To the Church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) – Paul M. Williams

Revelation 2:1-7 Ephesus was a city of tremendous importance and was by far the greatest city in Asia.  Commercially it was unrivalled and was the wealthiest being surpassed by very few cities of that day.  Being situated at the mouth of an important river, Ephesus commanded the trade of that region and was dubbed "The Vanity Fair of the Ancient World".  Politically, it too was a city of great importance earning for itself the name "Supreme Metropolis of Asia", and of course religiously, it held a place of incredible prominence being the centre of the worship of Artemis aka Diana and the temple situated in that city was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.  To this city dared to come the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! Around the year AD 52, a Church in Ephesus was founded and a decade later, around the year AD 62, Paul wrote his epistle to this same Church.  In the passing of some three plus decades Jesus Christ now addresses this Church and though He had much good to commend them for; their labour and patience in exposing false doctrine and rooting out false teachers, He nonetheless had something against them, namely that they had left their first love!!