GOD'S NEW WORLD, DAY 24 (welcome to Asia)
Another day in Asia. John of Patmos wrote to “the seven churches
of Asia”, the first of which is the church in the city of Ephesus (cf. Rev. 1.4,
9-11). The area of land we now know as
Turkey was referred to as “Asia Minor” (or “Anatolia”) in the ancient world, and
the Western end – once it was acquired by the Romans – became the “province of
Asia”, where the seven churches of Revelation were located (the island
of Patmos, where John had been exiled, was off the coast of “Asia”, in the
Aegean Sea). Asia Minor had been the
western hinterland of the Persian empire, and was the first territory conquered
by Alexander the Great during his campaigns which began in 334 B.C.; thus had Asia
Minor been “Hellenised”. The Romans acquired
Asia Minor in the late 2nd century B.C.[1] and
lost no time in exploiting its vast wealth through overt theft and later,
through taxation (i.e., legalized theft). In 27 B.C., Caesar Augustus made Ephesus the capital
of the province of Asia, instead of Pergamum.
Ephesus then became second in size and importance only to Rome.
Ephesus in the NT. The New Testament provides us with quite a
bit of information about how the church in Ephesus came to be. In the book of Acts, we have an
account of Paul’s activity in the city (cf. Ac. 19; 20.17-38). Indeed, Paul spent over two years[2]
in Ephesus, having been allowed the use of a lecture hall in which to preach
(Ac. 19.8-10). We also have Paul’s
letter “to the Ephesians”[3]
as well as those addressed to Timothy, who, according to tradition, was
responsible for the Ephesian church at the time that Revelation was written. After Paul had spent considerable time establishing
the Christian community, a riot was instigated in the city by artisans who profited
from the widespread devotion to “Artemis of the Ephesians”, a virgin goddess of
the hunt[4]
whose temple (third version) was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world (cf.
Ac. 19.21-41)[5]. The temple of Artemis had a long history,
with its first version being constructed during the 8th century B.C.,
and its final version being destroyed c. AD 400. Ephesus, as the seat of the provincial
governor, also boasted an important temple dedicated to the cult of the Roman
emperor. Indeed, the book of Acts
shows a great variety of “religious” phenomena in Ephesus – disciples of John
the Baptist (19.1-7); Jewish exorcists (19.11-17); practitioners of magic
(19.18-20) and devotion to Artemis (19.23-41).
Naturally, there was an important Jewish population in Ephesus, and as
usual, Paul had begun his missionary efforts in the local synagogue (Ac.
19.8). Unity of Jew and Gentile in
Christ is a major theme in the letter “to the Ephesians” (esp. chapters 2—3). The church in Ephesus was undoubtedly composed
of a mixture of diaspora Jews, God-fearing Gentiles and devotees of Artemis who
would have gathered for worship and “life together” in the homes of the more affluent
members of the community. Quite the motley
crew!
The Jesus-followers of Ephesus lived in a
world where Caesar was Lord, in which the (temples of the) gods were everywhere,
a world where everyone knew their place, a world populated with countless nameless
slaves, a world of empire – both efficient and ruthless, with a social order
that demanded loyalty (and taxes!) and which promised peace, justice and prosperity
(for the 1%). Everything the Ephesians would
have encountered on a daily basis served to reinforce the official, imperial interpretation
of reality – the architecture, the many statues of the emperor, the temples of the
many gods, the social protocols, the way money was spent (and collected), the
dress codes – everything proclaimed “this is the way things are and the way they
are meant to be”. As John writes to the
seven churches of Asia, he offers them an alternative vision of their
world. In Revelation, John wants
to “draw back the curtain” on reality so as to permit his readers to see things
from God’s perspective, i.e., “from heaven” (which, in the Bible, is often
presented as being “right there”, behind a veil).
[1] Attalus III, the last king of Pergamum, bequeathed his empire, including
Ephesus, to the Roman Republic upon his death in 133 B.C.
[2] The longest period of time that Paul spent in any one place during
his missionary journeys.
[3] There is some evidence suggesting that Ephesians was a circular
letter; some manuscripts of Ephesians are addressed “to the Laodiceans” (cf.
Col. 4.15-16), and some leave the destination blank. Perhaps Paul had intended for “Ephesians” to
be read by the same communities which received Revelation… There is also
speculation as to whether Romans chapter 16 may originally have been the ending
of Ephesians (since the long list of names of people whom Paul greets seems
incongruous with the church of Rome, which Paul had never visited…).
[4] And many other things, including fertility.
[5] Ac. 19.35 seems to make reference to a meteorite. When the image of the Great Mother goddess
was brought to Rome from Asia Minor in 204 B.C., it turned out to be – to the Romans’
great surprise – a large black meteorite: Mary Beard, SPQR: A History of Ancient
Rome, New York: Liveright Publishing, 2015, pp. 206-07.
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