No thoughtful reader of the Holy Scriptures can fail to observe the favoured place given to the church of Ephesus in the affections and ministry of the great apostle to the Gentiles. For three years Paul laboured there in the work of the Lord, and, in the epistle written to the saints at Ephesus, the Spirit of God communicated through the chosen vessel the most wonderful truths concerning God's purpose for the glory of Christ and the blessing of the church. The epistle was written from the prison at Rome, which manifests how great his care for the saints was; and when about to seal his testimony to Christ with his blood, Ephesus is still upon his heart, for in his second epistle to Timothy the apostle writes, "Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus" (Eph. 4:12).
Although the apostle Paul was specially called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, he never lost sight of the peculiar place that God had given to Israel, His earthly people. Therefore, when he wrote to the saints in Rome, he said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek" (Romans 1:16) In consonance with this testimony of God's ways, when Paul arrived at Ephesus, "He himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews" (Acts 18:19). The result of this first visit is the expression of the desire of the Jews to hear more of Paul's ministry. Having other exercises upon his heart, the apostle is not free to accede to their request, but promises, if the Lord will, to come back again.
At Corinth, Paul had found two devoted saints with whom he dwelt and laboured, "Because he was of the same craft." When he moved on, Paul had his two friends with him, and when he felt unable to remain at Ephesus, he left them there. Aquila and Priscilla seem to have made their home at Ephesus, and along with the house of Onesiphorus remained faithful to the apostle until the end. During their eighteen months with the Lord's servant they had evidently learned much of the truth for, when Apollos came to Ephesus, "Aquila and Priscilla took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly." This eloquent and fervent Jew of Alexandria, who was mighty in the Scriptures, spoke boldly in the synagogue of the things of the Lord as he knew them; but the Lord used two devoted and unpretentious saints at Ephesus to unfold to him truth that he had never before learned.
When Paul returned to Ephesus, according to his promise, he found disciples who had been baptized with John's baptism, but who had not heard of the coming of the Holy Spirit. They were in the same position as Apollos when Aquila and Priscilla met him. When the more perfect teaching of Christianity was brought before them by Paul, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and through the laying on of the apostle's hands they received the gift of the Holy Spirit. It may have been to this Paul referred when he wrote in Ephesians 1:13-14, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession."
This Scripture shows very clearly that what is sealed by the Holy Spirit is faith in Christ who died and rose again. Those who had only received John's baptism had not the full knowledge that brings salvation. This full knowledge does not mean a deep knowledge of the truth, but an elementary knowledge of what is fundamentally Christian, namely the truth that "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). This is, Paul declares to the Corinthians, "The Gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are saved" (vers. 1, 2). It is not enough for a soul to believe that Jesus lived; that maybe the beginning, as was the case with John's disciples: God seals with His Spirit those who are saved, who have believed in a dead and risen Christ.
The work of grace having been sealed in the twelve who believed Paul's Gospel, the apostle continued where he had left off on his first visit, by speaking in the synagogue, "Disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God" (Acts 19:8). For three months the work went on in the synagogue, until the opposition compelled Paul to separate the disciples from what was characteristically Jewish. This was a decided break with Israel. It is the last time we read of the apostle being in a synagogue, although he was in the temple during his last visit to Jerusalem.
It was the apostle's custom until now to minister where there was a synagogue: not that he confined himself to speaking there, for he spoke at such places as Mars Hill, and by the riverside at Philippi. Nor did Paul confine his ministry to the Jew. His procedure is illustrated in Acts 13. On going forth with Barnabas, "At Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews" (Acts 13:5); at Antioch in Pisidia they "Went into the synagogue on the sabbath day and sat down," and at the invitation of the rulers of the synagogue, Paul preached. As a result of the preaching there was division, and be-cause of the opposition the apostle said to the Jews, "It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).
Although the servants of the Lord turned to the Gentiles, there was as yet no formal break with the Jewish synagogue, for later, at Corinth, Paul "Reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:4). At Corinth, because of the opposition and blasphemy of the Jews, the apostle says, "From henceforth I will go to the Gentiles; and he departed thence, and entered into a certain man's house, named Justus, that worshipped God, whose house joined hard to the synagogue" (ver. 7). At Ephesus, Paul not only left himself, he "Separated the disciples." This was the true place for the disciples of the Lord, "Outside the camp" (Heb. 13:13) of the religion of man in the flesh. God was very gracious and long-suffering in the transitional period, bearing with the Jews until their opposition and blasphemy fully manifested that Judaism and Christianity were diametrically opposed. Later, when writing to the saints at Corinth, Paul shows the fellowships of Judaism, heathenism and the church of God are quite distinct from each other. (1 Cor. 10:16-21, 32).
Having separated the disciples from the Jewish synagogue, Paul disputed daily "In the school of one Tyrannus, and this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks." Ephesus held such a prominent position, and the work of the apostle became so well-known, that all Asia heard. How very significant are these words, "All they which dwelt in Asia heard the word"; for towards the close of his faithful life of service to the Lord and His saints, Paul writes to his son Timothy, "All they which are in Asia be turned away from me."
Accompanying the preached word were miracles of no ordinary kind, for from Paul's body "Were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them." It may be that these are some of the "greater" works referred to by the Lord in John 14:12. How highly favoured was Ephesus, to hear for so long, and from such a gifted servant of the Lord, His precious truth, and to witness the effects of the mighty power of God.
When God works, the enemy is watchful, and endeavouring to spoil what God is doing, yet his intervention is often to his own confusion. The magicians of Egypt sought to imitate the divine power displayed by Moses, only to be exposed when they failed to create life. Here, the Jewish exorcists "Took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the Name of the Lord Jesus." They had no living link with Jesus, and could only speak of Him as "Jesus whom Paul preacheth." They knew not for themselves the power of the Name of Jesus, and would profanely use that holy Name to call attention to themselves, only to be rebuked and exposed in shame.
The intrusion of the sons of Sceva not only brought about their own discomfiture, but was turned by the Lord to His own glory, for the matter "was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the Name of the Lord Jesus was magnified." Many who believed unburdened their hearts in the confession of their deeds and of the Name of the Lord, and this citadel of Satan must have been shaken to its foundations when "Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all." Such was the triumph of the Gospel: "So mightily grew the Word of God and prevailed." The outcry of Demetrius and his fellows only attested to the rage of Satan at the despoiling of his goods.
Before the intervention of Demetrius, Paul had already purposed in his spirit to visit Macedonia, Achaia, Jerusalem and Rome (Acts 19:21); and after the uproar he started out on his journey. A plot of the Jews in Greece brings about a return through Macedonia, and probably within the year Paul is found once more in the region of Ephesus, but does not go there, as he desires to reach Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost. On reaching Miletus, about 25 miles distant, Paul sent for the elders of Ephesus.
Paul first of all recalls to the elders what had marked his life and disposition among them as a servant of the Lord. From the outset he had been marked by humility of mind, the mind that was in Christ Jesus, while passing through sorrow, trials and persecution.
In public and in private, he had ministered the Word of God fearlessly. Firstly, he had testified both to Jews and Greeks, "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." Secondly, he desired to finish his course and the ministry confided to him, "to testify the Gospel of the grace of God." Thirdly he had been with them "preaching the kingdom of God." Fourthly, he was pure from the blood of all, for he had not shunned "to declare unto you all the counsel of God." How highly privileged the saints at Ephesus had been with such a ministry.
Then followed the apostolic warnings and exhortations. The elders were to take heed, not only to themselves, but to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers. Paul had seen the different attempts of the enemy to ruin the work of the Lord at Ephesus, and well knew the watchful foe would seek by all means to destroy what had been wrought for God. As good shepherds, they were not only to watch over God's flock, but "to feed the church of God," which was so precious in His sight, for it had been purchased with the blood of His Own. Thus nourished with the Word of God, the saints would be able to stand against the enemy, for it is as the Word of God abides in us we are able to overcome the wicked one (1 John 2:14).
Paul's presence had been a safeguard to the saints; he could detect as others could not the working of the enemy. After his departure, "grievous wolves," no doubt in sheep's clothing, would enter in among the elders, and they would not spare the flock. As we look over the sad history of the church, we can plainly discern that Paul's prophecy was not only for Ephesus, but for the whole church of God. What devastation has been wrought among the saints of God through men who have professed to be leaders in the church, but who have been wolves, men without the divine nature, who were not of Christ's flock, who had never known the Father and the Son.
Another form of evil, the work of the enemy through the flesh in believers, would manifest itself in men who wanted to be leaders in the church. It was not Christ's glory, or the good of the saints, that was before such men, but rather themselves and their own interests. To achieve their selfish ends they would dishonour the Name of the Lord by speaking perverse things. Of such were Hymenaeus and Philetus, of whom the apostle wrote to Timothy in his second epistle, men who erred concerning the truth, who overthrew the faith of some. It was not God's holy Word they ministered; it was their own word and of it Paul wrote, "their word will eat as doth a canker" (2 Tim. 2:17-18).
The grievous wolves and the selfish, erring leaders are still with us; and we need to be constantly on our guard against them. For three years Paul had warned the saints "night and day with tears," as he foresaw by the Spirit what ravages would take place in the church. Again he speaks of the great safeguard against the different evils, "I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up." God is more than a match for anything the enemy may bring against us, and dependence on Him in constant watchfulness will preserve us. But we need to be fortified, built up with the word of His grace. If we rely on the word of men, we shall be led astray; if we feed on the Word of God's grace, we shall be able to resist every attack of the foe
With the word of God's grace for the present, and the hope of the inheritance before us, we can take our way through all the difficulties with confidence in God. Unlike the false servants, Paul had not coveted what belonged to others: he had laboured with his own hands, providing not only for his own needs but for the needs of others also. He had not only preached what they should do; he had given them an example, bringing before them what the Lord Jesus had Himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." How highly favoured Ephesus was in having the ministry, care and example of such a devoted servant of the Lord.
We have already noticed the high privilege of the church at Ephesus in having the labours of the beloved apostle Paul for three long years, during which time he ministered to them the truth of the Gospel and the kingdom of God, unfolded the counsel of God, cared for them in every way, and gave them an example in his disposition, walk and ways. Even after his labours among them, his interest in them was unabated, as was shown in his talk with the elders of Ephesus, when he recalled his time with them, warned them of impending dangers, gave them his godly counsel, and kneeled down and prayed with them.
The first epistle to Timothy is introduced, so far as its substance is concerned, with the words, "As I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus, when I went into Macedonia, that thou mightest charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (ver. 3). At Ephesus, where Paul had laboured so long, the enemy was very busy seeking to undermine the truth ministered by the apostle. Fables and endless genealogies might do for the heathen and for Jews who had forsaken the Word of God, but were utterly worthless to those who had received the precious truth of the Gospel and counsels of God. What proceeds from the natural mind will foster questionings, but can never help on the dispensation of God which is in faith.
If Timothy had been left at Ephesus to hold in check the introduction of false teaching, he was also there for the maintenance of the true; and the character of the teaching will always be evident in its practical results. The teaching of Christianity, when received into the heart, will enable those who have received it to "love out of a pure heart," to walk with "a good conscience and unfeigned faith."
The manifestation of love is the evidence of the possession of the divine nature. Love is to be shown to all in the family of God, and in divine compassion to those who as yet have not known love. A pure heart can only be found in one who has purified his soul "by obedience to the truth" (1 Peter 1:22); and who lives before God in self-judgment and in holiness. Only as we learn love in Christ in whom it was perfectly manifested, and only as we live in communion with Him, can there be this love out of a pure heart.
But we cannot be in communion with Christ without a good conscience, and so far as the Christian is concerned it means that the heart is to be exercised before God in the light of His word. Saul of Tarsus could persecute the church with a good conscience, thinking he was rendering service to God; but it was very different when the light of the glorified Christ shone upon him, enlightening him as to who He was, and exposing the evil nature of his course. To have a good conscience the Christian must walk before God in the light of His word, testing all his motives and actions by the word. Without this there is ever the danger of getting astray, and making "shipwreck as to faith," like Hymenaeus and Alexander.
In the second epistle to Timothy, Paul could speak of serving God from his "forefathers with pure conscience" (2 Tim. 1:3); but it was not until the Lord met him that he had faith in Him. Timothy, however, was marked by "unfeigned faith," which was first in his grandmother, then in his mother (2 Tim. 1:5). As a Jewess, his mother would not have "a good conscience," as, contrary to the law, she had married a Greek. All around us today there is the pretension to faith, but God will have reality in unfeigned faith. True faith enables us to see Jesus in the glory of God, and to walk down here in the light of that glory.
Although there were some at Ephesus seeking to lead the saints astray, and probably some who had made shipwreck as to faith; when Paul wrote his epistle to them, he could address them as "saints and faithful in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 1:1). The saints as a whole were living in the light of the truth the apostle had ministered to them. Because of this, Paul was free to unfold in this epistle the elevated truths relating to the purpose and counsels of God. It is not a corrective epistle, as so many are; it is an exposition of the truth given to him as minister of the mystery of Christ.
The Lord caused the apostle to be set free from his arduous labours that he might use him to write this epistle. True, he was not free from suffering and affliction, for he was a prisoner at Rome for Christ's sake; but these very circumstances were the best suited for the writing of such a letter. All that the apostle was passing through in no way hindered this remarkable unfolding of the thoughts of God with regard to what He purposed in Himself for the glory of Christ, and what He purposed in Christ for the blessing of those He in grace associated with Christ in richest blessing.
Paul's heart was free to disclose the wonderful secrets that had been made known to him by divine revelation. He was not hindered by requiring to correct anything doctrinal, moral or ecclesiastical, as when writing to the Corinthians. Nor was there any danger of the foundations of the Gospel being assailed at Ephesus as at Galatia, or of the philosophy of man intruding as at Colosse. Although the Thessalonian saints were going on brightly, they had not been instructed in the truth of the Lord's coming; they had not matured in the truth; they were not yet able to receive the strong meat that was given to the saints at Ephesus in this epistle.
When Paul wrote the Epistle to the Romans, he expounded the truth of the Gospel, as minister of the Gospel, to saints he had not yet ministered to or met, even although he was apostle to them as to other Gentiles; but in writing this exposition on the exalted theme of the eternal purpose of God, he was writing to saints well-known, to whom he had ministered for three long years the wide range of divine truth, and who had matured in the things of God. If the saints at Ephesus were highly privileged in having the personal ministry of the apostle to the Gentiles for so long, how greatly was their privilege enhanced with this unfolding of the deep things of God.
In writing to the saints at Rome, Paul had mentioned at the close "the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery" (Rom. 16:25), but he could not at that time unfold the details of the precious truths mentioned. When writing to the Corinthians he could speak of "Things which eye has not seen, and ear not heard, and which have not come into man's heart, which God has prepared for them that love Him, and which God has revealed to us by His Spirit." But it was not to the Corinthians these truths were opened out: they were carnal, not spiritual; they were not in the state of heart in which these truths could benefit them. It was to the saints at Ephesus that Paul ministered these great truths that he but mentioned to the saints at Rome and Corinth.
These precious truths were revealed to the saints at Ephesus that they might enter into the divine wisdom contained in them, and walk worthy of the calling wherewith they were called. God will have a practical answer in the lives of the saints to all He makes known to them, and this can only be when Christ dwells by faith in their hearts, and when the light of heaven is brought into all the details of our daily life. Moreover, God would have us stand in conflict for the truth He has given to us, and for this He has provided a divine panoply in which we can not only resist all the efforts of the enemy, but also with the sword of the Spirit and prayer prove completely victorious.
In the Epistle to the Ephesians we have the very top-stone of divine revelation, bringing out as it does the secrets of the heart of God that were hidden from eternity; and this was given to the Ephesians, not for themselves alone, but with the whole church in view. What belongs to Ephesus is what God has given to all His saints, so that w might be here in the light of all His will, and walking for His pleasure and glory.
The sending of Tychicus to Ephesus just before his martyrdom manifested how deeply the apostle cared for the saints there. Ephesus had been the scene of arduous labour and fierce conflict, even as he writes to the saints at Corinth, "If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus," and "I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost, for a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries" (1 Cor. 15:32; 1 Cor. 16:8-9).
There was doubtless much joy in the apostle's heart in seeing so much fruit for his labour at Ephesus, but among them he had served the Lord "with many tears," and during his three years stay had "ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears" (Acts 20:19, 31). How much sorrow had been brought to his heart by the opposition of the adversaries and with the prospect of the scattering of the grievous wolves and the men speaking perverse things. It was not without sorrow of heart he had besought Timothy to remain at Ephesus to "charge some that they teach no other doctrine" (1 Tim. 1:3).
Great as were all these sorrows, they would not compare with the depth of the sorrow with which Paul wrote to Timothy in his second epistle, "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Tim. 1:15). Ephesus had been the centre of his work for the Lord in Asia, and the saints there were the crown of his labours. Now they have turned away from the one who had been Christ's instrument for their rich and eternal blessing, and who had spent himself, and been imprisoned for their sakes. Was there not in this the evidence of a departure in heart from Christ Himself? Was it not an indication that Christ was not dwelling in their hearts by faith?
If such as Phygellus and Hermogenes had turned away from him, Onesiphorus had remained faithful, and this brought to Paul's remembrance what he had done at Rome in seeking him out, and what he had done in Ephesus before. Ephesus had no doubt its faithful remnant, standing with him and with the house of Onesiphorus, and from them Tychicus would be sure of a hearty reception as the representative of God's devoted servant and apostle. If Paul had not the same place in their hearts, they still had the same place in his, and the sending of Tychicus is the proof of his great interest in them until the end.
No instructed Christian will doubt that the addresses to the seven churches give from Christ the prophetic history of the church from the days when it leaves its first love until it is rejected by Christ in its lifeless profession, and spued out of His mouth. This history begins with Ephesus, not in the state indicated by the apostle when he writes his epistle to them, as "faithful in Christ Jesus," but after Paul had left this world. The apostle had felt the departure, which was evinced in their turning away from him; now the Lord lays His finger on the cause of the departure, they had left their first love.
There was still much at Ephesus the Lord could commend, "I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience"; but, as has been often noticed, these are not spoken of as in 1 Thessalonians, where Paul remembers without ceasing their "work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess. 1:3). The springs of action are absent in Ephesus, and because they had left their first love. Such it was with the church at the beginning, and so it has been with many an individual and local assembly since that time.
In tracing God's dealings with Ephesus in Scripture we cannot but see the peculiar place it has, setting before us the working of God in grace, and the precious privileges that belong to the church which has been so richly blessed, and which has been left in this world to he the vessel for the display to "principalities and powers in heavenly places" of the manifold wisdom of God. There can be no failure in regard to what God has purposed, but on the responsible side, how feeble has been the answer to all that God has ministered to us in the riches of His grace.
Wm. C. Reid.