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B. The
Message to Ephesus: The Church That Is Orthodox
(Doctrinally Correct) but Without Love, 2:1–7 |
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1. The recipients’ a. The messenger of
the church b. The Ephesian
churchhDS1 2. The
speaker: Jesus |
Unto the angel of the church of
Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his
right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; |
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3. The
commendation a. For works & labor b. For steadfastness c. For not tolerating evil people d. For testing & rejecting false apostles |
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy
patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast
tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them,
liars: |
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e. For persevering & not growing weary |
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s
sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. |
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4. The
complaint: They had left their first love—love for Christ & for
the people |
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. |
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5. The
counsel: Remember & repent—return to your first works &
former service 6. The warning a. Your church, the
lampstand, will be removed |
5 Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of
his place, except thou repent. |
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b. Your doctrinal
purity is not enough |
6 But
this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also
hate. |
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7. The
promise: To the overcomers a. The tree of life b. Paradise |
7 He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
midst of the paradise of God.[2] |
The commendation was at least
sixfold.
• Their fervency. “I
know thy works, and thy labour” (Revelation
2:2). The church at Ephesus was not a lazy church. They were energetic
for the Lord. The word translated “labour”
means “intense labor” (Thayer). The Ephesian church worked hard. They were
fervent in serving the Lord. The phrase “I know thy works” is repeated in
all of the comments to the seven churches (Revelation
2:2, 9, 13, 19; 3:1, 8, 15). Christ is omniscient and is cognizant of
all our service, be it good or bad.
• Their fidelity. “Thou canst not bear them which are evil”
(Revelation 2:2). There was no compromising,
no dipping of the flag. They had fidelity in their stand. They were true to the
faith.
• Their forbidding. “Thou hast tried them which say they are
apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars” (Revelation
2:2). They would not tolerate false teachers and people who claimed the
high office of apostle who were fakers. They forbade them from doing their evil
work by trying them and thus exposing them and stopping them for their
falseness.
• Their forbearance. “Thy patience … hast borne, and hast
patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured” (Revelation
3:2, 3). They would not forbear evil but they would forbear the
struggles of living for the Lord. It takes much patience to live for and serve
the Lord. “Ye have need of patience,
that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise
[promised reward]” (Hebrews 10:36).
• Their faithfulness. “Hast not fainted” (Revelation 2:3). They did not quit serving just
because it was hard. They stuck to their work until it was finished.
• Their fidelity. “Thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:6). The Nicolaitans taught some philosophy that was not Scriptural and it led to evil conduct of some sort. What the Nicolaitans taught has never been ascertained with certainty but the Ephesians were true to the faith and did not accept the Nicolaitans’ creed which produced “deeds” that God hated. The fact that God hated the deeds meant the deeds were very bad. However, today men do not consider some deeds bad which God despises, such as divorce (Malachi 2:16) and homosexualism (Leviticus 18:22).[3]
3 (2:2–3) Church—Believers: there is the commendation. The church is commended for five significant things.
1. The
church worked and labored for Christ. The
Greek means to labor to the point of weariness, sweat, and exhaustion; to work
and labor to the limit of one’s ability. The church was a working church, a
laboring church, a church committed to serving Christ and serving Him to the
fullest.
Thought 1. There
is no room for laziness or lethargy in the church of Christ. Christ expects
every believer to labor for Him, to labor to the point of exhaustion. Note that
Christ keeps an account of our work and labor. The idea is that He keeps a
daily account: He knows every ounce of energy that we expend. He knows when we
become tired and exhausted and can go no more. He also knows when we should be
working and do not.
“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me
meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and
ye came unto me” (Mt. 25:35–36).
“Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven”
(Mt. 5:16).
“That they do good, that they be rich
in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate [give]” (1 Ti. 6:18).
“But to do good and to communicate
[give] forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (He. 13:16).
2. The
church patiently endured. The
word means to persevere and to be steadfast in serving Christ and in standing
against all the temptations and trials of life. The church was steadfast in
studying and proclaiming the gospel and in ministering to the needs of the
needy.
“Therefore, be ye stedfast, unmoveable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour
is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Co. 15:58).
“In your patience possess ye your
souls” (Lu. 21:19).
“For ye have need of patience, that,
after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise” (He. 10:36).
“My brethren, count it all joy when ye
fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Js. 1:2–4).
“Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love him” (Js. 1:12).
“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto
the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit
of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and
latter rain” (Js. 5:7).
3. The
church could not bear those who were evil. This refers to sin and evil,
men who were corrupt and polluted and who lived for the world instead of living
for God. The church could not tolerate the sin and shame, dirt and pollution,
filth and destruction of evil.
“Blessed are the pure in heart: for
they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8).
“Wherefore come out from among them,
and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will
receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and
daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” (2 Co. 6:17–18).
“Having, therefore, these promises,
dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2
Co. 7:1).
“And have no fellowship with the
unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Ep. 5:11).
“Now we command you, brethren, in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother
that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Th. 3:6).
“That the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Ti.
3:17).
“Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (He.
12:14).
“Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation [behavior] and godliness” (2 Pe. 3:11).
“I will set no wicked thing before mine
eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me” (Ps. 101:3).
“Through thy precepts I get
understanding: therefore I hate every false way” (Ps.
119:104).
“For my mouth shall speak truth; and
wickedness is an abomination to my lips” (Pr. 8:7).
“The fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and
arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate” (Pr. 8:13).
4. The
church tested all the preachers and teachers of the church and rejected the
false. If a teacher confessed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
had come in the flesh, he was accepted and allowed to teach. If he denied that
Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, he was not allowed to teach. The church
could not tolerate false teachers and stood against all false teaching. They
were loyal to Christ. They did just what Scripture exhorts: they tested the
spirits of the teachers.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world” (1 Jn. 4:1–3; see 1 Jn. 2:22–23; Mt. 7:15–20).
5. The
church bore up under all for the sake of Christ’s name. This
is a descriptive verse, a description that touches the heart of tender
believers: the church …
• bore up
• patiently endured
• labored
• did not faint
Why?
For Christ’s name sake. They did it all and bore so much for Christ’s sake.
⇒ They
worked and toiled to the point of exhaustion.
⇒ They
patiently endured.
⇒ They
did not bear or put up with evil.
⇒ They
tested and rejected false teachers.
This
is a meaningful picture of a true church, a church that has surrendered itself
to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the picture of a church that is loyal and
devoted to Christ, that is orthodox through and through. It is the picture of
just what a church should be. But there is one thing lacking, one devastating
and destructive thing that looms ever so large in the life of the church. This
is the discussion of the next note in 2:4.
“And ye shall be hated of all men for
my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved” (Mt. 10:22).
“He that findeth his life shall lose
it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it” (Mt. 10:39).
“And everyone that hath forsaken
houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or
lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit
everlasting life” (Mt. 19:29).
“For I will show him how great things
he must suffer for my name’s sake” (Ac. 9:16).
“We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye
are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we
are despised” (1 Co. 4:10).
“Therefore seeing we have this
ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.… For which cause we faint
not; but though our outward man perishes, yet the inward man is renewed day by
day” (2 Co. 4:1, 16).
“For we which live are always delivered
unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh” (2 Co. 4:11).
“Therefore I take pleasure in
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2
Co. 12:10).
“But thou, O man of God, flee these
things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto
thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many
witnesses” (1 Ti. 6:11–12).
“In all things showing thyself a
pattern of good works: in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity” (Tit. 2:7).
“And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted” (Re. 2:3).[4]
“I
know your works, your toil, and your
patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested
those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I
also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my
name, and that you have not grown weary.” 2:2–3
NRSV
The one who walks among the churches (2:1)
is able to say to this church in Ephesus, I
know your works. Over a long period of time, this church had steadfastly
refused to tolerate sin among its members. This was not easy in a city noted
for immoral sexual practices associated with the worship of the goddess
Artemis. The Ephesian church had been strong in its orthodoxy and had resisted
false teachers.
Christ commended the church at
Ephesus for five things:
1. working hard (toil)
2. persevering (patient endurance)
3. resisting sin (cannot tolerate evildoers)
4. critically
examining the claims of false apostles (tested
those who claim to be apostles)
5. enduring
patiently and bearing up without becoming weary.
All of these characteristics
show a church busy with good works and suffering willingly for the cause of
Christ. The Ephesian believers knew evil when they saw it and did not tolerate
it.
The false apostles would be
those who claimed to be believers but were not. The church had succeeded in
weeding out those who falsely claimed apostleship. Generally, the word
“apostle” in the New Testament refers first to the twelve disciples (Mark 3:13; Acts 1:2, 26) because of their special place
in building the foundation of the church (Ephesians
2:20). The word was also expanded to include those such as Paul (Galatians 1:1), Barnabas (Acts
14:14), and James, the brother of Jesus (Galatians
1:19). The name referred to those who had been specially appointed by
Christ. They were eyewitnesses to his ministry on earth. Miracles often
accompanied apostolic authority.
However, false prophets could
often also do what appeared to be miracles. It was important, therefore, as
John wrote in another letter, to “not believe everyone who claims to speak by
the Spirit. [Believers] must test them to see if the spirit they have comes
from God. For there are many false prophets in the world” (1 John 4:1 nlt).
John went on to explain that the way to test if a person has the Spirit of God
is to examine what he or she believes about Jesus Christ (1 John 4:2–3). That was probably the method that
the Ephesian church had used to “test” those who claimed to be apostles but
were not.
Paul had warned the Ephesian
elders, “I know full well that false teachers, like vicious wolves, will come
in among you after I leave, not sparing the flock. Even some of you will
distort the truth in order to draw a following” (Acts
20:29–30 nlt). Jesus had told
his disciples, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep,
but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way
they act” (Matthew 7:15–16 nlt). The message to the
church in Ephesus shows that false teachers had indeed come in among the
believers.
The damage that false teachers
cause is not limited to cults, nor to past days in church history. Some of the
characteristics of false teachers show up today in churches and ministries
professing to be faithful to the true gospel. Many leaders and authorities
today demand allegiance. Because they seem to know the Bible, their influence
can be dangerously subtle. How can believers recognize false teaching?
• It promotes controversies instead of
helping people come to Jesus.
• It is often initiated
by those whose motivation is to make a name for themselves.
• It will be contrary to the true teaching of
the Scriptures.
To
protect the church from the deception of false teachers, church leaders must
not avoid theology but should teach clearly what the Bible says about key
doctrines. This will help believers identify false teachers and false
doctrines.
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TOLERANCE |
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The
church at Ephesus faced a culture characterized by immorality. We, too, live
in a culture tolerant of sexual immorality. It is popular to be open-minded
toward many types of sin, calling them personal choices or alternative
lifestyles. But when the body of believers begins to tolerate sin in the
church, it is lowering the church’s standards and compromises its witness.
Remember that God’s approval is infinitely more important than the world’s.
Use God’s Word, not what people around you are willing to accept, to set the
standards for what is right or wrong. [5]
|
Vers. 1–7—The Epistle To The Church
At Ephesus.
Ephesus
was a notable place in the days of St. John. It and Corinth, on either side of
the Ægean, and between which, there was regular traffic, have been likened to
the Liverpool and New York of our day, on either side of the Atlantic. Ephesus
was large, populous, wealthy, the capital of the province, and the center of
the religious worship of the great Diana, whose magnificent temple was
accounted as one of the wonders of the world. Nor is the place less notable in
sacred history than in secular. The great names of SS. John and Paul, of
Timothy and Apollos, are intimately associated with it; and the history of the
planting of the Church there, given in Acts 18:19 and 19, is full of interest.
It was the chief of the seven Churches to which St. John was bidden to write.
We have previously spoken of the title which in this letter the Lord takes to
himself, and will therefore come at once to the contents of the letter itself.
Noting—
I. The commendation so great and high that is
given to this Church.
It is indeed a great thing to
have such commendation bestowed on any Church or individual Christian. Happy
they or he who deserves it. The Church at Ephesus is commended for:
1. Their Works. “I
know thy works.” No idle, listless people were they, but active, alert,
open-eyed to note and enter where the kingdom of Christ might gain new
subjects. The Lord looked down upon them with approval, and here tells them, “I
know thy works.”
2. Their Labour.
Twice is this mentioned (vers. 2, 3), and it
denotes the Divine delight in the quality as well as the quantity of their
works. It was strenuous, whole-hearted, earnest. Too many who work for the lord
do so as if with but one hand, or even with one finger. It is the merest shred
of their activity that they give to the Lord’s work. But here it was as “with
both hands earnestly.” And they did this though it involved:
3. Their Suffering. Thou
“hast borne” (ver. 3). It means that they
were not allowed to labour as they did unmolested. There would be plenty, as we
know there were, from all manner of motives, to raise opposition and to resent
what they so little liked, indeed hated. Cruel, fierce, relentless, unjust, the
sufferings might be and were that their enemies inflicted, and which they had
borne; but these did not daunt, dismay, or deter them from going right on. For
next:
4. Their Patience is Commended.
Generals in the armies of earth value highly what is called èlan in their troops—the dash and rush
and enthusiasm with which the brave fellows spring to the attack; but they
value yet more “staying power”—that which depends more on dogged pertinacity
and enduring courage than on aught beside. And there is the like of this in the
spiritual warfare. High, eager courage at the outset, hearts filled with
enthusiasm;—yes, these are good; but better still is what will ever be needed,
and that is the grace of patience, the power to endure and not to faint. Thrice
is this great and indispensable grace commended in this epistle, as if the Lord
would show in how high esteem he held it. Oh, for this power to labour on and
not weary in well-doing, to be patient and faint not! For one who has this,
there are many who will set out and set out well, but they soon get hindered
and turn aside or stop altogether, and some even turn back to the world they
had professed to leave. Blessed, then, is this grace of patience.
5. Their Holy Intolerance.
There is an intolerance, and there is far too much of it, which is the fruit of
conceit, of spiritual pride, of abject narrowness, of gross ignorance, and
blind bigotry. They in whom it is found are perhaps amongst the very chiefest
enemies of the Church of God, although they loudly boast to belong to its very
elect, The intolerance of such is never holy. But, on the other hand, there is
a tolerance which is a mere giving in to wickedness because we have not enough
zeal for God and righteousness to withstand it. Such people boast of their
broadness, but it is far too much of what Carlyle once called it when
indignantly repudiating some of its teachings, “None of your heaven-and-hell
amalgamation societies for me!” Of such people it could never have been said,
as is here said of the Ephesian Church, “Thou canst not bear them which are
evil.” They would have palliated and explained and found some plausible pretext
for even the most evil deeds.
Now, in righteous contrast to
these, the Ephesian Church would have no compromise with evil. That which is
told in Acts 19 indicates this admirable quality in them. They brought their
costly books of magic and burnt them—not selling them, or giving them away, or
shutting them up, but getting right rid of them altogether, though so much
might have been urged for milder measures. But these books, contaminated as
they were with the foulness of idolatry, burning, they believed, was best for
them, and burnt they were. It was a prelude to that after-excellence of
character which is here commended of the Lord. Under the ban of this righteous
wrath two sets of persons deservedly came, both being generally described as
“them that are evil.”
(1) Pretended apostles.
Renan and those who with him accentuate so strongly the undoubted differences
that there were between Christians of the Pauline and the Petrine types, affirm
that by “those who say they are apostles, and are not,” John meant Paul. But
they seem to forget that it is added that the Ephesian Church had “found these
pretended apostles false.” If, then, Paul was one, it is strange that, instead
of finding him out as false, the Ephesian Church and its bishops—in the scene
at Miletus—should have cherished the most tender affection and reverence for
him; and that Polycarp, one of St. John’s most distinguished disciples, should
speak of Paul, as he does, as “the blessed and glorious Paul.” No; it was not
such as Paul that St. John meant, but wolves in sheep’s clothing, base, bad
men, lured by the bait of the influence and power which they saw the true
apostles had, and pretended to be such in order that they might make gain for
themselves. But it could not have been very difficult to detect such as these,
and, being put to the test, they were cast out for what they were. Woe to the
Church that tolerates, knowingly, impostors in her midst! that lets them remain
amongst the true, though they be false!
(2) The Nicolaitans. They were practically antinomians. The sect flourishes still. Nicolaitans are everywhere, because everywhere there are men who will profess, believe, and do almost anything by which they think they may escape the hard necessity of obeying the moral laws of Christ. Well is it for the Church, well is it for every one of us, to allow no pretence whatsoever to palliate evil deeds. Even the grace of God may be turned into lasciviousness, and it seems impossible to keep men back from presumptuous sins—sins, that is, for which they find, or think they find, encouragement in the doctrines of God’s great mercy, and the all-atoning efficacy of our Saviour’s death. But the Lord hates the deeds of such men, and may he help us to hate them too. The Church at Ephesus hated them, and are especially commended of the Lord for that they did so.[6]
Revelation 2:2-3 The Commendation “I Know Thy Works, And Thy Labour, And Thy Patience, And How Thou Canst Not Bear Them Which Are Evil:”
[1] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
DS Deeper Study
[2] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
[3] Butler, John G. 2010. Analytical
Bible Expositor: Revelation.
Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.
[4] Leadership Ministries Worldwide. 1996. Revelation. The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible.
Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
NRSV Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the
New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of
Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the
United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
nlt Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
nlt Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
nlt Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,
copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
[5] Barton, Bruce B. 2000. Revelation. Edited by Grant R. Osborne. Life Application Bible
Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
[6] Spence-Jones, H. D. M., ed. 1909. Revelation. The Pulpit Commentary. London; New York: Funk &
Wagnalls Company.
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