Fundamental Elements for the Construction of Historical-Cultural Context

The historical-cultural context is of fundamental importance for the correct interpretation of any message. The elements that interweave to form the identity of a people include geographical, social, political, religious, and economic factors, among others.

The historical-cultural context of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians will serve here as a point of reference. Ephesus in the apostle’s day was a major metropolis of the Roman Empire. As a port city it functioned as a center of commerce and travel, playing a crucial part in the economies of the nations that traded through it.

It also drew income from the temple of the goddess Diana (Artemis), counted among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Religion there was far more than ritual: it drove tourism and generated profit for the region. The worship of Artemis was widely practiced, since she was believed to be the goddess of fertility and of the hunt, and it gave the city its energy — a city marked by paganism and the occult.

The population consisted of Gentiles of a strongly Hellenized culture, predominantly Greeks and Romans, though Jews lived there as well. With this in view, the message Paul sought to convey in his letter comes into sharper focus. Since immorality was a common feature of pagan cults such as that of Artemis, certain passages read very differently once the setting is understood.

Paul declares: “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:18-20).

One very common practice of the period was to gather in worship of Bacchus, the god of wine. Participants in that cult would drink to excess and engage in orgies with the priestesses as part of the ritual. Paul takes an element from the cultural setting of his readers and turns it to doctrinal use, insisting that Christians are to be filled with the Holy Spirit rather than given over to drunkenness.

Women became pregnant through these rituals and were unable to raise their children within the temple, so the children were abandoned in the streets of Ephesus. Society was matriarchal, with the goddess Diana at the center of everything, and her worship left many orphans in its wake.

In sum, knowledge of the cultural and historical elements of a particular place is essential to understanding a message in its original sense. Keeping in view the historical and cultural features of a place and a period makes it far easier to grasp the thought an author sets out, whether in his letters or in any other literary work.