Ephesians
About Ephesus
“Ephesus itself was the gateway to Asia. It was at the mouth of the important Cayster River and functioned in a way similar to colonial Pittsburgh (Fort Pitt). Pittsburgh was called the ‘Gateway to the West’ because of the formation of the Ohio River that flows west to the Mississippi. Waterways were crucial links of transportation and commerce before the advent of mechanized travel. A highway to Ephesus also served as a hub for caravan travel (much as Chicago did for rail transportation).”
The strategic military and commercial location of Ephesus made it a highly sought-after prize for both the Greeks and the Romans in ancient history.
Ephesus gained renown for its magnificent temple, dedicated to the goddess Diana (or Artemis in Greek). The Temple of Diana was one of the seven wonders of the world. The temple’s dimensions were 425 feet in length and 220 feet in depth and width. The 127 white marble columns held the structure up, each standing at 62 feet high. The temple was adorned with intricate carvings and valuable artwork. The main highlight, though, was an image of Diana that was believed to have descended from the heavens to the earth. Ephesus became the religious center of all Asia due to the temple’s immense popularity among pagans. During Nero’s reign from AD 54–68, a stadium was constructed near the temple. This happened to coincide with Paul’s visit between 53 and 56. The stadium had a seating capacity of approximately 25,000, which was quite impressive considering the population of Ephesus was around 250,000 at that time. Paul and his friends were the target of a riot at this stadium.
About the Author of Ephesians
Paul wrote Ephesians according to the first verse. The first line in verse 1 states: ”Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus.” – Ephesians 1:1 (NIV)
The debate over the authorship of Ephesians was ignited during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. F.C. Baur made an influential case, and his followers had a significant impact on scholarship. This led to a division among scholars. That being said, it is important to take Scripture at face value. Verse 1 asserts that the authorship is attributed to Paul, which has been supported by the early church and upheld for 1700 years. This longstanding consensus leads us to consider it the work of Paul.
About the Audience and Background
The letter addresses Christians in Ephesus. “Clinton Arnold, who has recently argued in favour of the original text of Ephesians 1:1 including the words ‘in Ephesus’, adopts a circular letter hypothesis. He claims that we need not assume that the letter was written to one church in the city. The wording of the address, ‘to the saints in Ephesus who are faithful in Christ Jesus’, omits any reference to the term ‘church’, which might suggest one congregation.”
In the book of Revelation, we see that the letter is addressed to seven cities of Asia Minor. During the time of Paul, Asia Minor was the Roman province of Proconsular Asia.
“These seven cities were arranged around the urban hub of the province, with Ephesus occupying a strategic point. If Ephesians was a letter intended for all the churches in the area, it may have followed a circular route round these cities.”
The temple of Diana was quite a tourist attraction. The temple cult worshipped Diana as a fertility goddess and goddess of the woods and hunting. Her image was a woman with a crown and multiple breasts (a sign of fertility). Diana was not the only thing to be worshipped in Ephesus. This city was also known as a center of occult arts and practices.
In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke reports that God worked extraordinary miracles by Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them (19:12). Paul’s impact on the practitioners of the occult resulted in a massive book-burning: A number who had practised sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas (Acts 19:19).
Luke’s comment about of the value of the books that were burned indicates the commercial crisis that was involved in Paul’s influence against paganism. The current value of the fifty thousand drachmas is close to $500,000.
The reaction of those with a vested commercial interest in the pagan practices was swift:
About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way. A silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in no little business for the craftsmen. He called them together, along with the workmen in related trades, and said: “Men, you know we receive a good income from this business. And you see and hear how this fellow Paul has convinced and led astray large numbers of people here in Ephesus and in practically the whole province of Asia. He says that man-made gods are no gods at all. There is danger not only that our trade will lose its good name, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be discredited, and the goddess herself, who is worshipped throughout the province of Asia and the world, will be robbed of her divine majesty.” When they heard this, they were furious and began shouting: “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:23–28).
The riot at Ephesus was triggered by Paul’s teaching that ‘man-made gods are no gods at all’. Christianity makes no peace with idolatry. The scene at Ephesus was that of the triumph of the gospel over pagan idolatry. The temple of Diana was once one of the seven wonders of the world. Today it has no members. Diana was not so great after all.
Why did Paul write this letter?
“Paul’s purpose in writing Ephesians has been extensively debated by scholars, but no consensus has emerged regarding the specific reasons he wrote this letter.” Although it is not explicit, we can assume that Paul is sending a letter to encourage, train, and hold the church in Ephesus accountable.
When and where did Paul write it?
This letter, written by Paul, addresses the Ephesians’ concerns about his imprisonment and asks for their prayers for his boldness in presenting the gospel. Paul likely lived in an apartment within a tenement house in Rome, likely confined to his apartment with a guard at night. He divided his time between his rooms and the tenement’s precincts during the day. It appears that this took place around 62 AD.
