Palmer's Posts

The Theater at Pergamum We will journey north from the city of Smyrna (modern Izmir) to visit the city of Pergamum (modern Bergama).  Pliny the Elder called the city “the most famous place of Asia.”  In the first century, Pergamum was a populous city of 150,000 located on a towering, cone-shaped hill rising one thousand feet above the surrounding valley. The name Pergamum means “tower” or “citadel.”  The spectacular acropolis boasted temples to the patron deities of the city -- Zeus, Athena, Dionysius, and Asclepius.  The great altar of Zeus built upon the summit can be seen today in Berlin. The city of Pergamum provides us with an important view of Roman imperial ambition during Paul’s ministry.  Pergamum was the site of the first temple erected for the imperial cult in Asia Minor.  Especially in the East, the imperial cult of deified emperors was celebrated as a test of loyalty to the state.  As Christ’s emissary to the nations, Paul preached a...

We will spend the day at Ephesus, an important city in Paul’s third missionary journey. Although we usually imagine Paul constantly moving from place to place, Jesus often directs him to remain in a particular location for an extended period of time. Such will be the case in Ephesus, where Paul will preach for three years in order to establish a gospel movement that radiates out from the city to reach the entire region (Acts 20:31). During his time in Ephesus, Paul corresponds with the growing church at Corinth and labors toward their mature Christian formation (1 Cor 14:20). In Acts 19:1, we read that Paul then travels through “the inland country,” reaching Ephesus after a month-long journey of nearly five hundred miles. When Paul reached Ephesus in the fall of AD 52 (Acts 19:1), he entered a bustling metropolis of 250,000 inhabitants enclosed by a five-mile wall. The city was built at the mouth of the Cayster River and served as the major port of the province of Asia. A long colonn...