The Epistle of St. Paul to the Ephesians
Ephesus was the capital of Lesser Asia, and celebrated for the temple
of Diana, to which the most part of the people of the East went frequently
to worship. But St. Paul having preached the Gospel there, for two years
the first time and afterwards for about a year, converted many. He wrote this
Epistle to them when he was a prisoner in Rome; and sent it by Tychicus.
He admonishes them to hold firmly the faith which they had received and
warns them, and also those of the neighbouring cities, against the sophistry
of philosophers and doctrine of false teachers who were come among them. The
matters of faith contained in this Epistle are exceedingly sublime, and
consequently very difficult to be understood. It was written about
twenty-nine years after our Lord's Ascension.