Ephesus #85

Ephesus was one of the largest and most important cities of the Roman province of Asia, on the western coast of what is now Turkey. It was a commercial port and the home of the temple of Artemis, and it became one of the most significant centers of early Christianity. Paul spent longer in Ephesus than in any other city on his journeys, and the New Testament connects it with Acts, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy, and Revelation.

Biblical Significance

Paul first stopped in Ephesus briefly, leaving Priscilla and Aquila there (Acts 18:19-21). They later instructed the eloquent teacher Apollos more accurately in the faith (Acts 18:24-26). On his return, Paul found a group of disciples who had known only John’s baptism and who then received the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7). He taught in the synagogue for three months and afterward daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus for two years, so that, Luke says, all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord (Acts 19:8-10). Extraordinary healings occurred, and those who had practiced magic burned their books, a collection valued at fifty thousand pieces of silver (Acts 19:11-20).

The gospel’s impact on the local economy provoked a riot. The silversmith Demetrius, whose trade depended on making shrines of Artemis, stirred the crowd, which packed into the great theater shouting “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” until the town clerk calmed them (Acts 19:23-41). Paul later summoned the Ephesian elders to Miletus and delivered a moving farewell, warning of false teachers who would arise (Acts 20:17-38). He placed Timothy in Ephesus to guard sound teaching (1 Timothy 1:3). The letter to the Ephesians, whose opening words are missing “in Ephesus” in some early manuscripts, celebrates the unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ. In Revelation, the risen Christ commends the church for its perseverance and doctrinal discernment but warns that it has abandoned its first love (Revelation 2:1-7). Christian tradition also places the apostle John in Ephesus in his later years.

Today

The ruins of Ephesus, near the modern town of Selcuk, are among the best-preserved ancient cities in the Mediterranean. Visitors can walk the marble street, see the Library of Celsus (built in the early second century), and enter the great theater, which is estimated to have held about twenty-four thousand people and is the likely setting of the riot in Acts 19. Only foundations and a single reconstructed column remain of the Temple of Artemis, once counted among the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The harbor has since silted up, leaving the site several miles from the sea.