Reference: Ephesians
Morish
Ephesians. Ephe'sians
The inhabitants of Ephesus. Ac 19:28-35; 21:29.
Ephesians, Ephe'sians Epistle to the.
Paul first visited Ephesus on his way from Corinth to Syria: he did not stay then, but left Priscilla and Aquila there, who were afterwards joined by Apollos. Ac 18:18-24. Paul soon returned and stayed there two years. There was thus time for the saints to be grounded in the truth. The opposition was so great in the synagogue that Paul separated the disciples, and they met daily in the school of Tyrannus. The word grew mightily and prevailed. Ac 19:1-20.
In 1Co 15:32 Paul speaks of having fought with beasts at Ephesus, doubtless alluding to the strong opposition manifested towards him there by the Jews. In Ac 20:17, etc., Paul exhorts the elders of Ephesus, as overseers, to feed the church of God. He warns them that grievous wolves would enter in, and some from among themselves would speak perverse things to draw away disciples after them. As their resource he commends them to God and the word of His grace. Following this was the Epistle he wrote to them during the two years he was a prisoner at Rome.
In 1Ti 1:3 Paul says he had besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus, and to exhort them to teach no other doctrine, and not to give heed to fables and endless genealogies. In 2Ti 1:15 there is the sad intelligence that 'all they which are in Asia' (which must have included Ephesus) had 'turned away from' Paul, doubtless signifying that they had given up the truth as taught by Paul, and settled down with a lower standard. In 2Ti 4:12 Tychicus had been sent to Ephesus. The great care and watchfulness with which Paul laboured for their welfare is very manifest. In Re 2:1-7 we have the address to this church, in which much is said in their favour, though the solemn charge had also to be made that they had left their first love, and the warning is given that if they did not repent their candlestick would be removed.
The Epistle to the Ephesians is remarkable in setting forth the counsels of God with regard to His people as connected with Christ. It is from this standpoint that they are viewed, rather than that of their need as sinners, and how it has been met. This latter is developed in the Epistle to the Romans. The state of the Ephesian believers enabled them to receive a communication of such a nature as this Epistle, in which glorious unfoldings of the mind of God about His own are given in the greatest fulness.
The key note is struck in Eph 1:3, where God is blessed as "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"
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Now Paul stayed a considerable time longer in Corinth, and then bade the brothers goodbye and set sail for Syria, accompanied by Aquila and Priscilla. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow. Then they came to Ephesus, and Paul left them there. He went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. read more. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. But as he bade them goodbye, he promised, "I will come back to you again, if it is God's will." Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church there; then he went down to Antioch. After spending some time there, he started out again, and by a definite schedule traveled all over Galatia and Phrygia, imparting new strength to all the disciples. Meanwhile, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus. He was a native of Alexandria, a learned man, and skillful in the use of the Scriptures.
It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, by passing through the inland districts, came to Ephesus. He found a few disciples there and asked them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" They answered him, "So far from that, we never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." read more. He then asked, "With what sort of baptism then were you baptized?" They answered, "With John's baptism." Then Paul said, "John baptized with a baptism that was an expression of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was to come after him; that is, in Jesus." On hearing this they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to speak in foreign tongues and to prophesy. In all there were about twelve men. He went to the synagogue there and for three months courageously spoke, keeping up his discussions and continuing to persuade them about the kingdom of God. But as some of them grew harder and harder and refused to believe, actually criticizing The Way before the people, he left them, withdrew his disciples, and continued his discussions in the lecture-hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everybody living in the province of Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God also continued to do such wonder-works through Paul as an instrument that the people carried off to the sick, towels or aprons used by him, and at their touch they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. But some wandering Jews who claimed to be driving out the evil spirits tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus on those who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you by that Jesus whom Paul preaches!" Sceva, a Jewish high priest, had seven sons who were doing this. But on one occasion the evil spirit answered, "Jesus I know and Paul I know about, but who are you?" So the man in whom the evil spirit was, leaped upon them and so violently overpowered two of them that they ran out of the house stripped of their clothes and wounded. This at once became known to everybody living in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and awe fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus began to be held in high honor. And many who became believers kept coming and confessing and uncovering their former practices. Many people who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them up before the public gaze. They estimated the price of them and found it to be ten thousand dollars. In a way of just such power as this the Lord's message kept on spreading and prevailing.
When they heard this, they became furious and kept on shouting, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the whole city was thrown into confusion and with one impulse the people rushed into the theatre and dragged with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. read more. Paul wanted to go into the assembly and address the people, but the disciples would not let him. Some of the public officials in Asia, who were friendly to him, also sent word to him, begging him not to risk himself in the theatre. So they kept on shouting, some one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and the majority of them did not know why they had met. Some of the crowd concluded that it was Alexander, since the Jews had pushed him to the front, and since Alexander had made a gesture of the hand as though he would make a defense before the people. But as soon as they saw that he was a Jew, a shout went up from them all as the shout of one man, lasting for two hours: "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the city recorder quieted the mob and said: "Men of Ephesus, who in the world does not know that the city of Ephesus is the guardian of the temple of the great Artemis and of the image that fell down from heaven?
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus in the city with him, and so they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
If from merely human motives I have fought wild beasts here in Ephesus, what profit will it be to me? If the dead are never raised at all, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall be dead."
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who through Christ has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm.
when He raised Christ from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in heaven,
And He raised us with Him and through union with Christ Jesus He made us sit down with Him in the heavenly realm,
so that the many phases of God's wisdom may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,
So I mean this and now testify to it in the name of the Lord: You must now stop living as the heathen usually do, in the frivolity of their minds,
For our contest is not with human foes alone, but with the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark world; that is, with the spirit-forces of evil challenging us in the heavenly contest.
As I begged you to do when I was on my way to Macedonia, I still beg you to stay on in Ephesus to warn certain teachers
You know that everyone here who belongs to the Roman province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
"To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: 'The One who is holding the seven stars in His right hand and is walking among the golden lampstands speaks as follows: "I know what you have done; your hard work and patient endurance; that you cannot tolerate wicked persons; that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles although they were not, and have found them to be imposters, read more. You are showing patient endurance, and you have borne it for my sake, and have not grown weary. But I hold it against you that you do not love me as you did at first. So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent and do as you did at first, or else I will surely come and move your lampstand from its place -- if you do not repent. But you have it to your credit that you hate what the Nicolaitans are doing, as I do too. Let everyone who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will give to him who conquers the privilege of eating the fruit of the tree of life that stands in the paradise of God."'"