Ephesians

Ephesus was a prosperous city in the western coast of Asia Minor and home to the great temple of the goddess Diana. In Acts we read of two visits by Paul to that city—on his second and third missionary journeys. The first occasion was brief (Acts 18:19-21), while the second extended to more than two years (Acts 19:1, 10). Paul’s last journey ended in Jerusalem, and it was during the final leg of that voyage that Paul called for the Ephesian elders from Miletus—the last time that he would see them—warning them: “take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” (Acts 20:28-29). Paul’s trip to Jerusalem resulted in his imprisonment, and ultimately his transportation to Rome. It was from prison in Rome that this letter was penned.