Reference: Ephesians
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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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Paul stayed some time longer, and then bade the brothers goodbye and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because of a vow he had been under. When they reached Ephesus he left them there. He went to the synagogue there and had a discussion with the Jews. read more. They asked him to stay longer, but he would not consent. He bade them goodbye, saying, "I will come back to you again if it is God's will." Then he sailed from Ephesus. When he reached Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and paid his respects to the church, and then went on to Antioch. After spending some time there, he started out again, and traveled systematically through Galatia and Phrygia, reassuring all the disciples. A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, skilful in the use of the Scriptures.
It was while Apollos was in Corinth that Paul, after passing through the interior, reached Ephesus. Finding some disciples there, he said to them, "Did you receive the holy Spirit when you became believers?" "No," they said to him, "we never even heard that there was a holy Spirit." read more. "How then were you baptized?" he asked. "With John's baptism," they answered. "John's baptism was a baptism in token of repentance," said Paul, "and he told the people to believe in him who was to follow him, that is, in Jesus." When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, and when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in foreign tongues and with prophetic inspiration. There were about twelve of them in all. He went to the synagogue there, and for three months spoke confidently, holding discussions and trying to persuade them about the Kingdom of God. But as some of them were obstinate and refused to believe, finding fault with the Way before the people, he left them, and withdrew the disciples, and held daily discussions in the lecture-room of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that everyone who lived in Asia, Greeks as well as Jews, heard the Lord's message. God did such extraordinary wonders by means of Paul, that people took to the sick handkerchiefs or aprons he had used, and they were cured of their diseases, and the evil spirits went out of them. Some Jews who went from place to place casting out demons tried to use the name of the Lord Jesus in the cases of people who had evil spirits in them, saying, "I command you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches!" A Jewish high priest named Sceva had seven sons who were doing this. But the evil spirit answered, "I know Jesus, and I know of Paul, but who are you?" And the man in whom the evil spirit was sprang at them, and overpowered them all, with such violence that they ran out of the house tattered and bruised. This came to be known to everyone who lived in Ephesus, Greeks as well as Jews, and great awe came over them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus came to be held in high honor. Many who became believers would come and openly confess their former practices. A number of people who had practiced magic brought out their books and burned them publicly. The value of these was estimated and found to be ten thousand dollars. So the Lord's message went on growing wonderfully in influence and power.
When they heard this, they became very angry, and cried, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" So the commotion spread all over the city, and by a common impulse the people rushed to the theater, dragging with them two Macedonians, Gaius and Aristarchus, Paul's traveling companions. read more. Paul wanted to go before the people himself, but the disciples would not allow it. Some of the religious authorities also, who were friends of his, sent to him and begged him not to venture into the theater. Meanwhile the people were shouting, some one thing and some another, for the meeting was in confusion, and most of them had no idea why they had come together. Some of the crowd called upon Alexander, as the Jews had pushed him to the front, and he made a gesture with his hand and was going to speak in defense of them to the people. But when they saw that he was a Jew, a great shout went up from them all, and they cried for two hours, "Great Artemis of Ephesus!" At last the 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 the sky?
From Miletus he sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church.
For they had previously seen Trophimus of Ephesus with him in the city, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the Temple.
From the human point of view, what good is it to me that I have fought wild animals here in Ephesus? If the dead do not rise at all, "Let us eat and drink, for we will be dead tomorrow!"
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.
he exerted in raising Christ from the dead, and seating him at his right hand in heaven,
And he raised us with Christ, and through our union with Christ Jesus made us sit down with him in heaven,
so that the many-sided wisdom of God may now through the church be made known to the rulers and authorities in heaven,
So what I mean and insist upon in the Lord's name is this: You must no longer live like the heathen, with their frivolity of mind and darkened understanding.
For we have to struggle, not with enemies of flesh and blood, but with the hierarchies, the authorities, the master-spirits of this dark world, the spirit-forces of evil on high.
As I asked you to do when I was on my way to Macedonia, stay on in Ephesus in order to warn certain people there not to teach strange views
You know that everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes.
"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: " 'He who holds the seven stars in his right hand and goes about among the seven gold lampstands speaks thus: I know what you have done; your hard work and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, and that you have tested those who claimed to be apostles when they were not, and have found them to be impostors. read more. You show endurance; you have undergone much for my sake, and you have not grown weary. But I hold it against you that you do not love as you did at first. So remember how far you have fallen, and repent and do as you did at first, or else I will come to you and take your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. But it is in your favor that you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, as I do. Let everyone who can hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. I will permit him who is victorious to eat the fruit of the tree of life that stands in the Paradise of God.'