Of all the cities mentioned in the New Testament that were visited by Paul, Ephesus is the only one that was also addressed in the book of Revelation. According to Acts, Paul visited the city of Ephesus on both his second and third missionary journeys. On his second journey his visit was brief. Priscilla and Aquila (wife and husband) accompanied Paul to Ephesus. After engaging in a discussion in the synagogue, Paul left Ephesus, leaving Priscilla and Aquila in the city, and promised to return (Acts 18:18-20). Sometime after Paul left Ephesus, another Christian, Apollos of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. Discovering that his understanding of the Christian faith was deficient in some areas Priscilla and Aquila instructed him more fully (Acts 18:24-28). After Apollos left to go to Greece, Paul returned to Ephesus during his third journey. This time he spent a considerable length of time in Ephesus. (Acts 19:8-10 says Paul spent two years teaching and preaching in the hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus, after having spent three months teaching in the synagogue ere. Acts 20:31 says he spent three years in Ephesus.)

During this stay in Ephesus Paul aroused the anger of the city's guild of silversmiths, who had a prosperous business selling silver shrines of Artemis, the goddess whose impressive temple was located in Ephesus. Paul's preaching was harming their business and challenging the worship of Artemis. The silversmiths began to chant, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!" A near riot ensued, in which the people of the city gathered in the theater, dragging two of Paul's traveling companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, with them. Paul wanted to go into the theater, presumably to rescue his companions or to help quell the disturbance, but his friends and even some of the city officials persuaded him not to go. After the disturbance had lasted for two hours, the town clerk was able to bring order to the crowd and end the outbreak. Shortly after this event Paul left Ephesus and traveled to Macedonia (Acts 19:1-20:1). At the end of this third journey Paul bypassed Ephesus on his eventual return to Jerusalem. Acts 20:16 states that Paul bypassed the city because of his eagerness to return to Jerusalem. Perhaps the disturbance during his previous visit contributed to that decision as well. Rather than stopping at Ephesus to visit the Christians, Paul sent a message to them from Miletus and asked the elders of the church at Ephesus to come meet him there (Acts 20:17).

When Paul wrote the letter of 1 Corinthians he was in Ephesus, likely during the lengthy stay mentioned in Acts 19 (see 1 Cor 16:8). He perhaps also wrote portions of 2 Corinthians from Ephesus. Some scholars suggest that Paul may have been imprisoned at Ephesus for part of this period and that during this imprisonment he wrote the letters of Philippians and Philemon, as well as Colossians. Whereas there is no evidence that Paul was indeed a prisoner in Ephesus, he does state that he had been imprisoned on numerous occasions, one of which may have been in Ephesus (2 Cor 11:23). In 1 Corinthians 15:32 Paul says that he "fought with wild animals at Ephesus." This, however, is probably only a figure of speech for the difficulties he encountered from opponents in the city.

The New Testament contains a letter supposedly from Paul that is traditionally called the Letter to the Ephesians. Since there are no personal references in the letter and the earliest Greek manuscripts of the letter do not include a reference to Ephesus in the greeting, many scholars consider this a circular letter that was intended to be read to several churches and not addressed just to the church at Ephesus. The First Letter to Timothy claims to be written by Paul to Timothy, his younger coworker. Paul urges Timothy to remain in Ephesus to help the Christians there, particularly to help them deal with false teachings that had arisen (1 Tim 1:3). Ephesus is mentioned twice in 2 Timothy. In 1:16-18 Paul praises Onesiphorus. who had ren- dered special service to him, both in Rome and in Ephesus. In 4:12 he informs Timothy that he has sent Tychicus, one of his traveling compan- ions, to Ephesus.

The other appearances of Ephesus in the Bible occur in Revelation, written by John of Patmos. The church at Ephesus is the first of the churches addressed in the book. As the most important city of Asia Minor, Ephesus was a fitting recipient of the first message. In the message, found in Revelation 2:1-7, Christ praised the Ephesian Christians for their works, their labor, and their endurance. The church's faithfulness was particularly evident in its resistance to false teachers, or false apostles. Although John gives no details about the false apostles at Ephesus, they were possibly connected with the people labeled "Nicolaitans" (2:6,2:15). In addition to problems from false leaders within the church, the Chris- tians at Ephesus were also suffering from unnamed external threats. Christ praises them for their patient suffering and endurance. Praise quickly turns to criticism, however, as Christ rebukes the Ephesians for their loss of love in dealing with others. Christ commands the Ephesian church to repent, to return to the love and compassion that formerly characterized their lives.

Early Christian tradition identified Ephesus with the disciple John. The tradition, found in various forms in different early writers, basically claimed that John moved to Ephesus after he left Jerusalem. There he taught and preached until he ran into trouble with the local authorities and was sent into exile to the island of Patmos. Later, allowed to return from exile, he lived out the rest of his life in Ephesus, from which he wrote the Gospel of John and the three Letters of John. While on Patmos (or after returning to Ephesus) he also wrote the book of Revelation. According to this tradition, John died in Ephesus and was buried there, his grave being eventually housed in the Church of St. John the Theolo- gian. When he moved to Ephesus, John supposedly took along with him Mary, the mother of Jesus. This latter tradition is based on the scene in the Gospel of John in which Jesus, looking down from the cross and seeing his mother and "the disciple whom he loved" (or the Beloved Disciple), said, "Woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." The Gospel of John adds, "And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home" (John 19:26-27).

Excerpted from A Guide to Biblical Sites in Greece and Turkey by Fant and Reddish.