The Epistle to the Ephesians
Ephesians 1:1, 2 KJV 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: 2
Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Introduction
Paul has finally arrived in Rome, where he was supposed to appear before Caesar. He was permitted to have his own rented house where he was able to receive unlimited visitors. He was also able to write some of the letters that many call the “Prison Epistles.” Those include Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians.
Before we consider what may have happened to Paul after the two years he spent under house arrest in Rome, we will consider an analysis of the books believed to have been written by him during those two years. While each analysis is not a complete look at the books, it will give us an overview of each one of them. We will begin with Ephesians.
The letter to the church at Ephesus was written in the same time frame as the letters to the Philippians and Galatians. These letters were written to the churches as a whole, while the fourth letter in the Prison Epistles was written to an individual.
The City of Ephesus
I realize that we took a short look at the city of Ephesus when we were considering the missionary journeys of Apostle Paul but let us take a closer look at the city because it has an effect on the church there and their service to the Lord.
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Ephesus, with a population of 250,000, was the chief
commercial city of the province and the center of the mother
goddess worship of western Asia. In the New Testament era
it was the fourth greatest city in the world, after Rome, Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch of Syria. “Ephesus was the
Gateway of Asia. One of its distinctions, laid down by statute, was that when the Roman proconsul came to take up
office as governor of Asia, he must disembark at Ephesus and enter his province there. For all the travelers and the trade, from the Cayster and the Meander Valleys, from Galatia, from the Euphrates and from Mesopotamia,
Ephesus was the highway to Rome. In later times, when the
Christians were brought from Asia to be flung to the lions in the arena in Rome, Ignatius called Ephesus the Highway of
the Martyrs.” (William Barclay, The Revelation Of John, Vol. 1, p. 58).1
Ephesus was an important centre for Early Christianity from
the AD 50s. From AD 52–54, the apostle Paul lived in Ephesus, working with the congregation and apparently
organizing missionary activity into the hinterlands….
Initially, according to the Acts of the Apostles, Paul attended the Jewish synagogue in Ephesus, but after three months he
became frustrated with the stubbornness of some of the Jews,
and moved his base to the school of Tyrannus…. The
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary reminds
readers that the unbelief of "some" (Greek: τινες) implies that "others, probably a large number, believed"… and therefore there must have been a community of Jewish
Christians in Ephesus. Paul introduced about twelve men to
the 'baptism with the Holy Spirit' who had previously only
experienced the baptism of John the Baptist…. Later a silversmith named Demetrios stirred up a mob against Paul,
saying that he was endangering the livelihood of those making silver Artemis shrines…. Demetrios in connection with the temple of Artemis mentions some object (perhaps
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an image or a stone) "fallen from Zeus". Between 53 and 57
AD Paul wrote the letter 1Corinthians from Ephesus
(possibly from the 'Paul tower' near the harbour, where he was imprisoned for a short time). Later, Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians while he was in prison in Rome (around 62 AD). Roman Asia was associated with John,…
one of the chief apostles, and the Gospel of John might have
been written in Ephesus, ce 90–100…. Ephesus was one of
the seven cities addressed in the Book of Revelation, indicating that the church at Ephesus was strong.
According to Eusebius of Caesarea, Saint Timothy was the
first bishop of Ephesus….
Polycrates of Ephesus (Greek: Πολυκράτης) was a bishop at
the Church of Ephesus in the 2nd century. He is best known
for his letter addressed to the Pope Victor I, Bishop of Rome, defending the Quartodeciman position in the Easter
controversy.
In the early 2nd century, the church at Ephesus was still important enough to be addressed by a letter written by Bishop Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians which begins with "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being
blessed in the greatness and fullness of God the Father, and
predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be always for an enduring and unchangeable glory" (Letter to the Ephesians). The church at Ephesus had given their support for Ignatius, who was taken to Rome for execution.
A legend, which was first mentioned by Epiphanius of
Salamis in the 4th century, purported that Mary, the mother
of Jesus, may have spent the last years of her life in Ephesus.
The Ephesians derived the argument from John's presence in
the city, and Jesus' instructions to John to take care of his 356
mother, Mary, after his death. Epiphanius, however, was keen to point out that, while the Bible says John was leaving for Asia, it does not say specifically that Mary went with him. He later stated that she was buried in Jerusalem… Since
the 19th century, The House of the Virgin Mary, about 7 km
(4 mi) from Selçuk, has been considered to have been the last home of Mary, mother of Jesus before her assumption
into heaven in the Roman Catholic tradition, based on the visions of Augustinian sister the Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824). It is a popular place of Catholic pilgrimage which has been visited by three recent popes.2
Ephesus was the capital city of a Roman province in Asia.
Ephesus was a significant center of trade, located near a harbor at the mouth of the Cayster River in western Asia Minor. The city lay in a long, fertile valley. Major roads connected Ephesus to all the other significant cities in Asia Minor.
Ephesus was known for its amphitheater, the largest in the
world, designed to hold up to 50,000 spectators. Ephesus was also the location of the great temple of Artemis, or Diana, built in 550 BC. This temple, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was “425 ft. long and 220 ft.
wide; each of its 127 pillars which supported the roof of its colonnade was 60 ft. high” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia). Much Ephesian industry was related to this
temple. Craftsmen sold shrines and household images of the
goddess that worshipers could take with them on long
journeys. The Ephesians were proud of their religious
heritage and its accompanying legends (Acts 19:35).
Ephesus is mentioned often in Scripture. Paul journeyed to
Ephesus during his second missionary trip and stayed there
for two years so that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in
the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 357
19:10). Ephesus was a prime site for evangelizing the whole
province, due to the city’s accessibility and prominence in the region. It was in Ephesus that Paul and his companions
were taken into the massive amphitheater where for two hours the mob shouted, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians”
(Acts 19:23–41). Despite the strong objections to the gospel, many Ephesians came to faith in Christ through the faithful
ministry of Paul and his companions. A church began there,
and a few years later, Paul wrote to them a letter that we now call the book of Ephesians. Four hundred years later, Ephesus was the site of a major church meeting known as
the Council of Ephesus.
Ephesus was the setting for many New Testament events:
• God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, such that even handkerchiefs and aprons touched by him healed
sickness and cast out demons (Acts 19:11).
• Paul wrote the epistle of 1 Corinthians.
• The seven sons of Sceva, Jewish exorcists, attempted to imitate Paul’s power and were attacked by demons because
the demons did not recognize their spiritual authority (Acts
19:13–16).
• Many new believers “who had practiced magic arts brought
their books and burned them in front of everyone” (Acts 19:19, BSB). The total value of the sorcery books they destroyed was 50,000 silver pieces.
• Priscilla and Aquilla discipled Apollos (Acts 18:24–26).
• Timothy had his first pastorate (1 Timothy 1:3).
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• It’s thought that the apostle Johnand Jesus’ mother, Mary,
lived in Ephesus after Jesus returned to heaven (see John 19:26–27).
• Paul may have faced wild beasts in the amphitheater (1
Corinthians 15:32).
• Jesus directed to Ephesus one of His seven letters in the
book of Revelation (Revelation 2:1–7).
Jesus’ letter to the church at Ephesus contains Jesus’ famous rebuke: “You have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). The believers at Ephesus, struggling beneath the weight of a godless and immoral culture, had maintained the letter of the law but had lost the Spirit of the law (see Romans 2:29).
Jesus commended them for their hard work, perseverance, rejection of false teaching, and hatred of sin. But He was grieved that they had become routine in their service for Him rather than serve Him with the passion they once had. Their
actions were there, but their hearts were not.
Jesus’ words to the believers in Ephesus should challenge all servants of the Lord. It is easy to get caught up in the busyness of ministry, church work, or volunteering and not
realize our passion for the Lord has cooled. We are no longer propelled into service by love, but by some other selfish or
worldly motivation. We may think God doesn’t mind, as long as we are outwardly obeying, but He does mind. It hurts
Him, and it violates the greatest commandment: “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and
strength” (Mark 12:30).
Jesus gave the church at Ephesus time to repent, and He gives us time as well. Every moment we resist His call to humble ourselves and return to our first love is one more moment that we forfeit the love, joy, and peace He offers (1
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Peter 5:6; Galatians 5:22–23). Jesus was so concerned about
the church at Ephesus that He dictated a letter through the
apostle John (Revelation 1:1–2). And He is so concerned about the church of today that He made certain that letter was preserved for us (Revelation 1:3; 22:18, 19).3
Overview of the Book of Ephesians
I am using the outline developed by Dr. Albert Garner as is found in the Power Bible CD.