The Role of ‘Eusebeia’ in the Inscriptions of Ephesus and the Letters to Timothy and Titus

This paper explores the use of eusebeia in the inscriptions of Ephesus. This research provides a social and religious backdrop for reading 10 texts where eusebeia appears in the letters to Timothy and Titus.

Readers discover a deliberate strategy of subversive contextualization. While Ephesian eusebeia was transactional, elite-driven, and bound to the economic engines of the Temple of Artemis and the Roman Imperial Cult, the letters to Timothy and Titus transform this sacred idea into a Christ-centered framework.

The author of the letters departed from Greco-Roman patterns and reconfigured "godliness" with Christ, celebrating the priesthood of all believers, and calling them to do good works while living ordinary lives in pursuit of godliness with contentment.