An Ephesian interlude (1): a reflection for Day 9 of Lent
“Now after
these things had been accomplished, Paul resolved
in the Spirit to go through Macedonia and Achaia and then to go on to
Jerusalem. He said, “After I have gone there, I must also see Rome.” (Acts
19.21)
In many ways, the book of The Acts of the
Apostles mirrors Luke’s Gospel. In “the
first book” (cf. Ac. 1.1), Luke has Jesus “set his face” to go to
Jerusalem (Lk. 9.51) and then embark on an 11-chapter-long journey to the
Jewish capital. In the sequel to his
Gospel, Luke portrays Paul as “resolving in the Spirit” to go to Jerusalem,
where he will – like Jesus – cause a disturbance in the Temple, be put on trial
for blasphemy and be handed over to the Roman authorities before undergoing a 2-year
imprisonment, interspersed by multiple hearings before different Roman governors
as well as a Herodian tetrarch (Ac. chapters 21-26; cf. 9.15-16; Lk. 23.1-12). Unlike Jesus, Paul will not be executed in
Jerusalem, but will finally be sent to Rome to appear before the imperial
tribunal (the narrative of Acts comes to an end before Paul actually has
to defend himself before the emperor: Ac. 28.30-31).[1] It is in the city of Ephesus, after having
spent more than two years there (Ac. 19.10), that Paul resolves to go to
Jerusalem, one last time. As it
turns out, and thanks to Paul’s activity, Ephesus had become a major Christian
hub in the Roman province of Asia. Indeed,
Ephesus was a strategic city, both for Rome and for the followers of “the Way” (cf.
Ac. 9.2; 22.4; 24.14).
Another
day in Asia. 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 the book of Revelation
were located (the island of Patmos 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 10-year campaign which began in 334 B.C.[2];
thus had Asia Minor been “Hellenised”.
The Romans acquired Asia Minor in the late 2nd century B.C.[3] 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. 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[4] 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”[5] 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[6]
whose temple (third version) was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world (cf.
Ac. 19.21-41)[7]. 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!
Unmasking
the matrix. 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”.
However, Paul’s “gospel”, which announced the reality of the kingdom that
Jesus had established through his death and resurrection, would seek to subvert
this entire worldview. As you might expect,
and as we will examine over the next several days, this would not be without
consequences…
[1] Tradition has it that Paul was executed in Rome on Caesar Nero’s
orders c. AD 65.
[2] And ended
with his death in 323. By this time,
Alexander had advanced eastwards far beyond what had been considered the “ends
of the earth”.
[3] Attalus
III, the last king of Pergamum, bequeathed his empire, including Ephesus, to
the Roman Republic upon his death in 133 B.C.
[4] The
longest period of time that Paul spent in any one place during his missionary
journeys.
[5] 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…).
[6] And many
other things, including fertility.
[7] 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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