A
BACKGROUND TO THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS A
BACKGROUND TO THE BOOK OF EPHESIANS
There are a huge number of sites on the internet that offer pictures of Ephesus as it looks today and other background information. Just put the appropriate words in your favorite search engine.
Ephesus was located at the mouth of the Cayster river on the western coast of Asia Minor (Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible [ZPEB], volume 2, page 324). This would be in modern day Turkey.
According to Acts 19:27, it was a wide spread religion, ". . . she whom all of Asia nd the world worship . . . (NASV)"
The temple was 1.25 miles northeast of the city. The 180 by 377-foot building was counted as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. One hundred seventeen columns that were 60 feet in height and 6 feet in diameter supported the roof. The temple was used as a center of worship and as a bank. Today it is totally destroyed (presentation by Harold Hoehner).
The idol was a fertility goddess and virgin huntress. She was invoked in childbirth. Child sacrifice may have been practiced in Artemis worship, but it was not practiced in the time of Paul. A Meteoric stone (mummy shaped and thought to represent the idol) was also worshipped according to Acts 19:35 (ZPEB, volume 1, pages 341-342).
At one time the priests were girls dressed in Amazon-huntress fashion (ZPEB, volume 1, pages 341-342).
The city was a trade center but was having economic problems because of silting in its harbor. Because of this, the selling of images of Artemis and the temple to tourists was of great economic importance. Paul and his associates were in danger in riotous conditions (Acts 19) because they were persuading people not to buy images (Hoehner).
The Ephesian church represented a minor religion in the city. The church had no temple, no temple treasury, and no idol. And Christian missionaries in the city were threatened. The Ephesian believers could have felt second rate compared to the Artemis worshipers and the believers could have been fearful. Perhaps their circumstances would be like that of a home church meeting in downtown Kandahar during the reign of the Talaban.
For a timeline of the Ephesian church in chart form, click here.
Paul experienced some success in reasoning with the Ephesian Jews but had to leave prematurely (Acts 18:19-21). He promised to return. According to John Stirling, An Atlas of the Acts, page 15, this took place around 51-52 AD.
Paul found disciples of John the Baptist at Ephesus sometime between 53 and 56 AD according to Stirling, page 17. They believed in Christ and were baptized (Acts 19:1-7). For two years Paul taught in the area (Acts 19:10). Because of the uproar concerning the shrines, Paul left (Acts 19:23-20:1). Paul called the Ephesian elders to him at Miletus (Acts 20:17-38) around 56 AD per Stirling, page 19. At this time he warned of evil teachers from the outside and believers from within the church who would follow perverse things.
Paul wrote the epistle during his Roman imprisonment. According to Stirling, page 23, this was during 62 AD. The Apostle calls himself a prisoner in Ephesians 3:1.
The following information would not be developed in Bible until later phases. However, it is being mentioned at this time to preserve the integrity of the timeline:
Truth should be taught lovingly.
After Paul’s imprisonment, he visited Ephesus. Stirling believes his movements after the acquittal were sometime during the period 62-63 AD, page 25. He went to Macedonia and left Timothy in Ephesus. Paul wrote 1 and 2 Timothy while Timothy was in Ephesus. Paul told Timothy that he should not allow men to teach strange doctrines and that he should make love the goal of his instruction (e.g., 1 Timothy 4).
The Gospel of John may have been written in Ephesus between 85-90 AD (Charles Cadwell Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition, New American Standard Version [RSB], page 1598).
John’s famous letter to the Ephesians (Revelation 2:1-7) was written in the 90s AD (RSB, page 1893). Revelation 2:2-5 indicates that the Ephesian church did not endure the evil men, teachers of false doctrine, but they did lose their first love. They were warned that, unless they returned to their first love, they would lose the place of their lampstand (i.e., their local church would be dissolved).
Tradition suggests that Ephesus became a headquarters for the Apostle John after he left Patmos (William Steuart McBirnie, The Search for the Twelve Apostles, page 112). McBirnie relies on Eusebius’ Historia Ecclesiastica, chapter 20, page 103. The Dictionary of the Christian Church (DOCC), page 356, indicates that the definitive edition of Historia Ecclesiastica appeared in 325 AD.
This is according to http://ce.eng.usf.edu/pharos/wonders/artemis.html.
Artemis' temple was destroyed in 262 AD at the direction of John Chrysostom and burned to make lime (http://itsa.ucsf.edu/~snlrc/encyclopaedia_romana/greece/paganism/artemission.html). Chrysostom was a skilled preacher and bishop of Constantinople (DOCC, pages 225-226).
This council was held in Ephesus in 431 AD to consider the doctrine of Nestorius. Nestorius was charged with teaching that the presence of the Divine and the human existed in our Lord in such a way that He was made two distinct beings. The other side prevailed. They believed that our Lord’s two natures concurred in one person and substance. The council was a bitter struggle devoid of love. The anti-Nestorian party arrived first, excommunicated Nestorius, and left. The local populace then rioted against persons holding the opposing viewpoint. Then the Nestorian party arrived, excommunicated the first party, and left. Ultimately politics, not believers discussing their viewpoints and coming to a decision in a loving way, settled the issue. The emperor made the decision (Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of Christianity, pages 167-168). "Scenes followed which were a denial of the love and therefore of the faith to which both parties were theoretically committed (Latourette, page 168)."
The lack of love caused this reactionary synod to be held in Ephesus in 449 AD (DOCC, pages 344-345, 358). After the Third Ecumenical Council, a compromise was worked out that held to two natures of Christ but one person. This is the orthodox view of the church today (John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ our Lord, pages 1144-145).
"Dioscurus presided, with brutal violence, protected by monks and an armed soldiery; while Flavian and his friends hardly dared open their lips, and Theodoret was entirely excluded. When an explanation from Eusebius of Dorylaeum, who had been the accuser of Eutyches at the council of Constantinople, was presented, many voices exclaimed: 'Let Eusebius be burnt; let him be burnt alive. As he has cut Christ in two, so let him be cut in two. . . .' Flavian was so grossly maltreated by furious monks that he died of his wounds a few days later, . . . (Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Galaxie Software edition,volume I, third period, paragraph 140).”
Silt filled the Ephesian harbor and it became a breeding place for malaria carrying mosquitoes (ZPEB, volume 2, page 330).
In 1090, the Turks destroyed the city. It was rebuilt nearby but was then plundered twice more by the Turks in the early 1400's. Its church was turned into a mosque and the land occupied by the old city is now a marsh (S. Vailhe, Ephesus, Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05490a.htm).
Click here to return to the Bible Study Background Page.
Click here to return to the Spiritual Insights Page home page.