Revelation 2:1-7 (Ephesus)

Sermon Exegesis for October 3rd, 2010

The seven letters that begin John's revelation follow a specific pattern called a chiasm, in which the first and last items correspond, the second and second-to-last, and so on, toward the center:

Ephesus - complete extinction warned
   Smyrna - Be faithful (no condemnation at all)
      Pergamum - Repent! (mixture of good and evil)
         Thyatira - (longest letter) You tolerate Jezebel
      Sardis - Repent! (mixture of good and evil)
   Philadelphia - Endure patiently (no condemnation at all)
Laodicea - complete extinction warned

Although some have thought that these seven letters follow the history of the whole Christian Church, we need to remember that these were written to seven actual churches in John's time. But what each one of these churches was going through is also typical of what most congregations still struggle with. The first of the seven letters was to John's own church, Ephesus. This was a place where Paul had spend whole years of his ministry (54-56 AD).

REVELATION 2:1

2 Τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν ᾽Εϕέσῳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ κρατῶν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ, ὁ περιπατῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν·

2 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

Τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν ᾽Εϕέσῳ ἐκκλησίας γράψον· To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: Here ἄγγελoς has the broadest of its meanings, a messenger. The ἄγγελoς of the Ephesian church was its own messenger of the gospel, its pastor. John himself had been the ἄγγελoς of this very church, but now exiled in Patmos, he is permitted to write first to his own congregation in his absence. Ἔϕεσoς was a place where Paul had spend whole years of his ministry (54-56 AD). Paul wrote one of his great New Testament Epistles to the Ephesians. He placed Timothy there as pastor, and after about 70 AD, John began preaching there. It was a rich center of trade forming a triangle with Corinth and Thessalonica, and it was famous for its shrine to Diana ("Artemis of the Ephesians," Acts 19:28).

Τάδε λέγει ὁ κρατῶν τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ αὐτοῦ, The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, Τάδε is a demonstrative pronoun, "this one," more obvious than an article of previous reference. The "one" is the one "like a son of man" described in chapter 1, the risen Lord Jesus Christ. κρατῶν is an attributive participle from κρατέω, "hold." The reference to the Lord's δεξιᾷ "right hand" shows where he has placed his authority. Here it is not the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of the Father, but the Son of God with seven stars in his own right hand, giving his authority to his churches.

ὁ περιπατῶν ἐν μέσῳ τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν· the one who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: περιπατῶν is another attributive participle, "the one who walks." The τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν "seven golden lampstands" are the churches; Jesus is with them, just as he promised (Matthew 28).

REVELATION 2:2

2 Οἶδα τὰ ἔργα σου καὶ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου, καὶ ὅτι οὐ δύνῃ βαστάσαι κακούς, καὶ ἐπείρασας τοὺς λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστόλους καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν, καὶ εὗρες αὐτοὺς ψευδεῖς·

2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

Οἶδα τὰ ἔργα σου 'I know your deeds. To oἶδα a thing (perfect indicative) is different than to γινώσκω "experience" it. oἶδα is knowing and understanding a thing that has been reported. We don't need to read too much into this term; the Lord knows, and that is enough. The first term in the triad is τὰ ἔργα "your deeds." This is a neutral term, and could be negative in the extreme. But here it is positive in conjunction with the other two. Your "deeds" are simply the things that you have done.

καὶ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου, and your toil and perseverance, κόπος is work that wears you out, very hard work; "toil" is as good a one-word term as any. ὑπομονή is patience that lasts; perseverance, or "patient endurance" (Becker).

καὶ ὅτι οὐ δύνῃ βαστάσαι κακούς, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, The aorist infinitive βαστάσαι is a complementary infinitive with the verb of "being able," δύναμαι.

καὶ ἐπείρασας τοὺς λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς ἀποστόλους καὶ οὐκ εἰσίν, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, ἐπείρασας is the aorist of πειράζω, "to put to the test." They have tested "apostle-claimers" but, Paul says who "aren't" (οὐκ εἰσίν). The testing would take the form of checking their claims and preaching against the Scriptures (Acts 17:11) and by questioning them (Daniel 1:20).

καὶ εὗρες αὐτοὺς ψευδεῖς· and you found them to be false; A ψευδής is a liar. So the "apostle-claimers" were not pretending once or twice, but constantly, and they were constantly found them to be false. John had urged his Ephesian congregation to do this earlier: "Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." (1 John 4:1).

REVELATION 2:3

3 καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἔχεις, καὶ ἐβάστασας διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου, καὶ οὐ κεκοπίακες.

3 and you have perseverance and have endured for my name's sake, and have not grown weary.
καὶ ὑπομονὴν ἔχεις, καὶ ἐβάστασας διὰ τὸ ὄνομά μου, and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, ἐβάστασας is the aorist of βαστάζω, "to carry" or in this case, "endure." διά with the accusative is "on account of." What Christians endure for the sake of Christ gives glory to him no matter how bad it gets for us. And in Ephesus, this has been done for the sake of his ὄνομά, his "name." The name of God tells us everything about him. The name of Jesus tells us that the Lord has Saved us.

καὶ οὐ κεκοπίακες. and have not grown weary. κεκοπίακες is the perfect of κοπιάω, "be weary." The perfect states a thing in the past with results that continue on to this moment and beyond. Our strength for this comes only from the Lord.

Jesus begins with a reminder that he himself holds the church and walks there. Jesus is present where we are gathered in his name. He commends them (he is pleased with them) because they do not tolerate wickedness -- they preach the law and apply it also to themselves. John himself had written about this in his own letters (1 John 1:5 - 2:2). They know their Bible and they test the spirits of those who preach. This is also something John had written about (1 John 2:18-27; 4:1-6; and all of 2 John and 3 John). Also, the encouragement to persevere has a familiar ring (1 John 2:15-17, 28-29).

REVELATION 2:4

4 ἀλλὰ ἔχω κατὰ σοῦ ὅτι τὴν ἀγάπην σου τὴν πρώτην ἀϕῆκες.

4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

ἀλλὰ ἔχω κατὰ σοῦ 'But I have this against you, ἀλλά is a strong disjunctive, "However." There is a problem here that God has seen in Ephesus. κατά with the genitive (σοῦ) has the sense of "against." Note that σοῦ is singular. The sin is not rampant among individuals, but one shared by the congregation as a whole.

ὅτι τὴν ἀγάπην σου τὴν πρώτην ἀϕῆκες that you have left your first love. ἀϕῆκες is the aorist of ἀϕίημι (ἵημι verbs take 2nd aorist forms in -κα; Crosby-Shaeffer p. 320). It means to neglect or forsake (it can even means to divorce, 1 Cor. 7:11). The first love forsaken is like those in Jesus' parable: "Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away" (Mark 4:16-17).

What was the "first love" that they had forsaken? It was doing God's will -- living a life of thanks to God. The Ephesians knew and ran with the law, but they had begun to forget the gospel. That meant that their outward obedience was in grave danger of being either just a show, or equally as bad, a feeling that by obeying the law of God, you can work your way into heaven. But it's only through the forgiveness of Jesus that makes heaven our home.

REVELATION 2:5

5 μνημόνευε οὖν πόθεν πέπτωκας, καὶ μετανόησον καὶ τὰ πρῶτα ἔργα ποίησον· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι καὶ κινήσω τὴν λυχνίαν σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσῃς.

5 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.

μνημόνευε οὖν πόθεν πέπτωκας, 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, μνημόνευε is the present imperative of μνημoνεύω, "remember, keep in mind." The adverb πόθεν "from where" doesn't occur much outside the Gospels in the NT, but it's quite a common LXX word and has a few showings in the Fathers (especially Ignatius). πέπτωκας is the perfect of πίπτω "fall." Once again, the perfect tense carries results into the present moment: the Ephesians are still down from where they once were.

καὶ μετανόησον καὶ τὰ πρῶτα ἔργα ποίησον· and repent and do the deeds you did at first; μετανoέω (aor imv) is to "change the mind / heart." To do a "180" in our terms. To stop going along the course you're on and to turn back to the Lord. Repentance here has fruits: to ποίησον "do" the things that showed that you were on the old course in the first place. The sanctified fruits of repentance, our good deeds, are not necessary for our salvation, but they necessarily follow our salvation. We do them because we want to do them. And like a runner enjoying the burning sensation on his legs and belly because he knows it's making him stronger, we know that when we suffer a bit, even just deep inside, as we do things for the Lord, that we are being made stronger for his service.

εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι καὶ κινήσω τὴν λυχνίαν σου ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς, or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- We translate εἰ δὲ μή with "or else," but a literal "but if not" would be absolutely right and understood. ἔρχομαι "I am coming" is present tense to describe present activity. Once again the singular σοι reminds the Ephesians that they are being addressed as a unified group. κινήσω is the future of κινέω, "remove," a frightening word from the lips of the Lord. The λυχνία "lampstand" is the light of the Lord burning in our midst. What will there be if the Lord removes his light from us? The genitive phrase ἐκ τοῦ τόπου αὐτῆς "from its place" reminds us that the lamp belongs here among us -- this is the plan of God, it is not an accident. This is "its place."

ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσῃς. unless you repent. ἐὰν μὴ with a subjunctive expresses the protasis of a future more vivid conditional. The apodosis sits earlier in the sentence, with Jesus' hand extended out toward the lamp in its place.

REVELATION 2:6

6 ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἔχεις, ὅτι μισεῖς τὰ ἔργα τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν, ἃ κἀγὼ μισῶ.

6 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἔχεις, 'Yet this you do have, Now ἀλλά has something good to say. After being called to repentance for divorcing themselves from their love, the Lord points out one thing that they have.

ὅτι μισεῖς τὰ ἔργα τῶν Νικολαϊτῶν, ἃ κἀγὼ μισῶ. that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. μισέω "hate" is a contract verb, so the 1st singular differs from the dictionary form by contracting (μισῶ, "I hate"); the 2nd singular is mroe familiar, μισεῖς "you hate." The Nicolaitans are not identified outside of Scripture. The church fathers Irenaeus and Clement of Alexandria identify them as taking their name from Nicholas of Antioch, the convert to Judaism from Antioch (Acts 6:5), but we can't say that this is correct (see Jay Raaskin's translation of Stromata III, 4.25-26, available online). To summarize what we do know, the Nicolaitans were a group that thought that being forgiven meant that we can run off and commit any sin "because we're already forgiven!" They showed this especially in compromising with the pagans in their cities. They would hold what today are called Ecumenical services, where people who don't believe the same thing get together and attempt to worship together. Although John spoke more about -- and against -- Ecumenism in his short letters of 3 John and especially 2 John, it comes up in more than one of these seven letters in Revelation.

A caution shouldn't be necessary but I wouldn't want to omit it. Neither the Ephesians nor the Lord himself hated the Nicolaitans; they hated τὰ ἔργα "their deeds." Love always prompts us to say and do the things we say and do, even when that love must take on the form of discipline or even division.


REVELATION 2:7

7 ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ ϕαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ.

7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.'

ὁ ἔχων οὖς ἀκουσάτω 'He who has an ear, let him hear. This is the strongest exhortation to listen and take to heart what has been said. The present participle ὁ ἔχων points to every one of us, and even a deaf man would sit up and take note of such a powerful statement, seeing it written there before him. We should notice the aorist imperative ἀκουσάτω (ἀκούω, "hear"). An aorist imperative can "express the coming about of an action which contrasts with prior conduct," BDF §337(1). It is as if the Lord is saying, "If you having been listening up to now, then open your ears because this is the last chance you're going to get!"

τί τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις. what the Spirit says to the churches. Not "What I say and the Spirit agrees," but τὸ πνεῦμα λέγει "what the Spirit says." No matter that Christ himself is doing the speaking. The word of the πνεῦμα is distinct and separate. This is another person of the Trinity at work, speaking through John's pen to the churches and to the Church.

τῷ νικῶντι δώσω αὐτῷ ϕαγεῖν ἐκ τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς, To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life. Is there some wordplay between the indirect object νικῶντι "victor" and the Νικολαϊτῶν mentioned in verse 6? Perhaps, but νικῶντι occurs again and again throughout the letters, with or without references to the Nicolaitans. ϕαγεῖν is a supplementary infinitive with the future δώσω "I will give." The ability, availability, proximity, and blessing of the τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς "tree of life" is a picture of the blessings of heaven. The tree of life will return later in Revelation as a certain image of the eternal life we will enjoy there.

ὅ ἐστιν ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τοῦ θεοῦ which is in the Paradise of God.' To make us sure to understand that eating from τοῦ ξύλου τῆς ζωῆς is a reference to heaven, the Lord finishes the letter by telling us, "and that's the Garden of God, by the way." Paradise (παράδεισoς) is a loanword, occurring also in Hebrew (פַּרְדֵּס, Song of Solomon 4:13). It means "park" or "garden." It occurs in Xenophon, but it seems to be a word from Sanskrit more than from Zend or Persian.

Listen up, Jesus says: Through Jesus, we have forgiveness. Through Jesus, we have direct access to God. Live in that forgiveness, turn away from sin, and be pure in your life. That's only possible by continuing to read God's word and put it into practice every single day. The tree of life -- eternal life with God in heaven -- is ours through Jesus, who has already forgiven our sins.
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SERMON THOUGHTS: "A Letter for Ephesus, a Letter for Us: REPENT"


( Thoughts about all the letters )


- Deeds, not tolerate wicked, not tolerate false apostles
- Hardships
- FORSAKEN your love!
- - - Remember the height; REPENT.
- But, you hate the Nicolaitans. Me too.
- Hear! Tree of life = paradise of God.