• Major city of Asia between the Croessus Mountains and the Aegean Sea, seated at the mouth of the Cayster River. Today, the site of ancient Ephesus lies six miles inland due to river silting.
• First-century population estimated at 300,000, making Ephesus one of Rome’s larger cities.
• Extremely prosperous as a commercial center, provincial capital, and port city of the eastern Roman empire.
• Featured numerous monuments, theaters, and temples, notably the temple of Diana (Acts 19:24–27). Ephesus was an international tourist center so profitable that its leaders opened the first world bank.
• Well-known for religious pluralism, including emperor-worship, mystery cults, occult practices, Hellenized Judaism, and early Christianity.
• A frequent destination for Paul, who stayed there for almost three years while he helped to establish the Ephesian church. He may have been jailed there, and likely wrote some of his letters there.
• Home of several Christian leaders, including Timothy, Erastus, and Onesiphorus.
• Timothy and the apostle John pastored there. The church experienced institutional development but was later admonished for losing its “first love” (Rev. 2:4).
• The Christian population in Ephesus held firm over four centuries. In A.D. 431 a church council held there condemned Nestorianism (a theory that Jesus was two distinct persons rather than one person with two natures—divine and human) as a false teaching.
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Scripture tells us more about the Ephesian church community than any other group of believers, giving us our best glimpse of a first-century congregation.
• No fewer than twenty New Testament chapters, covering a period of more than forty years, describe God’s work and community at Ephesus.
• More biblical authors wrote about Ephesus than about any other New Testament congregation. Luke devoted three chapters (Acts 18–20) to the details of its founding. Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians and two letters, 1 and 2 Timothy, to the church’s young pastor. The apostle John relayed a message from Christ encouraging and warning the Christians at Ephesus (Rev. 2:1–7).
• The world of Ephesus feels like our own. It is tense with prejudice and political backbiting, governed by an ambitious upper class that often exploits a disenfranchised underclass, and yet often exudes a strong hope for its future.
• The congregation at Ephesus was dedicated to evangelism. Luke reports that the message of Christ spread far inland from that major urban center until “all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 19:10). Revelation and Paul’s letters to Timothy suggest that the Ephesian Christians started several other churches. Some historians believe that the fugitive slave Onesimus from Philemon’s house church in Laodicea may have been the same Bishop Onesimus who served at Ephesus around A.D. 110 (see the introduction to Philemon).
• Establishing a thriving center of Christianity was costly. Paul devoted more time and energy to Ephesus than to any other city, making at least three visits and remaining on site for three years to lay a foundation for the church. His business partners Aquila and Priscilla (see their profile at Rom. 16:3–5) contributed enormous help. Paul’s protégé Timothy later persevered through many difficulties there and apparently established faithful leadership to succeed him (2 Tim. 2:2; see also the introduction to 2 Timothy).
This ancient church illustrates how we can establish a modern community of faith. Scripture provides us with details of the church’s beginnings (Acts 18–20), its needs as it matured (1 and 2 Timothy), and God’s warning that its members would need to rekindle their passion for the Lord as time went by (Rev. 2:1–7).
More: Bakht Singh Chabra established gatherings of Christians in India that were modeled as closely as possible on the New Testament church. See here for an article on his life.
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The salvation that we experience in the here and now actually extends back through time into eternity, “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). Salvation encompasses so many things that in the original Greek language, Paul described it with a run-on sentence of 202 words that stretches across twelve verses. His exhausting, inspiring depiction offers us a spectacular vista.
Paul explains that our salvation involves all three Persons of the Trinity. God the Father selected us for His grace (1:4, 5, 11). God the Son sacrificed Himself for our sins, redeeming us and extending forgiveness (1:7). And God the Holy Spirit seals us in Christ, guaranteeing our relationship with God (1:13, 14). God planned this process from before what we think of as the beginning, and His work will continue to impact us forever and ever.
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Obedience to Jesus can be costly. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). But at some point it is fair to ask how we benefit from following Christ. The Lord’s first followers raised this question. “We have left all and followed You,” Peter told Jesus. “Therefore what shall we have?” (Matt. 19:27).
Paul partially answers this question in Ephesians 1:3–14. Much of what God promises to His followers will be given in the future, in another mode of existence. Specifically, Paul mentions our “inheritance” (Eph. 1:11), which means that all that God has prepared for Christ in “the fullness of the times” (1:10) is going to be ours as well (Rom. 8:15–17). This includes salvation from sin (Heb. 1:14), everlasting life (Matt. 19:29), and the kingdom of God (25:34). As hard as it might be to grasp, we will inherit God Himself.
God already lets us glimpse that inconceivable future. The Holy Spirit lives inside us as a guarantee of things to come (Eph. 1:14). He “seals” us, assuring that we remain in God’s family and do not lose our inheritance. And as we move toward our day of inheritance, He works in every part of our lives to make us like Christ. Paul describes those real-world changes in Ephesians 4–6.
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Ancient conquerors often bequeathed territory and other property to children or valued servants (Luke 19:12, 14, 17, 27). These treasures formed their inheritance (Matt. 21:38). Ephesians highlights a similar concept, God’s “inheritance in the saints.”
God is at work preparing an inheritance—a kingdom—for His Son. It will encompass people from throughout history—those whom the Bible calls “saints,” or true believers, whom God has chosen to be His children. Paul wanted the Ephesians—and us—to know that all who believe in Christ will be part of that jubilant crowd.
When humankind rebelled against Him, God could have completely started over and instead created new and perfect creatures to present to His Son. But He chose to gather a people from the fallen masses of humanity. Telling us that we are part of His Son’s inheritance is actually a promise: the renovation that He has begun in our lives today will continue until we are perfected, ready to be presented to Christ.
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The few Gentiles in the church during the earliest days of Christianity were often scorned by Jewish believers who found it hard to accept that God had offered salvation to non-Jews. But Gentiles composed the majority of the church in Ephesus (see “The Ephesus Approach: How the Gospel Transformed a Community” at Acts 19:8–41). And the Book of Ephesians details the new life that Christ gave to Gentiles:
Gentiles were … | God has … |
• brought them near by the blood of Christ (Eph. 2:13). | |
• far from God (Eph. 2:17). | • provided access to Himself (Eph. 2:18). |
• strangers and foreigners (Eph. 2:19). |
God did not give these privileges to Gentiles separately from Jews but along with them (Eph. 2:5, 6, 21, 22; 4:16). God has torn down the “wall of separation” that divided these groups in order to create a unified body (2:14–16).
These principles were immediately relevant to Jews and Gentiles, but they matter wherever Christians encounter cultural diversity. Ephesians challenges us to see past our differences and stand together in grace. We are to “[bear] with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (4:2, 3).
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When Paul wrote about breaking down the walls that divide us, he may have been thinking of Antioch, a city that literally walled off the four dominant ethnic groups of its population—Greek, Syrian, African, and Jewish. Yet the Christians there overcame these divisions and commissioned Paul to take the gospel to Asia Minor. To learn more, see “The Antioch Model” at Acts 13:1–3.
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Paul saw the community of Christians in Ephesus as a monument in the making. Apostles and prophets were the foundation of the building, and Christ was its cornerstone. Jews and Gentiles were chiseled into living bricks and mortar until the entire group would become God’s dwelling.
Suppose Paul visited the churches of the modern world—not the physical buildings, but the people. Would he find us to be a spiritual monument in the making? What would enable us to put aside other cares and concerns in order to become a holy dwelling for God?
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Putting Life in God’s Perspective
When we face life’s troubles, it’s easy to lose the big picture and doubt our significance in the grand scheme of things. And because we are stuck in a world bound by time, we tend to assume that hardships like sickness, conflict, loneliness, insecurity, and fear will last forever.
Like modern Christians, the Ephesians faced intense pressure from the world. Their faith was tested by riots, courtroom struggles, and economic chaos (Acts 19:23–40). But Paul encouraged these followers of Jesus to learn and sustain God’s perspective.
• Looking to the past, Paul recounted what God had done for them before they were even born (Eph. 1:3–8).
• Looking to the future, he listed the benefits that their faith would bring (1:9–14).
• Looking at the present, he prayed that they would comprehend these realities and experience God’s supremacy (1:15–23). He also prayed that their identity would be based on eternal truths and God’s present power in them (3:14–21).
Whatever doubts and stresses cause us to lose perspective, Ephesians suggests that we relax—and pray. God put His plan in motion long before we showed up. He knew where He was leading us long before our first steps in Christ. He will continue upholding us long after we pass from this life. Seeing things as He does can put this life’s problems in perspective.
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Ministry is God’s work done by God’s people—serving others with all the gifts, resources, and power that the Lord gives us.
Some people assume that ministry is solely the domain of Christian professionals. But God says that ministry belongs to everyone, and every Christian is a minister. He gives gifts to each and every person to carry out His work (Rom. 12:4–8; 1 Cor. 12). The job of professional Christian workers is to equip others to do their part in ministry (Eph. 4:11, 12) by teaching Scripture, leading the way around obstacles, imparting vision for spreading Christ’s love, and helping people discover and develop the practical skills required to carry out their God-given tasks.
Ministry is the calling, privilege, and responsibility of every member of Christ’s body. Some congregations ground people in this truth by referring to professional workers as “staff” or “pastors” and calling all members “ministers.”
When believers are baptized, they are ordained into the ministry. Sharing ministry among all mobilizes and affirms the whole church and enriches every place that believers live and work.
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When we become members of the body of Christ, we are made into a new creation. Learn more in “New Creatures with New Character” at Galatians 5:22, 23.
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Salvation on the Streets
Bakht Singh Chabra (1903–2000) once tore apart a Bible with his bare hands. The son of wealthy Sikh parents, Singh was born and raised in the Punjab region of India that later became part of Pakistan. He attended a missionary school and spent five years living in a boarding home, where he befriended Muslims and Hindus but refused to speak to Christians. He stayed committed to his family’s Sikh practices until he left to study mechanical engineering in London. There he adopted Western habits and interests, indulged in a lavish lifestyle, and eventually shaved the long hairstyle that marked him as a Sikh adherent. His quest to find deeper meaning outside his native culture proved disappointing, however. Singh found the West as empty as the East.
When Singh moved to Canada in 1929 to study agricultural engineering at the University of Manitoba, he met a man named Owel Hansen. Hansen intrigued Singh because he seemed so much happier than the other people Singh had met. When Singh asked Hansen what made him so happy, Hansen replied that it was because he had received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. That same night Singh began reading the New Testament. For several days he stayed in his room, searching for answers in the Scriptures.
Then, on the third day, Singh came face-to-face with the ugly truth. Alone in his room, he suddenly saw black spots all over his body, accompanied by a strange, foul odor. Then he heard the voice of the Lord, who told Singh that the spots and the smell were his sins. Singh trembled as his sins were uncovered, and although he admitted his guilt, he felt hopeless. But the Lord said that His body had been broken, His blood shed, for the atonement of Singh’s sins, which in that very moment were fully forgiven. In an instant, Singh lost all desire for his former habits, and in place of his sinful desire, he felt joy and peace flood his soul.
Returning to India four years later, Singh met his parents in Mumbai. They had been displeased to hear of Singh’s conversion by letter, but prepared to accept him back into their home as long as he kept his new faith a secret. When Singh refused, they abandoned him, leaving him homeless in the sprawling metropolis. With no one to lean on but the Lord, Singh set off across India, preaching the gospel and gathering many followers.
Singh held annual meetings at Hyderabad and elsewhere which drew tens of thousands of attendees for days at a time. He also started local gatherings contextualized to their settings and patterned as closely as possible on New Testament principles. These assemblies have been described by some as the closest thing they had ever seen to a replica of the early church. Members gathered in the open air not only to listen to sermons but also for Bible study, prayer, and fellowship. Most of the work was handled by volunteers, with expenses covered by voluntary offerings; no appeals were issued.
As these assemblies rapidly spread and grew, Singh became the father of many indigenous Indian churches. His life mirrored the life of the apostle Paul in depending on God for all his needs and passionately beseeching God’s followers to “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1–3).
After many years of suffering from Parkinson’s disease, Singh died in 2000. A quarter million people attended his funeral, carrying their Bibles high as they followed his remains to the common people’s cemetery in Hyderabad.
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The Book of Ephesians may be divided into two halves of an overarching presentation on faith. Chapters 1–3 describe what God has done for us in Christ. Chapters 4–6 tell what we are intended to do in response. We are to imitate God just as children mimic the behaviors of their parents. In chapter five, Paul explores some of the patterns of a godly lifestyle:
• We live in love, sacrificing for others just as Christ has done for us (Eph. 5:2).
• We give up selfish pursuits such as immorality and greed (5:3, 5).
• We replace offensive language, flippant chatter, and unkind jokes with speech marked by thanksgiving to God and affirmation of others (5:4, 20).
• We exercise discernment and avoid deception (5:6, 7, 15).
• We abandon situations in which evil is the agenda (5:11, 12).
• We manage our time well (5:16).
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Christ calls us to submission instead of selfish ambition. The New Testament teaches believers to submit to God, to leaders, and to other believers. To learn what that means, see “Submission” at James 4:1–7.
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In many first-century marriages (and marriages throughout history), a wife was primarily valued as a means to produce legitimate children for the husband. Communication, cooperation, and affection were not normal expectations of marriage for women. But new life in Christ called for different patterns in marriage. Paul instructed husbands to love their wives and seek their personal development—a radically countercultural idea. Wives were to respond with commitment and loyalty. Their submission was not a form of subordination but an exercise in gentleness and love.
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Interacting with others in the workplace is an opportunity for non-Christians to see firsthand how faith makes a real-world difference in us. That is why Paul elsewhere challenges us to godly work habits (see “Your Workstyle” at Titus 2:9–11). But we should never let the act of witnessing get in the way of doing our jobs, as if God sends us to work just to give us a platform for evangelism. Paul challenges us to work with “sincerity of heart” and to stick to the task at hand, which he calls “doing the will of God.” This focus can impress our employers and coworkers far more than words.
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As Job’s friend Eliphaz observed, “Man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7). When people face setbacks—financial pressure, job loss, family conflict, injury, illness, emotional pain, death—they cast about for someone to blame, often faulting God or others or themselves. Scripture tells us to consider a different source: the “principalities” and “powers” that roam the heavenly places. Our struggle is not always against God or other people or ourselves but against these “spiritual hosts of wickedness.”
The influence of these entities does not absolve people of responsibility. The point is that human beings are not our enemy. Our real adversaries are sin and Satan. If we intend to stand against them, we must fight them with spiritual weapons appropriate to the conflict (Eph. 6:14–18).
Many people dismiss the idea of a supernatural realm as the fruit of superstition left over from the ancient world. Still others trust unreliable sources of information about the spiritual world. The Bible alone gives accurate insight into the evil forces that exist in this realm and exert a substantial influence on human events. Paul calls them “principalities,” a word often used in the New Testament. Here it refers to fallen angels (Rom. 8:38; Col. 2:15) but elsewhere to human rulers (Titus 3:1, translated as “authorities”) or to any ruler other than God (Eph. 1:21; Col. 2:10).
Sometimes evil powers make their presence obvious, as in demon possession (see “Demons” at Luke 11:14). But Satan and his hosts have other, more subtle means of influencing human activity and carrying out their evil purposes. In the modern world they seem to work through two primary means:
1. Belief systems. By introducing lies into the worldviews that shape both individual lives and entire societies, Satan can ravage the world. Our best protection against this deception is a grounding in biblical truth (Eph. 6:14), which enables us to test the ideas we encounter from religious teachers, educators, government leaders, the media, family, friends, and more.
2. Human institutions and leaders. Satan targets human systems and institutions because of their sway over others. Consider the character and spiritual choices of first-century groups such as the Pharisees (Matt. 23:13–15, 31–36), the Jewish Council (Acts 7:51–60), the Herods (see “The Herods” at Acts 12:1, 2), Caiaphas (see “The Religious Power Broker” at Matt. 26:3–5), Pontius Pilate (John 18:37, 38; 19:10, 11; 1 Cor. 2:8), and the Caesars, especially Nero (see his profile at Acts 25:12). Through these groups Satan launched a counterattack to the coming of Christ and the birth of the church.
God has established structures of human authority to carry out good purposes (Rom. 13:1–7), but as long as human beings are in charge, they remain vulnerable to the influence of evil spiritual forces.
As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, he sat chained to a Roman soldier for no other crime than preaching the gospel (Eph. 6:19, 20). In a letter to Timothy he instructed the young pastor to instruct people to pray “for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence” because God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:1–4).
Dark powers endlessly endeavor to subvert God’s purposes. But it is pointless to attempt to determine whether a particular incident has been caused by an evil entity. We have a far more constructive strategy for standing against our spiritual enemies: “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6:11). That armor consists of powerful spiritual weapons: truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, the word of God, and prayer (6:14–18). By learning to wear and to wield these armaments, we can resist the devil’s plans so that when the fight is over, we will still be standing.
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