Friday, May 11, 2018

Pauline Epistles Background SERIES: EPHESIANS

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God,
to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Ephesians 1:1

"It is likely that the gospel was first brought to Ephesus by Priscilla and Aquila, an exceptionally gifted couple (see Acts 18:26), who were left there by Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 18:18-19). Located at the mouth of the Cayster River, on the east side of the Aegean Sea, the city of Ephesus was perhaps best known for its magnificent temple of Artemis, or Diana, one of the 7
wonders of the ancient world.

The fledgling church begun by Priscilla and Aquila was later firmly established by Paul on his third missionary journey (Acts 19), and was pastored by him for some 3 years. After Paul left, Timothy pastored the congregation for perhaps a year and a  half, primarily to counter the false teaching of a few influential men (such as Hymenaeus and Alexander), who were probably elders in the congregation there (1 Tim. 1:3, 20).
Because of those men, the church at Ephesus was plagued by myths and endless genealogies (1 Tim. 1:4), and by such ascetic and unscriptural ideas as the forbidding of marriage (1 Tim. 4:3). Although those false teachers did not rightly understand Scripture, they propounded their ungodly interpretations with confidence (1 Tim. 1:7), which produced in the church harmful speculation rather than … the administration of God which is by faith (1 Tim. 1:4).

There is no indication that the authorship of Paul should be in question. He is indicated as author in the opening salutation (1:1; 3:1). The letter was written from prison in Rome (Acts 28:16-31), sometime between A.D. 60-62 and is therefore, often referred to as a prison epistle (along with Philippians, Colossians and Philemon). It may have been composed almost contemporaneously with Colossians and initially sent with the epistle and Philemon by Tychicus (Eph. 6:21-22; Col. 4:7-8)."
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