MESSAGE TO CHURCH IN EPHESUS Rev 2:1-4
02/27/2014
Vs 1-7: Letter to the
Church in Ephesus
1“To the angel of the church in
Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his
right hand and walks among the seven golden lamp stands. 2 I
know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you
cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be
apostles but are not, and have found them false. 3 You
have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown
weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken
the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you
have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not
repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place. 6 But
you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 Whoever has ears,
let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is
victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which
is in the paradise of God.
A special note on how do we connect
these ancient seven Churches to the Church in modern times. These were seven local churches in Asia
Minor, but they were each representative of a particular age in church
history. Therefore in a marvelous way,
the Lord takes churches currently existing at that time and compares their
behavior and their circumstances with certain epochs which were yet to appear
in church history. Throughout the book of Revelation the Lord wants to make one
thing clear that he is writing the history of the future.
What phases in church history do
these seven churches represent? The church of Ephesus corresponds to the
Apostolic Church. The church in Smyrna represents the age of the Ceasar and the
emperor worship. The church in Pergamum represents the state church, beginning
with Constantine and continuing to the end. The church in Thyatira represents
church and state combined. The church in Sardis pictures the Reformation
church, beginning the sixteenth century. The church in Philadelphia represents
the missionary church, beginning with the rise of modern missions under William
Carey (1761-1834). The church in Laodicea portrays the apostate church of the
last days. I’ve heard some theologians say that these seven churches can also
represent seven different life stages in the journey of a Christian believer.
John begins to write down the
revelation he has seen and received to the seven churches in the province of
Asia. These letters are addressed to the seven angels of the churches. The word Angel is mentioned 185 times in
the N.T out of which 76 times in the book of Revelation alone (The Englishman’s
Greek Concordance NT). In Greek it has a range of meanings: such as messenger,
envoy, and angel. The following are a few of its usage:
I.
(avgge,louj)
Angel is used for men who were the religious messengers.
Lk 7:24: After John’s messengers
left.
Mk 1:2 “Behold I send my messenger
before” (Mt 11:10, Lk 9:52; Lk 7:27; 9:52)
Jas
2:25: She gave lodging to the spies and sent them off
II.
Angel is used for a bishop or a
particular elder of a presiding church:
Rev 1:20 “the seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches, and the seven lamp stands are the seven
churches.”
Rev 2:1 “To the angel of the church
in Ephesus
Galatians 4:14 “but you received me
as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus Himself.”
III.
Angel is used for created spiritual angel either good or
evil:
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and
hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father
alone.”(Mk13: 32)
Matthew 25:41 “Then He will also say
to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire
which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”
Munger notes four functions of the
“angel” in the seven letters: 1) To establish a corporate identity between the
church and the angel. 2) To establish the unique distinction of each church.3)
To emphasize the fact that each church is a spiritual entity. 4) To serving
churches by carrying out God’s orders to them.”[1] avgge,lwoj is used more number of times
referring to created supernatural celestial beings than the human messengers.
Morris notes various opinions of the usage of avgge,lwoj in his commentary:
“The
word angel can be used as human messengers, some suggest that it means
something like “guardian angels of the churches. Swete suggests, “The angel of
a Church may be simply an expression of its prevailing spirit.” Others prefer
to think of some earthly representative of the churches. Some others think that
the angels or the bishops or pastors,
overseer, elder or leader.[2]
In
Rev 2:1 avgge,lwoj in my opinion refers to a messenger
or an elder rather than an supernatural being. The reason being, the revelation
was sent to John by an angel (heavenly being) and when he is sending the
message to seven churches in Asia writing to another (heavenly being) angel
doesn’t make sense, hence it could be translated as messenger, elder, leader,
or pastor.
Background of the city of Ephesus:
It is one of the four most power
cities in the Roman Empire. In ancient times it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World . Religiously, Ephesus Ephesus Ephesus
The church was apparently
established by Priscilla and Aquila, who had been left there by Paul in A.D 52
and they were aided by Apollos ( Acts
18:18-25). Paul returned and spent two years and three months there (Acts 19),
apparently using Ephesus as a center for evangelizing the whole region. Later
the church struggled with false teachers (Eph 4:14) [3]
Vs 1:
“The one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among
the seven golden lamp stands, says this” indicates the fact that the message is
directly coming from God. Osborne notes “Ta,de
le,gei( this is
what…says) is a prophetic formula built on OT patterns. As BAGD 553 points out,
this formula was used by Persian kings as well as OT prophets in authoritative
decrees, meaning this is what…says.” Muse (1986:147-61) believes this formula
shows that the seven letters are primarily prophetic in nature. Beale
(1999:229) points out that the formula of Ywaheh occurs 21 times in the Minor
Prophets (12 in Zechariah) and thus means Christ is assuming the role of Yahweh
in addressing the churches.”[4]
John begins each letter by
describing one of the aspects of the glorified vision of Jesus (Rev 1:13-17) in
order to show the sovereignty of Christ. John’s letters, to the churches except
to Laodecia follows a similar pattern. The
letter typically begins with a commendation, a confrontation, a warning to
change and finally it ends with an announcement of reward.
I. Commendation: God knows the deeds or works of the Ephesian Church. In the
NT often
(the works) denotes what a man is and how he
acts.(Key Word Study Bible). Rom 2:6 “He
will judge every one according to what they have done.”(NLT) II Cor 11:15 “In the end they will get the
punishment for their wicked deeds deserve.”(II Tim 4:14; III John 10; Rev 2:2,
5, 6, 22, 23).
When God says
to the church in Ephesus that He knows their deeds could it be that he is
saying that he has knowledge of their actions. Osborn confirms this notion “the
e;rga are more than just ‘good deeds’ but
refer to the whole spiritual walk of the believer, as defined by the contents of
the “deeds” in the letters.”[5] The believers in Ephesus
Nothing much
is mentioned about Nicolaitans in the Bible other than what is written in
Revelation. Irenaeus says that they owed their origin to Nicolas, who was one
of the seven deacons (Acts 6:5). Victorinus of Pettau, the first commentator on
Revelation, refers to them as ‘false and troublesome men, who, as ministers
under the name of Nicolaus. They had made a heresy, to the effect that what had
been offered to idols might be exorcised and eaten, and that whoever should
have committed fornication might receive peace on the eighth day.[6]
Confrontation: After acknowledging the good
qualities in the church
of Ephesus
Osborne explains “In referring to avga,phn
many scholars assume that it is horizontal or brotherly love. For instance,
Beasley-Murray (1974a: 75) says it “was primarily love for fellow men,” and
Ladd says “Due to their struggle with false teachers and their hatred of
heretical teachings, the Ephesian believers have left their love they used to
have for their fellow men. Others view that it is primarily as love for God.
However a growing number e.g Mounce, Johnson, Krodel, Thomas, Giesen) recognize
the difficulty of separating love for humans from Love for God and Christ.”[7]
After reading various commentaries I
conclude that the Ephesian believers have left their first love for people
which once was the result of their love for God. Jesus taught his disciples
that they were to Love God first. Matt
22:37-39 “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind….You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus also predicted that in the end time many people’s love would grow cold. Matt 24:12
“And because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold.”
Osborn notes, “Throughout the NT love for God/Christ is emphasized (Rom
8:28; I Cor 2:9) as is love for our fellow believers (John 13:34; 15:12; I
Thess.4: 9; I Pet 1:22). Indeed one cannot exist without the other.”[8] According to
I John 4:20 “Whoever
claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does
not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom
they have not seen.” God equates our lack of love for people to the lack of
love towards Himself.
After carefully studying the
context, it seems to me that the Ephesian
believers in their enthusiasm for the truth, have grown cold in their love
towards fellowmen. Outwardly they were zealous for God but in the end God holds
this against them. If we say love God then we do not have an option but to love
his people regardless of their sexual orientation, ethnic, cultural, religious
and gender differences because God loves all people.
[1]
Grant R. Osborne, Revelation Exegetical
commentary on NT, (Baker Academic: G.R. Michigan, 2002), 111.
[2]
Leon Morris, Revelation, NT Commentaries,(W.B.
Eerdmans Publishing: G.R. Michigan, 1969), 56-57.
[3]
Grant R. Osborne, Revelation commentary
on NT, (Baker Academic: G.R. Michigan, 2002),108-109,
[4]
Ibid., 111.
[5] Grant
R. Osborne, Revelation, commentary on NT,
(Baker Academic: G.R. Michigan, 2002), 112.
[6]
Leon Morris, Revelation,(W.B Eerdmans
Publishing Company: G.R. Michigan, 2002), 61.
[7]
Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, commentary
on NT, (Baker Academic: G.R. Michigan, 2002), 116.
[8]
Ibid., 116.
