Ephesus was made the capital of the Province of Asia in 27 BC by Caesar Augustus, and it was the home of the Temple of Artemis (Diana), which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Its Temple was 450 feet long by 225 feet wide.[1] It was 60 feet high and had at least 127 columns, four times larger than the Parthenon at Athens. The city was situated on the Cayster river, which emptied into the Aegean Sea, and trade from the Cayster Valley, whether by road or by river, went through Ephesus. In fact, according to William Barclay, all Roman trade coming from the Cayster and the Maeander Valleys of Asia, and from Galatia and even as far off as Mesopotamia, went through Ephesus.[2] For all intents and purposes the city was the highway to Rome from both Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. Four important Roman roads that went through Asia converged in Ephesus, prompting Strabo, an ancient geographer and contemporary of Jesus, to call Ephesus ‘the market of Asia.’
We find Jesus’ message to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7, but, unlike the other six aforementioned churches in Revelation 1:11, we have a great deal of information about this church. In fact, we probably have more information about the church at Ephesus than any other religious assembly mentioned in the Bible with the possible exception of that of Jerusalem! Paul wrote a very important epistle to the church of Ephesus, which was his headquarters when he preached the Gospel to Asia for three years (Acts 20:31). During his absence he had placed Timothy in charge of the church there, so we have the two epistles Paul sent to him that concern matters that were then going on in this church.
Moreover, we also have Luke’s account of Paul’s ministry at Ephesus in chapters 19 and 20 in the book of Acts. It is also quite possible that, since the Apostle, John, had been at Patmos (Revelation 1:9), which is just off the coast of the Province of Asia, and, because Christian tradition tells us that John ministered at Ephesus after he left Patmos, that John’s three epistles concern matters that deal with the church of Ephesus. So, all things considered, there is an abundance of sources from which we might draw information to help us understand what Jesus says to the seven churches, especially that of Ephesus (Revelation 2:1).
According to Luke, Paul’s apostolic efforts made from Ephesus accomplished a great deal, in that all of Asia had heard the Gospel (Acts 19:10), while he was headquartered there. The city had the dubious “honor” of being the keeper of the goddess, Diana (Acts 19:35), and that duty brought great wealth to Ephesus from around the world. The fact is that Paul’s ministry was so effective that Demetrius, a silversmith and perhaps the leader of the silver guild at Ephesus, recognized that, if gone unchecked, the Gospel that Paul preached would seriously hurt the silver mining industry there. Paul tells us that the desire for money is the root of all evil (1Timothy 6:10), so almost always, if one desired to understand the reason for any trouble in any society, all one has to do is follow the money.[3]
Eventually, however, all Asia, including Ephesus, turned away from Paul, while he was imprisoned at Caesarea and Rome (2Timothey 1:15). Such a thing has profound implications that concern the coming of the Lord, which would not occur, unless a falling away from the faith had occurred first (2Thessalonians 2:3).
It is interesting to note that Asia had been the ground of several evangelistic efforts both by disciples of John the Baptist (Acts 18:24-28; 19:1-10), and perhaps by John, the Apostle (Acts 18:18-21; cf. John’s epistles). Moreover, a second century manuscript claims Paul’s letters to his seven churches: Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippians, Colossae and Thessalonica were meant to parallel John’s seven epistles to the seven churches in the Apocalypse! Undoubtedly there were others, but only those extant in the New Testament were used. Notice what is claimed about the book of Revelation:
“In support for the early date, the Syriac version of the New Testament (dating back to the 2nd century A.D.) says the book was written during the reign of Nero. The Muratorian Fragment (170—190 A.D.) and the Monarchian Prologues (250—350 A.D.) claim that Paul wrote to seven churches following the pattern of John’s example in Revelation, placing the book of Revelation even before some of the Pauline epistles.”[4]
Therefore, if we consider what Jesus claims about the church at Ephesus in the light of what Paul says in 2Timothey 1:15 (cf. Acts 20:28-32), we must ask ourselves: which was written first, Paul’s epistle or John’s Apocalypse? Despite our traditional opinions about when the book of Revelation was written, the context of Acts and Paul’s epistles makes it is easier to believe Jesus’ message to the church of Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), and therefore John’s writing of the Apocalypse, occurred before the church fell away and turned against Paul, which logically follows that the Apocalypse was written prior to the majority of Paul’s epistles! Thus, John wrote this book very, very early in the first century AD.
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[1] For dimensions and other facts see HERE and HERE.
[2] William Barclay: The Revelation of John, Volume One; page 65.
[3] This advice was given by Deep Throat to news reporter, Bob Woodward, during his investigation of the Watergate scandal of the 70’s that caused President Nixon to resign.
[4] Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12; p. 406
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