Modern Paladin: Ephesian Lessons for Today’S Church Leaders

By Victor Matthews PhD

An instant classic, Modern Paladin (a holy warrior for todays world) combines the best of Bible commentary and church-leader discipleship. This work is as comprehensive and detailed as any program for leadership development could be. It begins with the discovery that the ancient city of Ephesus is the only church location to receive both an epistle from Paul and a letter in Revelations. This city and church are proven to be perfect representatives of the modern church and a line-by-line analysis of Ephesians uncovers over a hundred bullet-point lessons for modern church leaders. This in-depth commentary then evolves into an actual system, the modern paladin system, wherein a reader can analyze themselves, their small groups, and even whole churches, with an eye toward the biblical lessons of leadership. Absolutely required reading for any church leader that wants to improve or any scholar or student that wants to know more about Ephesians or what the Bible has to say about leadership. Dive in and discover how you can strengthen yourself, your small groups, and your church, striving through the Word of God to become a modern paladin!

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 17, 2017
• ISBN: 9781973607625

Victor Matthews PhD

The Author, Dr. Victor W. Matthews, received his Bachelors in Education from North Carolina State University, his Masters in Global Leadership (Biblically Based) from Fuller Theological Seminary, and his PhD in Theology from Warnborough College in Canterbury and Dublin. He taught his first class in 1990 and has written books on many subjects, but this seminal work is a comprehensive study of Ephesians and Church Leadership. His unique combination of biblical scholar, experienced educator, and mission seminarian, when combined with his work as a school administrator and creative writer, generates a voice that is at once academic and interesting, scholarly yet readable.

Book preview

Modern

PALADIN

Ephesian Lessons

for Today’s

Church Leaders

Victor Matthews, PhD

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Copyright © 2017 Victor Matthews, PhD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

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WestBow Press rev. date: 11/10/2017

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),

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Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

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Scripture quotations marked BSB are taken from The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible, BSB. Copyright ©2016 by Bible Hub. Used by Permission. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. www.berean.bible

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Oldest fragment of Ephesians, Papyrus 49, Yale University Library

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The small arena in Ephesus; possible site of scroll burning or silversmith conflict in Acts 19.

Dedication

My wife does not want to be mentioned, anywhere, ever, which has always fascinated me because she is so talented and not really shy; but, she will just have to forgive this one comment. Saint Paul would be proud of Rhianna’s humility. I could not have done any of my writing without her support. We have several kids, even more pets, and many active businesses that require attention. Were she not willing and able to cover for me, to give me extra rest when needed, and to surprise me with an office from an old extra bedroom; I would not have been successful in the work represented here. Every moment that I spent with my head in the books I missed her, my amazing wife, best friend, and true love. My gratitude to her is eternal, now if I could just get her to obey me. [That is a joke, please see the commentary on the second half of Ephesians 5.]

In a similar way, my mother, many close family members, and inner circle employees have provided support on a number of fronts. I could not have found the time to do this without them, and I remain eternally grateful.

Finally, I realize that through such a dense work I may seem to know stuff. But, I can assure you that I am being taught by the Holy Spirit day in and day out and that God is the source of everything I know and have, including any intelligence, humor, or any of the people above. John 14:26. His hand guides it all and I am nothing without Him. My cup has long since flowed over and flooded my desk and throughout my entire home. So, my deepest gratitude is reserved for Him, my Lord and Savior, for all these gifts, grace, and life itself.

*A special thanks to Warnborough College in both Dublin and Canterbury, especially Dr. Julian Ng and Dr. David White, who guided and mentored me through a three year long extremely intensive dissertation process with grace and attentiveness. God bless you, gentlemen.

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Paladin

Holy Warrior

Let other sing of knights and paladines,

First use in the English language, Samuel Daniel, Delia XLVI, 1592

From the Old French palatin and Latin palatinus

Refers to the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne and originally the Palatium of Rome

Oxford English Dictionary

The Paladin is a class of Warrior that is fully devoted to kindness and ridding the Universe of Evil. They are very religious, and have an extremely strict honor code.

Urban Dictionary

A Leading Champion of a Cause

Merriam-Webster

Abstract

Within the Holy Bible, which, regardless of post-enlightenment historic revisionism, has existed in nearly complete modern form since the dawn of the second Century; believers, a group defined by their faith in the Gospel of the Word of God (called Christians since the church in Antioch), receive a series of significant life lessons; both as a way to learn from the past, and as a gateway into wisdom pertaining to their present lives. In terms of this educational or pragmatic style of theology, often called practical, one of the books or series of lessons within the Bible stands out as unique. The church in Ephesus is the only group within the New Testament that receives both a mention within the Christological letters of Revelation and an Epistle from the Apostle Paul. The Ephesians are also the subject of one of the first post-biblical works, an epistle by the Apostle John’s apprentice Ignatius. As the only group of believers or location to receive such attention, it seems likely that the church in Ephesus stands as a representative church, a source of significant lessons for modern churches and their leaders. Therefore, it is the purpose of this work to study the city of Ephesus, discover why it may well be such a representative church, and to unpack the relevant writings, specifically the canonical Epistle, with an eye toward unveiling wisdom and lessons that impact modern churches and their leadership. This thesis can be summarized as a proposition that within the biblical and surrounding works involving the ancient city of Ephesus, a series of formative instructions might be uncovered that can lead to a better understanding of the principles of Biblical Leadership and what it means to be a defender of the faith, referred to herein as a holy warrior or modern paladin. The final goal, if such study of those Ephesian works proves worthy, being the development of an Adult Church Leader Discipleship Program based on the biblical truth and wisdom unveiled therein. As it is based entirely upon His Word and His Wisdom, may God bless this work and the resulting system to the blessing and edification of His People.

Contents

How to Use This Book

Preface: A Practical Approach

Introduction: Why Ephesus?

Part One

City of Distractions

Part Two

Unpacking Ephesians

Introduction to Exegesis

Notes on Style

Ephesians One

Ephesians Two

Ephesians Three

Ephesians Four

Ephesians Five

Ephesians Six

Part Three

Further Lessons from Ephesus

Introduction

Ignatius of Antioch

The Letter to the Church in Ephesus from Revelation

Conclusions: Regaining Our First Love

Part Four

The Modern Paladin System

Solid Foundation

No Apologies

The Modern Paladin System

Sample Full Curriculum

Final Word: The Sword of God

Acknowledgements

Appendix

List of Major Christian Theologians (Post-Gospel Commentary)

Viva Voce : Dissertation Defense

Works Cited / Bibliography

How to Use This Book

This Book is a bit dense, but it is meant to serve several purposes and contains three approaches or concepts, any or all of which a reader may find helpful in different situations.

1. The Whole. This book, when considered as a whole, is what could only be considered a vast and comprehensive overview of Ephesus and Ephesians. It contains not only archeological and historical data on the city of Ephesus, but a word by word analysis of the text of Ephesians as well as those specific sections of Revelation and other revelant materials such as the letter from Ignatius. All of which is then broken into learning points, and a system for improving churches. That is a lot to bite off, but it will be an amazing adventure for anyone deeply interested in this subject. Bible Geeks as we are called, will love it and hopefully get some giggles along with some gasps. Theologians will find lengthy academic material and comprehensive summaries of sources that make this work indespensible for anyone doing their own study of Ephesus or Ephesians. It is our sincere wish that it be used by pastors and bible teachers as the base of long term exploration of this most important book, and that it sits proudly on the shelves of Bible Scholars around the world.

2. The Exegesis. The largest individual part of the book is the study of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians. This can be taken out and used completely independently of the Paladin System. It should be very helpful to anyone studying that book from any denomination, but its specific doctrinal position would be considered modern non-denominational, but certainly evangelical, charismatic, and Pentecostal in general. Anyone who considers the King James the only viable Bible or the Holy Spirit to be dead in the modern world may not find it very helpful.

3. The System. The Modern Paladin System, developed from the in-dept analysis, can be used in and of itself without the full exegesis. This system can be turned into small group studies or even entire church analytical meetings. It is designed to be purely biblical in nature and helpful for edificaiton of individuals, small groups, and entire church bodies. It is easily separated into a guidebook separate from all the other materials (or the other materials could be summarized).

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Ruins of the Library and Academic Area; possible location of the school and Paul’s speaches

But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. Acts 19:9 (NASB)

Preface: A Practical Approach

The Church today is fragmented and confused. Even worse, it has become compromised and worldly, and it is in serious danger. All over the western world the cathedrals are cold; the Church is dying. Those statements are not even very controversial. In his essay Why is Christianity on Decline in America? from the Gospel Coalition website, Timothy Keller loosely defines Christianity into four categories: Catholicism, Mainline Protestantism, Modern Evangelicalism, and the Prophetic African-American church of Martin Luther King, Jr.; and explains that by the beginning of the 21st century all four branches are fragmented, declining, and in disarray, while the number of Americans who say they have no religious affiliation or even belief in God steadily climbs. Not known to mince words, in an online Q&A on ChristianityToday.com, Billy Graham calls this downfall an Epidemic of Easy Believism. It is likely that few church leaders would argue that something has gone wrong, although they would certainly argue over what that might be. But in the face of this chaos there is a hope, one gift, a single advantage when it comes to discovering and solving the worldwide problems of the church, and that is the Bible. Scholars recognize, as Bracke and Tye so eloquently point out in their book Teaching the Bible in Church, that persons who study the Bible in the United States are influenced not only by modern and post-modern cultures but also by the unique culture of the United States, by an ‘American culture’ (92) and that this culture comes into immediate conflict with the Christian gospel; true believers also know that the Bible will provide an answer.

William Dyrness wrote an entire book on this subject (How Does America Hear the Gospel?), in which he refers to the American Adam of the 1800s striding across Eden with the innocence and vitality of youth (92), a concept that is fascinating considering that Adam fell and lost his original love. Could this be the story of America, and if it is, how can that problem be fixed? Luckily there is a guidebook, a very carefully written, wholly inspired, God-driven instruction guide on what church is to look like and how it is to function. Surely within the Bible one might find the answer? That is the subject of the writing before you. Certainly, the work in your hands represents an idea that in and of itself is not revolutionary; namely that the Bible can and will provide guidance for our modern lives. But in this case the focus will tighten onto the Church itself and how it functions to serve God, searching for biblical answers and advice on how this might be best accomplished; and even more specifically, how one great biblical example of a particular church might provide such guidance. The thesis herein is that the Ephesian Church represents the most common qualities of modern churches, and that careful analysis of this biblical example through the lenses of archeology, history, and important writings, especially the Apostle Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians and the letter to the Church of Ephesus from Jesus recorded by John in Revelation (and their myriad resulting commentaries); might illuminate the greatest dangers and prescribe a formula for success. This dissertation contends that the modern Church has in many ways lost its first love and that what was prescribed to the Ephesians may well assist in regaining that love. In other words, the Ephesian Church can be an example of modern churches, their good and bad qualities, and provide biblical advice on how to improve them.

Outside of Jerusalem, the Ephesian Church is certainly one of the most important in the Bible, and unlike the first gentile church at Antioch, this church in Ephesus is in a more prevalent location and receives greater attention (there is no letter to Antioch per se and although Laodicea and Colossae are in very close proximity they are addressed separately). In the introduction to his study guide on Ephesians, N.T. Wright compares the epistle to the London Eye, that giant Ferris wheel along the Thames. He explains that the book of Ephesians may be small, but like the London Eye it offers a breathtaking view of the entire landscape, in other words it provides an overview of all the major themes of Christianity (5). The Church of Ephesus is in fact the only church that receives both a letter from Paul in the form of his Epistle to the Ephesians, and a letter from Jesus in Revelation. Once could conclude therefore that this church must be very important and representative of the Church as a whole. It is the goal of this book to uncover the specifics of this church and discover how it functions as part of the worldwide Church. Within this work, the capital word Church will be used to represent God’s Church on Earth, the church body as a whole, or to offset the formal title of the primary subject, the Ephesian Church; and in contrast, the lowercase word church will be used to represent an individual church or general place or group or physical building that is not the philosophical universal Church or a primary biblical subject. In this way, it will become obvious that the Church of Ephesus represents all churches and in fact, the Church of God as a whole. Now, a quick look at how this initial conclusion was formed and such a concept was spawned.

We arrived here, much like the actual Ephesus, by a rather winding road. The original idea was to look at all the seven churches of Revelation and relate them to the seven churches for which we have Epistles, but that undertaking is more like a series of books, so this may well eventually become part of a series. For now, we will take a close look at the single most important and representative of all those churches. This essay will stand on its own as an exploration of the city of Ephesus, its 1st century church, and how they might help inform modern church leaders. There are solid analytical reasons for choosing this particular church over the other six, and we will discuss those in the Introduction. Suffice to say that we have a clue in the fact that this is the only church mentioned by both Jesus and John as well as Paul. When we combine that uniqueness with historical and archeological evidence about the city itself, this provides an understanding of how representative the Ephesian Church was. There is a reason Paul spent so much time there and John is rumored to be buried there. We will uncover all of that information in the coming pages, but first, since this is an overarching preface, a brief word on our choice of writing style.

For the most part, seminary and theological books tend to be dense and academic. In many ways this is necessary, and certainly theologians are able to read and understand what they say, but in many cases they are simply not enjoyable. Any scholar can list dozens of books (a whole book shelf in fact) that although formative and intellectual are honestly painful to read. Certainly, these works are important, and one can discover many insights and learn a great deal through them, but it is often more difficult than it needs to be. On the other end of the spectrum we have a large amount of books that could be called narrative or lighter style theology. These run the gamut from more prose-centric academic endeavors like Saint Paul or The Shadow of the Galilean to helpful narratives such as Wild at Heart or anything from Timothy Keller; all the way to the furthest reaches of Christian fiction like Left Behind and the works of C.S. Lewis. They teach much the same theology, many are amazingly effective, but they do so in the form of useful stories and creative adventures. Unfortunately, many such narrative works from more popular authors are also lighter in their research and fundamental truths. For some reason writers take a small amount of liberty and turn it into a great deal of fantasy (Dan Brown, who to be fair does not claim to be an academic theologian, being the greatest and most successful example of this over-extrapolation and fantastical imagineering).

So, a conundrum is created where deeply theological writings must be boring, but creative writings must be overly liberal, with very few authors threading the needle. It must be possible to teach deep theology in a way that draws readers in and intrigues them. Furthermore, it seems viable to suggest that the Bible itself supports this theory. Jesus used parables for a reason. Was He capable of deep theological debate toe to toe with the Pharisees and Sanhedrin? Of course. But He realized that this was not necessarily the best way to reach the masses. When C.S. Lewis took up the apologetic cause he did so in a very approachable style, and his extreme success led T.M. Luhrmann to call him an Evangelical Rock Star in the New York Times (available online at NewYorkTimes.com), crediting this appeal to his remarkable combination of theological simplicity and tweedy British scholarship. This is the goal here, to do the deep exegetical and hermeneutical work of a Theology PhD, but to do so in a slightly more narrative style, not so narrative as to be distracting from the deep research and doctoral analysis, but just enough to create a more readable text that can serve to edify a larger audience. This desire has resulted in the unique style and structure of this book: part well-researched analytical essay, and part real world application. The reason for this approach is that this work must serve two purposes: a thesis for a higher-level degree, but also a guidebook on which to build biblically based church leadership training; a manual to assist modern church leaders. Therefore, this book is designed to accomplish academic analytical biblical theology, but to do so in a slightly more reader-friendly style that can be used in real world practical theology and mentoring; becoming, God willing, a truly useful work.

With the concepts of thesis and style well in hand, we can now proceed to discuss why this particular church in Ephesus was chosen as our representative. To do that we will first look at the city itself. As a modern day ruin, that will require examination of a variety of sources, ancient writings, and historical and archeological data. Once that introductory analysis of the location is complete and how it represents our modern churches uncovered, we can move on to the applicable passages of scripture and uncover, through Ephesus, God’s will for His Church.

Introduction: Why Ephesus?

If a reader were to consider the first few chapters from the Book of Revelation (Rev. 1-3) in broad terms, they would notice what appears to be a relatively equal list of seven cities. They would see, for each of seven churches, a greeting and a description of who Christ is in deeply meaningful metaphorical terms, as well as some compliments and condemnations leading to a possible reward. Because the pattern in each of these letters is similar, the reader might be drawn to conclude that they are all the same, but as we will see, they are not. Two have no condemnations (Smyrna and Philadelphia), two have no compliments (Thyatira and Laodicea), and two others have very specific problems (Sardis and Pergamum), but one is different than all of them. Ephesus has a very specific description of Jesus which relates to the churches themselves, a high level of commendation, and a mysterious condemnation. It also comes first, so when the section is viewed as a whole, Ephesus seems to be almost an introduction or summary, in other words, an overarching representative church. There is also an odd number of churches, and that means if they are in pairs (as they seem to be), then one would stand out. In addition, the number seven is widely considered to be the biblical number of completion (Biblestudy.org), so, this would mean our list is complete and Ephesus stands out. Let us look at exactly what the scripture says. We will use several translations throughout this work, but in most cases we will employ either the KJV (King James Version) which is the most traditional and extremely reliable; or the NASB (New American Standard Bible), which is largely regarded as the most accurate word for word due to additional manuscript discoveries made since 1611 and the slightly broader vocabulary base of modern English. When we look at the Greek we will employ the stellar work of Eberhard Nestle. We do not discount any translation as all share a common core and most differ very little. Here is the letter to the Church in Ephesus, from the Book of Revelation, NASB translation.

¹To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: ² ‘I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; ³ and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. ⁵ Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.’

Rev 2: 1-7 NASB

We will discuss this in much more detail in Part Three, but for now let us simply see how it indicates something special about Ephesus, something overarching. In Revelation 1-3 the churches are said to each have a golden lampstand in them. This is the light of the church in the world, the light of God’s Church if you will. Jesus stands among the lampstands, meaning he is in the midst of His Church today (1:13). The lampstands are the churches and the stars are the angels protecting them (1:20). This is a central theme of Revelation and whether it is meant to be exactly realistic or a metaphor, Jesus addresses the Church in Ephesus as the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (2:1 NASB), indicating that this church is primary or representative of all churches in some major way. He also threatens to take away their lampstand later in verse 5 if they do not repent, and this could certainly be applied to most modern churches. Earlier in the same verse Jesus also refers to holding the seven stars in His right hand and considering that each church letter is addressed to an angel, or star, this is another overarching comment. Besides being first and being the only letter with an accompanying Epistle of the same name, the actual praise and rebuke are very common to almost all churches. We will unpack all of this in more depth later, but when it comes to the question of why the Church in Ephesus might be a primary or central representative of the most common modern churches, there seems to be much proof from the text itself. Consider the final verse which explains that those who overcome will be able to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the Paradise of God (2:7). This is wonderfully poetic, but in straight pragmatic terms this says that those who overcome the troubles within the Church of Ephesus will be able to go to Heaven, a reward which is broad and substantially overarching for all churches. And what is that trouble? You have left your first love (Rev. 2:4 NASB). So, in simple terms, we can summarize this by saying that those who return to their first love will go to Heaven and have everlasting life. Then it only remains to discover how.

This biblical text provides plenty of evidence that Ephesus in many ways represents all churches, but how about America itself? Can Ephesus represent modern America by direct comparison? There are good reasons for Ephesus as a city to take this role. In the following section we will look at the city of Ephesus itself and discover why it might be chosen to represent the most common modern churches, in other words, what modern America might have in common with this ancient ruined city.

Part One

City of Distractions

How the Ancient Metropolis of Ephesus Relates to Modern America

If our thesis is correct, and the letter to the Church of Ephesus in Revelation and Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians are meant to help us in modern times, then logically our modern churches must share many things in common with the Ephesian church; and in fact, our modern American society must be similar in some fundamental ways to Ephesian society. The culture of America (and by historical reasoning the majority of the Western World) must reflect significant elements of the culture of Ephesus. This may seem unlikely, with two thousand years and an entire world between the two, but this is exactly our contention, that the Church in Ephesus was a metaphoric representation of the modern western church and in fact, we have much to learn from their lessons. To prove this, we must first look closely at the world of Ephesus, and then come to understand daily life there through a modern American lens. If we can show that these societies and cultures are synonymous in some important ways and that they have significant facets in common, then it will make the connections through the text more pragmatic and clear. In other words, our first stop in demonstrating that advice to Ephesus applies to modern America is to show that Ephesus can realistically be such a model. In the following pages, we will look at Ephesus through ancient and modern sources, and we will prove that Ephesus is in fact a great representative model for modern American Society. We will use two direct comparison areas: architecture, or the physical city itself; and culture, or what defined the society. Through a comparison of architecture and culture we will discover if there is enough similarity between ancient Ephesus and modern America to become a realistic model.

While there are a variety of ways to evaluate the process of urban development, probably the most discernible—both to moderns and to the ancients—is through architecture or building programs.

L. Michael White, Oberlin College, 1995 (Koester, 49)

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Reconstruction Drawing of City of Ephesus by Edward Falkener (1862)

Architecture

In his forward to St. Paul’s Ephesus, Jerome Murphy-O’Connor starts with one of the earliest historical references to this landmark city by explaining that the fourth-century B.C.E. poet Duris of Elaea called Ephesus ‘the most besung of all the Ionian cities.’ In fact, it is mentioned over five hundred times in Greek literature alone. It was the western terminus of the road from India and the capital of perhaps the richest province in the Roman Empire. (xiii) There is no better description of the importance of this beloved city. We will look at many writings concerning the culture of Ephesus, but let us begin with the solid physical evidence of commonality extant within the archeology. Can we discern through some of the excavated buildings what life in Ephesus was like and in turn, if that bears any similarity to life in Modern America? If someone places a picture of the United States Supreme Court Building and the ancient Temple of Artemis side by side they are virtually identical, and this mnirror image makes it immediately apparent from the architecture of the city of Ephesus how much it has in common with modern America. Also, a look at any map of Ephesus will show a list of recognizable features.

For instance, a tour map from CulturalTravelGuide.com shows harbor, theatre, commercial mall, library, houses of many kinds, temples, etc. There are quite a few structures still identifiable in the modern-day ruins of Ephesus. This location is remarkably well-preserved and we can immediately see connections to the modern world. If we add to that map some areas just outside of the city and sources such as the guidebooks of Keskin and Erdemgil (both wrote extensive guides to the ruins simply called Ephesus), we have another theater, a stadium, more homes, more temples, including the legendary Temple of Artemis (a very scant ruin today), and even a brothel and accompanying spa (Keskin 38). All these areas are connected by relatively straight intersecting roads (Erdemgil 3). Sound familiar? These are the core elements of almost any modern American city. Archeology of the ruins indicates that the Ephesians liked to live near the action, they enjoyed sporting events and plays and put a high value on education and sanitation. If you asked people out in the world about America, what would they say? Well, more than likely they would talk about Hollywood, or movies, or the internet. We invented television and computers and movies and most types of modern music. America is known for many things, but most of them, from the music to the movies to the internet, seem to revolve around entertainment. Other cities in the world are not know for such things. Some are full of classical culture, others are militarized, some are stark and uninviting, while still others are warm and relaxing, but none have the focus on entertainment like America (and some international copies of that culture). No one would deny that America is all about entertainment, and from a look at these ruins, so were the Ephesians.

What dominates the entertainment of America’s biggest cities? A large arena. In New Orleans it is the Superdome; in Dallas it is the AT&T stadium, home of the Jumbotron; in the Mid-West it is College arenas like the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, which is America’s largest; but in every major city, unlike most of the world, we are dominated by a huge arena with thousands of seats set at an angle so that everyone can see the action. New York City has an entire area devoted to huge theaters and that is separate from the sports stadiums and cineplexes. According to Keskin, Ephesus actually contains three major arenas, out of less than thirty identifiable ruins (30-31). The Odeon is a wonderful small theater that is well preserved (53), and near the governmental center; the stadium is a little further outside the city (at least in the modern ruins) and though not well preserved can be seen to be huge and very impressive (22); but the most intact and magnificent of the theater and stadium type ruins is what is commonly called the Great Theater (28-29), which according to Erdemgil was one of the major theatrical structures of the antique era (35). These structures are all reminiscent of places we have been in the United States, but the Great Theater truly reminds one of all those stadiums and amphitheaters throughout America, even in smaller towns. If you pull up a picture of the great stadium of Ephesus it will look almost identical to the one in your home town. There is no denying that the Great Theater in Ephesus bears a resounding similarity to our modern theaters and arenas. It also dominates the landscape just as ours do. So, we share a common love of entertainment. But that is only the lighter side of society; we share more serious connections as well.

The large arena might be one of the most obvious of the structures in Ephesus and America, but most modern cities contain numbers of religious structures as well. The evident archeology of Ephesus should reveal some such structures. According to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research there are over 300,000 churches in America (1); that would be about 1 church per thousand people. Yamauchi states the population of Ephesus at 250,000 (79), and Keskin agrees (3), but Charles River Editors assume a slightly lower number of 215,000 (41) and Erdemgil simply states over 200,000 (7). Renowned scholar Jerome Murphy-O’Connor discussed estimates from 51 to 225 thousand and seems to settle on something between 180 and 200 thousand (131). Sadly, Edward Falkener, who produced 346 deadly accurate pages and our best 19th century measurements and drawings, is silent on an overall population, but we can assume from his estimates of Theater and Stadium sizes that he would go with the higher numbers. In all, it seems to be safe to throw out the online and Wikipedia estimates and rely on the scholars to arrive at a number over 200,000. Otherwise, the theater and stadium sizes would make no sense. At this number we can calculate that there would have been at least 200 places of worship and if our thesis proves correct there should be several places of worship apparent in the ruins of Ephesus, even with the small amount of identifiable structures. On the tourist maps mentioned above, we find evidence of temples to Hadrian, Isis, and Domitian as well as an unknown altar to add to our knowledge that this was the location of a Temple to Artemis so grand it was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Falkener notes at least 17 more (109-111). And this is all without referring to any post-biblical Christian structures, so, only structures that may have been active at the time of Paul’s arrival. So, the Ephesians were certainly a religious people with many places to worship, just as modern America. In fact, places of worship appear to be very high per capita and in the current ruins seem to outnumber other public structures.

Another extremely common aspect to American cities that would not be common in most ancient sites are places of education. Falkener not only identifies three major schools (130-132), but he names over twenty famous graduates (132-133). This is in addition to one of the most prominent ruins, pictured on the title page, the Celsus Library, which is mentioned in every text and guide (Erdemgil 30-32; Keskin 33-34). Although built slightly after the time of Paul, the fact that this library was so central and large proves the Ephesians dedication to education. There were lecture halls and meeting rooms here, so although it cannot be confirmed, the area of this library or the auditorium nearby seem to be the location of the School of Tyrannus at which Paul spoke daily for years (Yamauchi 98-100). Unfortunately, with the small amount of remaining ruins it is hard to make a determination as to the library and various schools, and almost all texts are quiet on the subject of Tyrannus. But we certainly have the large and fascinating remains of a huge library and several probable school sites.

As a final physical location, we should turn away from the positive focus on education and religion or the unusual existence of giant auditoriums and stadiums to look at the seedy underbelly. The structures that the western world has almost as many of as churches are locations for various forms of the sex trade. The most interesting description of this dichotomy comes from Colonial Quills, an historical blog where Jennifer Hudson Taylor explains that the city of Charleston had more of a reputation for being wicked. It contains a long history of streets lined with bordellos and brothels, the most famous was Chalmer St. In contrast, Charleston was also known as the Holy City for its religious tolerance of varying faiths and a growing number of churches. Charleston is only one example of this prevalent concept and certainly matches Ephesus in this regard. Today we have such buildings everywhere, although they have fragmented into a variety of sex shops, brothels, porn theaters and strip clubs, they share the same goal and purpose. There are almost as many such places as churches and this is evidence of some deep rifts in our culture. If Ephesus is to represent America it would need evidence of such a place, and there it is, next to the public toilets, a brothel (Keskin 38). The sexual immorality of Ephesus was alive and well, just as it is in modern America. Perhaps there was more to those acts than simple physical pleasure, evidence suggests possible religious overtones. We will look more closely at those ideas below as part of our cultural analysis.

A lot has been learned from the archeology of Ephesus. If we add the houses and various governmental structures we have not explored we can see almost every type of building that exists in a modern American city. Some might say that these structures exist in all cities, but that statement would not be correct. The entertainment venues are a largely a Roman influence and the educational areas a product of Hellenization. If you look at other ruins from similar times in distant regions of the world you do not see those same structures in those same quantities, and none of those cultures seem to match modern America so closely. On 7/17/2013 the World Post reported on a recent excavation in Mexico at a 2,000 year old site almost the same age as Paul’s Ephesus where the workers uncovered a pyramid and some housing, but nothing like the ruins of Ephesus. In 2010 the History News Network reported about another city approximately the same age in China, and this large ruin of similar age was found with a protective wall and moat, none of which exists in Ephesus. Our modern American cities have more in common with Ephesus than these other ancient archeological sites from the same time period. In the last few pages we have seen an unmistakable echo of the modern world in the world of Ephesus and we have proven that these two societies contain very similar architecture. Our favorite parts of a modern city, the theatres, spas, sports arena, government buildings, libraries, and other examples all seem to match. Comparing these footprints indicates some significant similarities. Of course, in any given city the architecture represents what is needed and what is being used by the members of the society. So, these structures should reflect the culture. We contend that having seen synonymous physical structures, these functions should match and indicate elements of an analogous culture. If that is true then there will be serious implications from the biblical instructions for Ephesus that can be applied to the modern church leader. In the next section we will look at cultural similarities, and if form follows function, these previous physical architectural comparisons should indicate a common cultural identity.

Culture

It follows that if a society were to spend a great deal of time and a large portion of their wealth on a particular structure that it must be important to their lives. In order for the Egyptian pyramids to exist the Egyptian culture must have been highly concerned with life after death. The existence of the Great Wall of China can only be contributed to that culture’s over-riding concern for war and protection. Yet we find no pyramids or great walls in Ephesus. If we study the sketches and aerial photos from our guides, especially Erdemgil (4-9), we notice that the largest and most impressive ruins are those of the theaters, the temples, and the library. This is confirmed by our historical studies. We can conclude that their culture revolved around these elements, and that entertainment, religion, and knowledge were focal points. In fact, the theater could hold at least 25,000 people, maybe twice that, a huge crowd in those times, and the library was one of the largest in the Mediterranean world (12,000 scrolls according to Hermann Vetters and the Austrians who restored the Library in 1970 as noted by Yamauchi 99). Of the 25 period sites and total of around 78 that seem to be fairly accurately identified, five are certainly temples, four are theaters or gathering places, and three seem to be a focus of intellectual concerns. Most of the rest are adornments, roadways, baths, and living quarters. But there is also a darker side to Ephesus, and archeologists have discovered not only what appears to be brothel and a private bath, but an artifact that indicates their purpose.

Since this is a family book I will leave out my picture of one of the main artifacts recovered in Ephesus. This figurine of Priapus was found in the public house (brothel) area and has an over-exaggerated phallus (Keskin 60), almost as big as the body of the figure. When this image is combined with the large number of breasts (at least 24) on the statue of Artemis in the Ephesus Museum in Selcuk, an image of a very sexual and lustful Ephesus emerges (Keskin 61). This seemingly contradictory combination of places of worship and places of sexual immorality would be baffling were we not to live in an America where Comcast cable has around 30 religious channels and a similar number showing pornography. It could be said that our society is defined by this contradiction, and as we discover in coming sections, it must certainly be dealt with in scripture.

Nothing solidifies the debauchery and sexual immorality of Ephesian culture better than the story of how it became a Roman city around 130 B.C. At the time of Paul it was a well-known part of Rome, a capital of this region, but the way by which Rome acquired the city is truly unnerving. The last Hellenistic ruler was Attalus III, surnamed Philometer, [who] reigned five years [138-133 B.C.E.], died of disease, and left the Romans his heirs (Murphy-O’Connor 33). But this is not the whole story. He was nicknamed ‘the mother lover, which perhaps explains why he died childless and deceased (33). The ruler of Ephesus was an incestuous and impetuous wretch. Most of the accounts of Ephesus are honorable, but always, we find this seedy underbelly. The emperor of Rome for almost the entire life of Jesus, Tiberius, was known for sexual debauchery, legendarily creating an entire sex palace on Capri and training toddlers to pleasure him under water (he called them his little fishes"). So, with the leaders demonstrating such dramatic sexual immorality, it is only logical that it trickled down as part of the accepted culture.

Turning back to less disturbing entertainment forms, let us look again at the most prominent ruins. Most scholars agree that the large theater in Ephesus held around 24 to 25 thousand people (Yamauchi 94; Keskin 29; Yenin 2), however, one of the most trustworthy historic sources does not. Edward Falkener, an architect and author who spent significant time measuring and drawing Ephesus in the mid-19th century said that the theater must have been the largest one ever executed. Its diameter, as ascertained by Mr. Cockerell, was 660 feet, which is forty feet more than the major axis, or the longitudinal diameter, of the Colosseum (102). This is a reference to the Colosseum in Rome and an absolutely astounding claim. Falkener goes on to explain how this measurement was reached, using seat sizes, and states that according to this, and allowing fifteen inches to each person, it would accommodate 56,700 spectators (102). The semi-circle design of the Ephesus theater means that it would still seat less than the over 70,000 of the Colosseum, but that it would be easily one of the largest theaters in the ancient world. In addition to this, Falkener calculates the Stadium, another structure much less intact and further out of the city, at 76,000 (103). All of this means that not only was Ephesus a huge ancient city, but that it accommodated more entertainment venues than any other location outside of Rome.

To summarize, the current ruins of Ephesus, containing less than 100 structures and probably 30 that have been well identified, have three different large theaters: The Odion, the Stadium, and the Great Theater (Yamauchi 80). This evidence alone proves beyond a doubt that the single largest focus of Ephesian daily life was entertainment. The only other type of structure that has as many or more examples are the temples (Falkener 109-111), including a Temple so grand it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is not difficult to imagine Paul walking down those streets, some made of marble (Erdemgil 34-35), and staring at that massive Temple of Artemis and feeling how lost the people were. The majesty of such a monument would have disturbed him deeply. Everywhere he turned a deep commitment to idols was apparent. Sports and plays and other distractions would have added an air of frivolity that no doubt to Paul meant a clueless abandon. These people needed help. These people needed the gospel in ways few others could have imagined. All of this can be seen in the ruins. Ephesus at the time of Paul was a world of Temples and Theaters, a world of Entertainment and Worship, and this defined the culture.

All in all, we have our first big clue. If we combine the ideas of sexual immorality, the obvious focus on entertainment and leisure, and the proliferation of so many different pagan temples, the stage has been set for a society of distractions. How easy would it be, in this culture so replete with debauchery and diversions, to lose your first love? It is no wonder that Paul spent so much time here and Jesus Himself addressed this church. As modern Christian scholars we must resist the desire to be judgmental here. To enter into an opinion that our modern world is better, less idolatrous, less focused on leisure and entertainment, or somehow more serious about religion would be a fallacy. It would be difficult, honestly impossible, to argue that our modern world, with hundreds of channels on cable TV, computers on every desk, millions of websites, instant movies, and smart phones in the pockets of ten-year olds; is not by far the most distracted, diverted, and interrupted culture in the history of the world. The previous 21 pages have proven how close Ephesus is to America, how similar, and though this should be deeply disturbing, it is also proof that the advice given to Ephesus in the Bible applies to us. What do the entertainment venues, and brothels, and random pluralistic temples represent? In Ephesus and Denver? A lack of focus and commitment. It is a culture of distraction, an attempt by so many people to live a life free of worries. But time and again this has proven to be the downfall of a society. All things worthy of our focus, family, God, career; all these things create worry and require attention. No one can succeed at anything through apathy. Both Ephesus and Modern America are stellar examples of the culture of distraction. People describe the Roman Empire as so full of debauchery, but it can be said with some truth that we are in even worse shape today. Our cathedrals are empty and cold and we have more distractions than any other time in history. In so many ways we are the same, and just as Ephesus we need advice to help find a way toward clarity and truth. In any case, we cannot judge the Ephesians, we can only look for guidance, because we too have lost our first love.

Part Two

Unpacking Ephesians

Line by Line Exegesis and Lessons for the Modern Church

Introduction to Exegesis

Having proven in the previous introductory section, through archeology and cultural analysis, that the ancient city of Ephesus is an ideal representation for the modern world, and specifically, the 21st century church in America; we must now come to grips with what the scripture has to say about the church there and how that might inform our modern church leaders. This will require a line-by-line exegesis of Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians, a book of the trans-denominational universal canonical Bible commonly called simply Ephesians. This book is widely considered to be the most theologically dense and complex of the epistles, or as Clinton Arnold begins his comprehensive Exegetical Commentary: This letter summarizes what it means to be Christian better than any other book of the Bible (21). If there is a lead commentator in the history of Ephesians it would most likely be Harold W. Hoehner and his 930 page opus Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary from 2002, but Clinton E. Arnold did produce over 500 pages that are arguably even more useful, or rather, more accessible to the modern reader (Hoehner comes straight out of Greek and is a bit heavy-handed while Arnold uses the less academic NIV and an educational structure). Both express the depth and complexity of this book which Hoehner calls the crown or quintessence of Paulinism (106) and Arnold explains has theological concepts [] so profound that the most mature Christians never seem to master its depths (21). Overall, the importance of this book is proven by the shear amount of commentary. We have currently assembled a library of 3 million words commenting on a book roughly 3000 words in length, including the works of Church founding fathers Calvin and Wesley. With a thousand times more words of commentary than actual words of the epistle, we should be able to get a good sense of this book, but we must always keep our focus in the front of our minds. The thesis contains all these issues, but is not designed to take a deep look at such divisive themes as election or sealing or dispensation. We will, of course, touch upon these ideas, but we will not get pulled down by the glorious mire of such a wonderful and deep book. Our goal is to determine how the biblical cultural commentary and advice to the Ephesians applies to the modern Church, and develop tactics to improve the effectiveness of her leaders.

By way of overview, Ephesians contains six chapters. Structurally, these chapters are typically divided in half with the first 3 containing no edifying instruction per se, but rather a description of the magnificent gifts of God. It is within these first 1300 or so words that we see all the greatest theological questions. The depth of this exploration as a theme stands in stark contrast to the majority of Paul’s letters, which typically deal with specific issues or certain timely problems. This unusual character, when considered alongside the tight structure and very professional style, has led many scholars to temporarily question Pauline authorship. According to Hoehner, a little over a third of the total commentators (about 108) disputed Pauline Authorship (19), but it is telling that the first of these was Edward Evanson, who only suggested this near the end of the 18th century (21), suggesting it had been common knowledge for over seventeen centuries. But the majority of reviewers have recognized that Paul was the author, and it is really not that different in theme from Romans or style from Colossians. In addition, some of the earlier manuscripts are missing the reference to Ephesus itself, so others have questioned its target audience, believing it to be a general epistle aimed at everyone. Peter O’Brien in The Letter to the Ephesians contends that the textual tradition that omits the words in Ephesus was the original (48) and points out that E.J. Goodspeed suggested that Ephesians was a general letter written toward the end of the first century as an introduction to the collected letters of Paul (47). This is however a minority opinion and more than likely it was actually sent to Ephesus first (which both Goodspeed and O’Brien eventually admit), but we can all agree that it was certainly meant for a wider audience. Both the author and destination subjects have, for the most part, been put to rest, but at the very least we are dealing with a more broad reaching and profound letter which was already meant to enlighten many different churches even when first penned.

The high-brow academic style of Ephesians, which has raised some questions, must be understood to be well within the realm of Paul’s capabilities, who as we know from the scriptures alters his style to fit his audience (1 Cor 9:19-22). For instance, his arguments made before the philosophers of Athens bear little resemblance to his approach to the Sanhedrin. We read carefully as he takes an almost pluralist philosophical angle discussing the unknown god and how our God is not worshiped in the physical world (Acts 17), but sticks to broad non-scriptural arguments that avoid ideas with which they are not familiar. Contrast this with his approach to the Jews, which is based in their own scriptures (Acts 17:2) and usually contains accusations concerning the crucifixion of Jesus (Acts 5:30). In Acts 23:6 he uses the difference between Pharisees and Sadducees concerning the resurrection of the dead to divide them along philosophical lines. So, we should object to any accusations of a piece of scripture being non-Pauline on grounds of being too intellectual with skeptical humor. Paul is both Jewish and Roman, indicating some sort of elevated family who received coveted Roman citizenship even in light of their Judaism. Although the exact facts are unknown, it is likely that his father was an intellectual, possibly a Pharisee, who performed so highly he was honored with Roman citizenship. This would give us evidence that Paul rose genetically from a line