Charles Ellicott Commentary Acts 19:25

"whom he gathered together, with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this business we have our wealth." — Acts 19:25 (ASV)

The workmen of like occupation.—The “craftsmen” of the previous verse represent the higher class of what we call skilled labour. Here we have the unskilled labourers whom they employed. The former were, in a sense, artists; these were artisans.

Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.—Literally, Men, the word used is different from that in Acts 16:30. The word for “craft” is the same as that translated “gain” in Acts 16:19; see the note for that verse. The opening words of Demetrius bring before us, with an almost naive simplicity, the element of vested interests which has at all times played so prominent a part in the resistance to religious and political reforms, and was a major factor in the persecutions against which the early preachers of the gospel had to contend.

Every city had its temples and priests, its flamens, its oracles or sanctuaries. Sacrifices and feasts created a market for industry which would otherwise have been lacking.

In its later development, the Christian Church, by employing the services of art, encouraging pilgrimages, and organising conventual and collegiate institutions, created a market of another kind, thus giving rise to new vested interests which, in turn, were obstacles to the work of reformation. At first, however, the absence of the aesthetic element in the aims and life of the Church seemed to threaten those occupied in such arts with a complete loss of livelihood, rousing them to fierce antagonism.