NOTES for Act 19:23-41
What happened to Paul and his companions in Ephesus clearly shows what Roman—or, more precisely, Hellenistic—paganism was in Gospel times, and exactly what the world could set against Christians and Christianity. Ephesus was indeed a major religious center of the Hellenistic world. It housed an ancient and revered sanctuary, the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, considered in antiquity one of the Seven Wonders of the World. As commonly happens, a business grew up around the temple and in connection with it, catering to tourists and pilgrims. One branch of this business was making statuettes of Artemis in all sizes, from large, life-size figures for decorating Roman villas to tiny ones that could be used as amulets.
Demetrius, mentioned in the account, apparently decided that the apostles' preaching could threaten this established business and called on his fellow craftsmen to protest against the newly arrived preachers. Similar things happened elsewhere, where opponents of Paul and his companions tried to present themselves as zealous defenders of old Roman traditions, while actually having their own commercial interests foremost in mind. What is interesting about the situation in Ephesus is that no one even tries to conceal anything, at least from their own circle: addressing his fellow craftsmen and urging them to protest, Demetrius explicitly says that Paul's preaching threatens their trade first, and the worship of Artemis only second.
Even second place, however, is enough to stir up the crowd. Yet these “defenders of traditional religion” can find no arguments, merely proclaiming, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”—something, strictly speaking, no one had disputed. Such was the world in which Paul and the other apostles had to preach. In essence, it had long ceased to be either traditionalist, as it once had been, or genuinely religious, even in the pagan sense. Hellenistic civilization had long left no room for traditionalism, while religion in the Hellenistic world was essentially a private matter for those who practiced it.
Of course, official state cults formally existed, but the gods associated with them had long become, in essence, mere symbols of the empire, of Rome's power and its emperors. Insulting, for example, Capitoline Jupiter or his symbol, the famous Roman eagle, was punishable by death not because it was blasphemy, but because it was an insult to Roman authority. The cult of Artemis of Ephesus, however, was not a state cult in the empire, although her sanctuary was widely revered.
In such cases, private or corporate interests could come to the fore, but not those of the state. The authorities would then try to let the matter quietly subside, as happened in Ephesus. The Kingdom entering the world faced opposition not only from earthly power, but also from earthly interests and profits—what Jesus in the Gospel collectively calls “mammon.” Mammon's power certainly looks less impressive than Caesar's. Yet it enslaves souls no less effectively, and sometimes even more so; the story in Ephesus is a clear example.