Ephesus (Efes) is close to the town of Selcuk about an hours
drive south of Izmir. Kusadasi is the nearest larger town, about 20km from
Efes.
The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the seven
wonders of the ancient world and was built around 550 BC, it was about four
times the size of the Parthenon. Ephesus was part of the kingdom of Pergamum
which Attalus III bequeathed to Rome in 133 BC. Ephesus was the most important Greek Roman city of proconsular Asia. Situated at the mouth of the Cayster River on a
gulf of the Aegean sea, it flourished as an important commercial and export
centre for Asia. By NT times it had grown to at least 250,000 people (Mounce).
Gradually the harbour silted up and is now some miles from the sea. In modern
day Turkey Ephesus is known as Efes. The Selçuk-Ephesus Museum is a must
visit, many of the photos of statues are from the museum.
There is much information in the bible about the church at
Ephesus. The church at Ephesus was founded by Paul where he reasoned with the
Jews, he left Priscilla and Aquila there (Acts 18:19). Paul came back to
Ephesus and found some disciples who had not received the Holy Spirit, they had
only been baptised into John's baptism, when they were baptised in the name of
the Lord Jesus the Holy Spirit came upon them (Acts 19:1-7). Paul spoke in the
synagogue for three months (Acts 19:8) and then in the lecture hall of Tyrannus
for 2 years (Acts 19:9-10). Then there was a disturbance because of the
fertility goddess Artemis who brought the Ephesians wealth through making
silver images of her (Acts 19:23), they were afraid that through Paul's
preaching about Christ they would lose business. Paul left Timothy at Ephesus
(1 Tim 1:3). He said good-bye to the elders of Ephesus at Miletus before going
to Jerusalem (Acts 20:17-38) where he warned them that savage wolves will come
in among them (Acts 20:29).
He also wrote to the Ephesians a long letter from which it
is clear that they were a mature church. It is also thought that the apostle
John and Mary, Jesus mother, settled at Ephesus. Some two-and-a-half centuries
after Paul preached in Ephesus, the city hall was converted into a church and
later used by the Council of Ephesus, which in 431 AD formally accepted the
teaching that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine (C Hill, Prophecy
Today, Vol. 11, No 5. p26-27.).
