Praises to God
From the beginning of this letter, Paul offers praise to God. Not just God, the Father(1:3-6), but also God, the Son(1:7-12), and God, the Holy Spirit(1:13-14).

God the father is praised to “the glory of his grace”(v.6) which has been present since creation. God knows what he is doing and more than that, he enjoys it. When he called men to be reconciled to Him through Jesus, it wasn’t from a sense of duty or from exasperation pushing Him into saving mankind. No, it is God’s “pleasure and will” to save us through His son. Throughout this passage, it is clear that God knows what He is doing, and He enjoys doing it. What he is doing/has done/will do is to reconcile mankind to himself through his grace.

God the Son is praised because we are redeemed through his blood. Through his blood we are able to know God and his grace. Through his blood, we are also forgiven of our sins. We are not just forgiven, but forgiven according to His grace. In other words, This grace is ‘lavished’ on us ‘with all wisdom and understanding’.

God the Spirit is praised as a seal. In the more modern experience, a seal marks ownership and authenticity. A letter sealed in wax indentifies the author by the impression of his/her ring on the seal. It has been argued that the Holy Spirit, in effect, shows the christian as belonging to the father because of the signet seal on our lives.

However, the seal in this case is linked to inheritence. The Holy Spirit is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Basically, the Spirit promises that the rest of our inheritance is coming to us. First, God chose, then at salvation, He made men and women His children. Finally, in the resurrection, the earthly body will be reedemed. The inheritance is the full redemption of mankind, body and soul. This redemptive work began at the creation and will end with the final resurrection.

Praise of the Ephesians
Paul spent almost three years in Ephesus - it seems strange that he would have heard about their faith. It’s possible he’s referring to those who came to Christ since he left. It’s more likely that this refers to other recipients of this circular letter. This is similar to praying for a friend of a friend - you may not know who you are praying for, but based on the word of someone you actually know, you offer prayers to God. Epaphras visited Paul in prison and told him of everything happening in Asia. Since Paul wrote Colossians at the same time and included that letter with this one, it is likely he heard about the Colossians faith through Epaphras.

More importantly, Paul prays that they(readers of this circular letter) may grow to know God better through wisdom and revelation. Wisdom usually comes over time, revelation came at the urging of God through individual Christians in the church. Paul makes it a point to pray from both, not just the euphoria of new insight, but also from the patience and perseverance that comes through wisdom.

Feel the Power
Paul prays that they may be enlightened in the hope of their inheritance and in the great power for believers. Inheritance was touched on earlier, but Paul goes to great lengths to talk of this great power. This power raised Jesus’ body from the dead - it gives life. This power raised Jesus to the right hand of God - it has authority. How much authority? It raised Jesus above all titles of the present, and future. Remember that the Ephesians burned thousands of magical scrolls - they believed in all kinds of celestial beings, not just angels and demons. Paul is making the point that Jesus is above all of them, no matter what they imagine the other celestial beings to be.

More in Chapter Two

The church in Ephesus has an interesting history. Before getting into that, though, it is important to understand who the Ephesians were.

Ephesus was the greatest city in Asia at the time Paul visited there. It was an urban center on par with Corinth, Alexandria, Antioch, even Rome, itself. The harbour lead to the Aegean sea and served strategic purposes throughout history. It was also the seat of the Roman government at the the of Paul’s visit - this meant they also received money from Rome for various public projects. Ephesus was a beautiful city and comparable to Paris or Boston or Los Angelos in our time period.

It boasted the great temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Inside the temple, merchants dealt in goods from far and wide - archelogists have found goods made in Persia and India on the site. Oddly enough, the original temple was burned the night Alexander the Great was born, it was said that Artemis was concentrating on the birth of Alexander too much to defend her temple from attack. Herostratus only wanted to be remembered, yet ironically was overshadowed in history by a birth miles away. Because the original temple was destroyed, the new temple was constructed almost entirely in marble, thus earning a place among the seven ancient wonders.

Artemis was worshipped by the Greeks for centuries. Most of the ancient world identified her as a hunter, child of Zeus and Leto and twin brother of Apollo. She was usually indentified as the goddess of the hunt shown with drawn bow and arrow. However, the Ephesians had a unique claim to her that allowed the people to claim “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” Little is known about the object, but, according to Acts, this image ‘fell from the sky’ and somehow became associated with Artemis. As she was worshipped as a fertility and earth goddess, this object may have conincided with a great harvest. This is purely speculation, however. Although the origin is lost to history, the mention of this object allowed the city clerk to get the mob’s attention before that acted against Paul (Acts 19:35).

The ministry in Ephesus began off-handedly. Paul and others (Timothy, Priscilla, Aquilla, possibly Titus(?) and Tychius) were on the way to Antioch from Corinth. Paul took a Nazarite vow in Cenchrea, thus shaving his head. When they stopped in Ephesus on the way, Paul went to the synagogue to preach. Although asked to stay, he continued to Antioch by way of Macedonia. Priscilla and Aquilla decide to stay in Ephesus.

Apollos, then only a disciple of John the baptist, arrives sometime after Paul leaves. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue to preach about Jesus. I can imagine the the members of the synagogue were suprised that God had sent two believers to preach, especially two believers that did not know each other, yet both preached that Jesus was the Messiah. Apollos did this for some time before Priscilla and Aquila heard of him. Finding that he did not know about the Holy Spirit, they taught Apollos about Him. With more complete knowledge, Apollos wishes to continue preaching in Achia - Priscilla and Aquila send him with letters so that he will be welcomed by Christians there and elsewhere.

Because of Apollos, it’s not surpising that Paul returns and finds disciples of John the Baptist there. It is possible they had only recently come to believe that Jesus was the Messiah. Like Priscilla and Aquila, Paul gives them ‘full instruction in the Lord’ and they are baptized.

At this point, Timothy had to be with Paul because Paul mentions this journey in both letter to Timothy (1Tim 1:3; 2Tim 1:18). He again preaches in the synagogue for three months. However, the reaction this time is much less favorable. When folks start maligning the Christian faith, he moves to the lecture hall of Tyrannus. Some believe that this was a midrash hall - in other words, a place where the pracitical aspects of the Jewish faith were discussed. It seems more likely, that Tyrannus was a teacher of rhetoric. As such, Paul would have been no competition to his students. Paul preaches here for another two years.

It is important to note that the effect of the gospel was large scale repentance from witchcraft. People publically burned their ‘magic’ books in public. Considering that Ephesus later became home to the cult of Isis, these magic treatises and books may have been Eqyptian in nature (Book of the Dead and the like). The value amounted to several years of wages. In order to capture the scale, I imagine this would be like everyone in Boston publicly burning their copies of Harry Potter books. (I am not condemning the books or saying that they are witchcraft, I just couldn’t think of a different wildly popular book series as an example.)

Paul mentions fighting wild animals in Ephesus, but Luke does not write about it in Acts. He is almost lynched by a mob that disbands only after the city clerk threatens to arrest the mob. The mob seems motivated by money - with hundreds not worshipping in the temple, business was not so good. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense that some things are really motivated by money, but cloaked in religious piety.

From a Christian perspective, Ephesus enjoyed many ‘big names’ of the first century church. Apollos began there, Paul stayed for almost three years, Timothy stayed for longer. The apostle John lived there before his exile. If anyone had a chance to hear about Jesus from eyewitnesses, it was the citizens of Ephesus. Considering that the work was largely started by Apollos by reasoning with the Scriptures and continued by Paul who reasoned the scriptures for two more years, it is not suprising that John has to chide them in Rev 2 that they have lost their first love. As it says, they worked hard, they had good doctrine, but the heart was missing. Paul’s letter, thirty years before John’s, seems to hint that matters of the heart should be addressed.

As best can be determined, this letter appears to have been written around 62 AD while Paul is imprisoned in Rome. Two other letters accompany this (Colossians and Philemon). Apparently, a house church is now meeting in Philemon’s home and Apphia may be his wife. Considering the numbers of converts needed to begin a mob, it seems unlikely that the entire church met in Philemon’s home, especially if they met in the presumably larger lecture hall. I’ve been in a Roman house, it could easily hold 100-200 folks without alarm. Some histories place the membership of the church of Ephesus in the thousands, though it may not have been so high in 62AD.

I know, I said Monday. This is not an introduction, just some random notes so that I have a place to write them down.

It seems that the churches in Asia have a natural connnection. Paul started the church is Ephesus and stayed there for about three years. While there, Epaphras became a Christian (Acts 19:10) and subsequently took the message to Colosse (Col 1:7-8). At some point, through Paul, Epaphras, or others, churches started in Laodicea (Col 4:15) and Hierapolis.

Paul wrote four letters while imprisoned in Rome, Ephesians being one of them. (Ephesians was written at the same time as Colossians and Philemon. Philippians was written later.) It seems likely, that letter to the Ephesians was meant to be circulated around Asia. Tychus was sent to the area to bring the letters, so it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch.

Paul went twice to Ephesus. Once briefly from Corinth, then more deliberately from Ceasarea. On his second visit, Paul preached in the Tyranus Hall in Ephesus for quite some time. He also ran afoul of silversmiths. He encounters disciples that only know the baptism of John (Acts 18:1-7). It’s no surprise since Apollos had been teaching there for some time before Priscilla and Aquilla taught him the baptism of Jesus (Acts 17:24-26). Apollos went to Corinth, I guess, before setting everyone else straight.

Paul saw the repentance of many that practiced witchcraft. He also encountered the Seven Sons of Sceva. All in all, it seems the message was quite successful here, allowing ‘everyone in the province of Asia’ to receive the message.

Acts doesn’t tell the story in chronological order in this part, so I’m still working through some things. On his first visit, he had just cut his hair in Cenchrea as part of a Nazarite vow. This would have meant that he would grow out his hair until he could visit the temple in Jerusalem. He made have completed his vow before he returned to Ephesus or not. I think he did, but I’m not certain.

Interesting stuff thus far.

Doug and I are going to study the book of Ephesians together. We are going to try to do it a la Reading the Bible for All Its Worth. There’s a lot of work upfront, but I hope it is worth it.

All posts from us will have Ephesians in brackets for the Googlers of the religious blogosphere.

If anyone else wants to join, feel free. The only rule that I am placing on myself is No Commentaries. Bible Dictionaries ok, Eerdman’s Handbook ok - but no commentaries.

It will basically go like this:

1. Find out the history of the Ephesian church in Acts. This provides some context.
2. Use whatever resources you have (except commentaries) to discover when and where it was written.
3. Read the book in one setting.
4. Answer the who and what questions. (I have to keep in mind that this is an overview, I can get bogged down in minutia this early.) For example, who are the Ephesians? What is the author saying to the original audience? What situation is the author addressing? What does Paul say is happeneing to himself? Whom does he address specifically? What does he say about God?
5. Go through the chapters and answer the why questions. Why is Paul saying this to them? Why did he use this example? Why does he mention certain people?
6. Lastly, after going through chapter by chapter, review your notes and ask How does this apply to me?

The first post will appear Monday, and all other posts will appear Monday and Thursday for the month of April.

I look forward to it. Thanks for being my friend, Doug.

Before looking at the text itself, a little background of Paul and company’s visite to Thessalonika:

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas are in Philippi. At the very end of the chapter, the jailer in their prison becomes a believer. When the city officials declare that Paul and company should be released, Paul demands a personal escort as a Roman citizen. When they are escorted from prison, they go to Lydia’s house to encourage the brothers before leaving.

Keep in mind that they had been flogged. Their visit to Lydia’s house may have been a few days. (more…)