The Asia of the New Testament was not the continent that bears that name today. It was a province of the Roman Empire, on the western coast of the region now called Asia Minor, corresponding to the west of present-day Turkey.
Its leading city was Ephesus, but the province brought together several prosperous cities linked by Roman roads and maritime trade, among them Smyrna, Pergamum, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
The apostle Paul spent two years teaching in Ephesus, and the book of Acts records that, from there, all who lived in the province heard the word of the Lord.
Churches sprang up throughout the region. Decades later, those same communities received the letters of the book of Revelation, addressed to the seven churches of the province.
The region was also a place of trial for Christians. Paul describes an affliction there so great that he even despaired of life, and later lamented that everyone in the province had deserted him.
Biblical Asia shows how the gospel spread from one city to an entire region, and how faith there was tested by time and by pressure.
