Acts 19:1
King James Version (KJV)
And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Translations
Acts 19:1 - Amplified Bible
WHILE APOLLOS was in Corinth, Paul went through the upper inland districts and came down to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
Acts 19:1 - American Standard Version
And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples:
Acts 19:1 - Bible in Basic English
And it came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having gone through the higher country, came to Ephesus, where there were certain disciples:
Acts 19:1 - Darby Bible
And it came to pass, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper districts, came to Ephesus, and finding certain disciples,
Acts 19:1 - English Standard Version
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples.
Acts 19:1 - King James Version
And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
Acts 19:1 - La Biblia de las Americas
Y aconteciò que mientras Apolos estaba en Corinto, Pablo, habiendo recorrido las regiones superiores, llegò a Efeso y encontrò a algunos discìpulos,
Acts 19:1 - The Message
Now, it happened that while Apollos was away in Corinth, Paul made his way down through the mountains, came to Ephesus, and happened on some disciples there. The first thing he said was, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? Did you take God into your mind only, or did you also embrace him with your heart? Did he get inside you?" "We’ve never even heard of that—a Holy Spirit? God within us?"
Acts 19:1 - New American Standard Bible
It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples.
Acts 19:1 - Nueva Biblia Latinoamericana de Hoy
Mientras Apolos estaba en Corinto, Pablo, después de haber recorrido las regiones superiores, llegò a Efeso y encontrò a algunos discìpulos,
Acts 19:1 - World English Bible
It happened that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper country, came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples.
Acts 19:1 - Young's Living Translation
And it came to pass, in Apollos` being in Corinth, Paul having gone through the upper parts, came to Ephesus, and having found certain disciples,
Acts 19:1 - Additional Comments
In addition to Aquila and Priscilla, there were other disciples there. But, these disciples that Paul meets had the same incomplete knowledge that Apollos had (18:24-26).
God guides Paul to come to Ephesus, for God had forbidden Paul to go into northern Asia (Acts 16:6-10). Ephesus was a strategic location from which to influence the rest of Asia. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus. Later, from prison in Rome, he wrote the epistle to the Ephesians.
Paul stayed in Ephesus 3 years, preaching there day and night (Acts 20:31). While there, he earned his own keep (20:34). Because of the long time there and since he spoke regularly, people probably travelled there from other cities to hear him speak.
Ephesus was a city of up to 250,000 people, on the west coast of Asia Minor. It was a center on the imperial highway from Rome to the east, a backbone of the Roman Empire. Ephesus was second in importance and size only to Rome. It was rapidly becoming the center for Christianity, more so than Antioch of Syria.
Ephesus contained the Temple of Artemis, also known (less precisely) as the Temple of Diana. Artemis was the Greek name for the goddess of fertility - Diana was the Roman name for the goddess. The temple is one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It had 127 pillars each 6 stories tall, and was about 4 times larger than the Parthenon in Rome. It took 220 years to build, and was completed around 550 BC. It was built of the purest marble.
Obviously much of the population of Ephesus worshipped Diana. Sexual vice was part of their heathen worship - the worship was a "perpetual festival of vice", and was a regular part of their festivals. The priestesses of Diana were public prostitutes.
Vast multitudes of Diana worshippers became Christians. Those who had worshipped Diana and now were Christians were used to that way of life, and found it difficult to give it up. Some tried to harmonize their Christian walk with their former heathen life. Some continued to allow heathen immoralities. Here in Ephesus, Christian leaders excluded those who taught allowing these practices to continue, but in other cities they were more lenient, and paid the price for it.
But many found it difficult to give up. This is reminiscent of St. Augustine (see notes on Acts 9:18). Once you have been involved in sin, it likely will be a life long struggle to fight against it, especially substance abuse or sexual sins. Beware every time you give in to sin, potentially for the rest of your life you are making it harder to fight it. Think about it before you give in. You cannot change the past, and you know how it haunts you, but you can make proper decisions going forward. The number one way to prevent abuse it to remove the cause of it (if practical), to be far away from it (Prov 4:14-15). This means if you have a drug problem, those drugs should be unavailable in the house. If you have an eating problem, don't buy the offending foods, don't even go down those aisles. If you have a lust problem, stay away from anything (as much as you can) that feeds it. Often you're making the wrong decisions long before the moments of sin. Every time you fail you add to future temptations - don't fuel the fire. (There are other helps, like Scripture memorization, regular prayer, accountability by others, etc.)
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