EPHESIANS

INTRODUCTION

EPHESUS A large and important city on the west coast of Asia Minor, surrounded by:

    To the North - Smyrna
    To the East - Laodicea
    To the South - Miletus
    To the West - The Aegean Sea

We know this area today as the western part of Turkey, and because of silting from the Cayster river the ruins of the city are in a swamp 5 to 7 miles inland..

Economics - sitting at the mouth of the river Cayster and midway between Smyrna and Miletus, it was at the junction of natural trade routes. Ephesus was:

    1. The most favorable seaport in the province of Asia
    2. The most important trade center west of Tarsus

Population - although Pergamum was the capital of the province of Asia during Roman occupation, Ephesus was the largest city in the province with a population of approximately 300,000 people. This was due mainly to the prosperous economic climate.

Culture - the people of Ephesus were accustomed to all forms of entertainment and luxury available to the people of their time. The city contained a theater that seated an estimated 25,000 people. A main thoroughfare, approximately 105 feet wide, ran from the theater to the harbor, at each end of which stood an impressive gate. The thoroughfare was flanked on each side by rows of columns. Behind these columns were baths, gymnasiums, and impressive buildings.

Click here to see a map of the area with Ephesus in relation to other cities during Paul's 1st and 2nd missionary journeys
(maps by "PC Study Bible" Biblesoft)

History - during the Biblical period, Ephesus was under several different rulerships:

Religion - religion in Ephesus was as diverse as its teaming population:

Christianity - Christianity began to flourish in Ephesus when Paul came to Ephesus for the second time in approximately A. D. 52, establishing a resident ministry for the better part of three years (Acts 20:31).

During his stay in Ephesus, Paul encountered both great opportunities and great dangers:

After Paul left Ephesus, Timothy remained to combat false teaching: "As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work-- which is by faith." (1 Tim 1:3-4) [NIV]

Many traditions testify that the apostle John lived in Ephesus toward the end of the first century. In John's vision from the island of Patmos off the coast of Asia Minor, he described the church of Ephesus as flourishing, although it was troubled with false teachers and had lost its first love (Rev. 2:1-7). In the sixth century A. D. the Roman emperor Justinian (A. D. 527-565) raised a magnificent church to John's memory in Ephesus.

Ephesus continued to play a prominent role in the history of the early church:

Today most of the city is in decay due to the silting of the harbor by mud brought down by the Cayster River. Among the remains are the ruins of the wall and a gate, the stadium, the theater, Roman baths, and a library.

The great temple is destroyed and the site where it stood is a swamp.

"No one could leave that hired house untouched, if only to 'argue vigorously.' It had an atmosphere of happiness with the music and singing which Paul mentions in both the chief letters he wrote from it. His character had not been soured or hardened by troubles. To judge by what he thought important, he was kind, tenderhearted, forgiving, just as Christ had forgiven him. He walked in love, the element which bound his qualities together. He was still the great encourager, welcoming a man who was weak in faith but refusing to argue about secondary matters. Like his Master he did not emphasize a man's shortcomings but his potential, and he would not pass judgment on others unless they betrayed their Master by open sin, when he could be severe but with the aim of restoring and strengthening.

"In that Roman house bitter people softened; anger, wrath, clamor died away. Paul had more than ever a sense of his littleness, his unworthiness - 'less than the least of all saints' - of the marvel of his being entrusted with a commission 'to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ.' He seemed to delight in the contrast between the majesty of the message and the insignificance of the messenger: such a gentle little man now, yet with what steel and strength.

"The soldiers, turn and turn about, knew where that strength had its chief contact with infinity. In the early mornings the guard chained to Paul joined willy-nilly the time on his knees, and heard the words of thanksgiving and intercession. Paul's heart was far away in Greece or Asia Minor. 'Father of glory,' the soldier must have heard him pray for the Ephesians, and for the Colossians and 'all who have not seen my face': 'God of our Lord Jesus Christ, give them a spirit of wisdom and of revelation. May they know what is the hope to which you have called them, what are the riches of your glorious inheritance, what the immeasurable greatness of your power ... May they live a life worth of you, fully pleasing to you, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in their knowledge of you ... Father, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, according to your riches in glory grant them to be strengthened by might in the inner man. May Christ dwell in their hearts by faith. May they be rooted and grounded in love, and comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth - and know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that they be filled with all the fullness of God.'

"Mentioning many by name, entering into their needs and problems as best he knew them, Paul prayed, sometimes alone except for the soldier, sometimes with Aristarchus and Luke and whoever was with him. His prayers were shot through with praise, and it may have been a soldier, whether Christian yet or not, who first heard in Rome the thanksgiving which would ring out to Asia and thus to the world: 'Now unto him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.' "

THE STRUCTURES
From the COMPANION BIBLE

The Structures used in this study give, not a mere Analysis evolved from the test by human ingenuity, but a SYMMETRICAL EXHIBITION of the Word itself, which may be discerned by the humblest reader of the Sacred Text, and seen to be one of the most important evidences of the Divine Inspiration of its words.

These Structures constitute a remarkable phenomenon peculiar to Divine Revelation; and are not found outside it in any other form of know literature.

This distinguishing feature is caused by the repetition of subjects which reappear, either in alternation or introversion, or a combination of both in many different patterns.

This repetition is called "Correspondence," which may be by way of similarity or contrast.

THE INTER-RELATION OF THE 7 CHURCH EPISTLES AS SHOWN AS A WHOLE:

THESSALONIANS = GLORIFIED WITH CHRIST

No "reproof", no "correction". All praise and thanksgiving.

A "TYPICAL" CHURCH