Bible (New Testament): English Standard Version

Paul’s epistle to the church of Ephesus likely represents one of his later epistles. The traditional position on its authorship holds that Paul wrote it while imprisoned in Rome near the end of his life (Eph 4:1; 6:20), but some critical scholars suggest that it may have been written by members of Paul’s circle after his death. It is addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, one of the major Greco-Roman cities in Asia Minor. Paul was especially well-acquainted with the Ephesian church because he had lived there for at least two years (Acts 19:10), and his protégé Timothy continued in ministry there (1 Tim 1:3). Because the letter is addressed to a church with whom he is on good terms and that has not faced as many disruptions in ministry as some of Paul’s other addressees, Ephesians tends to have a more positive tone than the Corinthian and Galatian correspondence.

Like Romans, Ephesians spends the first half of its length laying out a broad theological vision and the second half in a series of practical exhortations. Its opening chapter describes God’s plan of