Ephesians

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” - Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭2‬

Over the next couple of months, we will be going through the book of Ephesians. Ephesians is Paul’s letter to the church in Ephesus. Paul visited Ephesus on his third missionary journey around AD 53-57. He spent nearly three years there ministering to the church, which is recorded in Acts 19. Paul spent more time with the church in Ephesus than he did with any other church during his missionary journeys. He wrote this letter to the Ephesians around AD 60 under house arrest in Rome as he awaited his trial before Caesar. Paul appealed to Caesar, as was his right as a Roman citizen, because the Jews were accusing him of being an agitator and wished for his downfall. He knew the trial would be unjust and that there were plots against his life by some of the Jews.

Looking at Acts 19, we see that Paul meets a group of Ephesians disciples, who despite believing in Jesus and being baptized, had not received the Holy Spirit. They were totally unaware of the Spirit. Paul explained the difference in John the Baptist’s baptism and the baptism of Jesus Christ. The baptism the disciples received was of John, which was done to signal repentance and to point to the coming of Jesus Christ. The baptism in the name of Jesus indicated a saving faith in Jesus as the Christ. The disciples responded in faith by being baptized in the name of Jesus, and upon Paul laying his hands on them, they received the Holy Spirit.

Paul spent the first three months of his stay in Ephesus preaching in the Jewish synagogue, proclaiming boldly the truths of God’s Kingdom revealed in Christ. When the Jewish congregation responded poorly to his preaching, Paul moved on with the disciples and began teaching and preaching daily in the hall of Tyrannus for the next two years to Jews and Gentiles alike.

As God began performing miraculous signs and wonders through Paul, Jewish exorcists began to try to perform the same signs and wonders. Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were unable to perform cast an evil spirit from a man and were attacked by the man controlled by the evil spirit. The people in the area became aware of this and were driven to fear God and believe in the Lord Jesus. They confessed their pagan magic practices and burned their books of magic arts.

Trouble arrived for the Christians when a silversmith named Demetrius felt that his business of making idols to the pagan goddess Artemis was in jeopardy because so many were turning away from their paganistic ways and to the Lord. A city-wide riot broke out, which was eventually calmed by the town clerk to avoid trouble with Roman officials. Paul then left for Macedonia.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, written within five years of his visit, does not directly combat any heresy or direct problems within the local church as some of his other letters do, such as his letters to the Corinthians. Instead, Paul spends his letter outlining basic doctrines, which are as relevant to us today as they were to the Ephesians in AD 60.

1. In Christ, we have immense spiritual blessings.

2. Believers are unified in Christ despite worldly differences.

3. Paul calls the believers to walk worthy of their calling in Christ, to live as a unified body, and to put on spiritual armor to combat the battles we face as believers.

We will be covering these three main points and more in future posts. Next week, we will look at our hope in Christ, covered in Ephesians 1:3-14.