Chief city of the Roman province of Asia, famous for its temple of Artemis. Paul worked here for two to three years and wrote 1 Corinthians from the city; some of his prison letters may also have been written here.
Irenaeus says John, the Lord’s disciple, published his Gospel at Ephesus and lived there until Trajan’s reign, a tradition many scholars treat cautiously. The letters of Ignatius and Revelation also address its church, and the Council of Ephesus (431) proclaimed Mary Mother of God.
Where to start
Written or found here
7-
AD 95c. AD 90–110
The Gospel of John
Anonymous; attributed to the beloved disciple
The Fourth Gospel, which Irenaeus and the early church attributed to John the apostle, the “disciple whom Jesus loved”. Largely independent of the other three, it opens with the Word who became flesh and sets the ministry across several Passovers.
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AD 54c. AD 53–55
Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians
Paul
Paul’s letter to the church he founded in Corinth, c. AD 53–55. It preserves the earliest written account of the Lord’s Supper and, in 15:3–8, an older summary of Jesus’s death, burial, resurrection and appearances that Paul says he had “received”.
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AD 52c. AD 48–55
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Paul
Paul’s forceful letter to the churches of Galatia, from the late 40s or 50s AD. In it he tells, in the first person, how he stayed with Peter in Jerusalem and met “James, the Lord’s brother”, among the earliest references to Jesus’s family.
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AD 55c. AD 55–62
Paul’s Letter to Philemon
Paul
Paul’s shortest letter: a personal appeal from prison on behalf of Onesimus, an enslaved man who had become a believer, to be received as “a beloved brother”. It is first-hand evidence of an early house church.
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AD 100c. AD 90–110
The First Letter of John
Anonymous; traditionally John the apostle
A treatise from the circle of the beloved disciple, attributed from the second century to John the apostle. Written to a divided community, it proclaims what “our hands touched” of “the Word of life” and insists that Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
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AD 100c. AD 90–110
The Second Letter of John
’The elder’; traditionally John the apostle
A brief letter from “the elder” to a congregation, which Irenaeus quotes as the work of John, the Lord’s disciple. It warns against deceivers who do not confess that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, making his real humanity a test of belief.
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AD 100c. AD 90–110
The Third Letter of John
’The elder’; traditionally John the apostle
A private letter from “the elder” to Gaius about hospitality to travelling missionaries who went out “for the sake of the Name”. It does not name Jesus, but it opens a window on the life of the early congregations.
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Every mention
22 writings- AD 54Paul’s First Letter to the CorinthiansThe New Testament3×
- AD 55Paul’s Letter to PhilemonThe New Testament1×
- AD 57Paul’s Letter to the PhilippiansThe New Testament1×
- AD 85The Letter to the EphesiansThe New Testament5×
- AD 85The Acts of the ApostlesThe New Testament12×
- AD 95The Gospel of JohnThe New Testament1×
- AD 95The Revelation to JohnThe New Testament2×
- AD 100The First Letter to TimothyThe New Testament1×
- AD 100The Second Letter to TimothyThe New Testament2×
- AD 110Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the SmyrnaeansThe Early Church1×
- AD 165Lucian of Samosata, The Passing of PeregrinusWitnesses Outside the Church1×
- AD 180Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, Book IIIThe Early Church4×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book IIIThe Early Church11×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book IVThe Early Church3×
- AD 320Eusebius, Church History, Book VThe Early Church6×
- AD 367Athanasius of Alexandria, Festal Letter 39The Early Church1×
- 1907G. R. S. Mead, The Gnostic Crucifixion (1907)The Other Gospels1×
- 1992Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 464–469: True God and True ManOther Voices1×
- 1994Common Christological Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (1994)Other Voices1×
- 2026The prophecies associated with Jesus: a critical catalogueThe Dossier2×
- 2026The documentary record of Jesus and the movements that interpreted himThe Dossier2×
- 2026Sources and further readingThe Dossier1×