Lessons from Ephesus

THE Church at Ephesus was one of the seven churches that Christ sent messages to in Revelation chapters Two and Three.  The prophecy to the church at Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 situates the church at Ephesus in its correct place in the history of the early church, and of the world in the first few centuries A.D. If we study these, and we then fast-forward to contemporary times and ask ourselves, “Where is, and what betides the Church of Ephesus today?”, we are likely to learn very valuable lessons that could help our Christian witness today.

By way of introduction, let us briefly describe the seven churches. Below is a list of the churches and a summary of their state:

• Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) – the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).
• Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) – the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).
• Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) – the church that needed to repent (2:16).
• Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) – the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).
• Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) – the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).
• Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13) – the church that had endured patiently (3:10).
• Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22) – the church with the lukewarm faith (3:16).

It was not for nothing that Ephesus was the first to be addressed. Ephesus was an ancient Greek city, and later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. Its original Greek name, Agios Theológos referred to John the Theologian – it was believed that he wrote the Gospel of John in Ephesus. Please note that Agios means “holy”, and theologos means “one who discourses on the gods,”. Under the Ottoman Empire, Ephesus was known as Ayasoluk (Ottoman Turkish: Ayasluğ). In 1914, it was renamed Selçuk after the Seljuk Turks who first led incursions into the region in the 12th century.

Apart from being a major population center and the capital of the Roman province of Asia, Ephesus boasted a theater that was one of the largest known of all that have remained to modern times. The auditorium provided seating for an audience of 24,500 spectators. It was in this theater that the silversmiths led by Demetrius rioted against the Christian mission work of Paul and his companions. Ephesus was also the site of a large gladiators’ graveyard.

Another thing that made Ephesus popular was the temple of the Greek goddess Artemis, who in the Latin language was called Diana. This temple was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The temple was a magnificent work of Ionic architecture. The eighteen columns at each end of the temple were sculptured. The temple roof was covered with large white marble tiles. It was a magnificent temple.

It was no surprise the apostle Paul looked to Ephesus in his evangelical ministry. The city was pivotal if Asia was to be impacted for Christ.

To be continued.

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