Background of the Church at Ephesus

Picture of Ancient Ephesus

The Church at Ephesus - Part 1 - the Background

Losing Your First Love for Christ 

Revelation 2:1-7

Of the 7 churches mentioned by Christ in Revelation 2-3, you can only find the church at Ephesus in the Book of Acts, for the founding of the other 6 are not recorded for us.
It is clear that by the end of the 1^st Century, that church planting had permeated much of the region and Luke did not record for us the full extent of the amount of churches that had been planted. We know Paul spoke about the Gospel's spread in Romans 15:23 But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and since I have longed for many years to come to you, 
The powerful influence of the Gospel had spread throughout region, and there was also enough time for the churches to begin to remain strong and become mature or for some to began to drift from the purity of the Gospel and into worldliness.  

The church at Ephesus stands alone among the 7 Jesus addresses as we know much about its founding and development. We know that Paul was integral in the starting of the Ephesian church, but we don’t know much about the other 6. We just know that many faithful believers practiced the Great Commission and started churches wherever they went.

This we do know about the 7 churches - the people gathered weekly together even at cost of their lives. Many of them took their gathering serious and made it a priority and practice in their lives. With each of the 7 churches, Jesus walked amongst their gathering and took note of the true condition of each of the churches. These were not made up places, but churches who met weekly in 7 different cities and under all kinds of different influences.

Let's now begin to examine Ephesus...  

The Background of the City of Ephesus

            Largest and Strategic Commercial City in Asia Minor

Ephesus was the largest city in the Roman regional province of Asia and when the Gospel finally reached this city, its’ population was near 250,000 people. Its’ location was at the  opening of the mouth of the Cayster River on the gulf of the Aegean Sea. Because of its location, it become a major commercial and exporting center for all of Asia Minor.  

            Beautiful City

To behold Ephesus was to have your breath taken away for it was truly beautiful. When one visited the city, one would walk up an incredible street that was 35 feet wide and lined with magnificent columns leading from the harbor to the heart of the city. It was also deeply connected with having a thriving marketplace, the arts, a major sports stadium. It had a magnificent theater which was built on the western slope of Mt. Pion which overlooked the harbor, and seated in the neighborhood of 25,000 spectators.

            Religion

In regard to the religion inside the city of Ephesus, there were Temples were erected to Hadrian Severus, & Claudius, but the biggest religious temple was the one to Artemis (Diana in Latin), which at that time was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  This Temple to Dianan was around 4x the size of the Parthenon & it was adorned by the work of many of the greatest artists of the day. After a great fire in 356 BC destroyed the first temple, it was rebuilt, with Dinocrates (who later build Alexandria) as it chief architect.

            Establishment of Christianity in Ephesus

1.  Paul’s brief Visit – Acts 18:18-21

We know a good deal about the Ephesian church from the New Testament. Paul's first visit to Ephesus was very brief. 

2.  Apollos – Acts 18:24-28

Apollos, too, had been there and had an effective ministry before Paul arrived.

3.  Priscilla & Aquila – Acts 18:18-19 & vs26

They traveled with Paul to Ephesus and Paul left them in the city to minister as he went on to Caesarea.  On one of the days in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos speak and noticed that he preached of Jesus really well, but there were definitely some things lacking in his understanding, so they speak with him to ensure his doctrine & theology was correct (Acts 18:26). 

4.  Paul’s 2^nd Visit – Acts 19:1-41

Paul later returns to Ephesus and upon his arrival he finds a group of disciples who were only acquainted with the Baptism of John the Baptist, which is possibly from the teaching of Apollos. These disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit, so they were not true believers yet (19:1-7). For three whole months, Paul found himself teaching in the synagogue at Ephesus, followed by two years of teaching in the school of Tyrannus. The fruit of Paul’s stay in Ephesus was that many came to faith and from the influence of this church, the Gospel was heard throughout Asia Minor (Acts 19:8-12). It is in the city of Ephesus where Paul stay the longest of all the churches he founded. 

·      7 Sons of Sceva - Acts 19:13-20

When the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, attempted to cast out demons by using Paul's words and were overcome by the demons themselves, a great contrast was set forth in Ephesus revealing the weakness of magic and power of the Gospel. When they saw the power of God in their midst, many of those who came to faith in Christ broke hard from their pagan and magic focused past and the evidence was that they burned those kind of books publicly. Many of the new converts wished to make a complete break with the magic of their pagan past and burned their books publicly. It is stated that the value of the books were worth 50,000 pieces of silver.  The result of this lead which led to…

o  Gospel Spreading throughout the City – Acts 19:20

Acts 19:20 So the Word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.

As a result, the gospel continued to flourish in Ephesus.

Power of the Gospel spreading throughout the city also led to…

o   A Riot in Ephesus – Acts 19:23-20:1

Because of the size and dedication of the Ephesian church it became a threat to the idol-making industry in Ephesus.  Led by Demetrius, a silversmith, his trade guild violently opposed Paul and the Ephesian church so one day an angry mob gathered and two of Paul's close companions were arrested. While some of the Ephesian political officials restrained Paul from going before the hostile mob, the town clerk persuaded the crowd to settle their dispute in the courts, not in the street. It was not long after this that Paul headed out for Macedonia.  

5.  Paul’s visit with the Ephesian Elders – Acts 20:17-38

After some time, Paul was on his way to Jerusalem and would pass by Ephesus and he wanted to meet with the Ephesian elders so he called them  to meet with him at Miletus (Acts 20:16ff). It was there that Paul told them of the prophecies concerning the danger of his returning to Jerusalem. Of particular importance are these words:

Acts 20:28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. 31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

6.  Timothy in Ephesus – 1 Timothy 1:3-7

Paul’s words to them would later echo truth as he later wrote to Timothy, whom he had instructed to remain on at Ephesus in order to deal with those who were teaching false doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3-7).  It seems that Timothy, though young became a lead pastor/elder of this local congregation. Of particular concern in the first epistle to Timothy was the critical nature of Biblical church leadership. All of Chapter 3 outlines the qualifications of both  elders and deacons.  The warning he gave the elders at Miletus had indeed come true in the midst of the Ephesian church.

 7.  John the Apostle

Tradition tells us that the Apostle John also lived in Ephesus during his old age. It is through John that this new address comes to the church still in existence in Ephesus. 

Notice…the Ephesian church had some of the greatest leaders in the first century church…Apollos, the Apostle Paul, Aquila and Priscilla, Timothy & the Apostle John.

**Church had in its lifetime some of the greatest leaders one could ever want in the first century and as the first century comes to a close, this church with its storied leadership, has lost something through the years that Jesus is going to call them back to examine. 

Paul found the church there around 53AD so by the time we get to the book of Revelation, the church in Ephesus had been in existence for around 40 years. Paul wrote the book of the Bible to the Ephesians fifteen years after he founded the church there. 

-->

In the next blog post, we will examine what Jesus has to say specifically to them.