Anno Domini 2009
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Background
The City of Ephesus
The letter of Paul to the Ephesians is addressed to “the saints who are in Ephesus” (1:1). Ephesus was a very large and prosperous port city on the eastern shores of the Aegean.
It had a long track record as an influential city in Greek history. It came under Roman authority in 88 b.c. When Augustus became emperor in 27 b.c., he moved the provincial capital to Ephesus from Pergamum, further adding to the city’s importance.
It’s estimated that in the middle of the first century a.d. Ephesus had a population of about 400,000, making it one of the largest cities in the empire.
The city was host to the great temple of Artemis, the goddess of forests and hills, childbirth, fertility, and the hunt. She was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo. The Romans called her Diana. She is often depicted with a bow and arrow. The temple that was built in her honor in Ephesus was considered to be one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It was 377 feet long, 180 feet wide, sported 127 columns, each 60 feet high, and except for the tiles on the roof, was made entirely of marble.
Antipater of Sidon, who compiled the list of the seven wonders, had this to say about it.
I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, “Lo, apart from Olympus, the sun never looked on aught so grand.”
Here’s all that remains of the temple today—one column, and a portion of the foundation.
The Founding of the Church in Ephesus
Paul made a brief visit to Ephesus on his way his way back to Syria at the end of his second missionary journey (Acts 18:18-22).
He visited the city again on his third missionary journey, and stayed for a considerable time, longer, it seems, than he stayed anywhere else (Acts 19:1-9, 23-41, note the number of Gentiles who came to believe, v. 26-27).
The Letter
Date
Paul was in Ephesus about a.d. 52-55. He wrote this letter while in prison in Rome about a.d. 60-62. So it had been five to seven years since Paul had been with them.
Issues
In Ephesians Paul deals with some of the same basic issues that he dealt with in his letter to the Galatians, namely the whole question of the relationship between Jews and Gentiles in the Church of God. But he does so without the polemical tone of Galatians. Much of Galatians is a corrective to false teaching and false practice, namely, the requiring of Christian Gentiles to be circumcised and perform the works of the law (keeping kosher, observing the holy days of Israel’s festive calendar, undergo the ritual washings, participate in temple worship, etc.).
In Ephesians, however, we find a positive treatment of the subject.
We also find that he is very much concerned that they live worthy of the calling with which they had been called. That is, that they live worthy of the name Christian…
Divisions
The letter naturally divides into two main sections. Chapters 1-3 are more theological in nature; and chapters 4-6 treat of the more practical aspects of the faith. This breakdown is somewhat common in Paul’s letters. We find the same pattern in Colossians. Chapters 1-2 are more theological and chapters 3-4 are more practical. Similarly, in Romans, the more theological section is found in chapters 1-11 and the more practical section is found in chapters 12-16.
This is instructive. Right behavior is rooted in right belief. If you are sound in your thinking you are more likely to be sound in your living.
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