Introduction
to Ephesus Church
The meaning of the Church
Meaning “To let go, relax.” According to some sources, also
means “Desirable.”(That you would like to have or do; worth having or doing:)
About the Church
·
Ephesus (Ancient Greek, Ephesos; Turkish Efes) was an ancient Greek city, and
later a major Roman city, on the west coast of Asia Minor, near present-day Selçuk, Izmir Province, Turkey
·
It was one
of the twelve cities of the Ionian League during the Classical Greek era. This also made it one of the largest
cities in the Mediterranean world.
·
In the Roman
period, Ephesus had a population of more than 250,000 in the 1st century BC
·
The city was
famed for the Temple
of Artemis (Daina Godess. She was goddess
of prosperty) This temple constructed Emperor Constantine I rebuilt much of the city and erected new
public baths. Following emperor Theodosius I (completed around 550 BC),
Acts
19:24 For a man named Demetrius, a
silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the
craftsmen.
Acts 19:28 When they heard this they were enraged
and were crying out, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
Acts 19:34 But when they recognized that he was a
Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, "Great is Artemis of the
Ephesians!"
They
belived she came form heaven
Acts 19:35 And when the town clerk had quieted
the crowd, he said, "Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that
the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from
the sky?[1]
·
The town was
partially destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD.
·
The city's
importance as a commercial center declined as the harbor was slowly silted up
by the Cayster River (Küçük Menderes).
St.Paul was a first missionary
St. Paul was the first person preached
the Gospel to this city. In his second missionary journey he visited this
church. We can see this in Acts 18:19 and Acts 19:1
;.
Acts 18:19 And he came to Ephesus, and left them
there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.
Acts 19:1 And it happened that while Apollos was
at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland[1] country and came to Ephesus.
There he found some disciples.
Two years ministry
And
St.Paul stayed in Ephesus for two year and he did his ministry there.
Acts 19:10 This continued for two years, so that
all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
Timoty ministry
After St. Paul his
dispel Timothy took care of this church,
St. John ministry
After Timothy St. John did
ministry in this place. During that time
only he exile to island patmos. After
punishment over st. John spend his last age in this place only that time only
he worte the book of 1st, 2nd and 3 John books
and he died and buried in Ephesus only.
Literally there was just such a church sixty miles north east of
the isle of Patmos. So there was a
literal church of Ephesus.
Many believe that this particular church was symbolic of the
apostolic age from about 30 to 100 AD - It is called the Apostolic Church.
7 parts of letter
We can dived all seven letter into 7 parts.
1.
“To the angel of _________ write...”
2.
A description of Jesus from the vision
3.
Positive(s) (“I know...”)
4.
Contrast (“But...”)
5.
Causation (“Therefore...”)
6.
“He who has an ear...”
7.
“To him who overcomes....”
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