The Christian Life: The Background of Ephesians

The Book of Ephesians is a letter written by the Apostle Paul. Paul was a man who was well known in the Jewish society as well as by Christians in the first century. The Book of Acts, which shows the humble beginnings of Christianity and its rapid spread throughout the Roman Empire, portrays Paul—then known as Saul—as an enemy of Christianity who sought to take captive any Christian possible. A radical transformation took place in the life of Saul when he was stopped in his tracks on the Road to Damascus to take more Christians captive when he came into contact with Jesus Christ, the risen Son of God. From that point on, Saul was then known as Paul and became a tough proponent of the Christian faith and one of the greatest missionaries known in Christian history (see Acts 6:8-8:3; 9:1-31)

The Book of Ephesians is a letter that was written to the church in the city of Ephesus. This was a city of great importance during the early beginnings of the Church when Paul was writing. Ephesus “was situated on the west coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey) at the mouth of the Cayster River. This thriving harbor city ranked with Rome, Alexandria and Syrian Antioch as one of the greatest cities of the Roman Empire (see Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, p. 249). As can be seen by the writings of many scholars, Ephesus was indeed a place of great importance, however, Phillips makes note of the fact that it “rivaled Corinth as the ‘filth capital’ of the Roman world (see Exploring Ephesians and Philippians, p. 23).” This was a place of repulsive immorality that was completely unavoidable. It is no wonder that one of Paul’s main messages to the church in Ephesus dealt with the importance of truly grasping the idea of living the new life in Christ.

The Ephesian church was not only a very important place geographically and politically, but also held a special place in the Apostle Paul’s heart as can be seen in the extensive amount of time that he spent with them and the final farewell which can be found in Acts 20:17-38 (see An Introduction to the New Testament, p.488). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul wrote to them of their new life in Christ (2:1-10), the fact that all believers make up one Body of Christ (2:11-22), and practical advice for living the Christian life in a pagan world (4:17-5:21). After speaking of the relationship between husbands, wives, and families, Paul turns his attention back to the Christian life with a final bit of advice.