Revelationchapter 2
29 verses · John, by tradition · AD 95 or 96 · Revelation
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will grant the right to eat from the tree of life in the Paradise of God.
Introduction
John, by tradition, Revelation, Revelation Overview.
This chapter holds four short letters from the risen Christ, written down by John on Patmos. Each went to a real congregation in a city of Roman Asia, and every church would hear all the letters read aloud. The letters follow one pattern, so each change in it carries weight. Listen for the title of Christ that opens each letter, taken from the vision of chapter 1. Listen for the praise and for the charge that follows it, and notice the letter that has no charge. Each letter ends with a promise to the one who overcomes.
Context
- Who
- Each congregation hearing its own mail read aloud, with the other six listening
- What
- Four letters from Christ to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira.
- Where
- Written on Patmos and sent to four cities of the Roman province of Asia, in the west of modern Turkey.
- When
- Late in the first century, about AD 95 on the majority view, with a minority dating the book before AD 70.
- Why
- To praise what each church does well, to name what it must change, and to promise a reward to the one who overcomes.
Historical context
Every letter here is tailored to its town, and the local detail is sharp enough that reading them next to the archaeology is a small revelation.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
Ephesus was the great city of the province, home to the temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders, with a theater seating something like twenty-four thousand. Its harbor was silting up, a slow decline everyone could see. The church there is praised for testing false apostles and refusing to quit, and told it has left its first love.
Smyrna was a beautiful planned city that claimed to have died and risen, destroyed centuries earlier and refounded. It had a notably hostile Jewish community and was fiercely loyal to Rome; it had competed for and won the right to build a temple to the emperor. To that church, and only that one, Jesus says nothing critical. He says: I know your poverty (but you are rich), you will be tested ten days, be faithful unto death.
Pergamum was the old provincial capital and the center of the imperial cult in Asia, the first city in the province to build a temple to a living emperor. On its acropolis stood a colossal altar of Zeus, and the city was a center of the healing cult of Asclepius, whose symbol was a serpent. "Where Satan's seat is" was not vague poetry to anyone who had walked up that hill.
Thyatira was a working town of trade guilds, dyers, bronze-workers, wool-workers. It is famous for purple dye; Lydia in Acts 16 was a seller of purple from Thyatira. Guild membership came with meals in a temple and the immorality that went with them, and refusing to join could cost a craftsman his living. That is exactly the pressure behind the warning about "Jezebel" teaching believers to eat food offered to idols.
Significance
These four churches heard Jesus describe their own streets. He knew which ones were rich and cold, which were poor and about to be jailed, which lived next to the empire's altar, and which faced a slow compromise dressed up as good business.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The pattern is the same in each: I know your works, here is what I commend, here is what must change, and here is what the one who overcomes receives. Nothing in it treats their situation as too small to be addressed personally.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Ephesus: Sound Doctrine, Lost First Love
Revelation 2:1-3
Him who holds the seven stars: Ephesus hears from Him who holds the seven stars and walks among the seven golden lampstands, the picture of 1:13 and 1:16. The church is praised for your labor, and your perseverance and for testing those who falsely claim to be apostles.
ConnectionsRevelation 1:20, Revelation 3:14
tested and exposed as liars: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the word for tolerate is the word for bearing burdens in Galatians 6:2. The weak are to be borne, and those who falsely claim to be apostles are tested and exposed as liars. John Gill finds nothing against Ephesus but its first love.
Revelation 2:2
“The Greek means "labor unto weariness." patience--persevering endurance. bear--evil men are a burden which the Ephesian Church regarded as intolerable. We are to "bear (the same Greek, Ga 6:2) one another's burdens" in the case of weak brethren; but not to bear false brethren. tried--by experiment; not the Greek for "test," as 1Jo 4:1.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Revelation 2:2
“I know thy works,.... The good works, both of ministers and churches; no evil works are mentioned, nor anything complained of in this church but an abatement of the fervour of her first love.”
Revelation 2:2
“This may more immediately relate to the ministry of this church, which had been laborious and diligent. Those that are stars in Christ's hand had need to be always in motion, dispensing light to all about them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Without growing weary, you have persevered: Ephesus has endured many things for the sake of His name. John Gill reads the things endured as affliction and suffering, borne without growing weary. Charles Spurgeon preached that He who walks among the lampstands knows their deeds and their perseverance.
Revelation 2:3
THE Lord Jesus Christ never removes His eyes from His Church. He notes everything that concerns her, observing not merely the life of her members but their soul's health, and not merely their health, but the way in which they spend their spiritual strength. He knows their works, He observes their charity, their patience, their zeal for His name's sake. Seven times in His words to the Churches, He says, "I know your works."
Revelation 2:4-5
You have abandoned your first love: The charge is plain: You have abandoned your first love. The remedy is to keep in mind how far you have fallen and to repent and do the deeds you did at first. The warning is concrete: I will come to you and remove your lampstand.
Revelation 2:4
“How characteristic of our gracious Lord, that He puts foremost all He can find to approve, and only after this notes the shortcomings! left thy first love--to Christ. Compare 1Ti 5:12, "cast off their first faith." See the Ephesians' first love, Eph 1:15. This epistle was written under Domitian, when thirty years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle to them.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:4
“You have sinned, yet you still can be reconciled. You have someone to whom you can make satisfaction, yes, and one who wills it. If you doubt that this is true, consider what the Spirit says to the churches. He charges the Ephesians with "having abandoned charity." He reproaches the Thyatirenes with fornication and "eating food sacrificed to idols." He accuses the Sardians of "works that are not complete." He censures the people of Pergamos for teaching false doctrines. He upbraids the Laodiceans for "placing their trust in riches." And yet he warns them all to repent—even adding threats.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Penitence 7-8patristic
Revelation 2:4
“In the address our Lord speaks to the angel of each church which then was, and to the members thereof directly; whereas in the promise he speaks of all that should overcome, in whatever church or age, and deals out to them one of the precious promises, (by way of anticipation,) from the last chapters of the book. Write - So Christ dictated to him every word.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 2:4
“IT WAS the work of the priest to go into the holy place and to trim the seven-branched lamp of gold: see how our Great High Priest walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks: his work is not occasional, but constant. Wearing robes which are at once royal and priestly, he is seen lighting the holy lamps, pouring in the sacred oil, and removing impurities which would dim the light.”
ConnectionsJeremiah 2:2
keep in mind how far you have fallen: Albert Barnes reads keep in mind as a call to remember how far the church has fallen from its first love. The cure is to repent and perform the first deeds. If the church does not repent, He will come and remove its lampstand from its place.
Revelation 2:5
“Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen - The eminence which you once occupied. Call to remembrance the state in which you once were. The duty here enjoined is, when religion has declined in our hearts, or in the church, to call to distinct recollection the former state - the ardor, the zeal, the warmth of love which once characterized us. The reason for this is, that such a recalling of the former state will be likely to produce a happy influence on the heart.”
Revelation 2:6-7
hate the works of the Nicolaitans: Ephesus is credited that it hates the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. A tradition ties the sect to Nicolas of Acts 6:5, but the text names only their works. The promise to eat from the tree of life is the first of seven, answered at 22:2.
Revelation 2:6
The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John, [when they are represented] as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practise adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. Wherefore the Word has also spoken of them thus: "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate."
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Ipatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:6
“The deeds of the Nicolaitanes - These were, as is commonly supposed, a sect of the Gnostics, who taught the most impure doctrines, and followed the most impure practices. They are also supposed to have derived their origin from Nicolas, one of the seven deacons mentioned Act 6:5 (note). The Nicolaitanes taught the community of wives, that adultery and fornication were things indifferent, that eating meats offered to idols was quite lawful; and mixed several pagan rites with the Christian ceremonies. Augustine, Irenaeus, Clemens Alexandrinus, and Tertullian, have spoken largely concerning them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 2:6
“MICHAELIS' view is probable: Nicolaos (conqueror of the people) is the Greek version of Balaam, from Hebrew "Belang Am," "Destroyer of the people." Revelation abounds in such duplicate Hebrew and Greek names: as Apollyon, Abaddon: Devil, Satan: Yea (Greek, "Nai"), Amen. The name, like other names, Egypt, Babylon, Sodom, is symbolic.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
eat from the tree of life: The one who overcomes may eat from the tree of life. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that the Paradise of God is blessed because it is God's own. The tree closed to Adam in Genesis 3:24 is open again.
Revelation 2:7
“He that hath an ear, let him hear ... - This expression occurs at the close of each of the epistles addressed to the seven churches, and is substantially a mode of address often employed by the Saviour in his personal ministry, and quite characteristic of him. See Mat 11:15; Mar 4:23; Mar 7:16. It is a form of expression designed to arrest the attention, and to denote that what was said was of special importance.”
Smyrna: Poor Yet Rich, Faithful Unto Death
Revelation 2:8-9
the First and the Last: Smyrna hears from the First and the Last, who died and returned to life, the title of 1:17-18 given to a church facing death. Christ knows your affliction and your poverty yet counts the church rich, and He names local accusers who falsely claim to be Jews.
Revelation 2:8
“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write. He suggests to this church to endure persecution, to which the name also agrees. For Smyrna means myrrh, which signifies the mortification of the flesh.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Revelationpatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:8
“Unto the angel - This was probably the famous Polycarp. See below. These things saith the first and the last - He who is eternal; from whom all things come, and to whom all things must return. Which was dead, for the redemption of the world; and is alive to die no more for ever, his glorified humanity being enthroned at the Father’s right hand.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 2:8
“TERTULLIAN [The Prescription against Heretics, 32], and IRENÆUS, who had talked with POLYCARP in youth, tell us POLYCARP was consecrated bishop of Smyrna by St. John. the first . . . the last . . . was dead . . . is alive--The attributes of Christ most calculated to comfort the Church of Smyrna under its persecutions; resumed from Re 1:17, 18.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsRevelation 1:17
Poverty and wealth are measured two ways in one breath. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that as the two communities parted, synagogue became the Jewish name and church the Christian one. On verse 10 they see the devil working through these local accusers.
Revelation 2:10-11
what you are about to suffer: Smyrna is told Do not fear what you are about to suffer, though some will face prison and tribulation for ten days. The promise that the overcomer will not be harmed by the second death points ahead to 20:6 and 20:14, where the second death is named.
Revelation 2:10
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer - This may be addressed particularly to Polycarp, if he was at that time the bishop of this Church. He had much to suffer; and was at last burnt alive at Smyrna, about the year of our Lord 166. We have a very ancient account of his martyrdom, which has been translated by Cave, and is worthy of the reader’s perusal. That account states that the Jews were particularly active in this martyrdom, and brought the fagots, etc., by which he was consumed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:10
“Those who will be faithful to Christ must expect to go through many tribulations; but Jesus Christ takes particular notice of all their troubles. In all their afflictions, he is afflicted, and he will recompense tribulation to those who trouble them, but to those that are troubled rest with himself.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 2:10
“Of the benefits of martyrdom. In the Proverbs of Solomon: "The faithful martyr delivers his soul from evils." Also in the same place: "Then shall the righteous stand in great boldness against them who have afflicted them, and who took away their labours.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jewspatristic
Revelation 2:10
"The Captain of our salvation never keeps back what those who faithfully witness for Him may have to bear for His name's sake; never entices recruits by the promise they shall find all things easy and pleasant there" [TRENCH]. devil--"the accuser." He acted, through Jewish accusers against Christ and His people.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
will not be harmed by the second death: Victorinus of Pettau reads the second death as punishment in hell, which cannot touch the one who overcomes. The phrase returns at Revelation 20:6 and 20:14. Adam Clarke, on verse 10, dates the burning of Polycarp at Smyrna to about AD 166.
Revelation 2:11
"He that shall overcome, shall not be hurt by the second death." That is, he shall not be chastised in hell.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
Pergamum: Living Where Satan's Throne Is
Revelation 2:12-13
the sharp, double-edged sword: Pergamum hears from the One who holds the sharp, double-edged sword, the image of 1:16. The church lives where the throne of Satan sits, a city of the great altar of Zeus and the imperial cult, yet held fast.
Revelation 2:12
“The angel of the Church in Pergamos - See the description of this place, Rev 1:11. Which hath the sharp sword - See on Rev 1:16 (note). The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, cuts every way; it convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; pierces between the joints and the marrow, divides between the soul and spirit, dissects the whole mind, and exhibits a regular anatomy of the soul. It not only reproves and exposes sin, but it slays the ungodly, pointing out and determining the punishment they shall endure.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:12
“Who will ply the sword without practising the contraries to lenity and justice; that is, guile, and asperity, and injustice, proper (of course) to the business of battles? See we, then, whether that which has another action be not another sword,-that is, the Divine word of God, doubly sharpened with the two Testaments of the ancient law and the new law; sharpened by the equity of its own wisdom; rendering to each one according to his own action.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · An Answer to the Jewspatristic
Revelation 2:12
“It was capital of Attalus the Second's kingdom, which was bequeathed by him to the Romans, 133 B.C. Famous for its library, founded by Eumenes (197-159), and destroyed by Caliph Omar. Parchment, that is, Pergamena charta, was here discovered for book purposes.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsRevelation 1:16
where the throne of Satan sits: The verse names Pergamum twice as Satan's place, where the throne of Satan sits and where Satan dwells, with the witness Antipas between. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the story of his death in a heated bronze bull is later and unknown to the early fathers.
Revelation 2:13
“I know thy works,.... Both good and bad, and which in that pure part of this church, which opposed the growing corruptions of antichrist, were for the most part good, And where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Pergamos was a city very much given to idolatry, here Satan reigned while it was Pagan, and so was a fit emblem of the idolatrous church of Rome. Pausanias says (a), the country the Pergamenes inhabited was sacred to the Cabiri, the chief gods of the Heathens.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:13
“Two oldest manuscripts read, "My witness, MY faithful one"; two read as English Version. Antipas is another form for Antipater. SIMEON METAPHRASTES has a palpably legendary story, unknown to the early Fathers, that Antipas, in Domitian's reign, was shut up in a red-hot brazen bull, and ended his life in thanksgivings and prayers.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsActs 16:14
Revelation 2:14-15
the teaching of Balaam: Some in Pergamum hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites. The story is Numbers 22 to 25, where Israel was drawn into idol feasts, and verse 15 joins the teaching of the Nicolaitans to it.
Revelation 2:14
“I have a few things against thee - Their good deeds are first carefully sought out and commended; what was wrong in them is touched with a gentle but effectual hand. The followers of Balaam, the Nicolaitanes, and the Gnostics, were probably all the same kind of persons; but see on Rev 2:6 (note). What the doctrine of Balaam was, see the notes on Num 24:1 (note) through Num 25:18; and Numbers 31:1-54 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:14
"And Balsam the son of Beor they slew with the sword." For, speaking no longer by the Spirit of God, but setting up another law of fornication contrary to the law of God, this man shall no longer be reckoned as a prophet, but as a soothsayer. For, as he did not continue in the commandment of God, he received the just reward of his evil devices.
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Fragments from the Lost Writings of Irenaeuspatristic
the teaching of the Nicolaitans: Albert Barnes leaves open whether the Nicolaitans were a second party beside Balaam's followers or the same people under another name. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown mark the contrast with Ephesus. That church hated the teaching and cast it out, while Pergamum kept it inside.
Revelation 2:15
“So hast thou also them ... - That is, there are those among you who hold those doctrines. The meaning here may be, either that, in addition to those who held the doctrine of Balaam, they had also another class who held the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes; or that the Nicolaitanes held the same doctrine, and taught the same thing as Balaam.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:15
“Nicolaitanes, with this important difference, Ephesus, as a Church, hates them and casts them out, but thou "hast them," namely, in the Church. doctrine--teaching (see on Re 2:6): namely, to tempt God's people to idolatry. which thing I hate--It is sin not to hate what God hates.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 2:16-17
the sword of My mouth: The threat to wage war against them with the sword of My mouth turns the image of 1:16 on the party who hold that teaching. The overcomer receives the hidden manna, recalling the manna kept before the LORD in Exodus 16:33, and a white stone inscribed with a new name.
Revelation 2:16
“The three oldest manuscripts read, "Repent, therefore." Not only the Nicolaitanes, but the whole Church of Pergamos is called on to repent of not having hated the Nicolaitane teaching and practice.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:16
“Let us show from the Apocalypse that repentance unaccompanied by baptism ought to be allowed valid in the case of heretics. It is imputed to the angel of Ephesus that he has forsaken his first love. In the angel of the church of Pergamum the eating of idol sacrifices is censured, and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. Likewise the angel of Thyatira is rebuked on account of Jezebel the prophetess, and the idol meats, and fornication. And yet the Lord encourages all these to repent and adds a threat, moreover, of future punishment if they do not turn.”
Jerome · written before 420 · Dialogue Against the Luciferians 24patristic
I will give the hidden manna: John Gill sets the hidden manna against the food offered to idols that the overcomer refused in verse 14. One meal answers another. Irenaeus reads the new name as the sign of a changed nature, like a wild olive grafted so that it bears fruit.
Revelation 2:17
“He that hath an ear, let him hear,.... See Gill on Rev 2:7. To him that overcometh; the Balaamites and Nicolaitans, and do not give in to the doctrines and practices of the one, or of the other, whatever persecution and trouble he meets with, and endures on that account: will I give to eat of the hidden manna; in opposition to eating things sacrificed to idols, refused by him.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:17
“But as the engrafted wild olive does not certainly lose the substance of its wood, but changes the quality of its fruit, and receives another name, being now not a wild olive, but a fruit-bearing olive, and is called so; so also, when man is grafted in by faith and receives the Spirit of God, he certainly does not lose the substance of flesh, but changes the quality of the fruit [brought forth, i.e., ] of his works, and receives another name, showing that he has become changed for the better, being now not [mere] flesh and blood, but a…”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book Vpatristic
Revelation 2:17
“As Phinehas was rewarded with "an everlasting priesthood" for his zeal against these very sins to which the Old Testament Balaam seduced Israel; so the heavenly high priesthood is the reward promised here to those zealous against the New Testament Balaamites tempting Christ's people to the same sins. receiveth it--namely, "the stone"; not "the new name"; see above.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
ConnectionsExodus 16:33, Isaiah 62:2
Thyatira: Much Service, but Jezebel Tolerated
Revelation 2:18-19
the Son of God: Thyatira's letter alone names the speaker the Son of God, with the eyes and feet of 1:14-15. The church is praised for your love, your faith, and its latter deeds are greater than your first, the only letter to report growth.
Revelation 2:18
“Son of God . . . eyes like . . . fire . . . feet . . . like fine brass--or "glowing brass" (see on Re 1:14,15, whence this description is resumed). Again His attributes accord with His address. The title "Son of God," is from Ps 2:7, 9, which is referred to in Re 2:27.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:18
“It is the honour of God that he knows the number of the stars, calls them by their names, binds the sweet influences of Pleiades and looses the bands of Orion; and it is the honour of the Lord Jesus Christ that the ministers of the gospel, who are greater blessings to the church than the stars are to the world, are in his hand.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 2:18
“And unto the angel of the church - See the notes on Rev 1:20. These things saith the Son of God - This is the first time, in these epistles, that the name of the speaker is referred to. In each other instance there is merely some attribute of the Saviour mentioned.”
ConnectionsRevelation 1:14
your latter deeds are greater than your first: Ephesus was told to return to its first deeds, while Thyatira's last deeds exceed its first. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the latter deeds as more in number, the reverse of Matthew 12:45, where the last state is worse. Albert Barnes takes service as ministry, the Greek diakonia.
Revelation 2:19
“I know thy works - See the notes on Rev 2:2. He knew all they had done, good and bad. And charity - Love; love to God, and love to man. There is no reason for restricting this word here to the comparatively narrow sense which it now bears. Compare the notes on 1Co 13:1. And service - Greek, “ministry” - διακονίαν diakonian.”
Revelation 2:20-23
that woman Jezebel: The church tolerates that woman Jezebel, named for Ahab's queen who promoted Baal worship, and her teaching repeats Balaam's. Given time to repent, she is unwilling, and her judgment shows all the churches that Christ is the One who searches minds and hearts.
Revelation 2:20
“That woman Jezebel - There is an allusion here to the history of Ahab and Jezebel, as given in 2 Kings 9:1-10:36; and although we do not know who this Jezebel was, yet from the allusion we may take it for granted she was a woman of power and influence in Thyatira, who corrupted the true religion, and harassed the followers of God in that city, as Jezebel did in Israel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:20
“Like her father, she was swift to shed blood. Wholly given to Baal worship, like Eth-baal, whose name expresses his idolatry, she, with her strong will, seduced the weak Ahab and Israel beyond the calf-worship (which was a worship of the true God under the cherub-ox form, that is, a violation of the second commandment) to that of Baal (a violation of the first commandment also).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I have given her time to repent: John Wesley draws from she is unwilling that repentance can be refused. Albert Barnes notes that time to repent is given to great sinners, and that the time comes to an end. Primasius of Hadrumetum warns that delay breeds false security.
Revelation 2:21
“And I gave her space to repent of her fornication - Probably after some direct and solemn warning of the evil of her course. The error and sin had been of long standing, but he now resolved to bear with it no longer. It is true of almost every great sinner, that sufficient time is given for repentance, and that vengeance is delayed after crime is committed. But it cannot always be deferred, for the period must arrive when no reason shall exist for longer delay, and when punishment must come upon the offender.”
cast her onto a bed of sickness: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see the bed of her immorality become a bed of sickness. Bede reads the bed as eternal punishment. Adam Clarke recalls Jezebel's son Ahaziah, who fell sick in bed and was still unwilling to repent.
Revelation 2:22
“Behold, I will cast her into a bed - “This again alludes to the same history. Ahaziah, son of Ahab and Jezebel, by his mother’s ill instruction and example, followed her ways. God punished him by making him fall down, as is supposed, from the top of the terrace over his house, and so to be bedridden for a long time under great anguish, designing thereby to give him time to repent; but when, instead of that, he sent to consult Baalzebub, Elijah was sent to pronounce a final doom against his impenitence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:22
“Behold, I will cast her onto a bed. By God's just judgment, it happens that she lies in the bed of eternal punishment, who led the wretched into the bed of lust.”
Bede · written before 735 · Commentary on Revelationpatristic
Revelation 2:22
“It is observable, the angel of the church at Thyatira was only blamed for suffering her. This fault ceased when God took vengeance on her. Therefore he is not expressly exhorted to repent, though it is implied.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 2:22
“I will--Greek present, "I cast her." a bed--The place of her sin shall be the place of her punishment. The bed of her sin shall be her bed of sickness and anguish. Perhaps a pestilence was about to be sent.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the One who searches minds and hearts: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that to search minds and hearts belongs to God, and here the Son of God claims it. Cyprian adds that nothing is hidden from God. Albert Barnes leaves open whether her children are her own or those who hold to her teaching.
Revelation 2:23
“So palpably shall God's hand be seen in the judgment on Thyatira, that the whole Church shall recognize it as God's doing. I am he--the "I" is strongly emphatical: "that it is I am He who," &c. searcheth . . . hearts--God's peculiar attribute is given to Christ.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:23
That nothing that is done is hidden from God. In the Wisdom of Solomon: "In every place the eyes of God look upon the good and evil." Also in Jeremiah: "I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. If a man should be hidden in the secret place, shall I not therefore see him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." Also in the first of Kings: "Man looketh on the face, but God on the heart."
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.patristic
Revelation 2:23
“And I will kill her children - Those which she hath born in adultery, and them whom she hath seduced. With death - This expression denotes death by the plague, or by some manifest stroke of God's hand. Probably the remarkable vengeance taken on her children was the token of the certainty of all the rest.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 2:23
“And I will kill her children with death - A strong Hebraistic mode of expression, meaning that he would certainly destroy them. It has been made a question whether the word “children” here is to be taken literally or figuratively. The word itself would admit of either interpretation; and there is nothing in the connection by which its meaning here can be determined.”
Revelation 2:24-25
the so-called deep things of Satan: The faithful have not learned the so-called deep things of Satan, where the Greek as they say marks the phrase as the false teachers' boast. They receive no further burden, only the charge to hold fast to what you have until I come.
Revelation 2:24
“Our Lord owns they were deep, even deep as hell: for they were the very depths of Satan. Were these the same of which Martin Luther speaks? It is well if there are not some of his countrymen now in England who know them too well!”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:24
“Exaggerating and perfecting Paul's doctrine of grace without the law as the source of justification and sanctification, these false prophets rejected the law as a rule of life, as though it were an intolerable "burden." But it is a "light" burden.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
hold fast to what you have: No new burden is laid on them, only this charge. Albert Barnes reads until I come by John 14:3, where Christ comes to take His own to Himself. Victorinus of Pettau joins the verse to the next and reads the promised authority as a seat among the judging saints.
Revelation 2:25
"But that which ye have, hold fast until I come; and he that overcometh, to him will I give power over all peoples." That is, him I will appoint as judge among the rest of the saints.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:25
“But that which ye have ... - All that there is of truth and purity remaining among you, retain faithfully. Compare Rev 3:11. Till I come - To receive you to myself, Joh 14:3.”
Revelation 2:26-29
authority over the nations: The overcomer receives authority over the nations and will rule them with an iron scepter, words of Psalm 2:9, with the reign of 20:4 ahead. The gift of the morning star points to 22:16, where Jesus takes that title for Himself.
Revelation 2:26
The image is perhaps from the race, wherein it is not enough to enter the lists, but the runner must persevere to the end. give power--Greek, "authority." over the nations--at Christ's coming the saints shall possess the kingdom "under the whole heaven"; therefore over this earth; compare Lu 19:17, "have thou authority [the same word as here] over ten cities."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:26
“By works - Those which I have commanded. To him will I give power over the nations - That is, I will give him to share with me in that glorious victory which the Father hath promised me over all the nations who as yet resist me, Psalm ii, 8, 9.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
rule them with an iron scepter: Albert Barnes hears Psalm 2:9, adjusted so the verb becomes rule. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain that the Septuagint read the Hebrew with different vowels, giving rule as a shepherd in place of break. The authority is one the Son received from His Father and now shares.
Revelation 2:27
“And he shall rule them with a rod of iron - There is an allusion here to Psa 2:9; “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” There is a slight change in the passage, “he shall rule,” instead of “thou shalt break,” in order to adapt the language to the purpose of the speaker here.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:27
“Seize the opportunity of unexpected felicity: that you, who sometime were in God's sight nothing but "a drop of a bucket," and "dust of the threshing-floor," and "a potter's vessel," may thenceforward become that "tree which is sown beside the waters, is perennial in leaves, bears fruit at its own time," and shall not see fire," nor "axe.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Repentancepatristic
Revelation 2:27
“From Ps 2:8, 9. rule--literally, "rule as a shepherd." In Ps 2:9 it is, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron." The Septuagint, pointing the Hebrew word differently, read as Revelation here. The English Version of Ps 2:9 is doubtless right, as the parallel word, "dash in pieces," proves.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I will give him the morning star: Matthew Henry takes the morning star as the Son of God Himself, who gives Himself to the one who overcomes. Victorinus of Pettau reads the star as the first resurrection. John Wesley joins the star to the authority over the nations given to the one who overcomes.
Revelation 2:28
"And I will give him the morning star." To wit, the first resurrection. He promised the morning star, which drives away the night, and announces the light, that is, the beginning of day.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 2:28
“He whom this star enlightens has always morning and no evening. The duties and promises here answer each other; the valiant conqueror has power over the stubborn nations. And he that, after having conquered his enemies, keeps the works of Christ to the end, shall have the morning star, - an unspeakable brightness and peaceable dominion in him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
let him hear what the Spirit says: For the first time the call to hear follows the promise. In the letters to Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum it came before. Albert Barnes, on the same words at verse 7, hears a saying Jesus used in His ministry to mark what matters most.
Revelation 2:29
“He that hath an ear, let him hear,.... See Gill on Rev 2:7.”
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 2:29
“He that hath an ear - Let every Christian pay the strictest regard to these predictions of Christ; and let them have a suitable influence on his heart and life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 2:29
“He that hath an ear ... - See the notes on Rev 2:7.”
How this psalm is built
The form: Letters from a Christ who never takes His eyes off His church, saying to each of them I know, as Spurgeon classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The sevenfold letter pattern | Each letter opens with the command to write to the angel of the church, followed by the words These are the words of. Each goes on with I know, and each closes with the call to hear and a promise to the one who overcomes. In this chapter praise stands in all four letters and a charge in three, since Smyrna receives none. The call to hear comes before the promise at verses 7, 11 and 17 and after it at verse 29.the site's count of the Berean text, the verses of Revelation 2 in the store, translation id 3, the Berean Standard Bible. | Revelation 2:1, Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:8, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:29 |
| Titles taken from the vision of chapter 1 | Each letter opens with a title from the vision of chapter 1. Ephesus hears of the seven stars and the lampstands, Smyrna of the First and the Last, and Pergamum of the double-edged sword. Thyatira hears of the eyes like fire and the feet like bronze. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown observe that each title fits the letter it opens.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 2:18. | Revelation 2:1, Revelation 2:8, Revelation 2:12, Revelation 2:18 |
| Old Testament names for present dangers | Pergamum is warned of the teaching of Balaam, and Thyatira of a woman called Jezebel. Adam Clarke reads Jezebel as a woman of power in Thyatira who corrupted true religion, as the queen of 2 Kings 9 and 10 did in Israel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report the view that the Greek name Nicolaos means what Balaam means in Hebrew, so that the two names may point to one error.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Revelation 2:20. | Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:15, Revelation 2:20 |
| Psalm 2 at the close of the Thyatira letter | Verse 27 takes up Psalm 2:9, where the king breaks the nations with an iron scepter and shatters them like pottery. Albert Barnes notes that the verb is changed to rule to fit the promise. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown trace the title Son of God in verse 18 to the same psalm.Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, 1832 to 1869, on Revelation 2:27. | Revelation 2:18, Revelation 2:27 |
How the chapter is built
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
Chapter 1 ended with the command to write the things that are, and the letters are those things. The chapter holds four units, one for each church. Verses 1 to 7 are to Ephesus, verses 8 to 11 to Smyrna, verses 12 to 17 to Pergamum and verses 18 to 29 to Thyatira. The letter to Smyrna is the shortest at four verses, and the letter to Thyatira the longest at twelve. Chapter 3 carries the last three letters in the same pattern.
How the seven churches are read
John Wesley, on verse 4, holds that each letter speaks to the church then living, while its promise speaks to every overcomer in any church or age. John Gill, on verse 13, also reads the churches as pictures of later states of the church and takes Pergamum as an emblem of the church of Rome. Bede, on verse 8, reads the name Smyrna as myrrh, a sign of the suffering the church must bear. Tertullian, on verse 4, reads the letters as proof that a church which has sinned may still repent. The four schools of reading are set out at /featured/four-schools-of-revelation.
Who the Nicolaitans were
The text names the Nicolaitans at verses 6 and 15 and says nothing of their origin. Irenaeus, in Against Heresies Book I, makes them followers of Nicolas, one of the seven chosen in Acts 6:5. He says they held adultery and idol food to be matters of indifference. Bede, in his Commentary on Revelation, reports Clement's story of how the deacon's words were misused. Adam Clarke calls them a sect of the Gnostics, as is commonly supposed. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown report the view that the name is a Greek form of Balaam and so a symbol.
Where to go deeper
The book as a whole has its own page at /book/revelation. The idol food of verses 14 and 20 has a page at /featured/food-offered-to-idols, the hidden manna at /featured/manna, and the crown of life at /featured/the-crown. Lydia of Thyatira has a page at /featured/lydia, and Balaam at /featured/balaams-donkey. The seven churches of Asia, the Nicolaitans and the promises to the one who overcomes are listed as owed feature pages.
Keep studying
Studies18
Places1
Words12
Trails1
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The form and classifications
Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1069, "Laboring And Not Fainting" (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition), 1872, on Revelation 2:3; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748, on Revelation 2:13 and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755, on Revelation 2:4.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Bede, Commentary on Revelation; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1069: “Laboring And Not Fainting” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Cyprian, Treatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.; Irenaeus, Against Heresies Book V; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Primasius of Hadrumetum, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2:22 and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.