Vers. 1–7. —Ephesus: the Declining
Church.
This
letter to the Church at Ephesus, as well as all the others, is sent to the
Church through its “angel.” It is not very easy for an English reader to
understand to what office in the Church such an expression can refer. The
various meanings of “bishop” or “overseer,” “pastor,” and “messenger” have been
assigned. We do not accept either to the exclusion of any other. We will,
however, indicate some historic matters concerning Church officers and then
leave the student to draw his own conclusions. It is well known that some of
the offices of the earliest Christian Churches were named after those of the
later Jewish synagogue.27 The word “presbyter” is one of these.
Among the synagogue officers, we find one to which, by reason of our different
forms of organization and worship, we have no exact parallel. This officer was
appointed to be the leader of Divine worship, going up before the ark, to
conduct the service. He was not one ordained to a permanent office but
exercised it only as he was occasionally appointed thereto. Any lay member of
the congregation might thus serve, provided he possessed the necessary
qualifications. He was required to be in sympathy with the people, pure in
life, ordering well his family, with a good voice, able to read and expound,
and to conduct with a devotional spirit the worship of the people, to whom he
must be acceptable, as their representative therein. He was regarded as their
legate, the mouthpiece of those who were present, and the deputy of those who
were absent through illness or otherwise. There should not be any fierce
disputation about this, for evidently, we have no such officer in any of the primary forms of Church government.
There are those whose duties correspond in some respects but none whose
position is precisely the same. What name should we give him? Not bishop, and
not pastor, for his, was not a permanent office. Not a president; for he did
not belong to the rulers of the synagogue—he acted only for the time as leader
of the worship, as the expounder of truth; as the people’s mouthpiece in
prayer. The Jews had a name for such a one. He was called the “angel of the
Church.” Now, it is far more likely that, at the outset of Christian Church-life,
it would be easy to find men who could occasionally than such as could
permanently discharge such duties. In the transition period between the passing
away of the synagogue-forms and the settlement of new ones, it would be natural
to use the old and familiar phrase, “the angel of the Church,” although the
office indicated by the name in former days was merging into the more sacred
one of a permanent overseer of the Church. Although, therefore, there is now no
office in the Church precisely corresponding to this old Hebraistic phrase, yet
it is intensely interesting to find it retained as one of the last dying echoes
in Scripture of the ancient forms, as a connecting link between the old and the
new. At that time, if any message were sent to a Church, it would be sent to
them through the “angel,” who had to conduct their worship, at any rate, pro tem.
Nevertheless, whether Ephesus or any one of the seven Churches had, at the time of receiving these letters, substituted a temporary by a permanent officer, there is no data to enable us to affirm. Can we not well imagine the interest and excitement of the people when the leader of their worship opened a roll—prefacing, perchance, the reading thereof by saying, “Our loved Apostle John, who used to teach among us, but who is now in banishment at Patmos, has been caught up in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and has been moved to send, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, the following letter”? With what deep emotion would its words be heard! In it, there are six lines of thought suggested.
I. The aspect in which the Saviour presents himself to them. It is twofold. 1. As holding the stars in his right hand. 2. As walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. The first indicates the special care of Christ over the ministers of his Church. It is not for a minister to “lord it over God’s heritage” or to attempt dominion over their faith, but he is guilty of a sinful and a mock humility if he does not “magnify his office,” and if he does not regard it as a trust from the Lord Jesus. He will also wrong his Saviour if he does not take comfort in the thought that, as a minister of the Church, he is the object of his Lord’s special care. The second indicates the active energy of Jesus in watching over his Churches to administer strength, help, comfort, commendation, cheer, rebuke, or warning, as the case may require. There is also a reminder that the Lord has an omniscient eye to discern the state of things in every one of his Churches. “I know thy works.” This attribute of the Lord Jesus is one which should awake the utmost solicitude in any Church, that it may be approved of him.
II. The Saviour’s estimate of the Church. 1. There had been much good, which, indeed, had by no means died out. They had labored, even unto toiling (ver. 2). They had endured when work had to be done under trying circumstances in the midst of a great city, the inhabitants of which were carried away by the worship of the great goddess Diana. There was still all abhorrence of evil and sensitive and faithful detection of error in doctrine (ver. 3). They had applied to some false apostles a test so severe and so successful that they were exposed and put to shame. And towards the close of the epistle, the commendation is again renewed, as if to show how lovingly our Lord notices every virtue. 2. But still, there is a grave charge against the Church. A charge not modified by the word “somewhat,” which the Authorized Version thrusts into the translation. “I have it against thee—thou hast left thy first love.28 Note: It is quite possible for all the machinery of a Church to be in complete working order while, at the same time, the spirit of love and zeal which first set it going is on the decline. This is a great evil, for (1) it is no part of the structure of the spiritual constitution that any decline should befall it; (2) there is no difficulty against which Christ has not warned us; (3) there is no emergency for which his grace is not all-sufficient; (4) there is no other object to which our love can be legitimately transferred; (5) Christ is very jealous of our love; (6) it is a grief and dishonor to him, whose love is a constant flame, to let our love flicker as it does; (7) outside work and energy will not continue long where love is on the decline. No engine will continue to run long after the fire has gone out.
III. The Saviour’s rebuke. “I have it against thee.” “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.” Although it is the case that we must all stand before the tribunal of Christ, it is also the case that we are under his all-searching eye even now. “I, the Lord, search the heart.”
IV. The Saviour’s direction. “Repent,” etc. There is a way back to the cross. It is the same as that by which the sinner came at first. Repent. There must be a direct, personal confession to the Lord Jesus. It is indeed a great wrong done to a Church when its members bring a current of cold air with them and leave it behind them everywhere, but the greatest wrong is towards that Saviour whose cause has been so solemnly espoused and for whom the professor has sworn to live and is a Cold-hearted professor! Thy Saviour calls to you to renew your broken vow and return to him.
V. The Saviour’s warning. It is twofold. 1. The declining Church will sooner or later receive from Christ some stern reminder of its sin. “I will come unto thee.” “The time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.” 2. If the warning is unheeded, the Church will, in time, disappear. “I will remove thy candlestick out of its place.” Our Lord Jesus does not desire the prolonged continuance of a Church whose love is declining. A cold Church does not and cannot represent Jesus in the world; it is no longer accomplishing the object for which Churches are formed, and therefore there is no reason why it should continue. Where our Saviour would be most gracious, he will be most severe in such a case. Churches, as such, are judged in this life.
VI. The Saviour’s promise. It is made to individuals. “To him that overcometh.” It pertains to another realm, even to “the Paradise of God.” The word “paradise” means an enclosed, park-like place with all arrangements for refreshment, comfort, and luxury. It is first used in Scripture for the garden of Eden, in which was a tree of life. At the Fall, man was barred both from Paradise and from the tree of immortality. We read no more of it till Christ says to the dying thief, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise”—the word being used to denote the realm of the blessed in the invisible world. Still, the tree of life appears no more till we get it mentioned here, as in the higher realm of everlasting life, in the Paradise of God. There it is in Christ’s own keeping. The fruit of it he will give to the victor! That is, to drop the figure, whosoever overcomes, to him, in the nobler and the deathless realm, Christ will be the Giver and Sustainer of a life that shall never, never die. There will be no temptation to decline, for within the gates of that Paradise, no tempter can ever come, and the supply of vital power shall be so rich and constant that all inward tendency to decline shall cease forever. What a motive power this is! Earthly cities, with their witchery and glare, may be before us and around us today. But beyond, beyond is the Paradise of God, with its halcyon rest, its genial clime, its steadfast life. Moreover, oh! Let us not lose sight of the words, “I will give. “The communion with Christ will be close and intimate; we shall see face to face. Here the provisions of God’s love and grace are often marred through coming to us by such imperfect channels. But there, the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them to the fountains of the water of life! How large the promise! How attractive the vision! How glorious the reward! Surely it is worthwhile to Struggle for a little here, that we may pass forever to a realm where we shall struggle no more. “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”[1]
Indeed, It Is Worthwhile to Struggle for A Little Here,
That We May Pass Forever to A Realm Where We Shall Struggle No More.
How Glorious the Reward!
First Pic by Relentless Jess, Anchorage AK.
27 See
articles by Rev. J.E. Yonge, M.A., in the Clergyman’s
Magazine, vol. i. New series, 1887.
28
Uhlhorn, in his ‘Christian Charity in the Early Church,’ has some instructive
historic illustrations of the decay of motive power in the early Churches.
[1] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Revelation.
The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.
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