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Paul and the Ephesians
Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 18:18–21; Acts 19:13–
20:1; Acts 20:17–38; Eph. 1:1, 2; Eph. 6:21–24; Eph. 3:13; Eph. 1:9,
10.
Memory Text: “Making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness
of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth”
(Ephesians 1:9, 10, ESV).
When we write something, we have a purpose for doing so, sometimes a weighty one. Abraham Lincoln, for instance, wrote his
famous Gettysburg address in 1863 after the terrible devastation
in the American Civil War battle there, which left about seven thousand
soldiers dead. In that address, invoking the founding fathers, Lincoln
expressed his belief that the Civil War was the ultimate test as to whether
the nation created in 1776 would endure or would “perish from the earth.”
Paul has a profound purpose that motivates his letter. Partly because
of his imprisonment (Eph. 3:13, Eph. 6:20), and partly because of
ongoing persecution and temptations, the Ephesians are tempted to lose
heart. Paul reminds them of what happened when they were converted,
accepting Christ as their Savior and becoming part of the church. They
have become Christ’s body (Eph. 1:19–23, Eph. 4:1–16), the building
materials in a temple (Eph. 2:19–22), the bride of Christ (Eph. 5:21–
33), and a well-equipped army (Eph. 6:10–20). They play a strategic
role in fulfilling God’s grand plan, to unite everything in Christ (Eph.
1:9, 10). Paul writes to awaken the believers in Ephesus to their full
identity and privileges as followers of Christ.
* Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 1.
Lesson
7
June 25
Paul, Evangelist to Ephesus
What does Paul do on his first visit to Ephesus, at the end of his second
missionary journey? (Acts 18:18–21).
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Ephesus was one of the largest cities of the Roman Empire, with
a population of about two hundred fifty thousand. It was the capital
of one of the empire’s richest provinces, the province of Asia, which
covered much of what we know today as Asia Minor. In Paul’s day, the
province was enjoying a time of growth and prosperity. A port city,
Ephesus was also at the crossroads of important land routes. While
the people worshiped many deities in the city, Artemis, regarded as
the protector goddess of the city, was supreme. Her worship was the
focus of civic ceremonies, athletic games, and annual celebrations.
(Artemis was called Diana by the Romans; see Acts 19:24, 35, KJV;
NKJV.)
Paul later returns to Ephesus on his third missionary journey (Acts
19:1–12) and remains there “for three years” (Acts 20:31). The apostle
makes a significant time commitment to Ephesus, with the intention of
firmly founding Christianity there.
What strange event leads to widespread reverence for “the Lord Jesus”
in Ephesus? Acts 19:13–20.
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Luke shares the strange story of seven itinerant, Jewish exorcists in
the city. Mingling the names of both Jesus and Paul in their incantations
proves to be a misguided venture for these exorcists. When the news
flashes through the streets of the city, “everyone was awestruck; and
the name of the Lord Jesus was praised” (Acts 19:17, NRSV). The event
also had a profound impact on some of those who had already become
believers, who publicly burned their expensive handbooks of magic arts
worth “fifty thousand silver coins” (Acts 19:19, NRSV). With the wider
residents of the city, believers learn that the worship of Jesus must not
be diluted with the worship of anything or anyone else.
What did the burning of their own books signify, even at such an
expense to themselves? What does that say about a total commitment to the Lord?
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Sunday
8
June 26
A Riot in the Amphitheater
Read Acts 19:21–20:1. What lessons can we draw from this story?
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Paul’s witness in the large, sophisticated city of Ephesus was so effective
that it impacted an important economic engine for the city, tourism focused
on the Temple of Artemis. And what a temple it was! This magnificent
structure was composed partly of 127 pillars, each 60 feet high, of Parian
marble, a pure-white, flawless marble highly prized for sculptures. Thirtysix of these pillars were sculpted and overlaid with gold, earning the temple
its reputation as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Concerned that Paul’s anti-idolatry rhetoric was draining financial support from the temple (Acts 19:27), Demetrius the silversmith whipped his
fellow craftsmen into a frenzy. A rapidly expanding and highly energized
crowd swept from the marketplace into the large amphitheater, which
seated some twenty-five thousand people. There the commotion continued,
featuring two continuous hours of shouting “ ‘Great is Artemis of the
Ephesians!’ ” (Acts 19:34, ESV). After the crowd is dispersed by the town
clerk, Paul meets with the believers and leaves the city.
At the end of his third missionary journey, Paul meets with elders of the
Ephesian church. How would you summarize Paul’s concerns? See
Acts 20:17–38.
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A tentative chronology of Paul’s relationship to Ephesus:
* ad 52: Paul’s initial, brief visit to Ephesus (Acts 18:18–21).
* ad 53–56: Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus (Acts 19:1–20:1). He
composes 1 Corinthians near the end of his stay there (1 Cor. 16:5–9).
* ad 57: While at Miletus, Paul meets with the elders from Ephesus
(Acts 20:17–38).
* ad 62: Paul composes his letter to the Ephesians, probably from
confinement in Rome.
“Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not
cease to warn everyone night and day with tears,” said Paul (Acts
20:31, NKJV). What do you think Paul would warn our church
about today, and why?

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Monday
9
June 27
Hearing the Letter to the Ephesians
Paul wrote Ephesians to be read aloud in the house churches of
believers in greater Ephesus. In the intervening years since Paul’s
departure, the Christian movement in Ephesus had grown, and the
number of house churches had multiplied. For those early believers,
it would have been an important event to have Tychicus, the personal
representative of the founding apostle Paul, stand among them and
share a letter from him. As suggested by the epistle itself, the assembled group likely included members of the host household—father,
mother, children, and slaves (Eph. 5:21–6:9). At the time, a household included others, as well—clients (free persons who depended
on the householder for support) and even customers. So, these may
be present too, as well as members of other households.
In conjunction with the outline of the letter below, read through the
entire epistle, preferably out loud (it will take about fifteen minutes
to do so). What themes echo through the letter as a whole?
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Greeting (Eph. 1:1, 2)
What key theme seems to come through in this letter? What does
it say to you? What specific point or points touch home?
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Tuesday
I. Opening Greeting (Eph. 1:1, 2)
II. Introductory Blessing (Eph. 1:3–14)
III. Praying for Believers to Receive Christ-Focused Wisdom (Eph.
1:15–23)
IV. Once Spiritually Dead; Now Exalted With Christ (Eph. 2:1–10)
V. Christ’s Creation of the Church Out of Jews and Gentiles (Eph.
2:11–22)
VI. Paul as Preacher of Christ to the Gentiles (Eph. 3:1–13)
VII. Praying for Believers to Experience the Love of Christ (Eph.
3:14–21)
VIII. Hold On to the Spirit-Inspired Unity of the Church (Eph. 4:1–16)
IX. Live the New, Unity-Nurturing Life (Eph. 4:17–32)
X. Walk in Love, Light, and Wisdom (Eph. 5:1–20)
XI. Practice Christ-Shaped Life in the Christian Household (Eph.
5:21–6:9)
XII. Stand Together: The Church as the Army of God (Eph. 6:10–20)
XIII. Closing Greeting (Eph. 6:21–24)
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-June 28
Ephesians in Its Time
How does Paul begin and end his letter to the believers in Ephesus?
What do we learn about his deepest desires for them? See Eph. 1:1,
2; Eph. 6:21–24.
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At the outset of the letter, Paul identifies himself as the author
(Eph. 1:1). Near the middle of the letter, Paul again identifies himself by name, labeling himself “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you
Gentiles” (Eph. 3:1, NKJV), which introduces a personal reflection
on his work as an apostle (Eph. 3:1–13). Near the end of the letter, he
again refers to his imprisonment (Eph. 6:20) and concludes with personal words (Eph. 6:21, 22). While some scholars deny that the letter
was written by Paul, it is important to note that the epistle clearly
lays claim to Paul as its author. Most Christians accept, and rightly
so, Paul as the author.
How does Paul worry about the effect his imprisonment will have on
believers in Ephesus? See Eph. 3:13.
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Ephesians seems to share the same general timing and circumstances
with other letters Paul writes from prison, Colossians (see esp. Col. 4:7,
8) and Philemon. Also considerable time seems to have passed since
Paul’s ministry in Ephesus (Eph. 1:15; Eph. 3:1, 2). Paul probably
composed Ephesians in a prison in Rome about ad 62.
In Ephesians, Paul offers few specifics about the situation of his
audience in Ephesus. The scope of his attention is wide. He deals with
a grand span of time, beginning with God’s decisions made “before
the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), and reflects broadly on grand
themes of God’s salvation offered in Christ. In doing so, the letter exhibits
an exalted, literary style, with long sentences, repetitive expressions,
and developed metaphors. Paul can use such a style elsewhere (e.g.,
Rom. 8:31–39), but it is concentrated in Ephesians, which features a
great deal of praise, prayer, and worship language (Eph. 1:3–14, Eph.
1:15–23, Eph. 3:14–21) and offers carefully crafted, highly rhetorical
passages (e.g., Eph. 4:1–16, Eph. 5:21–33, Eph. 6:10–20).
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Wednesday
11
June 29
Ephesians: A Christ-Saturated Letter
How does Paul announce the theme of his letter? Eph. 1:9, 10.
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How can the message of Ephesians be summarized? From prison,
Paul sets forth a vision of God’s Christ-centered plan for the fullness of
time and the church’s role in it. God has acted in Christ to initiate His
plan “to unite all things in him [Christ], things in heaven and things on
earth” (Eph. 1:10, ESV), and He did so by creating the church as an entity
composed of one new humanity of both Jews and Gentiles (Eph. 2:14).
Believers are called to act in concert with this divine plan, signaling to
the evil powers that God’s ultimate purpose is underway (Eph. 3:10).
As Ephesians 1:9, 10 proclaims, the unity God has in mind is centered in Christ. So, it is no surprise to discover that Ephesians is a
Christ-drenched letter that everywhere praises the actions of God in
Christ and celebrates the access of believers to the spiritual resources
offered them in Christ. Paul employs the phrase “in Christ” and similar
phrases more than thirty times, and everywhere lifts up Jesus. As you
read the letter, watch for these phrases and stay alert to the many ways
Paul focuses on Jesus.
Paul seeks to reignite the spiritual commitment of believers in
Ephesus by reminding them that they are part of the church, which is at
the heart of God’s plan to unify all things in Christ. When he uses the
word “church” (Greek, ekklēsia) in the letter, he means the “universal”
church or the church at large (rather than a local congregation).
A principal strategy he uses is to talk about the church, and he does
so using vivid metaphors, four of which he develops in some detail:
1. The church as a body (Eph. 1:22, 23; Eph. 2:16; Eph. 3:6; Eph.
4:1–16, 25; Eph. 5:23, 29, 30).
2. The church as a building/temple (Eph. 2:19–22).
3. The church as a bride (Eph. 5:22–27).
4. The church as an army (Eph. 6:10–20).
Each one of these images, in its own way, reveals what God’s purpose
and intention for His church is.
In the church of which you are a part, the Seventh-day Adventist
Church, God is drawing together a transnational, multilingual,
multiracial, cross-cultural community (Rev. 14:6, 7) that points the
way to the fulfillment of His plan to unite all things in Jesus (Eph.
1:9, 10). How can we work in concert with God’s grand plan?
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Thursday
12
June 30
Further Thought: The story of the exorcists misusing the names of
Jesus and Paul (Acts 19:13–20; see Sunday’s study) helps explain why Paul
uses so much language about power in Ephesians. Some new believers,
under fresh conviction of the sovereignty of Jesus, throw their expensive
magic manuals into the flames. Thanks to the discovery of some two
hundred fifty papyri dealing with magic, as well as other finds, we have
ample illustrations of rituals, spells, formulas, curses, et cetera, similar to
those likely featured in these manuals of magic. The volumes had advised
believers how to conduct such rituals to persuade gods, goddesses, and
spirit powers to do whatever they would ask.
Luke tells us that these volumes were worth 50,000 silver coins, or
50,000 days of wages. (In today’s setting, if you allow for $80/day of
wages for a skilled laborer, this amounts to $4 million!) This detail
demonstrates the importance and centrality of these volumes to their
everyday lives. “It took the sovereign intervention of God for them to
be sufficiently convicted that they should completely repent of their
ongoing utilization of amulets, charms, invocations, and traditional
means of gaining spiritual power.”—Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), p. 34.
We come to understand that Ephesians was written to believers who
needed instruction about “how to cope with the continuing influence
and attacks of the sinister cosmic ‘powers.’ ”—Clinton E. Arnold,
Power and Magic: The Concept of Power in Ephesians (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 1992), p. 165. Paul’s response is the Epistle to the
Ephesians, in which he points to Christ as the One who has been exalted
above every power (Eph. 1:20–23) and emphasizes the superiority of the
strength that God provides to believers (Eph. 2:15–19, Eph. 3:14–21,
Eph. 6:10–20).
Discussion Questions:
Ê What powers or authorities are active in our world and your life
today? How do these powers manifest themselves, tempting believers
to honor and respect them rather than to give undiluted loyalty to the
exalted Christ?
Ë In the context of God’s “fullness of time” plan to unite all things
in Christ, Paul expresses hope for the future. Review his uses of the
word “hope” in Ephesians 1:18, Ephesians 2:12, and Ephesians 4:4.
Why does he believe there is hope for the future?
Ì In the following passages in Ephesians, how does Paul point to
the great, future hope of Christ’s return? Eph. 1:13, 14; Eph. 1:21;
Eph. 2:7; Eph. 4:30; Eph. 5:5. What does this hope mean for us
right now?
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Friday
Provided by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission, which uses Sabbath School
mission offerings to spread the gospel worldwide. Read new stories daily at
AdventistMission.org. 13
Story inside
Bible Survives Blaze
By Tor Tjeransen
Valentina Melentjeva watched helplessly as her home burned to the
ground in Kongsberg, Norway. While she was sad to lose her life’s possessions, the thought of losing her Bible devastated her the most.
Valentina grew up in Klaipeda, the third-largest city of the then-Soviet
republic of Lithuania. Although her mother was a Christian, her family
never owned a Bible, never talked about Jesus, and never prayed.
When Valentina was 45, she noticed that a neighbor named Ira seemed
happy even though she endured struggles. Valentina asked Ira about the
secret to her happiness, and Ira invited her to her home.
When Valentina arrived, Ira placed an open Bible in her hands. For the
first time in her life, Valentina held a Bible. It was opened to Exodus 20.
“Please read,” Ira said.
Valentina began reading the Ten Commandments. When she reached the
fourth commandment, she was shocked to read, “Remember the Sabbath
day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God” (Exodus 20:8–10, NKJV).
Four times she read the Sabbath commandment. The seventh day, not
Sunday, was the day of rest. For her entire life, she had worked on Saturdays.
But now she wanted to live according to the fourth commandment.
The next Saturday, Valentina went with Ira to worship with other
Seventh-day Adventists in Klaipeda. On her second Sabbath in church,
Valentina received a new Bible in the Russian language. The book became
her most-treasured possession, and she was baptized a year later, in
2004. Later, Valentina moved to Norway to learn more about God at an
Adventist Bible school. By the time she completed the course, the Bible’s
cover had become well-worn. She commissioned a beautiful leather cover
for the Bible.
After the 2021 fire, the police and fire brigade cordoned off Valentina’s
apartment. When their investigation ended, Valentina’s visiting son walked
through the rubble. Valentina was overjoyed when her son returned with
the Bible. The Bible, which had been standing on a
shelf with other spiritual books, was the only book
to remain intact. It suffered only minor fire damage.
“It is amazing what the love of God can do to
preserve the most important thing,” Valentina said.
Thank you for your Thirteenth Sabbath Offering three years
ago that helped open a center of influence in Sortland,
Norway, where more people can learn about Valentina’s
favorite book, the Bible