Ephesians

The Epistle to the, one of the books of the New Testa: ment. It seems to have been sent forth by St. Paul about A. D. 62, while he was a prisoner in Rome. He sent it to its destination by the hand of Tychicus (Eph. vi: 21). The Church at Ephesus had been founded by Paul himself, or at least he had raised it from the feeblene in point of numbers and knowledge in which it had been when he commenced his mi ionary work in that city. For two years he preached Christ, not merely to the permanent residents in Ephesus, but to the multitudes who resorted thither as pilgrims to visit the celebrated Temple of Diana (Acts xix: 10). When driven from the city, owing to a riot raised by one whose craft would have been m danger had idolatry fallen, he retained a deep interest in his converts; and, dispatching Tychicus to inquire after their welfare (Eph. vi: 21), gave him the canonical ‘ Epistle to the Ephesians,” for the Ghurch just named, with another to the Church at Colo e (Col. iv: 7). It is evident from the ‘‘ Epistle to the Ephesians ” that the converts at Ephesus were mainly Gentiles (Eph. ii: 11, iii: 1), and prominent in the didactic part of the letter is the doctrine that Christ had broken down the wall which severs Jew and Gentile, putting both on the same level of privilege within His Church The Epistle concludes with a series of practical exhortations.