Ephesians is an incredible letter, intended to instruct relatively mature believers in several very practical areas: 1) What God has done for us to reconcile us to Him, 2) What He has done to reconcile us to each other, 3) The unity of all believers in one body and what this means for practical relationships like marriage and parenting, and finally 4) spiritual warfare and how God has equipped us.
Paul wrote it from prison in 61 AD, and intended it to be passed around the churches of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). But its primary destination was a young church plant in a pagan coastal city on the southwest corner of Asia Minor. It was a city full of people that ran Paul out of town after a mob spent hours in an amphitheater shouting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 18:24-19:41). The Gospel Paul brought was not exactly welcomed by most Ephesians.
Yet this young church was also incredibly blessed. Paul planted it – and unlike most of his stops, which were relatively brief, Paul spent two years teaching there, building up the church. Priscilla and Aquila helped him. Paul’s letters to Timothy instructed him in pastoring this same Ephesian church, and John the Apostle ended his long life there, dying about AD100 after writing Revelation during a stint on the prison island of Patmos, just off the coast of Ephesus. The relationship Paul had with the Ephesian leaders was quite close, as is evident by their tearful parting in Acts 20:16-38, and it’s reflected in Paul’s tender tone as he teaches this church that he’d invested so much of himself in already.
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