THE EPISTLES TO SARDIS, PHILADELPHIA, AND LAODICEA.

 1. Sardis--the ancient capital of Lydia, the kingdom of wealthy 
Croesus, on the river Pactolus. The address to this Church is full of rebuke. 
It does not seem to have been in vain; for MELITO, bishop of Sardis in 
the second century, was eminent for piety and learning. He visited 
Palestine to assure himself and his flock as to the Old Testament canon and 
wrote an epistle on the subject [EUSEBIUS Ecclesiastical History, 
4.26]; he also wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse [EUSEBIUS, 
Ecclesiastical History, 4.26; JEROME, On Illustrious Men, 24]. 
he that hath the seven Spirits of God--that is, He who hath all the 
fulness of the Spirit (Revelation 1:4, 4:5, 5:6, with which compare 
Zechariah 3:9, 4:10, proving His Godhead). This attribute implies His 
infinite power by the Spirit to convict of sin and of a hollow profession. 
and the seven stars--(Revelation 1:16,20). His having the seven stars, 
or presiding ministers, flows, as a consequence, from His having the 
seven Spirits, or the fulness of the Holy Spirit. The human ministry is 
the fruit of Christ's sending down the gifts of the Spirit. Stars imply 
brilliancy and glory; the fulness of the Spirit, and the fulness of 
brilliant light in Him, form a designed contrast to the formality which He 
reproves. 
name . . . livest . . . dead--(1 Timothy 5:6, 2 Timothy 3:5, Titus 
1:16; compare Ephesians 2:1,5, 5:14). "A name," that is, a reputation. 
Sardis was famed among the churches for spiritual vitality; yet the 
Heart-searcher, who seeth not as man seeth, pronounces her dead; how great 
searchings of heart should her case create among even the best of us! 
Laodicea deceived herself as to her true state (Revelation 3:17), but it is 
not written that she had a high name among the other churches, as 
Sardis had.

 2. Be--Greek. "Become," what thou art not, "watchful," or "wakeful," 
literally, "waking." 
the things which remain--Strengthen those thy remaining few graces, 
which, in thy spiritual deadly slumber, are not yet quite extinct 
[ALFORD]. "The things that remain" can hardly mean "the PERSONS that are not 
yet dead, but are ready to die"; for Revelation 3:4 implies that the 
"few" faithful ones at Sardis were not "ready to die," but were full of 
life. 
are--The two oldest manuscripts read, "were ready," literally, "were 
about to die," namely, at the time when you "strengthen" them. This 
implies that "thou art dead," Revelation 3:1, is to be taken with 
limitation; for those must have some life who are told to strengthen the things 
that remain. 
perfect--literally, "filled up in full complement"; Translate, 
"complete." Weighed in the balance of Him who requires living faith as the 
motive of works, and found wanting. 
before God--Greek, "in the sight of God." The three oldest manuscripts, 
Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic, read, "before (in the sight of) MY God"; 
Christ's judgment is God the Father's judgment. In the sight of men, 
Sardis had "a name of living": "so many and so great are the obligations 
of pastors, that he who would in reality fulfil even a third of them, 
would be esteemed holy by men, whereas, if content with that alone, he 
would be sure not to escape hell" [JUAN D'AVILA]. Note: in Sardis and 
Laodicea alone of the seven we read of no conflict with foes within or 
without the Church. Not that either had renounced the appearance of 
opposition to the world; but neither had the faithfulness to witness for God 
by word and example, so as to "torment them that dwelt on the earth" 
(Revelation 11:10).

 3. how thou hast received--(Colossians 2:6, 1 Thessalonians 4:1, 1 
Timothy 6:20). What Sardis is to "remember" is, not how joyfully she had 
received originally the Gospel message, but how the precious deposit was 
committed to her originally, so that she could not say, she had not 
"received and heard" it. The Greek is not aorist (as in Revelation 2:4, as 
to Ephesus, "Thou didst leave thy first love"), but "thou hast 
received" (perfect), and still hast the permanent deposit of doctrine committed 
to thee. The word "keep" (so the Greek is for English Version, "hold 
fast") which follows, accords with this sense. "Keep" or observe the 
commandment which thou hast received and didst hear. 
heard--Greek aorist, "didst hear," namely, when the Gospel doctrine was 
committed to thee. TRENCH explains "how," with what demonstration of 
the Spirit and power from Christ's ambassadors the truth came to you, and 
how heartily and zealously you at first received it. Similarly BENGEL, 
"Regard to her former character (how it once stood) ought to guard 
Sardis against the future hour, whatsoever it shall be, proving fatal to 
her." But it is not likely that the Spirit repeats the same exhortation 
virtually to Sardis as to Ephesus. 
If therefore--seeing thou art so warned, if, nevertheless, &c. 
come on thee as a thief--in special judgment on thee as a Church, with 
the same stealthiness and as unexpectedly as shall be My visible second 
coming. As the thief gives no notice of his approach. Christ applies 
the language which in its fullest sense describes His second coming, to 
describe His coming in special judgments on churches and states (as 
Jerusalem, Matthew 24:4-28) these special judgments being anticipatory 
earnests of that great last coming. "The last day is hidden from us, that 
every day may be observed by us" [AUGUSTINE]. Twice Christ in the days 
of His flesh spake the same words (Matthew 24:42,43, Luke 12:39,40); and 
so deeply had His words been engraven on the minds of the apostles that 
they are often repeated in their writings (Revelation 16:15, 1 
Thessalonians 5:2,4,6, 2 Peter 3:10). The Greek proverb was that "the feet of 
the avenging deities are shod with wool," expressing the noiseless 
approach of the divine judgments, and their possible nearness at the m!
oment when they were supposed th
e farthest off [TRENCH].

 4. The three oldest manuscripts prefix "but," or "nevertheless" 
(notwithstanding thy spiritual deadness), and omit "even." 
names--persons named in the book of life (Revelation 3:5) known by name 
by the Lord as His own. These had the reality corresponding to their 
name; not a mere name among men as living, while really dead (Revelation 
3:1). The gracious Lord does not overlook any exceptional cases of real 
saints in the midst of unreal professors. 
not defiled their garments--namely, the garments of their Christian 
profession, of which baptism is the initiatory seal, whence the candidates 
for baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in white. Compare 
also Ephesians 5:27, as to the spotlessness of the Church when she 
shall be presented to Christ; and Revelation 19:8, as to the "fine linen, 
clean and white, the righteousness of the saints," in which it shall be 
granted to her to be arrayed; and "the wedding garment." Meanwhile she 
is not to sully her Christian profession with any defilement of flesh 
or spirit, but to "keep her garments." For no defilement shall enter the 
heavenly city. Not that any keep themselves here wholly free from 
defilement; but, as compared with hollow professors, the godly keep 
themselves unspotted from the world; and when they do contract it, they wash it 
away, so as to have their "robes white in the blood of the Lamb" 
(Revelation 7:14). The Greek is not "to stain" (Greek, "miainein"), but!
 to "defile," or besmear (Greek,
 "molunein"), Solomon 5:3. 
they shall walk with me in white--The promised reward accords with the 
character of those to be rewarded: keeping their garments undefiled and 
white through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall walk with Him in 
while hereafter. On "with me," compare the very same words, Luke 23:43, 
John 17:24. "Walk" implies spiritual life, for only the living walk; 
also liberty, for it is only the free who walk at large. The grace and 
dignity of flowing long garments is seen to best advantage when the person 
"walks": so the graces of the saint's manifested character shall appear 
fully when he shall serve the Lord perfectly hereafter (Revelation 
22:3). 
they are worthy--with the worthiness (not their own, but that) which 
Christ has put on them (Revelation 7:14). Ezekiel 16:14, "perfect through 
MY comeliness which I had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud. 
"The worthiness here denotes a congruity between the saint's state of 
grace on earth, and that of glory, which the Lord has appointed for them, 
about to be estimated by the law itself of grace" [VITRINGA]. Contrast 
Acts 13:46.

 5. white--not a dull white, but glittering, dazzling white [GROTIUS]. 
Compare Matthew 13:43. The body transfigured into the likeness of 
Christ's body, and emitting beams of light reflected from Him, is probably 
the "white raiment" promised here. 
the same--Greek, "THIS man"; he and he alone. So one oldest manuscript 
reads. But two oldest manuscripts, and most of the ancient versions, 
"shall THUS be clothed," &c. 
raiment--Greek, "garments." "He that overcometh" shall receive the same 
reward as they who "have not defiled their garments" (Revelation 3:4); 
therefore the two are identical. 
I will not--Greek, "I will not by any means." 
blot out . . . name out of . . . book of life--of the heavenly city. A 
register was kept in ancient cities of their citizens: the names of the 
dead were of course erased. So those who have a name that they live and 
are dead (Revelation 3:1), are blotted out of God's roll of the 
heavenly citizens and heirs of eternal life; not that in God's electing decree 
they ever were in His book of life. But, according to human 
conceptions, those who had a high name for piety would be supposed to be in it, 
and were, in respect to privileges, actually among those in the way of 
salvation; but these privileges, and the fact that they once might have 
been saved, shall be of no avail to them. As to the book of life, 
compare Revelation 13:8, 17:8, 20:12,15, 21:27, Exodus 32:32, Psalms 69:28, 
Daniel 12:1. In the sense of the "call," many are enrolled among the 
called to salvation, who shall not be found among the chosen at last. The 
pale of salvation is wider than that of election. Election is fix!
ed. Salvation is open to all and
 is pending (humanly speaking) in the case of those mentioned here. But 
Revelation 20:15, 21:27, exhibit the book of the elect alone in the 
narrower sense, after the erasure of the others. 
before . . . before--Greek, "in the presence of." Compare the same 
promise of Christ's confessing before His Father those who confessed Him, 
Matthew 10:32,33, Luke 12:8,9. He omits "in heaven" after "My Father," 
because there is, now that He is in heaven, no contrast between the 
Father in heaven and the Son on earth. He now sets His seal from heaven 
upon many of His words uttered on earth [TRENCH]. An undesigned 
coincidence, proving that these epistles are, as they profess, in their words, as 
well as substance, Christ's own addresses; not even tinged with the 
color of John's style, such as it appears in his Gospel and Epistles. The 
coincidence is mainly with the three other Gospels, and not with 
John's, which makes the coincidence more markedly undesigned. So also the 
clause, "He that hath an ear, let him hear," is not repeated from John's 
Gospel, but from the Lord's own words in the three synoptic Gospels 
(Matthew 11:15, 13:9, 4:9,23, 7:16, Luke 8:8, 14:35).

 7. Philadelphia--in Lydia, twenty-eight miles southeast of Sardis, 
built by Attalus Philadelphus, king of Pergamos, who died A.D. 138. It was 
nearly destroyed by an earthquake in the reign of Tiberius [TACITUS, 
Annals, 2.47]. The connection of this Church with Jews there causes the 
address to it to have an Old Testament coloring in the images employed. 
It and Smyrna alone of the seven receive unmixed praise. 
he that is holy--as in the Old Testament, "the Holy One of Israel." 
Thus Jesus and the God of the Old Testament are one. None but God is 
absolutely holy (Greek, "hagios," separate from evil and perfectly hating 
it). In contrast to "the synagogue of Satan" (Revelation 3:9). 
true--Greek, "alethinos": "VERY God," as distinguished from the false 
gods and from all those who say that they are what they are not 
(Revelation 3:9):real, genuine. Furthermore, He perfectly realizes all that is 
involved in the names, GOD, Light (John 1:9, 1 John 2:8), Bread (John 
6:32), the Vine (John 15:1); as distinguished from all typical, partial, 
and imperfect realizations of the idea. His nature answers to His name 
(John 17:3, 1 Thessalonians 1:9). The Greek, "alethes," on the other 
hand, is "truth-speaking," "truth-loving" (John 3:33, Titus 1:2). 
he that hath the key of David--the antitype of Eliakim, to whom the 
"key," the emblem of authority "over the house of David," was transferred 
from Shebna, who was removed from the office of chamberlain or 
treasurer, as unworthy of it. Christ, the Heir of the throne of David, shall 
supplant all the less worthy stewards who have abused their trust in 
God's spiritual house, and "shall reign over the house of Jacob," literal 
and spiritual (Luke 1:32,33), "for ever," "as a Son over His own house" 
(Hebrews 3:2-6). It rests with Christ to open or shut the heavenly 
palace, deciding who is, and who is not, to be admitted: as He also opens, 
or shuts, the prison, having the keys of hell (the grave) and death 
(Revelation 1:18). The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other 
apostles, only when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them 
infallible. Whatever degrees of this power may have been committed to 
ministers, the supreme power belongs to Christ alone. Thus Peter rightly ope!
ned the Gospel door to the Genti
les (Acts 10:1-48, 11:17,18; especially Acts 14:27, end). But he 
wrongly tried to shut the door in part again (Galatians 2:11-18). Eliakim had 
"the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder": Christ, as the 
antitypical David, Himself has the key of the supreme "government upon 
His shoulder." His attribute here, as in the former addresses, accords 
with His promise. Though "the synagogue of Satan," false "Jews" 
(Revelation 3:9) try to "shut" the "door" which I "set open before thee"; "no 
man can shut it" (Revelation 3:8). 
shutteth--So Vulgate and Syriac Versions read. But the four oldest 
manuscripts read, "shall shut"; so Coptic Version and ORIGEN. 
and no man openeth--Two oldest manuscripts, B, Aleph, Coptic Version, 
and ORIGEN read, "shall open." Two oldest manuscripts, A, C. and Vulgate 
Version support English Version reading.

 8. I have set--Greek, "given": it is My gracious gift to thee. 
open door--for evangelization; a door of spiritual usefulness. The 
opening of a door by Him to the Philadelphian Church accords with the 
previous assignation to Him of "the key of David." 
and--The three oldest manuscripts, A, B, C, and ORIGEN read, "which no 
man can shut." 
for--"because." 
a little--This gives the idea that Christ says, He sets before 
Philadelphia an open door because she has some little strength; whereas the 
sense rather is, He does so because she has "but little strength": being 
consciously weak herself, she is the fitter object for God's power to 
rest on [so AQUINAS], that so the Lord Christ may have all the glory. 
and hast kept--and so, the littleness of thy strength becoming the 
source of Almighty power to thee, as leading thee to rest wholly on My 
great power, thou hast kept My word. GROTIUS makes "little strength" to 
mean that she had a Church small in numbers and external resources: "a 
little flock poor in worldly goods, and of small account in the eyes of 
men" [TRENCH]. So ALFORD. I prefer the view given above. The Greek verbs 
are in the aorist tense: "Thou didst keep . . . didst not deny My 
name": alluding to some particular occasion when her faithfulness was put to 
the test.

 9. I will make--Greek present, "I make," literally, "I give" The 
promise to Philadelphia is larger than that to Smyrna. To Smyrna the promise 
was that "the synagogue of Satan" should not prevail against the 
faithful in her: to Philadelphia, that she should even win over some of "the 
synagogue of Satan" to fall on their faces and confess God is in her of 
a truth. Translate, "(some) of the synagogue." For until Christ shall 
come, and all Israel then be saved, there is but "a remnant" being 
gathered out of the Jews "according to the election of grace." This is an 
instance of how Christ set before her an "open door," some of her 
greatest adversaries, the Jews, being brought to the obedience of the faith. 
Their worshipping before her feet expresses the convert's willingness to 
take the very lowest place in the Church, doing servile honor to those 
whom once they persecuted, rather than dwell with the ungodly. So the 
Philippian jailer before Paul.

 10. patience--"endurance." "The word of My endurance" is My Gospel 
word, which teaches patient endurance in expectation of my coming 
(Revelation 1:9). My endurance is the endurance which I require, and which I 
practice. Christ Himself now endures, patiently waiting until the usurper 
be cast out, and all "His enemies be made His footstool." So, too, His 
Church, for the joy before her of sharing His coming kingdom, endures 
patiently. Hence, in Revelation 3:11, follows, "Behold, I come quickly." 
I also--The reward is in kind: "because thou didst keep," &c. "I also 
(on My side) will keep thee," &c. 
from--Greek, "(so as to deliver thee) out of," not to exempt from 
temptation. 
the hour of temptation--the appointed season of affliction and 
temptation (so in Deuteronomy 4:34 the plagues are called "the temptations of 
Egypt"), literally, "the temptation": the sore temptation which is 
coming on: the time of great tribulation before Christ's second coming. 
to try them that dwell upon the earth--those who are of earth, earthy 
(Revelation 8:13). "Dwell" implies that their home is earth, not heaven. 
All mankind, except the elect (Revelation 13:8,14). The temptation 
brings out the fidelity of those kept by Christ and hardens the unbelieving 
reprobates (Revelation 9:20,21, 16:11,21). The particular persecutions 
which befell Philadelphia shortly after, were the earnest of the great 
last tribulation before Christ's coming, to which the Church's 
attention in all ages is directed.

 11. Behold--omitted by the three oldest manuscripts and most ancient 
versions. 
I come quickly--the great incentive to persevering faithfulness, and 
the consolation under present trials. 
that . . . which thou hast--"The word of my patience," or "endurance" 
(Revelation 3:10), which He had just commended them for keeping, and 
which involved with it the attaining of the kingdom; this they would lose 
if they yielded to the temptation of exchanging consistency and 
suffering for compromise and ease. 
that no man take thy crown--which otherwise thou wouldst receive: that 
no tempter cause thee to lose it: not that the tempter would thus 
secure it for himself (Colossians 2:18).

 12. pillar in the temple--In one sense there shall be "no temple" in 
the heavenly city because there shall be no distinction of things into 
sacred and secular, for all things and persons shall be holy to the Lord. 
The city shall be all one great temple, in which the saints shall be 
not merely stones, as m the spiritual temple now on earth, but all 
eminent as pillars: immovably firm (unlike Philadelphia, the city which was 
so often shaken by earthquakes, STRABO [12 and 13]), like the colossal 
pillars before Solomon's temple, Boaz (that is, "In it is strength") and 
Jachin ("It shall be established"): only that those pillars were 
outside, these shall be within the temple. 
go no more out--The Greek is stronger, never more at all. As the elect 
angels are beyond the possibility of falling, being now under (as the 
Schoolmen say) "the blessed necessity of goodness," so shall the saints 
be. The door shall be once for all shut, as well to shut safely in for 
ever the elect, as to shut out the lost (Matthew 25:10, John 8:35; 
compare Isaiah 22:23, the type, Eliakim). They shall be priests for ever 
unto God (Revelation 1:6). "Who would not yearn for that city out of 
which no friend departs, and into which no enemy enters?" [AUGUSTINE in 
TRENCH]. 
write upon him the name of my God--as belonging to God in a peculiar 
sense (Revelation 7:3, 9:4, 14:1; and especially Revelation 22:4), 
therefore secure. As the name of Jehovah ("Holiness to the Lord") was on the 
golden plate on the high priest's forehead (Exodus 28:36-38); so the 
saints in their heavenly royal priesthood shall bear His name openly, as 
consecrated to Him. Compare the caricature of this in the brand on the 
forehead of the beast's followers (Revelation 13:16,17), and on the 
harlot (Revelation 17:5; compare Revelation 20:4). 
name of the city of my God--as one of its citizens (Revelation 
21:2,3,10, which is briefly alluded to by anticipation here). The full 
description of the city forms the appropriate close of the book. The saint's 
citizenship is now hidden, but then it shall be manifested: he shall have 
the right to enter in through the gates into the city (Revelation 
22:14). This was the city which Abraham looked for. 
new--Greek, "kaine." Not the old Jerusalem, once called "the holy 
city," but having forfeited the name. Greek, "nea," would express that it 
had recently come into existence; but Greek, "kaine," that which is new 
and different, superseding the worn-out old Jerusalem and its polity. 
"John, in the Gospel, applies to the old city the Greek name Hierosolyma. 
But in the Apocalypse, always, to the heavenly city the Hebrew name, 
Hierousalem. The Hebrew name is the original and holier one: the Greek, 
the recent and more secular and political one" [BENGEL]. 
my new name--at present incommunicable and only known to God: to be 
hereafter revealed and made the believer's own in union with God in 
Christ. Christ's name written on him denotes he shall be wholly Christ's. New 
also relates to Christ, who shall assume a new character (answering to 
His "new name") entering with His saints on a kingdom--not that which 
He had with the Father before the worlds, but that earned by His 
humiliation as Son of man. GIBBON, the infidel [Decline and Fall, ch. 64], 
gives an unwilling testimony to the fulfilment of the prophecy as to 
Philadelphia from a temporal point of view, Among the Greek colonies and 
churches of Asia, Philadelphia is still erect,--a column in a scene of 
ruins--a pleasing example that the paths of honor and safety may sometimes 
be the same."

 14. Laodiceans--The city was in the southwest of Phrygia, on the river 
Lycus, not far from Colosse, and lying between it and Philadelphia. It 
was destroyed by an earthquake, A.D. 62, and rebuilt by its wealthy 
citizens without the help of the state [TACITUS, Annals, 14.27]. This 
wealth (arising from the excellence of its wools) led to a self-satisfied, 
lukewarm state in spiritual things, as Revelation 3:17 describes. 
written to the Laodicean Church by Paul. The Church in latter times was 
apparently flourishing; for one of the councils at which the canon of 
Scripture was determined was held in Laodicea in A.D. 361. Hardly a 
Christian is now to be found on or near its site. 
the Amen--(Isaiah 65:16, Hebrew, "Bless Himself in the God of Amen . . 
. swear by the God of Amen," 2 Corinthians 1:20). He who not only says, 
but is, the Truth. The saints used Amen at the end of prayer, or in 
assenting to the word of God; but none, save the Son of God, ever said, 
"Amen, I say unto you," for it is the language peculiar to God, who avers 
by Himself. The New Testament formula, "Amen. I say unto you," is 
equivalent to the Old Testament formula, "as I live, saith Jehovah." In 
John's Gospel alone He uses (in the Greek) the double "Amen," John 1:51, 
3:3, &c.; in English Version," Verily, verily." The title happily 
harmonizes with the address. His unchanging faithfulness as "the Amen" 
contrasts with Laodicea's wavering of purpose, "neither hot nor cold" 
(Revelation 3:16). The angel of Laodicea has with some probability been 
conjectured to be Archippus, to whom, thirty years previously, Paul had 
already given a monition, as needing to be stirred up to diligence in hi!
s ministry. So the Apostolic Con
stitutions, [8.46], name him as the first bishop of Laodicea: supposed 
to be the son of Philemon (Philemon 1:2). 
faithful and true witness--As "the Amen" expresses the unchangeable 
truth of His promises; so "the faithful the true witness," the truth of 
His revelations as to the heavenly things which He has seen and 
testifies. "Faithful," that is, trustworthy (2 Timothy 2:11,13). "True" is here 
(Greek, "alethinos") not truth-speaking (Greek, "alethes"), but 
"perfectly realizing all that is comprehended in the name Witness" (1 Timothy 
6:13). Three things are necessary for this: (1) to have seen with His 
own eyes what He attests; (2) to be competent to relate it for others; 
(3) to be willing truthfully to do so. In Christ all these conditions 
meet [TRENCH]. 
beginning of the creation of God--not he whom God created first, but as 
in Colossians 1:15-18 the Beginner of all creation, its originating 
instrument. All creation would not be represented adoring Him, if He were 
but one of themselves. His being the Creator is a strong guarantee for 
His faithfulness as "the Witness and Amen."

 15. neither cold--The antithesis to "hot," literally, "boiling" 
("fervent," Acts 18:25, Romans 12:11; compare Solomon 8:6, Luke 24:32), 
requires that "cold" should here mean more than negatively cold; it is 
rather, positively icy cold: having never yet been warmed. The Laodiceans 
were in spiritual things cold comparatively, but not cold as the world 
outside, and as those who had never belonged to the Church. The lukewarm 
state, if it be the transitional stage to a warmer, is a desirable state 
(for a little religion, if real, is better than none); but most fatal 
when, as here, an abiding condition, for it is mistaken for a safe state 
(Revelation 3:17). This accounts for Christ's desiring that they were 
cold rather than lukewarm. For then there would not be the same "danger 
of mixed motive and disregarded principle" [ALFORD]. Also, there is 
more hope of the "cold," that is, those who are of the world, and not yet 
warmed by the Gospel call; for, when called, they may become hot a!
nd fervent Christians: such did 
the once-cold publicans, Zaccheus and Matthew, become. But the lukewarm 
has been brought within reach of the holy fire, without being heated by 
it into fervor: having religion enough to lull the conscience in false 
security, but not religion enough to save the soul: as Demas, 2 Timothy 
4:10. Such were the halters between two opinions in Israel (1 Kings 
18:21; compare 2 Kings 17:41, Matthew 6:24).

 16. neither cold nor hot--So one oldest manuscript, B, and Vulgate 
read. But two oldest manuscripts, Syriac, and Coptic transpose thus, "hot 
nor cold." It is remarkable that the Greek adjectives are in the 
masculine, agreeing with the angel, not feminine, agreeing with the Church. 
The Lord addresses the angel as the embodiment and representative of the 
Church. The chief minister is answerable for his flock if he have not 
faithfully warned the members of it. 
I will--Greek, "I am about to," "I am ready to": I have it in my mind: 
implying graciously the possibility of the threat not being executed, 
if only they repent at once. His dealings towards them will depend on 
theirs towards Him. 
spue thee out of my month--reject with righteous loathing, as Canaan 
spued out its inhabitants for their abominations. Physicians used 
lukewarm water to cause vomiting. Cold and hot drinks were common at feasts, 
but never lukewarm. There were hot and cold springs near Laodicea.

 17. Self-sufficiency is the fatal danger of a lukewarm state 
thou sayest--virtually and mentally, if not in so many words. 
increased with goods--Greek, "have become enriched," implying 
self-praise in self-acquired riches. The Lord alludes to Hosea 12:8. The riches 
on which they prided themselves were spiritual riches; though, 
doubtless, their spiritual self-sufficiency ("I have need of nothing") was much 
fostered by their worldly wealth; as, on the other hand, poverty of 
spirit is fostered by poverty in respect to worldly riches. 
knowest not that thou--in particular above all others. The "THOU" in 
the Greek is emphatic. 
art wretched--Greek, "art the wretched one." 
miserable--So one oldest manuscripts reads. But two oldest manuscripts 
prefix "the." Translate, "the pitiable"; "the one especially to be 
pitied." How different Christ's estimate of men, from their own estimate of 
themselves, "I have need of nothing!" 
blind--whereas Laodicea boasted of a deeper than common insight into 
divine things. They were not absolutely blind, else eye-salve would have 
been of no avail to them; but short-sighted.

 18. Gentle and loving irony. Take My advice, thou who fanciest thyself 
in need of nothing. Not only art thou not in need of nothing, but art 
in need of the commonest necessaries of existence. He graciously stoops 
to their modes of thought and speech: Thou art a people ready to listen 
to any counsel as to how to buy to advantage; then, listen to My 
counsel (for I am "Counsellor," Isaiah 9:6), buy of ME" (in whom, according 
to Paul's Epistle written to the neighboring Colosse and intended for 
the Laodicean Church also, Colossians 2:1,3, 4:16, are hidden all the 
treasures of wisdom and knowledge). "Buy" does not imply that we can, by 
any work or merit of ours, purchase God's free gift; nay the very 
purchase money consists in the renunciation of all self-righteousness, such 
as Laodicea had (Revelation 3:17). "Buy" at the cost of thine own 
self-sufficiency (so Paul, Philippians 3:7,8); and the giving up of all 
things, however dear to us, that would prevent our receiving Christ's sa!
lvation as a free gift, for exam
ple, self and worldly desires. Compare Isaiah 55:1, "Buy . . . without 
money and price." 
of me--the source of "unsearchable riches" (Ephesians 3:8). Laodicea 
was a city of extensive money transactions [CICERO]. 
gold tried in, &c.--literally, "fired (and fresh) from the fire," that 
is, just fresh from the furnace which has proved its purity, and 
retaining its bright gloss. Sterling spiritual wealth, as contrasted with its 
counterfeit, in which Laodicea boasted itself. Having bought this gold 
she will be no longer poor (Revelation 3:17). 
mayest be rich--Greek, "mayest be enriched." 
white raiment--"garments." Laodicea's wools were famous. Christ offers 
infinitely whiter raiment. As "gold tried in the fire" expresses faith 
tested by fiery trials: so "white raiment," Christ's righteousness 
imputed to the believer in justification and imparted in sanctification. 
appear--Greek, "be manifested," namely, at the last day, when everyone 
without the wedding. garment shall be discovered. To strip one, is in 
the East the image of putting to open shame. So also to clothe one with 
fine apparel is the image of doing him honor. Man can discover his 
shame, God alone can cover it, so that his nakedness shall not be 
manifested at last (Colossians 3:10-14). Blessed is he whose sin is so covered. 
The hypocrite's shame may be manifested now; it must be so at last. 
anoint . . . with eye-salve--The oldest manuscripts read, "(buy of Me) 
eye-salve (collyrium, a roll of ointment), to anoint thine eyes." 
Christ has for Laodicea an ointment far more precious than all the costly 
unguents of the East. The eye is here the conscience or inner light of 
the mind. According as it is sound and "single" (Greek, "haplous," 
"simple"), or otherwise, the man sees aright spiritually, or does not. The 
Holy Spirit's unction, like the ancient eye-salve's, first smarts with 
conviction of sin, then heals. He opens our eyes first to ourselves in 
our wretchedness, then to the Saviour in His preciousness. TRENCH notices 
that the most sunken churches of the seven, namely, Sardis and 
Laodicea, are the ones in which alone are specified no opponents from without, 
nor heresies from within. The Church owes much to God's overruling 
Providence which has made so often internal and external foes, in spite of 
themselves, to promote His cause by calling forth her energies in c!
ontending for the faith once del
ivered to the saints. Peace is dearly bought at the cost of spiritual 
stagnation, where there is not interest enough felt in religion to 
contend about it at all.

 19. (Job 5:17, Proverbs 3:11,12, Hebrews 12:5,6.) So in the case of 
Manasseh (2 Chronicles 33:11-13). 
As many--All. "He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. And shalt thou 
be an exception? If excepted from suffering the scourge, thou art 
excepted from the number of the sons" [AUGUSTINE]. This is an encouragement 
to Laodicea not to despair, but to regard the rebuke as a token for 
good, if she profit by it. 
I love--Greek, "philo," the love of gratuitous affection, independent 
of any grounds for esteem in the object loved. But in the case of 
Philadelphia (Revelation 3:9), "I have loved thee" (Greek, "egapesa") with 
the love of esteem, founded on the judgment. Compare the note in my 
English Gnomon of BENGEL, John 21:15-17. 
I rebuke--The "I" in the Greek stands first in the sentence 
emphatically. I in My dealings, so altogether unlike man's, in the case of all 
whom I love, rebuke. The Greek, "elencho," is the same verb. as in John 
16:8, "(the Holy Ghost) will convince (rebuke unto conviction) the world 
of sin." 
chasten--"chastise." The Greek, "paideu," which in classical Greek 
means to instruct, in the New Testament means to instruct by chastisement 
(Hebrews 12:5,6). David was rebuked unto conviction, when he cried, "I 
have sinned against the Lord"; the chastening followed when his child 
was taken from him (2 Samuel 12:13,14). In the divine chastening, the 
sinner at one and the same time winces under the rod and learns 
righteousness. 
be zealous--habitually. Present tense in the Greek, of a lifelong 
course of zeal. The opposite of "lukewarm." The Greek by alliteration marks 
this: Laodicea had not been "hot" (Greek, "zestos"), she is therefore 
urged to "be zealous" (Greek, "zeleue"): both are derived from the same 
verb, Greek, "zeo," "to boil." 
repent--Greek aorist: of an act to be once for all done, and done at 
once.

 20. stand--waiting in wonderful condescension and long-suffering. 
knock--(Solomon 5:2). This is a further manifestation of His loving 
desire for the sinner's salvation. He who is Himself "the Door," and who 
bids us "knock" that it may be "opened unto" us, is first Himself to 
knock at the door of our hearts. If He did not knock first, we should 
never come to knock at His door. Compare Solomon 5:4-6, which is plainly 
alluded to here; the Spirit thus in Revelation sealing the canonicity of 
that mystical book. The spiritual state of the bride there, between 
waking and sleeping, slow to open the door to her divine lover, answers to 
that of the lukewarm Laodicea here. "Love in regard to men emptied 
(humbled) God; for He does not remain in His place and call to Himself the 
servant whom He loved, but He comes down Himself to seek him, and He 
who is all-rich arrives at the lodging of the pauper, and with His own 
voice intimates His yearning love, and seeks a similar return, and 
withdraws not when disowned, and is not impatient at insult, and when per!
secuted still waits at the doors
" [NICOLAUS CABASILAS in TRENCH]. 
my voice--He appeals to the sinner not only with His hand (His 
providences) knocking, but with His voice (His word read or heard; or rather, 
His Spirit inwardly applying to man's spirit the lessons to be drawn 
from His providence and His word). If we refuse to answer to His knocking 
at our door now, He will refuse to hear our knocking at His door 
hereafter. In respect to His second coming also, He is even now at the door, 
and we know not how soon He may knock: therefore we should always be 
ready to open to Him immediately. 
if any man hear--for man is not compelled by irresistible force: Christ 
knocks, but does not break open the door, though the violent take 
heaven by the force of prayer (Matthew 11:12): whosoever does hear, does so 
not of himself, but by the drawings of God's grace (John 6:44): 
repentance is Christ's gift (Acts 5:31). He draws, not drags. The Sun of 
righteousness, like the natural sun, the moment that the door is opened, 
pours in His light, which could not previously find an entrance. Compare 
HILARY on Psalm 118:19. 
I will come in to him--as I did to Zaccheus. 
sup with him, and he with me--Delightful reciprocity! Compare "dwelleth 
in me, and I in Him," John 6:56. Whereas, ordinarily, the admitted 
guest sups with the admitter, here the divine guest becomes Himself the 
host, for He is the bread of life, and the Giver of the marriage feast. 
Here again He alludes to the imagery of Solomon 4:16, where the Bride 
invites Him to eat pleasant fruits, even as He had first prepared a feast 
for her, "His fruit was sweet to my taste." Compare the same 
interchange, John 21:9-13, the feast being made up of the viands that Jesus 
brought, and those which the disciples brought. The consummation of this 
blessed intercommunion shall be at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, of 
which the Lord's Supper is the earnest and foretaste.

 21. sit with me in my throne--(Revelation 2:26,27, 20:6, Matthew 19:28, 
20:23, John 17:22,24, 2 Timothy 2:12). The same whom Christ had just 
before threatened to spue out of His mouth, is now offered a seat with 
Him on His throne! "The highest place is within reach of the lowest; the 
faintest spark of grace may be fanned into the mightiest flame of love" 
[TRENCH]. 
even as I also--Two thrones are here mentioned: (1) His Father's, upon 
which He now sits, and has sat since His ascension, after His victory 
over death, sin, the world; upon this none can sit save God, and the 
God-man Christ Jesus, for it is the incommunicable prerogative of God 
alone; (2) the throne which shall be peculiarly His as the once humbled and 
then glorified Son of man, to be set up over the whole earth 
(heretofore usurped by Satan) at His coming again; in this the victorious saints 
shall share (1 Corinthians 6:2). The transfigured elect Church shall 
with Christ judge and reign over the nations in the flesh, and Israel the 
foremost of them; ministering blessings to them as angels were the 
Lord's mediators of blessing and administrators of His government in 
setting up His throne in Israel at Sinai. This privilege of our high calling 
belongs exclusively to the present time while Satan reigns, when alone 
there is scope for conflict and for victory (2 Timothy 2:11,12). W!
hen Satan shall be bound (Revela
tion 20:4), there shall be no longer scope for it, for all on earth 
shall know the Lord from the least to the greatest. This, the grandest and 
crowning promise, is placed at the end of all the seven addresses, to 
gather all in one. It also forms the link to the next part of the book, 
where the Lamb is introduced seated on His Father's throne (Revelation 
4:2,3, 5:5,6). The Eastern throne is broad, admitting others besides 
him who, as chief, occupies the center. TRENCH notices; The order of the 
promises in the seven epistles corresponds to that of the unfolding of 
the kingdom of God its first beginnings on earth to its consummation in 
heaven. To the faithful at Ephesus: (1) The tree of life in the 
Paradise of God is promised (Revelation 2:7), answering to Genesis 2:9. (2) 
Sin entered the world and death by sin; but to the faithful at Smyrna it 
is promised, they shall not be hurt by the second death (Revelation 
2:11). (3) The promise of the hidden manna (Revelation 2:17) to Perga!
mos brings us to the Mosaic peri
od, the Church in the wilderness. (4) That to Thyatira, namely, triumph 
over the nations (Revelation 2:26,27), forms the consummation of the 
kingdom in prophetic type, the period of David and Solomon characterized 
by this power of the nations. Here there is a division, the seven 
falling into two groups, four and three, as often, for example, the Lord's 
Prayer, three and four. The scenery of the last three passes from earth 
to heaven, the Church contemplated as triumphant, with its steps from 
glory to glory. (5) Christ promises to the believer of Sardis not to 
blot his name out of the book of life but to confess him before His Father 
and the angels at the judgment-day, and clothe him with a glorified 
body of dazzling whiteness (Revelation 3:4,5). (6) To the faithful at 
Philadelphia Christ promises they shall be citizens of the new Jerusalem, 
fixed as immovable pillars there, where city and temple are one 
(Revelation 3:12); here not only individual salvation is promised to the b!
eliever, as in the case of Sardi
s, but also privileges in the blessed communion of the Church 
triumphant. (7) Lastly, to the faithful of Laodicea is given the crowning 
promise, not only the two former blessings, but a seat with Christ on His 
throne, even as He has sat with His Father on His Father's throne 
(Revelation 3:21).