[Ephesians] - Introduction

A variety of thoughts from various sources:

Acts 18-20

• Priscilla and Aquilla were tent makers, Paul worked with them
• A year and a half in Corinth.
• Sosthenes - Look where else he turns up.
• Paul from Corinth to Ephesus (with Priscilla and Aquilla) to Antioch.
• Priscilla and Aquilla stay in Ephesus?
• Apollos arrives in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquilla set him straight on baptism.
• Apollos to Corinth, Paul heads back to Ephesus. The timeline here is less than clear.
• Acts 19:1-7 - These 12 Ephesians that Paul meets are confused about the Holy Spirit because of their confusion about baptism. Surely these folks were not taught by Priscilla and Aquilla, for they would have taught what Paul taught. Perhaps they were taught be Apollos, prior to their arrival.
• Over two years in Ephesus, "so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks." Acts 19:10, ESV
• Many miracles, it was here that we learn of Paul's miraculous hanky and the sons of Sceva who tried to invoke Jesus' name with no faith in him.
• Riot - A two hour chant!: "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!"
• On through Macedonia and into Greece for 3 months. Back through Macedonia to Troas.
• Headed to Jerusalem, avoiding Ephesus (he does not want to get distracted from getting to Jerusalem, maybe?). Went through Assos, Mitylene, Chios, Samos and Miletus via ship.
• Sends for he Ephesian elders from Miletus.
• Paul warns them to watch out for division

Easton's Bible Dictionary

• Written by Paul in Rome about the same time as Colossians. About 4 years after Acts 20 and his charge to the elders.


• Not written from special circumstances (refuting false doctrine or dealing with a specific problem), but merely out of Paul's love for them.


• Paul seems "to set forth the ground, the cause, and the aim and end of the church of the faithful in Christ. He speaks to the Ephesians as a type or sample of the church universal."

Unger's Bible Dictionary

• It seems that this letter was meant to be circulated. The words "To the Ephesians" are not in the more reliable manuscripts.


• "The apostle's real object in writing this epistle is to set forth the believer's union with Christ "

Holman Bible Dictionary

• "While it is not the longest of the Pauline Epistles, Ephesians is the one which best sets out the basic concepts of the Christian faith. "


• "the Queen of the Epistles"

This is my first time, except for one chapter books like Jude and Philemon, for me to read an entire book in one sitting. I must say, it was a little tiring and I felt myself getting distracted at times. On the other hand, I was able to piece together a bigger picture theme of the book and better appreciate the flow from one topic to another.

Reading it with the knowledge that Paul was not speaking to refute false doctrine or to correct false teachers, but was instead speaking form his heart to theirs out of his love for them gave the text a little different meaning as well.