Welcome to the long-abandoned glories of the Greek city of Ephesus in what is now Turkey. While Jerusalem has been called the cradle of Christianity, Ephesus was surely its nursery. For one momentous generation, Ephesus was the literary focus of early Christianity, and by its compilations influenced Christianity more than Jerusalem, Antioch, or Rome. This ancient city played a pivotal part in the formation of the New Testament with at least six of its books having a connection there. Paul ministered in Ephesus longer than in any other city and legend has it that John lived the last of his very long life in Ephesus. These same legends also say that Timothy became the city's first bishop and was martyred, and where the runaway slave Onesimus would eventually succeed him. However, these books were written to a world and culture that was vastly different from our own. Without understanding life situations of the intended recipients that Paul and John were writing into, we can easily read into them a meaning not necessarily intended by the author.

This book will give you that understanding without the intrusion of specialist terms.