And many of them that believed came, confessing and declaring their deeds
πολλοι τε των πεπιστευκοτων ηρχοντο εξομολογουμενοι και αναγγελλοντες τας πραξεις αυτων
10 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Every believer ought to confess his sins. By accusing himself, he should renounce doing the same again, so that he may receive justification according to what is said in Scripture: "Declare your iniquities first, that you may be justified" (Is 43:26). And again: "The righteous man is his own accuser at the first speaking" (Prov 18:17).
Every believer must speak of his sins and, by rebuking himself, renounce doing the same again.
Thus he becomes justified according to the words: "Speak, that you may be justified"; Isa 43:26. And again: "The first one in his lawsuit is righteous"; Prov 18:17.
The Ephesian idolaters and sorcerers were so numerous that they produced magical books at a high price, as though these contained the very best things in life.
Those who believed in Christ did not sell them, although there were many people there who wished to buy these books. Instead, they burned them.
First, they did this so that no one would suffer harm to the soul from them. Second, they did it so that they would not receive any profit from them.
For it is forbidden to offer to the Lord the price of a dog and the wages of a harlot; cf. Deut 23:18.
Therefore they considered it improper to lay at the Apostles' feet money received from this.
The unhappy consequence of such an attempt; Acts 19:15-16, made a strong impression on many.
Through the Apostle's actions, they were already disposed to honor the Lord Jesus as the One who communicates divine powers to men.
Yet they had not yet abandoned either their former sinful behavior or their empty art. On the contrary, they also tried to combine it with Christianity and to use Christianity itself as its aid.
Frightened by this incident, the inhabitants of Ephesus now came to the Apostle themselves. They brought repentance before him for their sinful deeds and declared a decisive renunciation of everything of this kind.
Books filled with magical formulas and worth a large sum, about twenty thousand rubles, were brought to the square and burned in the sight of all.
News of this event quickly spread through the whole city and made a strong impression on the inhabitants of Ephesus, both Jews and pagans.
Fear came upon all of them before the mysterious and almighty power of the name of the Lord Jesus. The faithful joyfully glorified this holy name.
For those newly turning to Christ, this general fear was accompanied by especially beneficial consequences. It awakened in them a strong sense and consciousness of their sinfulness.
As a result, they came to Paul, confessing and revealing their deeds.
Even upon those who practiced sorcery, this fear produced a certain effect, and one likewise beneficial. Quite many of them gathered their books and burned them before all.
These books contained formulas for incantations, various prayers to the gods, and, in general, instruction for every kind of sorcery and magic.
The sorcerers themselves determined the value of the books they freely burned. It turned out that books worth fifty thousand drachmas were burned, equal to about ten thousand rubles.
With such power the word of the Lord grew and prevailed over the power of darkness.
Here we see that the sacrament of confession, or repentance, existed in the apostolic Church. This sacrament is now received by members of the Holy Church for cleansing from sins committed after baptism. In this passage of Acts, we see that those who confessed their deeds were none other than believers, that is, those who had already received baptism; cf. Acts 2:44; 4:32; 11:17; 15:5; 18:27. Moreover, they did not merely confess their sinfulness in general. They also stated in particular what each of them had done, their own deeds, as is now done in confession. Perhaps someone will say that they "declared" them, "telling," ἀναγγέλλοντες, among the whole multitude of believers, confessing their deeds aloud and openly, and not as now.
Yet the essence of the sacrament of repentance is not changed by this. What matters is not how many hearers heard each person's deeds, but from whom the sinners could receive, and did receive, absolution. The authority to remit sins was given only to the apostles and their successors. Therefore the confession of sins was made chiefly before sacred persons, who alone could give absolution. They gave it whether the confession was public or made privately.
It turned out that in Ephesus not only pagans practiced incantations, but also some of the newly converted Christians. Frightened by what had happened, they openly repented of their sin. As proof of the sincerity of their repentance, they brought their costly cabalistic books, which had served as the instruments of their trade, and publicly burned them. This secret black art was practiced on such a broad scale that the value of the books burned in this way by the sorcerers, in the impulse of repentance, reached fifty thousand silver drachmas. This would amount to no less than 12,500 rubles in gold. This extraordinary bonfire, which surely continued for quite a long time, was a striking exposure of the prevailing credulity.
It was undoubtedly one of the circumstances that gave the preaching of the Apostle Paul such wide renown throughout all Asia. During his two-year stay in Ephesus, the apostle preached not only orally, but also in writing. Through his co-workers he maintained constant relations with various churches. For the edification of two of them, namely Corinth and Galatia, he wrote two epistles known as the Epistle to the Galatians and the First Epistle to the Corinthians. The first was occasioned by the sad report that the Galatians, who had so willingly received the faith from the Apostle Paul, had been led astray by other preachers through their usual fickleness. These were the apostle's Judaizing opponents. In order to destroy the work of the apostle they hated, they began to depict the advantages of Abraham's sons to the Galatians in such enticing colors that the Galatians even desired "to be under the law" (Gal 4:21). At the same time, the very authority of the Apostle Paul was undermined in their souls. To warn them against this dangerous error, the apostle wrote them an epistle. In it, with astonishing clarity, he sets forth the superiority of the new covenant over the old. He says that Abraham's sons are not those who trace their fleshly genealogy from him, but those who believe in Christ (Gal 3:7, 29). In defense of his apostleship, he reminded them of his extraordinary conversion. He added that the Gospel preached by him is not human. For he "received it and learned it not from man, but through the revelation of Jesus Christ" (Gal 1:11, 12). The Epistle to the Corinthians was occasioned by entirely different circumstances. The sad report reached the apostle that the Corinthian Christians had broken brotherly unity and divided into several parties. In the manner of Greek schools bearing the name of one sophist or another, some called themselves followers of Paul. Others called themselves followers of Apollos, still others of Cephas, and some of Christ. Some of the brethren went so far in error that they began to deny the resurrection of the dead. Moral dissoluteness, for which Corinth was generally known, also invaded the midst of the Church. The community tolerated in its midst one vile sinner, from whom even the pagans turned away in disgust. All these disorders compelled the apostle to address the Corinthians with an extensive epistle. In it he exhorted them with apostolic authority to abandon their divisions, since the same one Christ was crucified for them all. All the other preachers are only simple ministers of the word. They plant and water, but God gives the increase. "Therefore neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but God Who gives the increase." The source of these divisions was the intellectual pride of the Corinthians. The apostle reminded them that for them, as Christians, earthly wisdom must now stand in second place. For "the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Cor 1:25). He then refuted the error of those who denied the resurrection of the dead. He commanded that the grave sinner be strictly punished. Then the apostle gives a whole series of instructions on various questions of church and social life. He concluded in his own hand with a greeting full of love: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."
Third, many of those who believed confessed their deeds.
By those who believed are meant those who believed in Christ at this very time as a result of the event described. It seems that among these many were also exorcists, who abandoned their trade of exorcism and turned to Christ.
They came, that is, to the Apostle, confessing and revealing their deeds. This means their evil deeds, or sins.
This repentance was the consequence of their faith and their desire to join the Christian community. Such repentance usually preceded Baptism.
However, those who had previously believed cannot be excluded from the number of the faithful here.
Under the influence of fear and of the greatness of the Lord's name, they too felt the need to lighten their conscience by repentance for their sins. For this and with this they came to the Apostle.
The impression made by the shame of the exorcists was very strong. It affected Jews and pagans alike, and also Christians.
Many of the Christians felt that they too were guilty in many things related to exorcism and sorcery in general. Therefore they came to the Apostle, confessing their sins.
The Jews and Greeks, meanwhile, magnified the name of the Lord Jesus in every way.
Saint John Chrysostom says, "This brought many of those who had believed to confession of sins, and produced fear in them.
"Not wishing to be exposed by demons, and fearing that they might suffer the same thing, they condemned themselves before the demons could do so. And rightly.
"For if the demons who had patronized them became their accusers and not their helpers, what hope remained for them except active confession of sins?
"It is not so important to cast out a demon as to be freed from sin. A demon here does not prevent one from attaining the Kingdom of Heaven, but sin removes one from the Kingdom.
"Do not rejoice that the spirits are subject to you, Christ said; Lk 10:20. He knows that all people would especially rejoice in this from vainglory."
"Every believer should tell his sins and, by exposing himself, renounce doing the same again, so as to receive justification according to what is said in Scripture: 'Declare your iniquities, that you may be justified'; Isa 43:26."
The pitiable and partly ridiculous appearance of the exorcists, walking in torn garments, stirred the curiosity of those who met them. In this way it happened that this became known to all.
The many-voiced rumor flew through the whole city. It passed through the Jewish quarter and through the Greek houses, and the failure of the exorcists became, so to speak, the talk of the day.
The event itself testified to the greatest authority of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His preacher Paul, whose power even the evil spirit recognizes.
It was evident to all that Paul's miracles, performed by him in the name of Jesus Christ, were not products of some natural but unknown force.
They were not a force that could be subjected to human whim and turned into a thing for sale. They were the living divine power, which acts only where the Lord wills.
All reverently bowed before the name of the most mighty Jesus and were filled with religious fear, Christians and pagans alike.
Many of those who had believed came confessing and revealing their deeds, that is, their sins.
These were people who, without bargaining with their conscience, still could not, because of common human weakness, realize the high Christian ideal in due measure in their lives. Thus they sinned.
The event that occurred gave a powerful impulse to the elevation of their religious disposition. It moved them to go quickly to the Apostle and pour out their soul before him.
They revealed the small and great sins by which they had managed to offend the almighty Jesus.
The incident with the Jewish exorcists had an especially strong and fruitful effect on sorcerers. The superstition of Ephesus had created a special class of people devoted exclusively to sorcery, magic, and the like.
Let those who slander the disciples of Christ as practitioners of sorcery be convicted by this passage. It shows that all magic vanishes through the power of their teaching. These people were not insignificant, but had considerable knowledge in this field. Yet when they felt themselves cleansed from this practice and from their customary gods, they gathered all the books connected with it and burned them before all who were present.
Such were the disciples of our Savior. Their words, addressed to their hearers, possessed such power that they touched the depths of their souls.
They seized and wounded the conscience of each one, so that they no longer hid anything, but brought forbidden things into the light.
They themselves told of their transgressions and former iniquities.
Such also were their disciples, pure and noble, so that no hidden abscess remained within them. They rejoiced and spoke openly of their change from worse to better.
Did not those who burned the books of magic, resolving to destroy them completely, show everyone that in the future they would not practice magic?
And from that moment did they not become clear of every suspicion in this matter?
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 11 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS