What happened to the Ephesian Church?
The following is from Redeeming God:
Although there is no longer a city of Ephesus, the church in Ephesus used to be the strongest church in Asia Minor, which is now called Turkey, and now there are hardly even any Christians to be found in all of Asia Minor, let alone a church of any strength or size.
Turkey is 99.8% Muslim, leaving only .2% as Christian. And even this .2% is in rapid decline.
Turkey, although it used to be a fortification of Christianity, is now the largest unreached nation in the world and one of the strongest propagator’s of Islam. Most of the nation’s 55 million Muslim’s have never even heard the gospel.
So what happened?
We could say that the Muslim invasions may have just been God’s judgment on an apostate church, on a church that has already fallen away.
Paul was prophetic in the final words of his letter. He called them to love the Lord Jesus Christ with sincerity, with an incorruptible love. But this is the one thing they forgot to do. It is a very sad story.
Our story begins in Acts 19. In Acts 19:1-10, we read of the church of Ephesus beginning. In Acts 19:1, Paul founded the church in Ephesus (cf. Acts 18:19-20). Among other things, he teaches the new Ephesian Christians about three different forms of baptism, and oversees two of them, the Christian water baptism and Spirit baptism.
Then, in Acts 19:7, twelve men because the first Christians, and along with Paul, they try to persuade more Jewish people to believe, but Paul reports in Acts 19:8-9 that very few believed in Jesus because they were hard of heart.
In Acts 19:9, the Christians started to meet in the school of Tyrannus. This was most likely a Gentile place of learning and philosophy (cf. Acts 17:16-34; 18:6-8).[3] Paul met with the Christians there every day, teaching them from the Scriptures about Jesus and the gospel. He taught this way in the school of Tyrannus for two years (Acts 19:10), but according to Acts 20:31, he spent three years teaching and training the Christians in Ephesus. They must have met in some other location for some time both before and after they met in the school of Tyrannus (cf. Acts 18:19-20).
And it was likely that Paul didn’t teach for just thirty or forty minutes. In Acts 20, we see that Paul taught night and day, sometimes late into the night (Acts 20:9). If Paul taught the Ephesians for four hours each day, and he did this for three years, this comes to 4380 hours of teaching that Paul provided to the Ephesian Christians. If the average Christian listens to one 40-minute sermon each week, it would take 126 years to receive the same amount of teaching. But the Ephesian Christians received this much training in just three years.
At the beginning of Acts 20, Paul leaves Ephesus to visit some of the other churches in the area. Then in Acts 20:17, he returns to a beach near Ephesus, and from there he asks the elders of the church to come see him. Paul is headed toward Jerusalem, where he knows he will be arrested, and eventually killed. So in Acts 20:18-38, Paul gives his farewell instructions to leaders of the strongest church in the area.
In Acts 20:18-21, Paul reminds them of the work he did among them. In Acts 20:22-25, Paul explains to them what will happen to him in Jerusalem. Then in Acts 20:26-35, Paul gives his farewell instructions. He remind them of how, for three years, he taught them the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27, 32). He then encourages the Ephesian elders to teach to others the things they learned from him (Acts 20:28). This is basic discipleship at work.
But the reason Paul wanted the elders to pass his teachings on to others is because Paul knew that false teachers were coming, and he wanted them to be prepared (Acts 20:29-30). But the reason Paul wanted the elders to pass his teachings on to others is because Paul knew that false teachers were coming, and he wanted them to be prepared (Acts 20:29-30). Paul wanted the Ephesians church to know how to recognize false teaching and how to refute it. Then Paul gives his closing remarks (Acts 20:31-35) and has a tearful goodbye (Act 20:36-38).
Paul then goes to Jerusalem, where he is arrested and put into prison. But Paul’s work with the Ephesians is not done. While in prison, Paul spent some of his time writing letters of encouragement and instruction to various churches. We don’t know how many letters Paul wrote, but the Bible contains thirteen of these letters. Of these thirteen letters, three of them are written to the church in Ephesus, or people in the church at Ephesus. These three are Ephesians, and 1–2 Timothy.
Many of the themes and ideas that are found in Ephesians are also found in Paul’s two letters to Timothy, who was the pastor in Ephesus. Every chapter of these two letters deal with one main thing. Paul wants Timothy to watch out for false teachers. Paul warns Timothy that false teachers are coming and they will try to lead the Ephesian Christians astray. Paul tells Timothy that the best way to keep himself and his hearers protected from the seductive ideas of false teachers, is to be firmly rooted and founded in the Word of God.
Almost any passage out of 1 and 2 Timothy will show this. Second Timothy 1:15 is one example, for it shows that these false teachers have already made inroads into the church, and are already causing confusion and damage to the church. Paul specifically calls out two men who, according to Paul, have caused everyone in Asia to turn away from him. This is a bit of an exaggeration, because Timothy lived in Asia, but he had not turned away. And since Timothy was still the pastor of the church in Ephesus, we can assume some of the Christians there must not have turned away from Paul either.
But some apparently had, and although the church was still quite new, already the false teachers had come and were leading people astray. And Paul is in great pain and turmoil about this. Men and women whom Paul had poured his life into were now rejecting the truth and were following false teachers.
This church had not followed Paul’s instructions which he had written to them in Ephesians. They had not understood how serious spiritual warfare was. They relied on their vast knowledge of the Bible, and their prominence as a Christian church. And they began to look to themselves rather than to Jesus Christ. As a result, many fell away.
Church history tells us that after Paul got out of prison, he made his way to Spain, and then returned to Ephesus to minister there before being arrested again and finally killed. We also know from church history that the apostle John was a leader of the church of Ephesus as well. It is probably while John was in Ephesus that he wrote 1, 2 and 3 John and the Gospel of John.
Ephesus had some of the best teaching, and the best blessings, and the best leaders that a church could ever have. Paul not only founded and taught the church for three years, but then they had Timothy as their teaching elder, and even the Apostle John. But even though they had the best teaching from the best teachers, it appears that they never heeded the warning advice of Paul to hold on to what they were taught and stay away from false teachers.
We know this because of the final time the church in Ephesus is mentioned in the Bible. In Revelation 2:1-7, the Apostle John writes a warning to the church in Ephesus. He begins by praising them for the things they were doing well (Rev 2:1-3), but then tells them in Revelation 2:4 that they have left their first love.
What was their first love? Well, according to the closing remarks of Paul in Ephesians 6:24, their love was for Jesus Christ. But now, apparently, they had left behind their love for Jesus Christ. They were now listening to false teachers. They were being seduced by the lies and deceptions of the devil.
But John knew that it was not too late for the Ephesian church. God is always gracious and patient. God always longs for His prodigal son to return. He always calls His wayward sheep to come home.
So in Revelation 2:5, Jesus, through the pen of John, gives the remedy to the Ephesian church. He tells them how they can return to their glory as first among the churches. He tells them how once again their light can shine brightly into the world. They must repent, and go back and do the things they did at the very first. If they don’t do this, then their light will be removed, and the church in Ephesus will be no more.
They are to go back and do the things that Paul did with them for those three years that he lived and taught in Ephesus. They must meet on a daily basis to read and study Scripture so that they can live it out and apply it in their lives.
But sadly, history tells us that the Ephesian church did not heed the warnings of Paul or the warnings of John. Their light was indeed snuffed out. It appears that they did not repent and return to their first works. They did not return to Jesus, their first love. As a result, they never regained their former glory. Today, the best and greatest church in the New Testament is no more. It has passed away. The region is now almost entirely Muslim.
I wonder what would have happened if the church in Ephesus has repented, and had returned to God? The greatest church in Christian history no longer exists. It is all very sad.
But it is also a lesson.
It is a lesson, because the very same thing can happen to us. In fact, I would say it is happening to us. I would say that the American church today is at the exact point in our history that the Ephesian church was at in Revelation 2.
We must heed the warning from Ephesus. They were the greatest Christian church in Asia Minor. Now, they are barely remembered.
Notes on Ephesians 6:21-24
[1] Springs in the Valley, Nov. 19.
[2] Patrick Johnstone, Operation World, Turkey, 541-542.
[3] ISBE, “Tyrannus.”
Sincerely,
Diana
FOR MORE INFORMATION
https://www.quora.com/What-was-the-problem-with-the-church-in-Ephesus
No comments:
Post a Comment