What was the average person in Ephesus like?

Answer 1

In what era? During the Apostle Paul's time when Ephesus became his 'headquarters' for about 3 years near the middle of the 1st Century AD? If so, then these people lived where one of the seven wonders of the world existed - the Temple of Artemis which later would be Romanized into the Temple of Diana. Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia (Turkey) and sat upon several major trade routes which made many quite affluent.

So with the above, we can see the average person was probably fairly well off due to the prosperity of the city. They would have been steeped into Greek/Roman beliefs until many began to convert to Paul's new teachings of Christ. When Scripture notes some of the Jews rebuffing his new teachings in the synagogue, Paul simple went to the school of Tyrannus teaching both Jews and Greeks "The Way." As Acts 19:18-20 indicates, Ephesus became an evangelistic outreach center for the rest of the province of Asia. Paul had such an impact on the average person there turning many to Christ, that some craftsmen in the city who made their living making and selling pagan idols began to riot. Paul even warned the new converts of the 'savage wolves' who would not spare the new congregation in Acts 20:17-38.

But we read in the Book of Revelation that was penned by the Apostle John some 40 years after Paul's 2nd missionary trip to Ephesus, how Christ Himself, commended the Ephesians for hearing Paul and not tolerating false teachers - exhorting them to recapture their first love for God (see Revelation 2:1-7).