TEACHING NOTES Part 3: The Church in Ephesus Introduction This session begins the series of letters to the seven churches to which Revelation is addressed. While the entire letter of Revelation was sent to these seven churches, the second and third chapters contain specific instruction to each church. These letters are important because they give us more context of what was going on in these first-century churches. Format of the Letters: Each letter to the seven churches follows a certain format or template. While the format remains the mostly same, each letter has distinct details. Introduction: Son of Man (phrases from Rev. 1:12-20) Positive: “I know...” Negative: “I have this against you...” Instructions: Continue and/or Repent Promise: Rewards and/or Judgments Patterns: Each letter includes words or phrases that show up later. Length: You’ll notice that these letters are much shorter than the other New Testament letters to churches. Why? The events were coming soon. They didn’t have much time to study, teach, copy, and distribute long letters. Revelation’s seven letters give us insight into the ancient church and calls us to evaluate our own churches in the same way. The Church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) Location: (see map) Historical Context: Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia and was one of the wealthiest cities in the Roman Empire. Christians in Ephesus first mentioned in Acts 18-20. Paul’s letter (known as Ephesians) was likely copied and distributed in Ephesus. This could indicate that the church there was fairly large and wealthy. Paul taught in Ephesus for at least 3 years. His message was so effective that the local idol industry was almost put out of business. This eventually caused a riot and forced Paul to leave Ephesus. The church in Ephesus had the privilege of having Paul, Timothy, and John as their teachers for long periods of time. Ephesus had 25-30 temples to pagan gods, one or more of which was dedicated to worship of Roman Emperors. The streets were lined with statues of Greek gods. Refusal to offer sacrifices to these gods and the emperor led to harsh persecution. John wrote a letter (1 John) to the churches in Asia Minor, which includes Ephesus, after Revelation was written. 1 John is mostly about love, false teaching, and authentic faith. All similar themes to Revelation’s letter to Ephesus. Later on (98-117 AD), Ignatius of Antioch wrote a letter to the church in Ephesus. This letter reveals that this church continued to grow but also struggled with love and unity. The Content of the Letter Introduction of the Son of Man Revelation 2:1 ESV 1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. Seven stars, lampstands = This is from the vision in Rev. 1:12-13, 16, 20. We learned from the first vision that the seven stars are the seven angels of the seven churches and the lampstands are the churches. Who walks among the lampstands = This implies that Jesus is present among the churches. Jesus is watching and knows all the details of the culture in the seven churches. The Positive Revelation 2:2–3 ESV 2 “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. Works, toil = Believers in Ephesus were known for their good works and hard work. Patient Endurance = Major theme in Revelation. Since persecution and judgment was coming soon, believers needed to be patient and endure. You cannot bear with those who are evil = This means that the believers in Ephesus did not tolerate evil in their church. Tested those who call themselves apostles = The Greek word for tested is peirazo, which means to examine someone to learn their true character. This is the same word used for the temptation/testing of Jesus (Matt. 4:1). Apparently in Ephesus, there were people claiming to be apostles but were liars. People claiming the title “apostle” was a fairly common occurrence in the early church. These people were trying to gain popularity and often money. False apostles were focused on popularity and wealth. This problem still exists today and is more widespread and acceptable than ever before. Today, entire churches are more concerned with popularity and wealth than being and making disciples of Jesus. Revelation 2:6 ESV 6 Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. The Nicolaitans = The Ephesian believers have rejected this group as heretical. This group is also mentioned in Rev. 2:15 to the church in Pergamum where some believers were holding to Nicolaitan teaching. We don’t know much about this group other than their leader may have been named Nicolaus. Some scholars, and early church writers, connect this group to Nicolaus the deacon from Antioch in Acts 6:5. If this is true, then it seems Nicolaus brought pagan practices into the church. This is not unlikely, since he was a Gentile convert to Judaism before he became a Christian deacon. Since Rev. 2:14-15 seems to compare the Nicolaitans to Balaam (see Num. 25:1-3; 31:16), we are led to think that the Nicolaitans were teaching believers to practice idolatry and sexual immorality, both of which were normal practices in Ephesus. The Nicolaitans were trying to combine pagan religion with Christianity. The Negative Revelation 2:4 ESV 4 But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Abandoned = Grk. aphiemi - to dismiss, depart from, leave behind The love you had at first = This is often taught as if these believers have left their first love (Jesus). However, that is not correct. The Ephesians are very much still devoted to Jesus and are even contending for Him against false teaching. The issue here is that they have stopped practicing love (agape). It is common for believers who are intolerant of evil and false teaching to drift away from love. YouTube is filled with people who hate evil but suck at love. The Ephesian Issue: The church in Ephesus was very successful, possibly large, and almost certainly wealthy. Ephesus was a wealthy city and many believers would have continued to benefit from the city’s wealth. So, let’s imagine a large, successful, doctrinally sound, and wealthy church in Ephesus. What issues might arise? It would be easy with all of that success to forget what matters most. Loving each other is likely to be the biggest problem. Large, successful, and wealthy churches often struggle with building relationships and practicing genuine love. Numerical increase is not equal to successful discipleship. Actually, as a church increases in size, problems increase and relational depth decreases. More people and more money often results in less discipleship. Instructions Revelation 2:5 ESV 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Remember from where you have fallen = Jesus is calling these believers to think back to the early days of their church. Apparently, this group of believers had a deep love for each other in the early days. Somewhere along the way, as the numbers and wealth increased, they stopped loving people. Do the works you did at first = This line proves that “the love you had at first” (Rev. 1:4) refers to certain good works toward people, and not to a lack of devotion to Jesus Himself. Jesus is calling this church to return to loving people. I will remove your lampstand from its place = This likely means that the church will cease to exist in Ephesus (its place/location). Churches who refuse to repent will be removed because they are doing more harm than good. Jesus is willing to remove a “successful” church that is unloving. Why? Because an unloving church is an unsuccessful church. Promises Revelation 2:7 ESV 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’ To the one who conquers = Grk. nikao (nike) - conquer, overcome, victory. Victory is a recurring theme in Revelation because the book predicts that hard times were coming soon. In Ephesus there were statues of Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Therefore, the imagery Jesus is using would have been easily understood. Victory will not come from the goddess Nike, but from Jesus. The tree of life = Obviously, the Old Testament backdrop for the tree of life is found in Gen. 2:9. We learn from Gen. 3:22 that eating from the tree of life causes eternal life. Adam and Eve were exiled and denied access to the tree of life, which is why they died. If they had stayed in the garden of Eden, they would have lived forever in sin. The tree of life appears again in the new earth (Rev. 22:2, 14, 19). Therefore, the tree of life is a symbol of eternal life. The paradise of God = In the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament), the garden of Eden is described as the paradise of God in Ezek. 28:13; 31:8. The Hebrew word eden means delight or paradise. Jesus told the thief on the cross, “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Paul mentions a man (likely himself) who was “caught up to the third heaven” and “caught up into paradise” (2 Cor. 12:1-3). Therefore, the paradise of God must be the highest heaven where God’s throne resides. In the new creation, paradise will be returned to earth. Note: Paul’s mention of a man who was caught up to paradise is likely himself. But notice what Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:4 “and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.” Paul says that whatever this man saw in paradise could not and should not be shared. Therefore, modern people claiming to have gone to heaven and then writing books about what they saw should probably be ignored. Application for Today While each of these seven letters were written to ancient churches, there are timeless principles that can be applied to modern churches. Disciples of Jesus must not tolerate evil and false teaching in the church. Numerical and financial success can be very deceptive. Numerical and financial success is not equal to kingdom success. Numerical and financial success often leads to a loss of love. Disciples of Jesus must focus on love and not earthly success.