The Wolves are Coming

Paul's Pastoral Speech to the Ephesian Elders

Abstract

The church in Ephesus embodies the gospel of the risen Lord as it reproduced itself within the cross-cultural milieu of its urban setting and Roman Asia. In doing so, the leaders of the church developed in their understanding of what it meant to be the community of Jesus in mission as they witnessed and imitated the godly morality and ethics of the apostle Paul and courageously rejected false teaching that would lure them away from Christ in the ever-changing Mediterranean world of the first century.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the church at Ephesus brought God’s light to the dark places of Roman Asia, especially through Paul’s missional example of holy preaching and living. Yet the Ephesian church was not only a dynamic and creative mission community cross-culturally proclaiming the good news of Christ’s kingdom but was also a protecting and nurturing environment for God’s family who struggled to retain the true life of the Spirit and protect itself from savage wolves within and without, whose lustful power desired to steal and kill the truth of the risen Jesus planted by the apostle Paul in the hearts of  believers.