Ephesus: The City of Paul's Longest Ministry

Of all the cities in the story of Paul, Ephesus is the one where he stayed longest, and one of the few whose stage survives so well that a visitor can still stand where the events of the Acts of the Apostles unfolded. This article gathers, in a neutral and cited register, what the sources say about the city and its place in Paul's mission. As elsewhere in this reference, claims are labelled by their evidentiary weight — (Scripture) for what the New Testament states, (Tradition) for later Christian memory, and (Scholarship) for the findings of historians and archaeologists — and dates are given as ranges, since Pauline chronology is a reconstruction.

Where Ephesus is

Ephesus (Greek *Ephesos*) was one of the greatest cities of the Roman province of Asia, on the Aegean coast of western Asia Minor near the mouth of the Cayster river. Its excavated ruins lie beside the modern town of Selcuk, in Izmir Province, western Türkiye; the site is commonly given the Turkish name Efes. (Scholarship) The coordinates on this page point to the archaeological site rather than to a living city. Unlike Tarsus, Antioch or Corinth — where the ancient centre lies buried beneath a modern town — Ephesus was gradually abandoned as its harbour silted up, so the ruins today stand a few kilometres inland from the present shoreline, which is part of why they are so well preserved. (Scholarship)

In the first century Ephesus was a harbour metropolis and one of the principal cities of the eastern empire, famous above all for the Temple of Artemis (the Artemision), the vast sanctuary of the goddess the Greeks called Artemis and the Romans Diana, counted in antiquity among the seven wonders of the world. (Scholarship) That temple, and the pilgrim trade it sustained, is the backdrop to the most dramatic episode of Paul's time there.

Ephesus in Paul's story

Paul first touched at Ephesus only briefly, at the close of the second journey, when he "came to Ephesus, and left them [Priscilla and Aquila] there. But he himself entering into the synagogue, disputed with the Jews" (Acts 18:19, Douay-Rheims), promising, "I will return to you again, God willing" (Acts 18:21). (Scripture)

He kept that promise on the third journey (c. AD 53-57), making Ephesus his base for what Acts frames as roughly two to three years — the longest single-city ministry in the book. (Scripture / Scholarship) He spoke first in the synagogue "for the space of three months" (Acts 19:8); then, meeting resistance, "departing from them, he separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus" (Acts 19:9), and "this continued for the space of two years, so that all they who dwelt in Asia, heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Gentiles" (Acts 19:10). (Scripture) In his farewell he would recall "that for three years I ceased not, with tears to admonish every one of you night and day" (Acts 20:31). (Scripture)

The most vivid Ephesian episode is the riot of the silversmiths (Acts 19:23-41). A silversmith named Demetrius, "who made silver temples for Diana," saw his trade in shrines threatened by Paul's preaching and roused his fellow craftsmen (Acts 19:24-27). The city filled with confusion, and the crowd poured into the great theatre, where "all with one voice, for the space of about two hours, cried out: Great is Diana of the Ephesians" (Acts 19:34), until the town clerk calmed them and dismissed the assembly (Acts 19:35-41). (Scripture)

It was probably from Ephesus that Paul wrote his first letter to the church at Corinth: "I will tarry at Ephesus, until Pentecost. For a great door and evident is opened unto me: and many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:8-9). (Scripture / Scholarship) In the same letter he speaks, in words scholars debate between the literal and the figurative, of having "fought with beasts at Ephesus" (1 Corinthians 15:32). (Scripture)

Paul did not stop at the city on the return leg. Sailing past it to save time, he "sending from Miletus to Ephesus... called the ancients [elders] of the church" (Acts 20:17) for one of the most moving speeches in Acts, warning them of trials to come and taking his leave, they "being grieved most of all for the word which he had said, that they should see his face no more" (Acts 20:38). (Scripture)

The letter to the Ephesians — a caution

Among the letters attributed to Paul is one addressed, in most Bibles, to "all the saints who are at Ephesus" (Ephesians 1:1). (Scripture) Two scholarly cautions belong here. First, the words "at Ephesus" are absent from several of the earliest and most reliable manuscripts, which has led many scholars to suggest the letter was a circular sent to several churches of the province of Asia rather than to Ephesus alone. (Scholarship) Second, the Pauline authorship of Ephesians is itself debated: it is fully canonical in Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Bibles, but a substantial body of scholarship regards it as the work of a follower writing in Paul's name. This is a question of historical authorship, not of canonical standing. (Scholarship) On how such disputed letters are weighed, see our reference on the Apostle Paul.

What remains, and what a visitor sees

Ephesus is one of the best-preserved classical cities in the Mediterranean, excavated over more than a century. (Scholarship) A visitor today walks marble streets past the reconstructed facade of the Library of Celsus, the terraced houses, the odeon and the agora, and — most directly tied to the biblical narrative — the Great Theatre, the vast auditorium into which the rioting crowd surged in Acts 19. It survives and is still recognisable, one of the few places where a scene from Acts can be located on the ground with confidence. (Scripture / Scholarship) Of the Temple of Artemis itself, once among the seven wonders, only foundations and a single re-erected column now stand on its marshy site outside the main ruins. (Scholarship)

Fact and tradition

The identification of the site is secure, and the Great Theatre and the Artemision are genuine first-century features that Paul's contemporaries knew. (Scholarship) A separate body of later Christian tradition — not found in the New Testament and post-dating Paul — grew up around Ephesus: the city came to be associated with the Apostle John, and a house on a hill near the ruins is venerated by some as the home where Mary the mother of Jesus lived her last years. These are devotional traditions of much later date, and are best received as such rather than as documented history. (Tradition) Ephesus also became the seat of a major church council in the fifth century, a sign of the Christian importance the city kept long after Paul; that later history is well documented, but it lies well beyond his lifetime. (Scholarship)

For the wider shape of the mission that ran through Ephesus, read our reference on the Apostle Paul and the primary narrative it draws on, the Acts of the Apostles. To understand the city that first formed the apostle, see why Tarsus and the short guide to where Tarsus is.

It is Tarsus, Paul's birthplace, and neighbouring Mersin that St Paul Global Week marks. On 28-30 June 2027 a faith-tourism gathering organised by Funny Tourism will bring pilgrims to the region, with the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul falling on 29 June and a Feast Day prayer programme broadcast live worldwide. You are warmly invited to explore the programme, and church and community leaders who wish to bring a group can read about the Hosted Delegation Leaders programme.