PART I (Revelation 3:1-3)
REVELATION 3:1
3 Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον· Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ.
3 To the angel of the church in Sardis write: "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, say: 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that is alive, but you are dead.
Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν Σάρδεσιν ἐκκλησίας γράψον· To the angel of the church in Sardis write: Sardis (Σάρδεις) was located on a steep peak at the crossing of five important roads. The slopes leading up to the city were so steep that the people fell to thinking that no army could ever conquer the city -- but two armies did. The first was led by Cyrus the Great just a few years before he conquered Persia and let the Jews return to Jerusalem. At that time Sardis was ruled by King Croesus, still famous for his wealth. Under Croesus, Sardis became the first place in the world to use gold rather than electrum or silver as its standard of money, although the Greek philosopher Solon warned him about trusting wealth when he told him "Call no man happy before his death." Sardis fell in 546 BC when Cyrus' men climbed up the steep slopes and found no guards posted. The same thing happened again in 214 BC for the same reasons. Notice that Jesus warns: "If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."
Τάδε λέγει ὁ ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀστέρας· "He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, say: ὁ ἔχων is a present attributive participle; "the one who has" (See below for "seven spirits... seven stars").
Οἶδά σου τὰ ἔργα, ὅτι ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι ζῇς, καὶ νεκρὸς εἶ. 'I know your deeds, that you have a name that is alive, but you are dead. τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ θεοῦ "the seven spirits of God" is a symbolic use of the number 7 as we have throughout the visions of revelation.
Use of ἑπτά "seven" as a symbol. In the visions, the number represents the holiness of God. The use of "six" in other places appears to represent a falling short of God's holiness, with the superlative number 666 at the end of chapter 13 representing the permanent, ultimate falling short of God's holiness; the number of the beast; sinful through and through.
The count of the Asian churches and their pastors is excluded (cf. 1:20) but the number may have some symbolic significance; seven churches chosen to represent the spiritual meaning of "seven" over against the mockery of "seven" brought forth by the devil.
I. The sevenfold spirit of God himself. Seven in this case seems to be a number standing for the holiness and perfection of God.
1:4 τῶν ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων ἃ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ϑρόνου αὐτοῦ "the seven spirits which are before [God's] throne.II. The seven seals
3:1 τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ "the seven spirits of God" ("held" by Jesus)
4:5 καὶ ἑπτὰ λαμπάδες πυρὸς "seven lamps burning" before the throne
4:5 τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ, "seven spirits of God" seen by John in the vision
5:6 ἔχων κέρατα ἑπτὰ καὶ ὀϕϑαλμοὺς ἑπτά, οἵ εἰσιν τὰ [ἑπτὰ] πνεύματα τοῦ ϑεοῦ "seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God.
5:1, 5:5, 6:1 σϕραγῖσιν ἑπτά "seven seals"
III. The seven angels. God has more than seven angels (Rev. 5:11) but seven are chosen to represent God's holiness in the judgment. They have seven bowls and seven trumpets: the message is holy and the action (the pouring of the bowls) is holy.
8:2, 8:6, 21:11 τοὺς ἑπτὰ ἀγγέλους οἳ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ϑεοῦ ἑστήκασιν "the seven angels who stand before God"IV. The seven trumpets and bowls of the seven angels
8:2 ἑπτὰ σάλπιγγες. "seven trumpets" given to the seven angels (one each)V. God's word is holy and powerful: a voice of seven thunders.
15:7; 17:1; 21;11 ἑπτὰ ϕιάλας χρυσᾶς "seven golden bowls" (one for each of the angels)
10:3, 10:4 ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ϕωνάς. "the voices of the seven thunders spoke"VI. The results of the judgment are holy, even when they appear to be horrible.
11:13 καὶ ἀπεκτάνϑησαν ἐν τῷ σεισμῷ ὀνόματα ἀνϑρώπων χιλιάδες ἑπτά "seven thousand names [people] were killed in the earthquake"
15:1; 15:6; 15:8; 16:1; 17:1 ἀγγέλους ἑπτὰ ἔχοντας πληγὰς ἑπτὰ τὰς ἐσχάτας,"seven angels having seven last plagues"
VII. The devil attempts to mock God's holiness with his own claim on seven crowns.
12:3 ἔχων κεϕαλὰς ἑπτὰ καὶ ... ἑπτὰ διαδήματα, (the red dragon) "having seven heads... and seven crowns"
13:1; 17:3 κεϕαλὰς ἑπτά, "seven heads" for the beast as well as the dragon.
Note: "the (κεϕαλὰς ἑπτά) seven heads are (ἑπτὰ ὄρη) seven hills on which the woman sits," and they are also "seven kings" (βασιλεῖς ἑπτά ) (17:9-10, 11). This identifies the woman's location with a place known for seven hills.
The seven hills of Rome are: Quirinal and Viminal to the north, Esquiline and Caelian to the east, Aventine to the south, Capitoline to the west between the city and the Field of Mars (the Vatican is across the Tiber beyond the Field), and the Palatine in the center.
REVELATION 3:2
2 γίνου γρηγορῶν, καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἔμελλον ἀποθανεῖν, οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου [τὰ] ἔργα πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ μου·
2 Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds completed before my God.
γίνου γρηγορῶν Wake up! Present periphrastic participle (forms of γίνομαι can be used in periphrasis). Sleeping had often led to disaster in Sardis. Jesus uses this problem as an illustration for what has been happening in the congregation. Only a few are awake and watchful. The whole group is in danger of fading completely away -- they have become comfortable.
καὶ στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ and strengthen the things that remain, στήρισον is an aorist imperative of στηρίζω, "strengthen, make firm." τὰ λοιπὰ is "the rest," as in the expression καὶ τὰ λοιπὰ "and the rest" or κ.τ.λ., the Greek equivalent of "etc." What are the "rest" of the matters? In context, they are whatever isn't already dead, as Jesus warned in verse 1. Their name in Sardis is already gone; it's time to salvage whatever they can. When the Hindenburg caught fire in New Jersey, a cameraman caught the name of the big ship going up in flames, and yet after that moment, people were still jumping from the cabin windows and escaping with broken ankles, etc. In Sardis, it was time to be sure of their souls even though everything else was about to be lost.
ἃ ἔμελλον ἀποθανεῖν, which were about to die, Here is a realm of heaven we are uncertain about, that some of our earthly deeds follow us in some way into heaven, where Jesus will credit us with certain acts ("you visited me in prison," etc.). In Sardis, it was these things that were already dying or "about to die" (ἔμελλον, imperfect indicative 3rd plural μέλλω, "be about to"). The infinitive ἀποθανεῖν "to die" is the necessary complement to the verb.
οὐ γὰρ εὕρηκά σου [τὰ] ἔργα πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ θεοῦ μου· for I have not found your deeds completed before my God. εὕρηκά is the perfect "eureka!" of Archimedes; but Jesus has had no eureka about the deeds of Sardis.
REVELATION 3:3
3 μνημόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληϕας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, καὶ μετανόησον. ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης, καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς ποίαν ὥραν ἥξω ἐπὶ σέ.
3 Remember therefore what you received and heard, and keep it, and repent. If, then, you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will certainly not know at what hour I will come to you.
μνημόνευε οὖν πῶς εἴληϕας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει, Remember therefore what you received and heard, and keep it. What the people of Sardis had received was the gospel. Is there a distinction to be made here between "received" (εἴληϕας, pf ind 2 sg, speaking to the congregation as an individual or a collective) and "heard" (ἤκουσας, aor act ind 2 sg)? The perfect indicates something done with lasting results, and the aorist points to a simple fact, but the word order suggests that the "receiving" was done first; the "hearing" was simply something done in the past. But before we get bogged down in the subtle difference between them, we should remember that μνημόνευε and τήρει are the actual words to which we pay attention here, they are both present imperatives: "Remember" and "keep." However the gospel came, remember it, and keep it, now that you have it.
καὶ μετανόησον. and repent. Luther said, "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ, when he said "Repent" [Matthew 4:17], willed that the whole life of believers should be repentance" (95 Theses, Thesis #1). To repent is not really to "do penitence" (paenitentiam agite Mt. 4:17 Vg., or paeitentiam age Rev 3:3 Vg.) but to change the mind, μετανoέω. It is to do a 180 degree turn with my life, away from sin, stopped in my tracks by the Law of God, and being turned by the Gospel back to Christ and to a life of love, thanks and obedience to God's will. The fruits of repentance may be one thing for one believer and another for another believer. In some cases, there might be obvious fruits of repentance: returning a stolen item, making amends for a dead animal, repairing or paying for repairs to damaged property. In other cases, the fruits may not be as obvious. A pastor does not need to impose specific fruits of repentance on a penitent believer, but he may offer guidance as to what those fruits might be.
ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, ἥξω ὡς κλέπτης If, then, you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, ἐὰν with μὴ means "unless," and with a subjunctive (γρηγορήσῃς) in the protasis and a future (ἥξω) in the apodosis we have a future more vivid condition, the most common conditional sentence in Greek. It states the condition as possible, but the conclusion as positively certain in the future. The future more vivid os "frequently used in legal phraseology" (Basic Greek Syntax, Northwestern College Greek Department notes 1978 p. 24). The idea of Christ coming "like a thief" (ὡς κλέπτης) is a familiar one (1 Thess. 5:2; 5:4; 2 Peter 3:10; Rev. 3:3; 16:15 and for the expression cf. also Job 24:14).
καὶ οὐ μὴ γνῷς ποίαν ὥραν ἥξω ἐπὶ σέ. and you will certainly not know at what hour I will come to you. οὐ joined to μὴ here strengthens and intensifies the negative (Thayer, οὐ 5). When the Last Day comes, it will arrive unpredicted and unexpected, but we must not let it arrived unlooked for.
(to be continued)
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