For the past month we’ve been looking at the travels of Paul and the society Paul was living in. We looked at Paul’s time in Athens and Corinth. We looked at how society viewed children and women. This week we’re continuing on Paul’s journey… this time to Ephesus, where he headed after his year and a half in Corinth.
Paul left Corinth with his friends Priscilla and Aquila and eventually settled (briefly) in the ancient city of Ephesus, along the Aegean coast of modern day Türkiye. During the time of Paul, Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the Roman territories. Today it is one of the best preserved archaeological sites, visited by millions, including our family this past June.
There are many Biblical people associated with Ephesus: Paul, Priscilla and Aquila, Timothy. Also, some of Paul’s really close friends, that you may not have heard of, are associated with Ephesus including Apollos, Silas, Trophimus, Tychicus, and Onesiphorus. Paul treasured his companions in the faith. I think he recognized that the Gospel message could only grow and expand by forging friendships with both men and women of the faith.
Although the Bible doesn’t say anything about this, some of the earliest Christian writers, outside of the Bible, also placed Mary, Jesus’ mother, and the Apostle John, in Ephesus. It is believed that John wrote his Gospel account of Jesus’ life while living in Ephesus, and that he may have also died in Ephesus after his return from exile on the Island of Patmos.
There was a lot of Biblical action that happened in Ephesus. For years I just thought of Ephesus as a place that received a letter from Paul, but it was a vibrant community of Jesus followers living in a multicultural market city under the dominance of Rome.
During his stay in Ephesus Paul very likely wrote his first letter to the Corinthians. So the next time you read 1st Corinthians you can imagine Paul sitting in Ephesus with pen and paper. He had only recently left Corinth, but he knew the importance of maintaining friendships and encouraging his faith-family. And so, like a good friend, he wrote letter after letter, maintaining friendships with all the followers of the Way.
So what was Ephesus like? First and foremost, it was a very multicultural city. There were Jews, Greeks, Romans and even a population of Egyptians in Ephesus. Cleopatra and Marc Anthony visited Ephesus twice and, as a result, at least two Egyptian Temples were built there. However, their first visit wasn’t just ceremonial. They had a dark purpose for their visit… it was to kill Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe, who had come to Ephesus to escape their wrath. They saw her as a threat to Cleopatra’s reign and so they came to Ephesus and had her murdered at the steps of the Temple of Artemis. This was about 100 years before Paul’s arrival, but it goes to show what kind of city and culture we’re dealing with.
Ephesus was a wealthy market town with a strong multicultural network of players, in a town overshadowed by the largest temple in the known world: the grand Temple of Artemis.
The Temple of Artemis was considered to be one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was a great deal larger than the Temple to Athena on the Acropolis in Athens. It was massive and well-known around the Roman empire.
The poet Antipater of Sidon claimed to have visited all Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He found the Temple of Artemis the most impressive. Around 140 BCE, he wrote,
“I have set eyes on the very wall of lofty Babylon, supporting a chariot road, and the [statue of] Zeus by the Alpheios [in Olympia], and the Hanging Gardens, and the Colossus of Helios, and the huge labour of the steep pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolos; but when I saw the temple of Artemis, reaching up to the clouds, these other marvels dimmed, they lost their brilliance, and I declared, ‘Look, apart from Olympus itself, the sun has never shone on anything that can compare to this!’”
This place was jaw-dropping… it was huge… and according to this poet, more impressive than the pyramids of Egypt. It towered above the people. And Ephesus was completely proud of their Temple to Artemis. It was the shining star in their crown and Artemis was their queen.
Artemis was the mother goddess of the fertile land. She was the protector of nature, animals, and the great city of Ephesus. This version of Artemis (in Ephesus) was a little different from the classical Greek view of Artemis. In the Greek version Artemis was primarily the goddess of the hunt, but in Ephesus, Artemis was a hybrid blend of the Greek Artemis and the Anatolian mother-goddess, Cybele. Today all that remains of the Temple is one single column.
Most Ephesian townspeople, during Paul’s tenure in Ephesus, wer very proud of their connection to Artemis and her impressive Shrine. People came from all over the known world to see the marvel of her grand Temple, so it’s not surprising that the town rioted when they felt that her popularity was at risk. And who did they blame for that?… Paul.
Acts 19:23-34
About that time a major disturbance occurred in regard to the Way. For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith who made silver shrines of Artemis, was bringing considerable business to the craftsmen; he gathered these men together with the workmen of similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity depends upon this business. You see and hear that not only in Ephesus, but in almost all of Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable number of people, saying that gods made by hands are not gods at all. Not only is there danger that this trade of ours will fall into disrepute, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be regarded as worthless, and that she whom all of Asia and the world worship will even be dethroned from her magnificence.”
When they heard this and were filled with rage, they began shouting, saying, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” The city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging along Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul’s Macedonian traveling companions. And when Paul wanted to go into the assembly, the disciples would not let him. Also some of the Asiarchs who were friends of his sent word to him and repeatedly urged him not to venture into the theater. So then, some were shouting one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion and the majority did not know for what reason they had come together. Some of the crowd concluded it was Alexander, since the Jews had put him forward; and having motioned with his hand, Alexander was intending to make a defense to the assembly. But when they recognized that he was a Jew, a single outcry arose from them all as they shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
Can you imagine what it would be like for Gaius and Aristarchus… to be swept away in this mob of rioters? And how fortunate for Paul to have such concerned friends, to stop him from entering the riot. There’s a good chance they would have killed him… on the spot.
But what was this riot really about? What did they fear most? …losing their money.
It’s quite interesting… when you read through these stories in the Acts of the Apostles there’s a clear picture of the great problems of the age. The people were worshipping the wrong things. In Athens, under the goddess Athena, they worshipped knowledge. In Corinth, under the goddess Aphrodite, they worshipped sex. In Ephesus, under the goddess Artemis, they worshipped money. And in Rome? Well, Rome was all about the Roman Imperial Cult where they venerated Roman Emperors as divine beings with divine authority. With the Emperor as their god they, clearly, worshipped power and notoriety.
This is what God’s Adversary (ha-Satan) uses to tear people down. The big addictions of humanity: knowledge, sex, money, power, fame… and when a human can’t seem to acquire those things (like love or money), they turn to artificial substances, like alcohol or drugs, to substitute the pain they feel for not becoming what they think a successful human looks like: someone with a spouse, a house, a fancy education and a great job where they are respected. Not everyone gets those things, and so many people feel like a failure because society tells them that’s what they should all be like.
But it’s wrong. It’s absolutely wrong. Our focus has been distracted by what the world wants and admires, not what God wants or admires.
God isn’t bothered by your worldly success. Having a spouse and a house, a fancy education and a well respected career means very little in God’s eyes. He’s looking for people who unashamedly love Him and, as a result, loves everyone they meet. God wants and admires people of compassion and generosity. He cherishes those who are kindhearted encouragers and those who care for the marginalized, the poor, the orphans, the widows, the people who struggle… from all aspects of life… the rich, the poor, left-leaning, right-leaning, the powerful and those society deems “weak”. God wants His people to be friendly with everyone and that was Paul to a tee!
In Ephesus, Paul’s mission was attacked because he was a threat to their accumulation of wealth, but Paul preached a very different kind of wealth. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul said things like this:
Ephesians 3:8
To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.
Ephesians 1:18-19a
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know… the riches of the glory of His inheritance…
Paul emphasized the unfathomable riches of God and the glorious inheritance we will receive from Him. It wasn’t about coins with Caesar’s face, it was about the inheritance of the Garden Kingdom of God. Yeshua said,
John 14:1-2
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if that were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you.”
Essentially Yeshua was saying that we have an inheritance waiting for us and it has nothing to do with the accumulation of earthly wealth. We’re going to inherit the Kingdom of God… so what we gain on this earth is next to nothing when we consider what’s to come. Paul risked his life on that promise!
There was, however, an earthly treasure worthy of pursuing. The accumulation of friends was the true treasure.
After this harrowing event in Ephesus, Paul left and travelled around Macedonia. Eventually he decided to return to Jerusalem. As far as we know, he never went back to Ephesus.
Paul decided to return to Israel one last time and he made the decision to bypass Ephesus so he could make it back to Jerusalem in time for the Feast of Shavuot (Pentecost). But Paul’s great love for his friends stopped him from carrying on. He stopped at Miletus, just down the coast, and sent word to Ephesus for his friends to meet him to say goodbye. And so they came, and he said to them:
Acts 20:22-25
“Behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me. But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of God’s grace.
“And now behold, I know that all of you, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, will no longer see my face.”
Paul continued on with a beautiful message to his friends, which I encourage you to read this week. He ended, saying this:
Acts 20:35b
“…you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
When he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. And they all began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they would not see his face again.
We sometimes forget that Paul was human… and that he forged very deep bonds with his friends. If you read the letters of Paul you’ll see that he had very sweet, sentimental, things to say to his dearest friends. To Timothy he said, “I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.” (2 Tim 1:3b-4). To his friends Philemon (who Paul called “our brother”), Apphia (who Paul called “our sister”), and Archippus (who Paul called “our fellow soldier”), Paul says: “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers… For I have had great joy and comfort in your love” (Philemon 1:4, 7)
Paul was all about relationships and he felt deeply for his friends, and that included his many friends in Ephesus… Priscilla, Aquila, Timothy, Silas, Gaius, Aristarchus, and quite possibly John and Jesus’ mother, Mary, and many others. While he sat in jail, in Rome, he wrote to these friends in Ephesus, saying,
Ephesians 3:13
Therefore I ask you not to become discouraged about my tribulations in your behalf, since they are your glory.
At the end of the letter Paul says this…
Ephesians 6:19-22
Pray on my behalf, that speech may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Now, so that you also may know about my circumstances as to what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will make everything known to you. I have sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us, and that he may comfort your hearts.
This is what we do, as a family of God… we are to encourage each other… send each other out to minister to each other and bring comfort. Paul knew, wholeheartedly, what true earthly treasure was: family and friends, and the growing community of believers. Folks, we are more than a church, we are a family, and we are meant to nurture and support each other. So consider coming to Game Night, or joining small group, or staying for coffee after church… because without fellowship we can’t grow as a family. Let’s not forget how important community and fellowship is to our faith.
Benediction:
In his letter to the Ephesians Paul’s final words were this: Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love (Ephesians 6:24). I hope that is you!
Hebrew Word Lessons 