The Church At Ephesus: A Study of Revelations

Recently, I was taking a look at the Book of Revelation during my Bible reading time. I like to read the Book of Revelation from time to time in order to see if any of the current events seem to be lining up with the prophecies recorded there. Now, prophecy is a tricky thing. You can’t definitely say that Scripture has been fulfilled unless Jesus has said that Scripture has been fulfilled. I’ve heard a lot of teachings on Revelation in my lifetime–everything from “It was already fulfilled by the downfall of Rome” to “It will be fulfilled literally in the future.” But for me, part of keeping up my supply of oil for my lamp (10 Wise Virgins parable), is to constantly look at Scripture and to be alert and watchful for Christ’s return. It’s something that I firmly believe that I will see in my lifetime, but even if I don’t, I think living in a state of preparedness is a good thing. So I’d like to begin a series on the Seven Churches of Revelation. I think there’s something we can learn from the messages Jesus has for these churches that we can apply to our own lives today. I think the messages here can help us keep our oil supply plentiful and our lives in a state of watchful readiness.

Revelation was written by the Apostle John while he was exiled on the island of Patmos as a very old man. John has this incredible vision of the end times with prophecies of the things that will happen before God establishes His Kingdom fully upon the earth. The very first thing we see is Jesus appearing to John. He has seven stars in His right hand and seven golden lampstands are around Him. Jesus, Himself, tells John that the seven stars represent the angels of the seven churches and the seven golden lampstands represent the churches themselves. Jesus asks John to write a letter to the angels of each of the churches.

The very first church mentioned in Revelation 2:1-7 is the Church of Ephesus. Ephesus name means “desirable,” and Ephesus’ history represents a desirable church. The Greek city of Ephesus was located on the coast of Ionia on the western edge of what is modern day Turkey. It was a port city, but the harbor gradually fell out of use as the waterway that fed the harbor became full of silt over time. Ephesus was famous as a city of learning. It had a reputation in the ancient world as a place of learning. The main feature of Ephesus was the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. During the classical Greek era, Ephesus was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League, the first groups of independent city-states. During the Roman period, Ephesus became second in importance only to Rome. It was a center of travel and commerce thanks to its famous harbor. Because of the worship of Artemis, women enjoyed many rights that we would consider quite modern for the times.

Ephesus was a very large city. It may have held up to 200,000 residents. It had a thriving Jewish community, but Ephesus was primarily a pagan city. Worship of Artemis drove a lot of the local economy, so much so that when Paul preached the gospel, the silversmiths objected about the effect conversion to Christianity was having on their livelihood. The church at Ephesus grew quickly. The church was established by Paul on one of his missionary journeys, but by 54-56 AD Paul was already having to weed out false doctrines and pagan practices within the church. Apollo taught the Ephesians first. He was a Jew who had become a Christian, but he lacked some of the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Priscilla and Acquila became mentors of Apollo, teaching him the things that he lacked. All three taught other believers in the area to some extent. Of course, Paul worked closely with Priscilla and Acquila as well. Timothy served as pastor to Ephesus for many years, and later John lived in Ephesus, possibly with Mary the Mother of Jesus there with him as well.

In 263 AD, Ephesus was destroyed by the Goths. It was partially rebuilt, but the city was fully destroyed by an earthquake in 614 AD. Prior to this, Ephesus was the site of several 5th century Church Councils. The first council of Ephesus in 431 AD confirmed the original Nicene Creed and rejected the teachings of Nestorious, who was trying to find a balancing line of the dual nature of Jesus as fully God and fully man by rejecting the title of Mary as the “Mother of God” and instead insisting on calling her the “Mother of Christ.” The second council of Ephesus in 449 AD upheld that Jesus was fully God and fully man. The third council of Ephesus in 475 AD put to bed any idea that there could be compromise on the humanity of Jesus. Of course, these councils had political overtones for the church at that time as well. It paved the way for several schisms in church tradition that gave rise to the Roman Catholic Church on one side and the Eastern Orthodox Church on the other.

The Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, giving rise the title of Holy Roman Empire. After him, the emperor Theodosius erased all traces of Artemis when he gained control of Ephesus. He banned free worship, closed the schools and temples, and forbade women of many of the rights they had previously enjoyed. Many believe that Ephesus’ thriving church died out long before this point.

The church of Ephesus enjoyed a huge display of the supernatural power of God during its rise. There were stories of incredible healings in the city. People were set free from demonic oppression. Miracles were performed. The people gave up their pagan practices and publicly burned their books of magic, which was no small thing. Ephesus was a culture permeated by magic and superstition. These books were revered items, and they cost quite a lot of money, but the church of Ephesus burned them in order to purge themselves from any pagan influence. The church was well organized and busy. They enjoyed great teachers. Paul himself preached and taught in Ephesus for 3 years, and if some of Paul’s other teaching sessions are anything to go by, these sessions may have lasted most of the day and night! These were well-instructed believers. If anyone had claim to the knowledge of Christ, it was the church at Ephesus. In the beginning at least, the church of Ephesus took to heart the admonition of Paul to watch out for false teachers and false doctrine (1st and 2nd Timothy).

When Jesus gives his message to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7, He begins by telling them all the things they have done well.

“I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.”

Revelation 2:2-3

This is a mature church that has done a lot of things well. They have a lot of knowledge, and they are putting it to use. They are weeding out false apostles and false teachings. They are enduring hardships for being Christians. The protest of Demetrius that provoked a riot due to the lack of business for silversmiths in making idols of Artemis for the masses was probably just the start. Yet, the Ephesians had not grown weary. They had persevered, but it wasn’t all good news. Jesus had a word of warning for the church as well.

“Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”

Revelation 2:4-5

The word translated as “consider” here and in other translations as “remember” is the Greek word mneia. According to Rick Renner, this word denoted a “written record used to memorialize a person’s actions, a sepulcher, statue, monument, or tombstone.” His analysis of this text says that the use of the word mneia, which can be translated as sepulcher, suggests that the Ephesian believers’ early experiences with Christ had become buried by 30 years of activity.

It seems the Church of Ephesus was relying more and more on its knowledge rather than on its anointing. It was busy. It was working. It was doing the things of the gospel in some way or other, but the love for Christ that characterized the church when it had first been started was starting to grow cold. It was starting to be forgotten. It was becoming buried under the busyness of ministry. Their initial fire for Christ and fervor for the gospel wasn’t being cultivated. They hadn’t fallen completely away.

“But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Revelation 2:6

The church of Ephesus hadn’t completely fallen. They had hated the practices of the Nicolaitans. These practices were practices of compromise. The Nicolaitans seemed to mix Christianity with pagan beliefs and practices in a way that let them feel they were following Jesus while also not putting themselves at odds with the current culture. The practices of the Nicolaitans were a practice in lukewarm hypocrisy. They wanted to play both sides of the field. They were Christian when they thought they could get the best benefit out of Christianity, and they were pagan when they thought they could get the best benefit out of being pagan.

I think this passage has both a corporate and a personal application. The church is us as a body of believing Christians throughout the world (corporate), but the church is also me (individual). I am the temple of God, so my own personal relationship with God is just as important as the relationship the corporate body that I worship with has with God.

CORPORATE APPLICATION

In our larger culture, it’s easy to see churches that have embraced the philosophy of the Nicolaitans. These are churches that believe the Bible is outdated or that Scripture has to be interpreted by the larger cultural context of our day and age. Jesus makes it very clear that He hates this kind of philosophy of compromise. It’s also easy to see where our churches have gotten so busy with the work of ministry that we are no longer on fire the way we were when we were newly established. Are we focusing on the word? Are we getting quality teaching? Are we still experiencing the incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our services? or have we let these things fall by the wayside while we are busy with ministry? Have we buried the fundamentals like Bible study and the sharing of testimonies for other things that seem more important?

It’s time for our church bodies to evaluate how we are doing on the fundamentals of the gospel. We need to make sure that with all our new outreaches and ministries, we have not buried the fundamentals. We need to be sure that we are stoking the fires of new believers, and that we are allowing their newly found love for Christ to stoke the fires of our own love for Christ. The Holy Spirit’s miraculous work should not be a stranger to our meetings. We need to be sure that we cultivate testimonies as a monument to what God has done in the past and what He wants to do in the future. This is the way we return to our first love, repent, and go back to what we did at first.

INDIVIDUAL APPLICATION

It’s really tempting as a modern day believer to put all the responsibility of these admonitions at the feet of my pastor. After all, they are written to the church. Like everything else in the Word, though, there are ways that I can apply this to my personal life. Have I gotten so busy doing the work of the Lord that I have forgotten to cultivate relationship with Him? Am I resting on my knowledge (head) about Christ to make up for shortcomings in my relationship (heart) with Christ? I need both.

When I became a believer, everything was new! I was so excited to get to know Christ and to learn all about the wonderful miracles He had done on my behalf by dying on the cross for my sins, but as I spend more and more time as a Christian, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that I know all about Jesus. It’s easy to let that fire die out. It’s easy to let it get buried under the weight of my knowledge. I can go from viewing my time reading the Bible as a wonderful time of connection with Jesus to seeing it as a duty that I need to check off my list of things to do for the day. I can end up going through the motions, while my heart is somewhere else entirely.

In light of this passage, it’s time for me to evaluate my own heart. Have I let my love grow cold? Have I stopped doing those things that I enjoyed doing when I first believed? If I still do them, have they lost the joy and excitement that they once held for me? When I am doing my part to reconnect to Jesus and to keep that fire fresh and burning brightly, I am also helping the larger body that I worship with to keep their first love and keep that corporate fire burning brightly as well. I need to be sure I am meeting with Jesus daily. I need to make sure I am studying the Scripture, but I also need to make sure that I am doing these things from the right place–from a place of relationship. It’s time for me to remember and to consider how fall I have fallen away from my first love. Time for me to unbury those things. Time for me to return to the things I used to do. I can pray as David did, “Renew a steadfast spirit within me.” I can pray for God to restore the joy of my salvation and bring me back to my first love.