To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write this: “‘The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks in the midst of the seven gold lampstands says this: 2 “I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked; you have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not, and discovered that they are impostors. 3 Moreover, you have endurance and have suffered for my name, and you have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. 5 Realize how far you have fallen. Repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6 But you have this in your favor: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 “‘“Whoever has ears ought to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the victor I will give the right to eat from the tree of life that is in the garden of God.”
Ephesus was a large and important governmental center on the western coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). It was renowned for its general and philosophical educational centers and for magic arts (Acts 19:19 – Paul in Ephesus). The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Artemis was the goddess of fertility and was widely worshipped in the Hellenistic world (Acts 18:27). Because of its size and location, it attracted criminals and prostitutes, and had shrines to Roman emperors.
The Risen Christ moves among the seven Churches, the seven gold lampstands (Rv. 1:12, 13, 20). False teachers come to Ephesus (2 Tim. 3:1-6) but the Ephesian Christians reject their false teaching. Even though they have suffered with patient endurance for Christ, the Ephesians have lost the zeal for propagating the Gospel as they did at first. They must acknowledge their failings, repent, and do the good works they did at first otherwise Christ will remove the lamp at Ephesus. Christ praises them for hating the work of the imposters (Nicolaitans). Through the merits of the Risen Christ, those who persevere and are victorious will eat of the tree of life in God’s Garden from which mankind was banished (Gen. 3:22-23).
Almighty God, may our zeal for your word never diminish, and may we by your grace suffer through this temporal life with patient endurance and be rewarded with the fruit of the tree of life. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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