Ephesus does not exist today as it did when Paul wrote this letter. Earthquakes and silting have filled the harbor that once hosted the third most prominent city in the Roman Empire. In the mid-50s A.D., Paul traveled to Ephesus and established a church (Acts 19), first proclaiming Jesus in the synagogue and then moving to the city lecture hall.

Establishing the Church at Ephesus

Acts tells us that Paul taught daily in Ephesus from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for a period of two years. Not only did the Ephesians attend, but people from other cities came and were schooled there by Paul. It was during this season when churches began to spring up in other cities of Asia Minor: Colossae, Laodicea, Pergamum, Smyrna, Sardis, and others.

The Makeup of Ephesus

The city was pluralistic and religiously tolerant; they worshiped fifty-plus gods, the primary being Artemis. One of the calendar months was devoted to her, the city’s economy centered around her, and Olympic-style games were held in her honor. 

From all this religious frenzy came magic, shamanism, and dark occult-spiritualism. Magic was a way of life in Ephesus, and the Roman and Greek cultures of the day viewed spiritual power as an impersonal ability to be harnessed by the gifted. In such a culture, demonization was common and the occult practices of every kind were pervasive.

When and Where Did Paul Write Ephesians?

After establishing the church at Ephesus, Paul left (Acts 20-21) for Macedonia; from there he made his way to Jerusalem and was arrested and eventually imprisoned in Caesarea. After some time, Paul was sent to Rome and kept under house arrest. It was then that most believe Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians. After his house arrest in Rome, Paul made his way to Spain and then returned to Rome during a difficult time of persecution. Nero burned the city, then blamed it on the Christians and began the first empire-wide persecution of Christians. One of his strategies was to arrest one of the ringleaders in Rome at the time—Paul. Eventually, the church fathers tell us, Nero had Paul beheaded. 

While there has been some debate that Ephesians was written not by Paul but by one of his close followers, there is no doubt in my mind that Paul was the author of Ephesians. In most ancient manuscripts, the letter was not addressed to the Ephesians. Its destination was left blank, and one of those early manuscripts bears the name of Ephesus. It was to be a letter for all churches, but most likely was delivered to Ephesus first.

So, I place the writing of Ephesians during these difficult days, before the end of Paul's life. He wrote what opens as his opus of joy, praising God for summing up all of creation in Christ, making sons and daughters of men and women enslaved to sin, and building a church He was filling with the fullness of His presence. At the end of his letter, he explained to the church how to wage spiritual warfare in a world driven mad by dark principalities and powers in heavenly places. 

Paul wrote, or most likely dictated, this letter and gave multiple copies to Tychicus and Epaphras, two men from Colossae, to deliver to Asia Minor. One of the copies ended up in Ephesus. 

Purpose

This book of Ephesians is a book of praise devoted to revealing Christ as the heavenly authority over all other powers and dark magic, as well as the absolute and unrivaled authority over the Church. The book reveals Paul’s developing thoughts of God’s purpose for the world and the role of the Church in God’s eschatological (final destiny) vision. Paul saw the future coming as glorious (1:10, 14, 18; 2:7; 4:30; 6:24) and the Church as being formed into a radiant, holy, blameless Bride (5:25-27).

Paul centered Ephesians around the story of God, and the story included God’s great moments of care, declaring how He chose, destined, graced, redeemed, forgave, marked, sealed, loved, raised, saved, and made us new. 

Paul filled the book with Old Testament imagery, material that was already being used for public church worship and hymns common to believers.

Jesus was not an impersonal power to be controlled or harnessed, but as preached by Paul, He was a Person seeking to change the world.

The Ephesians, along with every other church under Roman rule, lived in fear of evil powers and needed to be reminded of the preeminence of Christ in relation to the dark power they were so easily convinced ruled their day. 

In Paul's letter to the Ephesians, he explained the believer's position in Christ as a member of His Body. Christ's Body was to be the community through which Christ would reveal God's redemptive plan and power to the world.

The Practical Part of the Book

Ephesians divides right down the middle. In the first chapter, Paul essentially praised God for His blessings and then prayed that the Ephesians would become aware of the power behind those blessings—Jesus Christ. 

In the next two chapters, Paul expounded on those blessings, elaborating on them in greater detail. 

In chapters 4-6, Paul focused on how believers lived as a body of people greatly blessed. Paul called on all the churches reading the letter to think about the call of Jesus, who, sacrificially, with love and forgiveness, reached out to them. Paul explained how they could now, with all Christ had done for them, live worthy of that calling.

As you read the last four chapters of Ephesians, it is as though Paul was saying the world might be dark, Rome may seem to have gone mad, but we stay in community as the blessed people of Jesus, our witness to the world strong, resisting spiritual powers, and not becoming flesh-and-blood people. 

The New in Ephesians 

• New Life in Christ

• New Community in Christ

• New Approach in Christ (Love-Relationship)

• New Way to War in Christ