HERE or pick up the copy of your choice from Amazon or your local book store. I find THIS EDITION to be useful for deeper study and annotation.

Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Ignorance, Arrogance, Despotism, Providence, Love

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. How did the Ephesians disciples respond to Paul’s question about receiving the Holy Spirit?

2. What did Paul do “daily…for two years” while in Ephesus?

3. What happened to the Jewish exorcists who tried to use Jesus’ name to expel evil spirits?

4. What “amounted to fifty thousand pieces of silver”?

5. Who started a riot in Ephesus and for what reason?

6. What did the mob shout for “about two hours”?

7. What happened to the young man when Paul spoke late into the night?

8. What did Paul say he was “constrained by the Spirit” to do?

9. What warning did Paul give to the Ephesian elders about what would come after his departure?

10. What statement did Paul attribute to Jesus?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. Why hadn’t the disciples in Ephesus received the Holy Spirit yet?

2. Why did the gentiles speak in “tongues” and start “prophesying” when the Spirit came upon them? What was the purpose in the Spirit leading them to do that?

3. Why did the sons of Sceva fail to exorcize the evil spirit from the possessed man even though they used the name of Jesus?

4. Why did the people burn their books when they were so valuable? Why not sell them?

5. Why was the gospel of Jesus harming the business of Demetrius and others like him?

6. Why was “the town clerk” concerned about “being charged with rioting”? Who would bring a charge against the Ephesians? What is he worried might happen because of this?

7. What is the significance of the fact that the believers were meeting together “on the first day of the week”?

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. Should Christians burn books that are ungodly? If so, under what conditions? If not, why not? Explain your answer with reason and feel free to make distinction and offer nuance. 

2. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that after his departure “fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.” This is a reference to false teachers that come into the church. Why are there false teachers in the church? What makes someone a “false teacher” or “wolf”? Do those false teachers know that is what they are? Explain your answer carefully.

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Isaiah 44:6-28. How does this connect to Demetrius the silversmith and the riot he started in Ephesus?

2. Read Luke 22:14-23 and compare it to Acts 20:7. What phrase do you see in both passages and what does this seem to indicate about what the believers are doing in the passage from Acts?

3. Paul attributes a quote to Jesus in Acts 20:35 which is not recorded in any of the four gospels. How does John 21:25 help us make sense of this fact?