For Further Study – Ephesus, the first of the seven churches of Revelation 2, 3

Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7)

Ephesus, the largest Roman city in the province of Asia, boasted one of the wonders of the ancient world:  the great temple of Artemis. In the temple grounds, you could find a beautiful garden that included a special tree used as a shrine, but also used for asylum for criminals. If criminals came to the tree, they would be freed from capture and punishment. It was like the tree gave them a new life. Artemis also went by the name of Diana and people claimed this goddess of fertility came from heaven. 

The port city of Ephesus drew many immoral and disreputable people. Superstition, magic, and money all contributed to daily life. Christianity started in Ephesus when Jews like Aquila and Priscilla taught Apollos about Jesus being the Messiah (Aquila and Priscilla can be found in Acts 18:24-26.  Paul’s action of re-baptizing believers in Ephesus can be found in Acts 19.  The riot in Ephesus started by the silversmiths can be found in Acts 19:23-34.).

Later, the Apostle Paul came to town and re-baptized the believers in the name of Jesus and placed his hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. About a dozen were present, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied, much like the disciples had on the Day of Pentecost. God did extraordinary miracles through Paul. Within a few months, due to conflict with the Jews, the Christian believers began to meet in a separate location, but the impact of Christianity in the city was marked, including public burning of magic books. The silversmiths who sold images of the goddess Artemis became so concerned about the noticeable drop in business and the diminishing worship of their goddess that they incited a riot in the city. Sometime later, the Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the believers there. We know it as the Book of Ephesians.

Before John got exiled to the island of Patmos, he served as the pastor in Ephesus. This first message to the seven churches goes to his congregation. 

 Questions for discussion:

1.      Do you see any correlation between the cultural background of the city and the message to the church in Ephesus? 

2.      When John wrote Revelation, Ephesus could be described as a religiously competitive environment. The church members showed vigilance.  They hated the practices of the Nicolaitans. Who in the world were the Nicolaitans? 

 Note: We don’t know, but some have noticed that Nicolaos was one of the early deacons in the church in Antioch (Acts 6:5). Also, Nicolaos comes from the compound Greek words nikao and laos which means the one who conquers the people. 

 This name pops up again in the message to the church at Pergamum, along with the more familiar Bible name Balaam. By the way, Balaam comes from the Hebrew compound words baal and am, and it also means one who destroys the people. Nicolaos and Balaam are equivalents—one in Greek and the other in Hebrew. 

According to Numbers 31:16, Balaam instigated idolatry and fornication among the Israelites.  Possibly the Nicolaitans did the same thing, but we don’t really know. What we do know is that the church in Ephesus didn’t tolerate the practices of the Nicolaitans, in contrast to the church in Pergumum that did (Rev. 2:14-15). 

 The church in Ephesus gets high marks for perseverance and uncompromising fidelity.  The only negative statement made to this model church is that it’s missing just one thing—love! How important is that?!  It sounds somewhat like the message at the beginning of the Bible’s love chapters (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

 The admonition for the church is some R and R; specifically to Remember and Repent!  Remember the first love you had for Christ. Repent because you are doing all the right things but you lack the core motivation of love. Correct actions without Godly motivations simply aren’t enough. 

3.      Can you relate to the church members in Ephesus?  Do you need some R & R—Remember and Repent?

Each church receives a promise to those who are victorious.  This can easily trigger the natural human drive for achievement that leads to boasting about personal accomplishments. Beware of falling into the trap of making a deal with God in which your good works lead you to demand God to pay you for what you’ve earned. John already explained in another one of his books how people become victorious.  Note God’s part and our part.  1 John 5:4-5 (TNIV):  “Everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.   

Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 

This sounds remarkably similar to John 6:28-29 when the people asked Jesus what they needed to do in order to do the works God requires. Jesus told them their “work for God” was to believe in Jesus.  Some may scoff that good works take more personal commitment and arduous labor.  But laying everything on the line for Jesus, making a full commitment to him, and then trusting him no matter what happens takes more than a strong will.  It requires personal investment and trust.  It necessitates a complete surrender of one’s ego to Jesus.  It calls for selfless agape love.  That’s a work humans find to be extremely difficult. 

We will find a promise for each church in Revelation.  The promise is for those who are victorious by means of complete surrender to Jesus, not a good grade evaluated by external behaviors.

The promise for church members in Ephesus is the right to eat from the Tree of Life which is in the Paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).  This Tree of Life for the repentant differs from the tree of emancipation for criminals in the temple of Artemis. It’s as though the promise to the Christians in Ephesus beckons them to return to the first things, like the Garden of Eden, to receive eternal life from God.