Bible Strands
Acts 19:18
Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative records new believers in Ephesus stepping forward to the wider community immediately after the public demonstration of Jesus' authority and the resulting fear among Jews and Greeks. They address the gathered audience to publicly address their past conduct.
The words — The participle ἐξομολογοῦμενοι (exomologoumenoi) carries the literal sense of public acknowledgment, while ἀναγγέλλοντες (anangellontes) specifies the act of openly reporting former deeds. These verbs frame the response as a tangible, verbal accounting rather than an internal shift.
The thread — This sequence of public confession appears in Matthew 3:6, where baptism followed verbal acknowledgment of sin, and in Romans 10:10, which ties mouth confession to heart belief. The pattern aligns with Psalm 32:5, which contrasts hidden iniquity with direct acknowledgment to God.
Why it lands — The text requires believers to verbally disclose their former conduct, establishing public transparency as the necessary follow-through to genuine faith. It demands a visible break from past practices through spoken acknowledgment rather than private resolution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
Cross-references
- Romans 10:10 For with your heart you believe and are justified, and with your mouth you confess and are saved.
- Psalms 32:5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You and did not hide my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah
- Matthew 3:6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
- Leviticus 16:21 Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.
- Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—
- Job 33:27 Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
- Proverbs 28:13 He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- Jeremiah 3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 16:63 so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Ezekiel 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations.