Love letter to the church in Ephesus: The bride that forsook her love for her bridegroom

As we identified in a previous post, the church is the bride of the Lamb. The letters of Jesus to the seven churches were His love letter to the church. The church in Ephesus was birthed through Paul’s missionary journey. Even while Paul was far away in Rome serving his prison sentence, he sent a pastoral letter to the church reminding them of the new life in Christ. It is important to note that of the surviving 13 letters of Apostle Paul, the Ephesian church were the recipient of three: the letter to the Ephesians and 1-2 Timothy. Paul knew the infiltration of things that will cause the people to lose their first love. Besides these letters Paul spent countless hours teaching this church while he was with them in person. In Acts‬ ‭20:29‭-‬31‬, Paul told the Ephesian church this:
I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. (Revelation 2:4‭-‬5)

In John’s Revelation, the Lord Jesus wrote to the Ephesian church a letter that is still relevant in our days. What was the message to the Ephesian church?
Jesus first gives a praise report of the good deeds of the Ephesian church:
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.” (‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:1‭-‬3‬).

Then, He goes ahead to mention the critical matters that need urgent attention. These were not praise reports but rebuke and admonition:
‭”Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation‬ ‭2:4‭-‬5). In the words of Jesus, the failure to repent will cause the lampstand of the church to be removed.

Then He concludes by saying that “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (‭‭Revelation‬ ‭2:7‬).

Did the Ephesian church obey the words of this letter? Obviously no! The historical account of the church shows that beside Paul and Timothy, the apostle John also served in the Ephesian church. With all these great leaders serving the church in Ephesus, they still did not obey the words of Paul, Timothy, John and even Jesus Christ. Ephesus is currently a tourist site with no church. Their lampstand was removed permanently for their disobedience. Ephesus was the bride that forsook her bridegroom. She went about living her life as if she had no head. In fact, the geographical location known as Turkey was a Christian region in the Asia Minor. At the moment, Christians are less than 1% of the population of Turkey. Before you blame any religious invasion, know that the church had no lamp, the failure to obey the words of the God led to their spiritual death which was ultimately crowned by their extinction.

Many believers are like the Ephesians, they believe in God yet, they have forsaken their first love. They are like a bride that is interested in other men and even spends more time with them doing things she is not allowed to. The future of such an adulterous bride is divorce. May God help the church not to be cut off from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

A charge to wives: Women in the church in Ephesus

Paul established the church in Ephesus through the initial contact with twelve disciples (Acts 19). After baptizing these people into regeneration, and placing his hands on them to receive the Holy Spirit. The church in Ephesus was birthed. However, Paul faced a series of opposition in Ephesus caused by the silversmith Demetrius who made images of the goddess Artemis. Yet, the church stood strong. The letter to the church in Ephesus was Paul’s explanation to the believers’ new identity in Christ. Paul charged the believers on different facets of their new life in Christ. From Chapter 4:17 till the end of the letter, Paul touched on different issues regarding Christian living, marriage, children, homebuilding among others. This post will consider the charge to the wives in Ephesus as presented in Ephesians chapter 5. This charge is relevant even today.

Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22)

In Ephesus 5:21, Paul states that “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This begins the charge to Christian households. Paul admonished that submission be made to one another in the home. Then, Paul addresses each player in the home. We will focus on the charge to the Christian wives:
“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:22‭-‬24)
First, Paul already set the premise that in the home, submission should be made to one another. But to the wives, Paul specifically directed the Christian wives to submit to their own husbands as they submit to the Lord. Why the specific emphasis on the submission of wives? Naturally, many of us as women will not easily submit to our husbands just as we submit to the Lord. In fact, the idea of submitting itself is not pleasant to many wives and to the extent of submitting as the Lord is not quite an easy route. However, if we fail to submit to our own husbands, then we have no head at all as we saw in 1 Corinthians 11:3, “But I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”

Paul further explained that “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” (Ephesians 5:23-24). This supports the points raised in 1 Corinthians stated above. Until you see your husband as your spiritual head, submission to him just as to the Lord will mean nothing to you. Remember, Paul does not state that submission is one-way in marriage. He addresses the two-way dimension of submission but the Christian woman should consider submission to the husband as submission to the Lord. This is very critical and affects our relationship with the Lord.

In general women must learn to submit to their own husbands. Your credentials and qualifications do not void submission. Therefore, it is necessary to review our intentions behind every decision we make in relation to marriage. If a man is spiritual but lacks character, know that you will be living the rest of your life submitting to him. Before you agree to a holy wedlock, know that submission is a given in Christian marriages.

Priscilla: A lover of the people of God.

One of the women whose name runs through the New Testament is Priscilla. We see different dimensions of her ministry through different books and letters suchs as Acts, Roman, 1 Corinthians and 2 Timothy. Her service in the Lord was worth mentioning and her love for God’s people was so great. When we first encounter Priscilla in the book of Acts, she and her husband Aquila had returned from Rome to Corinth where they practiced their trade as tentmakers. The apostle Paul who was a tentmaker by profession became their partner and worked with them. Later, we see a transformed Priscilla. From a tentmaker, we see a woman who had gone through discipleship and training from Paul. After a year and six months with Paul, Priscilla the tentmaker also became the teacher of the Gospel. Paul took Priscilla and her family along to Ephesus to plant new churches and even left the couple in Ephesus to manage the churches. There, we identify Priscilla and Aquila as Bible teachers who nurtured the very charismatic Apollos in the way of God.

The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house. (1 Corinthians 16:19)

The first letter to the Corinthians was probably written from Ephesus where Priscilla and Aquila served as Overseers in the church. Later, Priscilla and Aquila moved back to Rome after the death of Claudius. In Paul’s final greetings in his first letter to the church in Corinth, he states that “The churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, and so does the church that meets at their house.” (1 Corinthians 16:19). Thus, Paul was in the province of Asia when the letter was written. In fact, this was one of the few instances Paul mentions Aquila and Priscilla. For most cases, he referred to the couple as Priscilla and Aquila (indicating the dynamic role Priscilla played in the ministry). Priscilla and her husband sent their warm greetings to the Corinthian church. Remember, Priscilla and Aquila were part of the founding members of the Church in Corinth. Obviously, they would have had fond memories of the church. While in Ephesus, the couple had a church that was meeting in their house.

We learn from Priscilla and her husband Aquila that wherever we go, we should let our light shine. Priscilla’s home was a meeting place for the church and even as they nurtured the church in Ephesus, they were still concerned about the church in Corinth. They would have prayed for the sustenance and growth of the Corinthian church as well as looked for avenues to be a blessing to them. Priscilla and Aquila had left Corinth but they did not cease to care about them. We need to learn from this couple that we can genuinely love the people of God. Distance should not be a barrier to our visible show of love. Interceding in prayer is one of the ways we can build up others even if we are far away from them.

Priscilla: Equipped for the work of ministry

A decree by Claudius ordered all Jews to leave Rome and this significant time in the history of the Jews and also the history of the church saw an influential couple arriving on the shores of Corinth. Apostle Paul mentored this couple who originally were business partners (tent making) into cross-cultural evangelists. For a year and half Priscilla and her husband Aquila studied under Paul. Through this concentrated scriptural exegesis, Priscilla and her husband were prepared, trained and equipped for ministerial work. The fact that both couples were involved in this concentrated training shows that God is as much as interested in the spiritual growth of the woman just as He is concerned with the spiritual growth of the man. Paul reasoned with both males and females and as many as are interested in understanding scripture. Priscilla, a woman who had left the comfort of her life in Rome based on Claudius’ decree, found a new passion other than tent making. She became a woman of the word, and together with her husband, their spiritual growth was visible.

Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. (Acts 18:18a)

Before Paul left Corinth to the next city, his dedicated students, Priscilla and Aquila were enrolled into missionary work. Acts 18:18a states this; “Paul stayed on in Corinth for some time. Then he left the brothers and sisters and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.” I believe that the stress on the names; ‘Priscilla and Aquila’ was not just for stylistic purposes. Priscilla might have been so instrumental and forthcoming with the work of the ministry that Luke deemed it appropriate to put a stress on her name by mentioning it before the name of her husband, Aquila. All the training they received in Corinth was to send them forth in another city. After they arrived at Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila and he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews (Acts 18:19). The apostle was a church planting missionary journey. He went to the Jewish synagogue to get the people to ask valuable questions about scripture. The goal was to lead into conversations that will ultimately lead to a church plant.

Paul indeed aroused the curiosity of the Ephesians and the people asked him to spend more time with them, but he declined with a promise that, “I will come back if it is God’s will.” (Acts 18:20‭-‬21). Afterwards, Paul left Ephesus entrusting the new church with Priscilla and Aquila. The purpose of going through the concentrated scriptural exegesis and spiritual growth was for Priscilla and Aquila to be prepared for pastoral assignment over another church. This concentrated training took a year and half. This implies that with the right approach to discipleship training, the average member of the church can be transformed to a teacher of the word in no time. Remember, Priscilla and Aquila were still making tents as at the time they were enrolled in Paul’s discipleship training. Priscilla and her husband were probably trained on the Sabbaths (Acts 18:4) and because Paul stayed and worked with them (Acts 18:3) learning about Jesus through the life of Paul was an everyday experience. Imagine if Paul’s life had contradicted his gospel, Priscilla and Aquila wouldn’t have listened to him or even followed him.

Under the pastoral leadership of Priscilla and Aquila, the Ephesian church was one of the few churches that received an apostolic letter of scriptural exegesis other than a rebuke. This implies that, character-wise, the church did not face many issues. Rather, they received a letter that expounded their identity in Christ and how they should live because of their new identity.

The spiritual growth of Priscilla and Aquila wasn’t to make them local champions but it was to equip them for the work in Ephesus. This should encourage us in our faith journey. We need to understand the need to spend quality time with the word, the importance of understanding scripture and the impact we can have in the nations. For some of us, God will take us to different cities, nations, and even continents for us to make maximum impact there. Whether you are in the learning process, yet to become a student of the word, or struggling to stay as a student of the word, His grace is sufficient for you. Be intentional, and pray for the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Pray that God connects you with a ‘Paul’ who will spend quality time teaching you the word of God. Finally, pray for the grace to be ‘weaned off’ and begin your new journey of impacting nations.