In our previous articles we have looked at the Persecution of the Christians by Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple under Vespasian and Titus. In this article we will look at how the centre of Christianity shifted in the late first century from Jerusalem to Ephesus.
The First church in Jerusalem could rightly be called a Mega Church. On Pentecost 3,000 people became believers and God daily added to their numbers (Acts 2:41-47). A short time later and the church was up to 5,000 men not counting women or children (Acts 2:41-47, 4:4). Due to persecution and evangelism many were scattered, but the church continued to grow and spread out across Judea. From amongst the Apostles, James the brother of Jesus became the leader and for the first thirty years or so, Jerusalem was undisputedly the centre of Christianity. However Jerusalem itself and the Christian community would face great hardships.
In 62AD James the brother of Jesus was stoned to death under the orders of the High Priest Annas ben Annas. Following the death of James it is unclear what happened with the church in Jerusalem and we do not know whether any of the apostles were left in the city. In the subsequent years unrest built which in 66AD resulted in the Jewish Roman. This war culminated with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70AD. During this period many Christians departed from Judea and though the church of Jerusalem would continue, the centre of Christianity would move to Ephesus, Antioch and ultimately Rome.
Now the church in Ephesus had begun sometime in the 50s. On his way to Jerusalem, Paul briefly stayed at Ephesus, leaving behind Priscilla and Aquila and a small group of disciples. This community was later strengthened by the ministry of Apollos, who would move onto Corinth (Acts 18:18-28). As part of his third Missionary Journey, Paul returned to Ephesus where he would be based for best part of 3 years (53-56AD). After spending 3 months reasoning in the Synagogue he withdrew to the school of Tyrannus. Here Paul taught daily for two whole years (Acts 19:1-10). Paul had ministered here over three years and from Ephesus the church had grown abundantly and spread throughout the province. So effective was Paul’s preaching, that we are told that all the province of Asia Minor (Western Turkey) heard the gospel, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:10). As a result of Paul’s efforts not only did the church in Ephesus flourish but many churches were planted throughout Asia Minor. These included Colossae, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Magnesia and Tralles. Some of these would later be known as the 7 Churches of Asia Minor (Revelation 1:11). Between Paul’s release from prison in 62AD and his death around 67AD, Paul would return several times to Ephesus and at other time he appointed Timothy to organise the burgeoning church.
With the fall of Judea the great centre of Christianity was now Ephesus which sat in the Roman Province of Asia Minor. At this point Asia Minor was home to the greatest concentration of churches in the Roman World.
It is uncertain when, but it is thought around the time of the outbreak of the Jewish Roman war, that John the Apostle moved to Ephesus. John wasn’t the only person as there were a number of other prominent believers who would also migrate to Asia Minor. According to one old account, Andrew the brother of Peter came with John. We also know that an apostle called Aristion came there and he was a man who had seen Jesus. Moreover it seems that Philip (one of the original 7 deacons), had moved with his family from Caesarea to Hierapolis.
John moving to Ephesus would have been a great encouragement for the church. Paul had been martyred in Rome and it is unclear what had happened to Timothy (although later tradition held that he was martyred in Ephesus). Furthermore with the martyrdom of Peter, this left John as the most senior Apostle left and possibly the last of the original 12 disciples alive. This gave John unique prominence and authority in the church. Furthermore it meant that he would be the natural person to step into Paul’s shoes as the one caring for the churches.
From Ephesus John exerted influence over the churches in Asia Minor and likely beyond. Though we hear of 7 major churches in Asia Minor, most of the churches were likely small house churches meeting in homes and led by elders. It was these smaller communities which made up the wider church and they would have looked to John for leadership and guidance. Though based in Ephesus, John both travelled and maintained correspondence with these house churches, as is evidenced by his letters. At this time the churches in Asia Minor were beginning to encounter many problems both from within and without. Externally Christianity was gaining the attention of the Romans which would lead to persecution. With the Christian belief in One God, they rejected the God’s of Rome and refused to worship the emperor (who was increasingly styling himself as a living God). When Christianity was considered an offshoot of Judaism, believers were exempted from emperor worship; but now that they were being viewed as distinct, they were coming into open conflict with the Roman authorities. Internally the church were facing issues from false teachings and heretical ideas. Docetism in particular was causing divisions within the church, even leading to church splits with people leaving the faith. Docetism was a belief that denied the humanity of Jesus, believing that he only appeared to be human. It is into this context that John wrote his gospel and letters. John affirmed that Jesus is the incarnate Word of God, who took on flesh and died for the sins of humanity. It is likely from Ephesus that John wrote his gospel followed by his three surviving letters. The three letters of John that we have were probably written sometime between 80-95AD. The circumstances point to a time after the destruction of the temple but before the Domitian persecution. The letter of 1 John was likely written after the gospel of John whereas the order of writing of 2 John and 3 John is impossible to determine. At the time of writing John was an old man somewhere between 70 and 90 years old.
During John’s time in Asia Minor a number of people gathered round him, with the wider community greatly benefiting from the apostles life and teaching. Two prominent followers of John were Papias and the young Polycarp. Polycarp would go onto become a bishop in the church of Smyrna and Papias a bishop in the church of Hierapolis. Papias would later recount how he heard the teaching of John and Aristion but also of many who knew or claimed to be followers of the Apostles. There were many in his day that would speak much but Papias was interested in what could be clearly and reliably be attributed to Jesus. He would therefore question those he heard as to what Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James or John had said. Papias in later life would go on to write a five volume work entitled An Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord (this sadly is no longer extant). When Papias was a bishop in Hierapolis there dwelt there some of the daughters of Philip the evangelist. They recounted to him how a dead man was raised to life in his day.
Polycarp was a young man when John came to Asia Minor. He was raised as a Christian and would later become a disciple of John. It was John who appointed Polycarp to be a bishop in Smyrna. After the death of John, Polycarp would follow in his footsteps, caring for the Churches of Asia and passing on the teaching on John and the Apostles.