Seven Letters Session 2 | Ephesus-Loveless Church The church at Ephesus is addressed in the first letter. Ephesus was a crossroads of civilization. Politically it had become the de facto capital of the province, known as Asia’s Supreme Metropolis. The Roman governor resided there. It was a “free” city, i.e., self-governed. Located on the western coast of Asia Minor at the convergence of three great highways from north, east, and south, Ephesus was the trade center of the area. It has been called “The Vanity Fair of the Ancient World” (William Barclay, Letters to the Seven Churches [New York: Abingdon, 1957], 12). Religiously, Ephesus was the center for the worship of the fertility “bee” goddess, known in Greek as “Artemis,” or Romanized as “Diana” (Ac 19:24). The temple with its statue of Artemis was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Thousands of priests and priestesses were involved in her service. Many of the priestesses were dedicated to cult prostitution. (This may be related to the “practices of the Nicolaitans” in v. 6.) The temple also served as a great bank for kings and merchants, as well as an asylum for fleeing criminals. To what extent the temple phenomena contributed to the general moral deterioration of the population cannot be assessed, but one of Ephesus’s own citizens, the weeping philosopher Heraclitus, said that the inhabitants of the city were “fit only to be drowned and that the reason why he could never laugh or smile was because he lived amidst such terrible uncleanness” (Barclay, Letters to the Seven Churches, 17). The church at Ephesus was probably founded jointly by Aquila, Priscilla, and (later) Paul (Ac 18:18–19; 19:1–10). The Ephesians were cosmopolitan and transient, and their city had a history of cultural-political change; these factors may have influenced the apostasy of the congregation at Ephesus from its first love (cf. 2:4).[1] -Much like the first century, cultural Christianity today in America is dying. Soon there will be no middle ground for lukewarm. You are either a Christian or you are not. 1. Jesus had a personal revelation of Himself to each church Revelation 2:1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2. Praise and exhortations Revelation 2:2-3 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Know-to have seen or perceived, aware, have knowledge about, appreciate. Works-action, behavior, doing, labor, tasks, deed. Revelation 2:6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 3. Corrections and warnings Revelation 2:7 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” ’ Revelation 2:4-5 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. Nevertheless-on the other hand, contrary, yet, besides. Does Jesus have something against me? That should cause me to pause and be utterly undone. Left-abandon, leave alone, divorce, distanced, against. It is clearly possible to be doing a lot of work for God separate from God. Matthew 7:13-23 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ I Corinthians 13:1-3 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Take Aways: · Lord examine my heart. · Have I abandoned you in any way? · Have I placed you second to any? · Have I fallen into doing work for you separate from you? · Help me return to my primary love. 1 Peter 2:11-12 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 6 Christ adds a further commendation concerning the Ephesians’ hatred of the practices of the Nicolaitans (cf. 2:15)—a hatred directed at the practices of the Nicolaitans, not the people themselves (cf. Ps 139:21). It is difficult to determine exactly who the Nicolaitans were and what they taught. Etymologically the name means “to conquer [or consume, nikaō, GK 3771] the people [laos, GK 3295].” Did they call themselves by this name, or is it a derogatory title Christ applied to them? The close association of the name with the Balaamites in 2:14–15 may suggest either identity with this group or similarity to their teachings (see comments at 2:14–15). Information about the Nicolaitans is limited, ambiguous, and based on John’s references here in Revelation. Irenaeus (Haer. 3.11.7) claims that John wrote the gospel to thwart the teaching of the Gnostic Cerinthus, whose error was similar to the earlier offshoot of the same kind of teaching known as Nicolaitanism (cited in Theron, Evidence of Tradition, 73). Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 3.29.1) mentions that the Nicolaitans lasted only a short time. Seeing the sect as a heresy would agree with the reference in 2:14 and 2:20, which warns against mixing Christian faith with idolatry and cult prostitution. Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (“Apocalyptic and Gnosis in the Book of Revelation,” JBL 92 [1973]: 570) identifies the group as Gnostics and summarizes the problem well: “The Nicolaitans are according to Revelation a Christian group within the churches of Asia Minor and have their adherents even among the itinerant missionaries and the prophetic teachers of the community. They claim to have insight into the divine or, more probably, into the demonic. They express their freedom in libertine behavior, which allows them to become part of their syncretistic pagan society and to participate in the Roman civil religion” (see also Newman, Rediscovering the Book of Revelation, 11–30, who sees the entire book of Revelation as an anti-Gnostic polemic rather than a political-religious persecution document). Others understand the Nicolaitans as Christians who still showed devotion to the emperor by burning incense to his statue or image (so William M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia [London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1904], 300–301; cf. Aune, Revelation 1–5, 148–49). See also the letters to Pergamum and Thyatira.[2] [1] Johnson, A. F. (2006). Revelation. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 611–612). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [2] Johnson, A. F. (2006). Revelation. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, p. 614). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.