Is Truth the standard for preaching in your church?
And is honesty concerning Christ a measure of your hospitality and love of other believers?
Walking in Truth and Love
Now that you are separated to holiness by the risen Jesus Christ,who must a saint believe?
NOT every Rabbi — not every Bishop, any Priest or supposed Prophet; not every emotional pastor or passing spirit-led performance; not the powerful preacher of visionary change.
Many would mislead you.
TheElder of Ephesus and nearby church gatherings of saints in first century Asia Minor had already heard of or encountered many false teachers and their heretical teachings concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the time of his final epistle (most likely in the A.D. 90’s), John is the only remaining Apostle. John’s Apostolic authority is unquestionable, as is the Elder’s dedication in witness of the Way, the Truth and the Life of Christ.
Jesus said to him [the Apostle Thomas],
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6 ESV
John’s witness of the Truth of Christ Jesus becomes immediately evident in this — the Apostle’s final letter.
III John
The elder
πρεσβύτερος - presbyteros - elder
to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers. For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and bore witness to your truth, that is, how you are walking in truth.
3 John 1:2-3 NKJV
Γάϊος – Gaius
The Elder receives a letter from his dear friend [agapētos] Gaius responding positively that indeed John hopes to visit these believers personally soon after his response arrives.
Gaius is a common Greek name and he could be:
a Macedonian delegate from Derbe who earlier had accompanied Paul to Jerusalem [Acts 20:4] or
a Corinthian, one of two men baptized by Paul and/or
later, Paul’s host (the Elder or Bishop of Thessalonica) [Acts 18:7]
or possibly yet another Gaius with this common name
Referring to those Gaius leads in his local church John rejoices:
I have no greater joy than these things that I hear of my children walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4 – Darby Translation
Friendship Worthy of God
The Apostles Peter, Paul and others had been executed for their faith some twenty years ago in Rome. Many more Christians were constantly martyred in since then throughout the Empire.
The recipient of the Elder’s final epistle recognizes the witness of his hospitality to these evangelists — many who might soon die in witness to the gospel of the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Now (sometime around the year of our Lord 90-95), John commends the faithful boldness of his dear (and probably long-time) friend Gaius.
Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, who testified to your love before the church.You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God.
3 John 1:5-7 ESV
The Elder is essentially putting his Apostolic seal of approval on the witness of these beloved, specific evangelists (missionaries).
Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.
3 John 1:8
DO NOT MISS the lasting long relationship of more than twenty years between the Elder John and Elders of other churches throughout the Roman Empire.
I have written something to the church…
.. but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, does not receive us.
3 John 1:9 NKJV
This is why, if I come, I will remind him of the works he is doing, slandering us with malicious words.
And he is not satisfied with that!
He not only refuses to welcome fellow believers, but he even stops those who want to do so and expels them from the church.
3 Epistle of John 1:10 CSB
The Elder has an enemy opposed to Apostolic doctrine and authority.
True saints of Christ will recognize such evil gate-keepers of false faith as an antichrist! And John intends to correct their growing heresy in person with his beloved true Christian friend Gaius.
Yield to Good but Not Evil
Here the Apostle measures this heretical behavior of Diotrephes, who stands against the true gospel of Christ. John advises his faithful friend with this Apostolic standard:
Beloved [agapētos] follow not that which is evil [kakos ], but that which is good.
3 John 1:11a KJV
Before we go forward with John's Apostolic rule, let's make certain that WE the saints of the Church understand both GOOD and EVIL.
κακός, κακῇ, κακόν, the Sept. for רָע (from Homer down), bad (A. V. (almost uniformly) evil);
(morally, i. e.) of a mode of thinking, feeling, acting; base, wrong, wicked: of persons,
universally, of a bad nature; not such as it ought to be.
John applies this to this wicked gate-keeper of his hometown church, comparing his own standard of judging who belongs in the Church and who does not to the true hospitality of of the Truth of Christ as the Shepherd of flocks, with the Apostles of Jesus as true witness of the Gospel and teachings of our Lord.
A previous warning concurrently in circulation
Although the later canon of Scripture places Revelation after this epistle (and that of Jude), some historical scholarship suggests that the Apocalypse of John may have been written prior to this brief letter — the Elder’s third epistle. Perhaps you might recognize a type of Diotrephes in the message to the angel of Ephesus:
“I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
“and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake [that of the risen Lord Jesus Christ] and have not become weary.
a primary word; “good” (in any sense, often as noun):—benefit, good(-s, things), well.
This comparison between evil and good by the Lord Jesus calls believers to faithfulness imitating God our Father in heaven.
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Gospel of Matthew 7:11 NKJV
John in his gospel also quotes Jesus concerning good.
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voiceand come out,
those who have done good to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil [φαῦλος phaûlos, “foul” or “flawy”, i.e. (figuratively) wicked:—evil]
to the resurrection of judgment.
Gospel of John 5:26-29 ESV, with a definition of evil
Deciding between Friends
John writes to a mutual brother faithful to the Lord Jesus and the teaching of the Apostles. But how does the Elder (and Apostle) advise his dear friend to lead?
Short answer: enroll a second brother in the Lord known to be true to the truth of the Gospel.
Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.
3 John 1:12 NIV
John writes briefly with all the Authorithy of Apostolic leading of the Church. He enlists allies grounded in truth. And most of all John emphasizes that he and others must confront this controversy in person (lest it get out of hand at the leading of this wicked so-called christian).
I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.
The beloved Elder closes his final Apostolic Epistle with a seemingly common word of distant greeting; but it is indeed a peace that we do not understand and practice too little as the saints saved by the risen Christ Jesus.
is between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord; the Messiah’s peace, the way that leads to peace (salvation); the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is; the blessed state of devout and upright men after death — as well as: a state of national tranquillity; exemption from the rage and havoc of war
Do the saints of your church struggle with this?
The Ephesians, to whom John writes did!
And the Elder adds a call to reciprocal love as well:
Our friends [Philos] salute you.
Most certainly John would recall the words of Jesus from more than sixty years ago — again and again in correspondence as well as personal encounters with his fellow believers…
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.G5384 Ye are my friends,G5384 if ye do whatsoever I command you.
Gospel of John 15:13-14 KJV
.. I have called you friends;G5384 for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Gospel of John 15:15b – the words of JESUS to His Apostles
These things I command you, that ye love one another.
John 15:17
Philos, friend, obeys Christ’s commands of love and truth. Our salutation to each other is that of love and peace.
Greet the friends by name. Again, a mutual and personal greeting between beloved friends, this translation of ‘greet’ using the same Greek word as ‘salute.’
Certainly those receiving the Elder’s third epistle looked forward to Johns upcoming personal visit, God-willing. From the Apostle’s very lips they will receive the truth of Christ and follow The Way prescribed by John and the Apostles of JESUS.
Would your church welcome the Elder IF the Apostle John and his friends were coming to challenge an errant teacher or preacher of your local gathering?
It was a tragic punishment of the Jews to be exiled, it would become a tragic consequence for a church which would later abandon truth for control in a medieval world.
He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth.
I have no greater joy than this: to hear that my children are walking in truth.
Gospel of John 19:35; Third Epistle of John 1:4 CSB
The world cannot think of John without a picture of a young man next to JESUS who wrote,“God so loved the world…”
Or Christians perhaps recall the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John on Patmos with little consideration of his age or the path of the Apostle leading him to this isolated Greek island.
Three intimate letters to believers
The A.D. 90's - the END of an era — JOHN's Apostolic love and truth for fidelity in the faith.
The Elder John writes three letters — along with Jude, the LAST EPISTLES of the New Testament.
Although our focus will be 2 John and 3 John, I will include 1 John in this overview written about the same time.
In order to set the cultural stage of the Church enduring beyond the end of the A.D. first century, consider that the Elder writes his 3 Epistles some sixty years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
Introduction to an Era not unlike our own:
INTRO – MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY 1-3 JOHN
quoting Donald W Burdick
Apart from the Judaeo-Christian sphere, the world was religiously inclusivistic. There was always room for a new religion, provided of course that it was not of an exclusive nature. Syncretism[‘s].. characteristic expression was in the combination of various ideas and beliefs from different sources to form new or aberrant religions. This was the age of of the developing mystery religions, the age of the occult, ane age of the proliferation of Gnostic sects.
MACARTHUR Commentary 1-3 John, p.1
Recall from Acts how the young Apostle Jesus loved also preached the Gospel of our risen Lord boldly along with Simon Peter in the Temple. But that was about sixty years ago .
In the year of our Lord 90
(approximately)
Keep in mind that ALL dates used for comparison to various 1st c. events are approximate, but reveal a chronology of John's life.
John’s own Gospel account of the events of JESUS’s incarnate life had already been written and distributed to the churches some five to ten years ago.
Mark, Matthew and Luke had written and sent out their Gospel’s some thirty years before, back in the 50’s and 60’s.
Several missionary journeys of the Paul (begun in A.D. 47) along with many others had concluded prior to the Apostle’s death along with Peter in Rome [~ A.D. 66] also some twenty to thirty years before these final epistles of John.
Paul had founded this church in Ephesus where John now serves as an Elder.
Paul had written to it as well some forty years before, back in the early A.D. 60’s.
Rome had political problems of its own.
In addition to putting down a Jewish revolt in Jerusalem [A.D. 66] and destroying the Temple [A.D. 70], the Caesar’s frequently blamed and banished Christians for their political problems in Rome and other cities of the Empire.
An Apostolic Dogma of John
The 21st c. Common Era church speaks so little of dogma that I must define it.
Dogma – 1. A doctrine or a corpus of doctrines relating to matters such as morality and faith, set forth in an authoritative manner by a religion.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language
This is what I refer to as Apostolic Faith, which includes all Apostolic authority continuing through Scripture to this day.
Referring to the "we" statements of 1 John, the author speaks on behalf of the Twelve."
John Stott observes:
He does not hesitate to call certain classes of people liars, deceivers or antichrists. .. they either have God or have not, know God or do not, have live or abide in death, walk in darkness or in the light, are children of God or children of the devil.
This dogmatic authority of the writer is seen particularly in his statements and in his commands.
John Stott commentary, quoted by MacArthur, p.4
a culture combining aberrant and mystery religions
Stick with me on some abridged definitions for your understanding of the A.D. 1st century, (again, not so unlike our 21st century of the Common Era).
syncretism –
.. fusion of differing systems of belief, as in philosophy or religion, ..the result is heterogeneous – AHD
aberrant –
3. straying from the right way – AHD
mystery religions – (What typifies them?)
any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions.
.. initiation in Greece became a matter of personal choice.
The mystery religions reached their peak of popularity in the first three centuries a.d. Their origin, however, goes back to the earlier centuries of Greek history.
Source: Britannica
The DANGER of gnostics!
For those of you who really don’t know much about false religions, before we begin John’s three strongly-worded epistles, I need to define this great threat to the Church — gnosticism.
of a person (25 terms) gnostic 1607– Historical. (With capital initial.) Chiefly plural.
The designation given to certain heretical sects among the early Christians who claimed to…
source: OED
Until fairly recently the term was generally applied collectively to the majority of those 2nd cent. movements which called themselves Christian or borrows heavily from Christian sources, but which were rejected by the main stream of Christian tradition.
more..
.. Gnostic systems which make testing intellectual demands, others which depend on mumbo-jumbo and sleight of hand.
.. high-minded ascetic, and others who are licentious charlatans.
“GNOSTICISM” – Tenney Encyclopedia of the Bible, pub. ZONDERVAN, vol.2, p.736-739
The gnostic doctrine of God
Gnostics borrowed from the anti-christian philosophers:
‘that God is so utterly transcendent that He can have no direct contact with the world;
and can have no contact with God..’
THEREFORE, they conclude:
‘Man is thus a creature of mixed origin, a mixture of incompatibles.
Christianity is ‘self-condemned:’
..the claim that God became man is impossible, since God and Matter could not mix.
ibid. p.736
God is conceived as remote from all material creation..
If God’s transcendence implies the impossibility of His contact with matter, how could God take a human body —(*that of Christ, whom the gnostics oppose) — still less suffer in one?
ibid. p.737
John’s opposition to developing heresies
Various heresies of the A.D. first century antichrists creeping into the houses of worship in various places led John to write his epistles to the faithful who believed his Gospel of the the Lord Jesus Christ. The Elder’s purpose in writing is to urge the faithful to REJECT false gospels, false philosophies cloaked in christian garments and especially to send away FALSE teachers.
MacArthur continues in his commentary on 1 John 1-4:
He [the Elder John] clearly expected his readers to obey his commands unquestioningly. Only an apostle, known and respected by those whom he addressed, could have written such an authoritative letter and not given his name.
ibid. p.5
John’s first epistle clearly calls on those under his Apostolic authority to apply the test of faith he puts forth and to obey his commands of how to deal with these liars, deceivers and antichrists bringing false faith into the practices of their gatherings and worship.
The Elder’s second and third epistles, the shortest of John’s letters (other than the brief tests revealed to the 7 churches in his apocalypse) addresses certain faithful leaders of the Church more personally with specific individual instructions.
Key Scriptures from Epistles of the Elder
John will reiterate some of his purpose in writing in his second and third Epistles, the focus of our Apostolic look at his last letters. The partial list from 1 John provides a larger context for the Apostle’s last two letters near the end of the A.D. first century.
the First Letter of John the Elder and Apostle of Jesus Christ
Key verses from 1 John
1 John 1:3-5,9; 2:1,10-11,15,18,26,28-29; 3:5-6,8,18; 4:3-4,10,19; 5:1,13,18-19
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
1 Letter of John 1:5 ESV
Do you want to know IF someone truly believes that JESUS Christ is the Lord — the only Son of God?
Without introduction, the Elder John writes to the Church in his own Apostolic authority with two tests for the saints of God to know if another has fellowship with God — the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Belief in God
.. if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 John 1:7 (and in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 5:8)
Certainty of Sin
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1 John 8
If we confess our sins, he is faithful..
1 John 9a
If we say we have not sinned, we make him [Jesus Christ] a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 1:10 ESV
John provides a plumb line to delineate true faith in Christ.
The beloved Apostle makes clear that those who claim falsely to have no sin, ‘lie and do not practice the truth,’ a direct affront on the claim of some that the body can sin while the spirit separately remains pure.
Fellowship
Love and fellowship permeate the Apostle’s larger focus not only in John’s Gospel, but in the 3 Letters from the Elder as well.
κοινωνία – koinōnia is the share which one has in anything, participation; intercourse (between loved ones, but not eros), fellowship (between near friends), intimacy (as that of family members who live lovingly together with each other).
from a Greek root word found only in John’s first letter
– English translations: propitiation, the sacrifice that atones, atoning sacrifice, expiation, sacrifice to take away
Christ’s love for His Church.
The ‘one Jesus loved’ (the Elder’s own self-identification) instructs believers in how to relate to God as your personal loving God, as John himself had experienced God in Jesus Christ.
Herein is love [agapē], not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10 KJV
What human father would do that?
Is OUR love of God the reason Christ became the propitiation for our sins and the sins of the world? NO!
It is the LOVE — agapē — of our Father in heaven, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father who in His love for us Personally sacrificed Jesus to the Cross for the price of our sins.
Jesus is The Christ!
Therefore, in light of the cultural challenges we introduced as an impetus for the Elder’s epistles, John calls on the Church to identify antichrists among us — that is, heretics and gnostics.
We will not again address end times today as before.
The Elder addresses his beloved saints in Ephesus (and other churches):
Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come,
even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
First Epistle of John 2:19-20.22 King James Version
Now don't go calling any of your questionable 'christian' colleagues, 'antichrists.' The Elder explains why some saints will sit under Godly teaching while others listen only for a time they hope to influence the body.. and then leave the church.
‘Do Not Love the World,’ ‘Beware of Antichrists,’ and ‘Remain in Christ,’ read the subheadings for these.
Behold what manner of love..
We recognize this same Apostle once nearest to Jesus as the Elder now embraces his fellow saints with the same concern for their souls as Christ held for His Disciples.
Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are!
The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
Beloved, we are now children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed.
1 John 3:1-2a BSB
‘You know that he [Jesus] appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin,’ John reminds [ESV].
No one who abides in him keeps on sinning..
1 John 3:6a ESV
The Elder then continues in his delineation between the saints of Jesus and antichrists of the devil:
By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil:
whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:10 ESV
the Elder’s foundational exhortation of his epistle
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
This heading from the NIV addresses John’s concern for the saints holding fast to the truth of the Gospel in the recognition of the false teachers of tolerant gnosticism, inclusivist universalism and other antichrists posing as the godly.
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. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
1 John 4:1-3 NIV
John comforts: ‘You, dear children, are from God.. [v.4] and warns:
They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
1 John 4:5 NIV
Of course the world entangled in sin will neither accept the Truth of Christ or His Incarnation and return in a final Judgment.
Herein is love.. agapaō
In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...
We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:10,19 LSB
John’s Conclusion to his First Letter
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves those born of Him.
We know that anyone born of God does not keep on sinning; the One who was born of God protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.
1 John 5:1,19 BSB
That is, proclaims the Elder: Jesus Christ, the Son of Man and Son of God, protects you, beloved saint and holy one of His, from Satan and the anti-christs of this passing world.
Now, the Apostle has outlived the other Eleven, Paul, beloved family and many other first generation Christians.
The Elder John wrote the three short Epistles we are studying about ten years ago, but today we are looking ahead at John’s brief revelation to seven churches.
I suppose you may not have thought of the introduction to 'The Revelation of Jesus Christ to John' as — SEVEN pointed epistles to 7 different churches.
~ A.D. 80’s – 90’s – a Cultural context for JOHN’s 10 Epistles
The Greco-Roman world at the close of the first century A.D. was in a state of cultural, philosophical, and religious ferment. Religious syncretism and inclusivism.. ‘the combination of various ideas and beliefs from different sources to form new or aberrant religions. This was the age of developing mystery religions, the age of the occult, the age of the proliferation of Gnostic sects.’
The MacArthur New Testament Commentary 1-3 John
Throughout Italy and the broader empire, new challenges arose: major earthquakes in Campania, famine and pestilence in Rome, and volcanic eruptions ranging from Mount Etna to the cataclysmic destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum by Vesuvius in AD 79.
The Julio-Claudian dynasty—embodied by Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero—witnessed both grand construction projects (like the amphitheater at Alba Fucens) and notorious episodes of tyranny and scandal. .. After Nero’s fall in AD 68,civil war engulfed the empire until Vespasian founded the Flavian line, ushering in reconstruction efforts (such as the Colosseum) and culminating in the more stable governance of Nerva and Trajan by century’s end.
source: RomanHistory.net
an A.D. First Century culture of 7 Asian churches
Do you remember from back in Acts of the Apostles how the Spirit, at first, had instructed Paul NOT to preach in Asia?
Acts on Mission to Macedonia
And do you recall that Ephesus (in Asia) became a major city for Christian worship where later Paul had appointed Timothy as Pastor of the Ephesian Church?
PLACE AND TIME OF WRITING.
–The best authorities among the Fathers state that John was exiled under Domitian (IRENAEUS [Against Heresies, 5; 30]; CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA; EUSEBIUS [Ecclesiastical History, 3.20]). VICTORINUS says that he had to labor in the mines of Patmos. At Domitian’s death, A.D. 95, he returned to Ephesus under the Emperor Nerva. Probably it was immediately after his return that he wrote, under divine inspiration, the account of the visions vouchsafed to him in Patmos ( Rev 1:2, 9 ). However, Rev 10:4 seems to imply that he wrote the visions immediately after seeing them.
The Disciple who knew the Lord best refers to GOD THE FATHER simply, as God.
to show His servants
that is, the saints or followers of JESUS, bond-servants redeemed by His blood on the Cross
—things which must shortly take place.
The Elder writes this same introduction to ALL seven churches who John has shepherded in the Way of Christ Jesus.
What he means by ‘shortly‘ is much debated in the immediacy of what these beloved saints have endured through the end of this A.D. first century. — Or perhaps God intends this epistle of revelation more millennially for all saints of every age.
Christ makes certain that Christians know the cost of faith until the unknown Day of His return.
He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1b-2 NIV
The risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ sends an apokalypsis via and angelic messenger to John on Patmos — and the Elder to these seven churches consequently, by his apostolic duty, sends out this same ‘disclosure of divine things formerly unknown’ and testifies to the truthfulness of what is to follow.
It makes little difference if John had opportunity to send it from Patmos with a human messenger much in the way the Apostle Paul sent epistles to his churches OR if the Elder would have written it later upon John's return to Ephesus.
“Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?” – Question of the angel messenger in Revelation 5:2
a Book Sealed within: Addressed to 7 mortal Elders
What does John’s epistle enjoin each Elder to do?
Set aside for a moment the imagery of the apocalypse with its angels, seven stars and seven candlesticks — the Elder John is FIRST to address issues of his own current church.
Most Christians know both exhortation and encouragement offered to the seven churches.
Which ones speak to YOU with some urgency (and hopefully, perhaps, to any Elder of your local church? (So which church looks like yours?)
Ἐφεσῖνος – Ephesus
“I know your works, your labor, and your endurance,
and that you cannot tolerate evil people.
Of course, John knows all this personally.
And does the Elder imply that the Ephesians will not be inclusive of those who insist on evil works opposed to Christ’s love?
You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
Revelation 2:2 CSB
And do your Elders test the theology and witness of your church leaders and members?
And the pattern of this pointed epistle for each church now turns to exhortation and rebuke demanding repentance.
“But I have this against you:
You have abandoned the love [agapē] you had at first.
Look it up.. IF you don't quite remember what agape love is.
“Remember then how far you have fallen;
repent, and do the works you did at first.
Do YOU? Do christians ever repent more than once (that time we claim to have come to Christ)?
OR will He return to say, “I never knew you…?’
“Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the *Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 2:7 CSB
Σμύρνῃ – Smyrna
“I know your affliction and poverty,
but you are rich.
I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Do YOU know any who avoid the Name of Christ? Do some swear to be Jew or Christian while afflicting others? Who then, do they truly worship?
“Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer.
Does your prosperity preacher dare suggest suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ? OR REMIND of the Lord’s Judgment of all?
The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.
Πέργαμος – Pergamum
“I know where you live — where Satan’s throne is.
.. where Satan lives. [Another mention of the nearby Nicolaitans]
But I have a few things against you.
You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.
Again, the common issue *even of this era is worship of idols and fornication.
In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the *Nicolaitans. So repent!
Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Revelation 2:15-16
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Doesn't this even sound like the preaching of JESUS?
I AM the Bread of Life
To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna…
Revelation 2:27b
Θυάτειρα – Thyatira
Just a REMINDER of Who Is speaking:
Thus says the Son of God,
the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze:
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 2:18b CSB
“I know your works —
your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance.
I know that your last works are greater than the first.
Quite an encouragement and blessing to believers.
“But I have this against you:
This one thing of importance to the Lord Jesus Christ
Jezebel
You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.
Revelation 2:20-21 CSB
WHY is this issue of idolatry so important (in addition to God’s prohibition in the Ten Commandments of worshiping other gods)?
Ἰεζάβελ – Jezebel – the symbolic name of a woman who pretended to be a prophetess, and who, addicted to antinomianism, claimed Christian liberty of eating things sacrificed to idols.
Of Hebrew origin אִיזֶבֶל(H348) (used as a synonym of a termagant or false teacher):—Jezabel.
Jezebel recalls the opposition to the LORD’s prophet Elijah.
Jezebel = “Baal exalts” or “Baal is husband to” or “unchaste”
queen of Israel, wife of Ahab, daughter of Ethbaal (King of Tyre)
It’s a contest of serious consequence between the LORD God and the false gods, false prophetesses, false priestesses — brash and shameless sinners claiming sin as worship of their gods.
This disaster happened because the people of Israel sinned against the LORD their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt and because they worshiped other gods.
They abandoned all the commands of the LORD their God. They made cast images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed in worship to all the stars in the sky and served Baal.
2 Kings 17:7,16 CSB
And it all goes back to Ahab and Jezebel in 1 Kings.
Ahab also made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to anger the LORD God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Just one last application from Revelation, the mention of Jezebel, the Nicolaitans and (from a theological definition {above}) - antinomianism.
Antinomianism is the belief or teaching that since believers are saved by grace through faith, there is no further obligation to follow any moral law or command.
.. At its core, antinomianism proposes that under the New Covenant, Christians are completely exempt from all moral guidelines because divine grace supersedes any need for abiding by commandments.
source: Biblehub.com
Σάρδεις – Sardis
I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
Revelation 3:1b CSB
“Be alert
and strengthen [guard] what remains, which is about to die,
for I have not found your works complete before my God.
“Remember, then, what you have received and heard;
keep it, and repent.
If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.
“But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy. In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:4-5
And the Lord Jesus again seals His warning to the Sardinian church calling on the MANY to follow the example of the FEW.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 3:5 CSB
Φιλαδέλφεια – To the Church in Philadelphia
Permit me first to remind you that simply as the name, Christian, witnesses the Name of Christ; Philadelphia or Philedelphos φιλάδελφος witnesses [From φίλος (G5384) and ἀδελφός (G80)]as a FRIEND and BROTHER.
“I know your works.
Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Quite a compliment of Christian LOVE of these saintly brothers and sisters in Christ.
“Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying — I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.
A.D. first century followers of the Messiah Jesus considered themselves to be true Jews, who have now been redeemed. And the love they hold in Christ will include Romans (like much of the population of this city of Philadelphia) and Hellenists, Greeks or gentiles as they worship God in truth side by side.
“Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Revelation 3:10 CSB
Λαοδίκεια – Laodicea
And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:
the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 3:14 NKJV
an urgent CAUTION, perhaps, for many a 21st century Common Erachristian church claiming Jesus in some lesser way than in Truth.
“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
Revelation 3:15 NKJV
“So then, because you are lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot,
I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Laodicea: Lukewarm Prosperity
Banking hub, black-wool trade, renowned medical school with eye powder.
Water arrived by aqueduct, lukewarm by the time it reached town.
After the AD 60 quake, the city rebuilt itself without Rome’s help—boastful self-sufficiency reflected in the church.
