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Introduction
The provincial capitol of Ephesus , a center of early Christianity
The Apostle Paul had been instructed to be a Torah scholar by the learned Gamaliel in Jerusalem. He later fanatically persecuted Jewish-Christians in the early church at Jerusalem. Before Damascus, however, the risen Christ appeared to him in blinding glory. Yet Jesus pardoned His persecutor, and called him to evangelize the non-Jewish Gentiles, who were despised by conservative Jews. He was to lead them into covenant with the living God.
The Spirit of God blocked the road leading to Ephesus
On his second missionary journey from Antioch, Paul travelled with Silas, an experienced Jewish-Christian, and the young Timothy through some of the Roman Provinces of Asia Minor. They intended to strengthen new churches in Pisidia and Lycaonia, which had been established during Paul´s first missionary journey. The goal of their travel was the province capitol of Ephesus, which represented the door to Asia Minor. It was there that Hellenic education, Roman occupational forces and a worldwide openness met and mixed. The Holy Spirit, however, had forbidden them to travel into this highly developed province of the Roman Empire (Acts 16:6-7). Before their service in Ephesus, they were first to have some bitter experiences in the center of multi-cultured Hellenism. Only later were they to enter into the then important city of Asia Minor.
The Spirit of Jesus led this missionary team to travel between the region of Mysia and Bithynia and on to Troas. It was there the Spirit encouraged them to pass over to Macedonia, in modern day Europe, and to continue over Thessalonica to Berea, finally bringing them into contact with Athens, the center of proud Greek philosophy. Perhaps Paul had hoped to, with his energy-charged gospel of the living Christ, win some of the intelligent thinkers and gifted speakers to service for the kingdom of God. Nevertheless, it remained for him to suffer when the majority of the so-called geniuses began to mock and laugh at him when he spoke of the resurrection of Christ as well as of the dead. Under the spectre of death, the thinking of the majority of his hearers came to an end (Acts 17:32-34), for the good sense of man cannot, in and of itself, grasp the reality of the Holy Spirit. Earthly intelligence has little in common with the knowledge and power of the gospel (Matt. 11:25-27). Instead, it much more fights against it, either knowingly or unknowingly.
To the pragmatic-minded church leaders of the port and trade city of Corinth, Paul later wrote: “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence” (1 Cor. 1:26-29).
Following this spiritual re-education and sobering experience, Paul travelled to Ephesus, which was then the modern and magnificent provincial capital of Asia Minor (Acts 18:19), which had gained worldwide fame for its temple of Diana, the goddess of fertility. Paul had grown cautious, following the earlier hindering of the Holy Spirit, and remained only a short time in this city. From here he sailed with the ship to Caesarea in Judea, and then proceeded upwards to the city of Jerusalem. He then returned to Antioch in order to inform the responsible brethren, in this center of early Christianity, what the living Lord Jesus had done through them (Acts 18;21b-22).
The Old Testamental heritage in Ephesus and surroundings
The Jewish population in the province capitol of Ephesus had, however, following Paul´s short visit in their synagogue, invited him to remain with them for a longer period of time. They desired to hear more detail of his inspiring message of the promised Messiah of the Old Testament and to discuss and consider it with him in peace and quiet (Acts 18:20-21a).
During his third missionary journey, Paul at first travelled through wild Galatia. From there he passed through Phrygia, finally reaching the desired goal of Ephesus (Acts 18:21; 19:21). There he taught for three months in the synagogue of the local Jewish residents, teaching them most likely what he had previously written in his letter to the Romans (Rom. 9:1-5). When he began to show that the Old Testament prophecies of the coming Messiah referred to Jesus of Nazareth, however, the members of this synagogue split apart. Because of their increasing derision of his gospel, Paul departed from this Jewish assembly, taking with him some new Jewish believers as well as some God-fearing Greeks (Acts 19:8-9).
The Burden of Liberal Hellenism
From then on Paul spoke daily for two years in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:10; 20:17f, 31). In no other place before his arrest did Paul minister as long as in Ephesus. In so doing he was forced to publicly contend with the multi-cultural and idolatrous spirit of religious confusion of the Greeks and Romans (Eph. 19:23 -20:1), who believed in over 300 gods and goddesses. During the temple celebrations it often came to licentious orgies (Rev. 2:14, 20). Thus the mixed-culture of Hellenism became, following the contentions with Jewish legalism, the second great challenge which Paul attempted to refute in his letter.
In the first century the Old and New Covenant proclamation of Paul, along with his ministry of healing, casting out demons and founding of churches, turned the province capital into a center of Christianity (Acts 19:11, 18-20). Thus it happened that the focus of early church history was transferred from Jerusalem over Antioch and on to Ephesus.
The Glory of the Church of Jesus also unites groups divided
The letter to the interlaced house churches in the city of Ephesus and in the Roman Province of Asia contains, by way of Paul´s powerful Christological doctrine of faith, a powerful proclamation that goes on to include his true-to-life ethics. The Jews in Ephesus who had come to believe in Jesus possessed a solid knowledge of the Old Testament, while the new believers from among the Gentiles had hardly an idea of the spiritual Scriptures of the Semites. Thus it came again and again, in the newly established church circles, to tensions as a result of the dominance of Jewish Christians. Some were clinging to the Law of Moses, indirectly shoving the grace of Jesus Christ aside. Therefore, Paul attempted in his letter to make clear to the various groups the spiritual unity of the church of Jesus. He placed before their eyes the glory of their risen Lord and the hidden splendour of their own new existence. By doing so Paul turned this letter into one of his main springboards of New Testament understanding regarding the Church of Christ, along with the spiritual riches of faith.
A further characteristic of the Epistle to the Ephesians is the absence of the names of its recipients, as well as the lack of greetings to the responsible leaders and active co-labourers, which is custom in other letters of Paul. This probably had to do with the fact that Paul likely knew hundreds of friends, brothers, sisters and leaders in and around Ephesus. In the event he would have mentioned one of them, he would have been, for the sake of love, obliged to list all of them by name. Thus, the letter to the Ephesians contains an essential message with objective expositions, without customary personal greetings or words of praise.
The Loneliness of House Arrest brought new Revelations to the Apostle
During Paul´s last journey to Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit made it clear to him, through the words of inspired prophets of the New Covenant, that suffering and imprisonment awaited him there (Acts 20:22-24; 21:10-14 ). Thus a time of need began for Paul that probably lasted for years, since he was moved by the Romans, for his own security, from Jerusalem to Caesarea, on the Mediterranean Coast, and later on to Rome. The epistle to the churches in and around Ephesus was probably written and sent from Rome between the years 61-63 A.D., shortly before the fire that struck “the great city”.
The energetic missionary to the nations, who was accustomed to both confrontational preaching as well as conducting sensitive and emotional pastoral discussions, was forced to do some re-thinking. He had to learn to be silent, to practice long meditation, to pray for the abandoned churches and to exercise faith for their salvation and protection through the resurrected Lord. As a result of this period of Spirit-induced calm, Paul could not only speak in his last letters to the isolated churches in the Northeastern regions of the Mediterranean, but to countless readers of his letters “during the past 2000 years”! His letters spoke and continue to speak in great and small gatherings of all nations of the earth. The thirteen letters of Paul in the New Testament represented, for many believers, the first gospel they ever received, for in the days of the apostle the primary gospels had not yet been written, translated into Greek or distributed. The Greek doctor, Luke, an earlier companion of Paul, was occupied during Paul´s time of house arrest with getting the words and life account of Jesus collected and translated from the Aramaic into Greek.
During his period of seclusion, Paul further believed in the complete control of existence through its creator. He did not believe himself to be a prisoner of the Romans or one labelled a slanderer by the Jews. Rather, he saw himself to be a prisoner for His Lord (Eph. 3:1; 4:1). In this burdensome time of solitary, the questions regarding the backdrop of salvation occupied him – such as the unique choosing of the children of Abraham under the Old Covenant, as well as the choosing and calling of the church of Christ in the New Covenant and how the two relate to one another. Even the “good works” of a believer in Christ he did not understand to be a result of one´s own achievement, but rather, as the fruit of his being predestined by God (Eph. 2:10). Even today, some Semites possess a more intense awareness of the presence of the Almighty and His unbroken surveillance of history so that related questions in the letter to the Ephesians take on added significance. With Paul´s letter the leaders of the house churches in Asia Minor were able to give Spirit-led answers to the critical questions they encountered.
The Letter to the Ephesians can be Organized as Following:
| The Letterhead | 1:1-2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| I. | Prayers at the Beginning of the Letter | 1:3 – 1:23 | |
| II. | Introduction to Christian Doctrine | 2:1-3, 21 | |
| The Judgement of Natural Man | 2:1-3 | ||
| God´s Grace Renews Sinners | 2:4-10 | ||
| The Unity of Jewish and Gentile Christians | 2:11-22 | ||
| The Authority of the Apostle in his Office | 3:1-13 | ||
| The Lord´s Prayer of Paul | 3:14-21 | ||
| III. | Introduction into Christian Ethics | 4:1-6, 20 | |
| Despite Multiple Giftings | 4:1-16 | ||
| Walking as the New Man | 4:17-24 | ||
| Have Mercy and Patience for one Another | 4:25-5:2 | ||
| Fornication, Covetousness and Coarse Jesting | 5:3-5 | ||
| Walk Carefully as Children of the Light | 5:6-20 | ||
| Christian Family Life | 5:21-6:4 | ||
| Words for Believing Servants | 6:5-9 | ||
| Whole Armor of God | 6:10-20 | ||
| IV. | Conclusion of the Letter | 6:21-23 |
Years after Paul was presumably decapitated in Rome, before the year 65 A.D., the risen Christ sent His Apostle John as Patriarch to Ephesus. He later dictated to him the seven letters to the churches in which He gave both an encouraging and criticizing message to the church leaders in the Roman Province of Asia (Rev. 2:1-3, 22).
It was probably also in Ephesus, a center of early Christianity, that “the gospel of Jesus Christ according to John” was written. Furthermore, it was on the nearby island of Patmos, following the Apostle Johns´s banishment there, that the Revelation of Jesus Christ concerning the future of the world was revealed.
Thus the epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians not only represents a fundamental and epoch-making message to the churches in and around Ephesus, but also offers, until today, the salvation of Christ and the glory of His church to all Christendom on earth.
Questions:
- Why did the Holy Spirit at first hinder Paul and his team from travelling to Ephesus?
- What were the main problems in the churches in and around Ephesus that were answered in this letter?
- What was the dominate message that Paul proclaimed in his letter?