Revelation 2:1–7

2:1 The letter is addressed to “the angel of the church in Ephesus.” Ephesus played an important role as a port city on the west coast of the province of Asia. The city was famous for its temple to Artemis (cf. Acts 19:29–40) and was also enthusiastic about the imperial cult, hosting a temple for Julius Caesar. A temple for the emperor Domitian (AD 81–96) may have been built before John wrote Revelation. Two dimensions of the vision of Christ are related to his self-identification in Revelation 2:1. First, Jesus “holds the seven stars in his right hand,” and we were told in 1:20 that the seven stars were the angels of the seven churches. The angels, which perhaps guard and protect the churches or represent them in heaven, are in the hand of the Son of Man. Ultimately, the protection of each church is in the hands of the glorious Son of Man. Second, Jesus as the Son of Man “walks among the seven golden lampstands.” The seven lampstands are identified as the seven churches (cf. comments on 1:12; 1:13; 1:20). The Ephesian church, like every church, is to reflect the light of God’s holiness and love to the world (Matt. 5:15–16). Jesus walks in their midst. He is not distant from the churches but walks among believers and hence knows what is happening in each church; he cares for the church and threatens judgment if it goes astray.

2:2 The church is commended for its perseverance and discernment (vv. 2–3). The Ephesian church stands out for its works, its toil, and endurance. These Ephesian Christians did not only agree verbally with the Christian faith; they applied it practically to their everyday lives. Their works demonstrated the reality and concreteness of their commitment. Indeed, their work was marked by “toil” (kopon), meaning that they toiled and slogged even when weary. They were characterized by perseverance and endurance, continuing to labor and work even in adverse circumstances.

The church is commended not only for its labor but also for its spiritual discernment. They didn’t suffer from naivete but refused to tolerate so-called Christians who participated in evil. They didn’t blithely accept those who called themselves apostles. “Apostles” is probably not used here in the technical sense of the twelve appointed by Jesus but refers instead to those who were sent out as missionaries, as emissaries, as ambassadors of the churches (cf. Rom. 16:7; Phil. 2:25). The Ephesian church carefully assessed those who claimed to be messengers of Christ, exposing those who were not truly his disciples (cf. Matt. 7:15–20; 1 Thess. 5:21; 1 John 4:1–6). It is sometimes said that the Ephesian church is commended for doctrinal orthodoxy, which is certainly true. They would not accept teaching contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it would be a mistake to limit their discernment to doctrinal orthodoxy. They were also perceptive enough to identify behavioral deficiencies of false apostles. In other words, it is likely these false apostles recommended living in a way contrary to the way of Christ. Neither their teaching nor their works was pleasing to God. This makes perfect sense, for doctrine and life, teaching and behavior, cannot ultimately be separated.

2:3 John underscores further the endurance and perseverance of the saints in Ephesus. Their endurance is truly remarkable, for, humanly speaking, they had every reason to grow tired and weary. Nor can it be said that their endurance is merely an example of human strength and fortitude. On the contrary, they have endured for the sake of Jesus’ name. The reference to Jesus’ name signifies his deity, focusing on his character and being. God is identified and recognized by his name, and thus invoking any other god is to profane and take God’s name in vain (cf. Ex. 20:7; Lev. 20:3; Deut. 6:13). If believers endure for Jesus’ name, they esteem him as divine and assign him the same stature as God himself.

2:4 All is not well, however, in the Ephesian church. Jesus presents a complaint and reproves the church for a significant failing. They are persevering and discerning, but they have forsaken their first love. We think of Matthew 24:12, where Jesus warns that the pressures of the evil age will cause the love of many to grow cold. Is John referring to a failure to love God, or a failure to love one another? The expression itself doesn’t answer this question. Fortunately, the letter of 1 John, which I believe was written by the same author, does. John says in his letter, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20; cf. also Mark 12:29–31; 1 John 2:9–10). Abandoning one’s first love means, then, that one has strayed from both love of God and love of fellow believers. The two are inseparable. The church at Ephesus was persistent and orthodox, but a hardness, a callousness had arisen in its ranks. They needed a renewed fervency, a renewed tenderness for the Lord and for one another. True orthodoxy is always warm, loving, and generous in spirit.

2:5 The problem in the Ephesian church is not trivial. Jesus threatens to come and remove their “lampstand” if they don’t repent. Is this a coming in history, or his final coming? It is difficult to be sure. It seems that the threat of the church losing its lampstand could happen before the second coming, which suggests a coming in history. Removing the lampstand means the church will lose its status as a Christian church; the light of Christ will no longer shine, and the message of the gospel will no longer resound from a church that has lost its first love. It will harden into a parody of a Christian church, for a church without love is a church without the gospel—a church animated by the gospel is full of love, as the continued need for mercy and grace echoes throughout the church.

The church must, then, remember where they were previously. The earlier days of love and devotion to Christ need to be reclaimed. True remembrance will lead to repentance. And those who truly repent will “do the works you did at first.” They were no longer doing these works in the sense that their works were now bereft of love. Works that please God aren’t merely the right actions; they have a specific quality, colored and animated by love.

2:6 The Ephesian church is deficient in love, but the call to love must not be misconstrued. There are some things that true love hates, for evil must not be tolerated or excused. Jesus returns again to the discernment exercised by the Ephesian church. They are commended for hating the works of the Nicolaitans. We are not told here what the works of the Nicolaitans are, and the matter is frustratingly obscure. John mentions them again in the letter to Pergamum (in v. 15), and I will discuss them a bit more fully there. The Nicolaitans probably tolerated such things as sexual immorality and eating food offered to idols. Perhaps they did this in the name of love and acceptance. But rather than falling for such wrongful compromise, the Ephesian believers followed Christ’s example (“. . . which I also hate”) and hated what the Nicolaitans were doing. Hate is not incompatible with love, if it is evil that is hated and rejected (cf. Ps. 139:21). In our apathy and boredom, we may hate nothing and confuse our apathy and tolerance with love, falling into the errors of relativism and pluralism. At the same time, the Ephesian church may have overreacted, so that their zeal for truth squelched love for God and for one another (Rev. 2:4).

2:7 The words to these churches are the words of Jesus, but Jesus speaks to them by the “Spirit,” i.e., the Holy Spirit. And the message isn’t limited to the Ephesian church; it is “to the churches,” plural (cf. 2:11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). There is a universality to the words here, applying to all the churches John addressed and indeed to all churches of all time. The Spirit calls upon every church to conquer and overcome. As we saw in table 9.6, above, the call to overcome is near the end of each letter to the seven churches. The call is momentous, for one must overcome in order to obtain eternal life. Only those who overcome will receive the life that never ends.

Those who overcome will eat of the tree of life in “paradise.” The tree of life, of course, was in the garden where God placed Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:9; 3:22, 24), and paradise literally means “garden” (e.g., Gen. 2:8, 9, 10, 15, 16). The tree of life (Prov. 3:18; 11:30; Rev. 22:2, 14, 19; cf. 2 Esd. 2:12; 8:52; 4 Macc. 18:16; 3 En. 23:18) and paradise (Luke 23:43; cf. 2 Esd. 4:7; 6:2; 7:36, 123; 8:52) symbolize the eschatological reward promised to believers.¹ It is not necessarily a literal garden or tree of life, for the new creation—the new Jerusalem—is described also as a city (Rev. 21:1–22:5). The tree of life and paradise signify eternal life and the joys granted to those who belong to God.