![]() Because of those men, the church at Ephesus was plagued by “fables and endless genealogies” ( 1:4) and by such ascetic and unscriptural ideas as the forbidding of marriage and abstaining from certain foods ( 4:3). 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. 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. It was also an important political, educational, and commercial center, ranking with Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch of Pisidia, in southern Asia Minor. 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. 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). See Introduction to Philippians: Author and Date for a discussion of the city from which Paul wrote. It may have been composed almost contemporaneously with Colossians and initially sent with that epistle and Philemon by Tychicus ( Eph. ![]() 60–62 and is, therefore, often referred to as a prison epistle (along with Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon). The letter was written from prison in Rome ( Acts 28:16–31) sometime between A.D. He is indicated as author in the opening salutation ( 1:1 3:1). There is no indication that the authorship of Paul should be in question. ![]() Because the name Ephesus is not mentioned in every early manuscript, some scholars believe the letter was an encyclical, intended to be circulated and read among all the churches in Asia Minor and was simply sent first to believers in Ephesus. The letter is addressed to the church in the city of Ephesus, capital of the Roman province of Asia (Asia Minor, modern Turkey). ![]()
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