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Rev_2:1. Ephesus, vying with Smyrna (Rev_2:8) and Pergamos (Rev_2:12) for the precedence in Asia, is called πρώτη μητρόπολις [906] (first metropolis). But neither does this political relation determine the precedency of the three churches, nor is Ephesus named at the head of them all as the proper residence of John, as Hengstenb. asserts under the presumption of the Apostolic-Johannean authenticity of the Apoc.: cf. on Rev_1:11.
At Ephesus, which, in the times of the Apostle Paul, was the chief city of Ionia, lying on the Cayster and near the sea, known for its worship of Diana,[907] and especially distinguished for its trade and fine Grecian culture,[908] and at present in ruins, alongside of which is the village of Ajosoluk,[909] Paul had collected a congregation of Jews, and especially of heathen, and had cherished it with great love.[910] At his departure he spoke of the dangerous errors with which the churches would be visited,[911] of which there is still no trace in the Epistle to the Ephesians, not even in Eph_4:14; Eph_5:6. At the time of 1Ti_1:3, Timothy was superintending the church there: many expositors who regard the “angel” of the church as the bishop imagine, therefore, under a double error, that our Apocalyptic epistle is directed to Timothy.[912] Cf. also Introduction, sec. 3. The designation of the Lord, in whose name the prophet writes, is from Rev_1:13; Rev_1:16, only that instead of ἔχων we find now κρατῶν τ . ἑπτ . ἀστ ., so that Christ is presented as though he held the stars fast,[913] protecting and supporting them, so that it depends only upon him,[914] if possibly by an act of judgment he cast them out of his hand.[915] So, also, is the περιπατῶυ , κ . τ . λ ., in comparison with Rev_1:13, where Christ appears altogether in the midst of the candlesticks. Yet even in the περιπατεῖν there does not lie so much the idea of walking to and fro, as rather that his presence is a living and actual one.[916]
The entire designation of Christ, which in general expresses his essential relation to the churches, occurs on that account fittingly in the first of the seven epistles, which, indeed, form not a mere aggregate of accidental individualities, but, as the number seven already shows, an important unity. Even in the manifestation of Christ, what first meets the eyes of the seer is how the Lord is in the midst of the candlesticks.[917] In no way, therefore, does “this item inwardly and strictly cohere with the metropolitan position of the Ephesian congregations as the universal type of the apostolical church.”[918]
[906] Cf. Wolf.
[907] Acts 19.
[908] In Plautus (Mil. Glor., iii. 1, 42 sqq.), a witty fellow (cavillus lepidus, facetus) excuses himself for having been born at Ephesus; and not without cause does the apostle warn the Ephesians (Rev_5:4) of εὐτραπελία .
[909] Cf. Th. Smith, Septem Asiae Ecclesiarum Notitia, Oxon., 1672; Züllig, Beigabe, 2; Winer, Realwörterb., i. 389.
[910] Act_18:19; Act_19:1 sqq., Act_20:17 sqq.
[911] Act_20:22 sqq.
[912] So the expositors whom N. de Lyra mentions, but does not indorse (Viegas, Alcasar, C. a Lap, etc. Not so, Ribera, Stern).
[913] Rev_2:25, Rev_3:11.
[914] Joh_10:28.
[915] Cf. Rev_2:5; Rev_3:16.
[916] Cf. Lev_26:12; Sir_24:5.
[917] Rev_1:13.
[918] Ebrard.