From St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians
Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia which covered the western part of Asia Minor or Anatolia. A very ancient city of some commercial importance because of its situation on the Aegean Sea, it became the centre of St Paul’s apostolic activity during the third journey and was to be the first of the seven churches of Asia mentioned by St John in the Apocalypse (see No. 167).
St Paul’s letter, called ‘To the Ephesians’ was not addressed to a single Christian community at Ephesus but is a sort of circular letter sent to all the communities in the Ephesian district. This explains its impersonal character, lacking references to actual situations and to people whom St Paul had known during his three years’ stay at Ephesus. It may perhaps be that very letter to the Laodiceans (see No. 123) which the Colossians were told to receive from the nearby community of Laodicea. In fact this letter too was carried by the same Tychicus who took the letter to the Colossians to Colossae. St Paul wrote them both at about the same time, towards the end of his Roman captivity (62-63 A.D.). The letter to the Ephesians is not of a directly controversial character but treats the same subjects as the letter to the Colossians with a particular emphasis on praising God, praying and encouraging the faithful.
This letter too is divided into two parts, one mainly doctrinal, in which we note specially the theology of the Church in relation to God’s plan of salvation, and the other devoted to moral exhortations. At the very beginning of the letter, we find these truly fundamental statements, in the form of a thanksgiving to God:
1) God the Father has determined from all eternity to ‘restore’ all things in Christ, that is to gather together all material and spiritual entities and put them under one Head, Christ.
The position of Ephesus.
p.315
Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia which covered the western part of Asia Minor or Anatolia. A very ancient city of some commercial importance because of its situation on the Aegean Sea, it became the centre of St Paul’s apostolic activity during the third journey and was to be the first of the seven churches of Asia mentioned by St John in the Apocalypse (see No. 167).
St Paul’s letter, called ‘To the Ephesians’ was not addressed to a single Christian community at Ephesus but is a sort of circular letter sent to all the communities in the Ephesian district. This explains its impersonal character, lacking references to actual situations and to people whom St Paul had known during his three years’ stay at Ephesus. It may perhaps be that very letter to the Laodiceans (see No. 123) which the Colossians were told to receive from the nearby community of Laodicea. In fact this letter too was carried by the same Tychicus who took the letter to the Colossians to Colossae. St Paul wrote them both at about the same time, towards the end of his Roman captivity (62-63 A.D.). The letter to the Ephesians is not of a directly controversial character but treats the same subjects as the letter to the Colossians with a particular emphasis on praising God, praying and encouraging the faithful.
This letter too is divided into two parts, one mainly doctrinal, in which we note specially the theology of the Church in relation to God’s plan of salvation, and the other devoted to moral exhortations. At the very beginning of the letter, we find these truly fundamental statements, in the form of a thanksgiving to God:
1) God the Father has determined from all eternity to ‘restore’ all things in Christ, that is to gather together all material and spiritual entities and put them under one Head, Christ.
The position of Ephesus.
p.315
