The Church of Ephesus
Introduction: I will divide "The Church of Ephesus" into two parts because of the importance and length of it to the Christian Church.
Revelation chapter 2 comprises 4 of the 7 churches of Asia that Jesus instructed John to write their messages and give to them. Each message begins with some of the attributes of the Savior, and each introduction is followed with the formula, "I Know Thy Works." Then follows advice, admonition, or promise. The admonition is a sloemn one to: "Hear what the Spirit has to say to the church." There is then, either following or preceding that call on all the churches to hear, some promises or assurance designed to encourage the church, and urge it forward in the discharge of duty, or in enduring trial. This is found in each one of the epistles, though not always in the same relativeposition. If we want a PERFECT church then take ALL 7 churches and their attributes and then add the corrections that were suggesred by Jesus for them, and the end result would be a perfect church.
The Epistle To The Church at Ephesus.
The contents of the epistle to the church at Ephesus - the first addressed - are these: (1) The attributes of the Savior reffered to is, that He "holds the stars in His right hand, and walks in the midst of the golden candlestick." Rev 2:1 (2) He commends them for their patients, and for their opposition to those who are evil, and for their zeal and fidelity in carefully examining into the character of some who claimed to be apostles, but who were, in fact, impostors; for their perserance in bearing up under trial, and not fainting in His cause, and for their opposition to the Nicolaitanes, whom, He says, He hates, Rev 2:2-3,6. (3) He reproves them for having left their first love to Him, Rev 2:4 (4) He admonishes them to remember whence they had fallen, to repent, and to do their first works Rev 2:5. (5) He threatens them that, if they do not repent, He will come and remove the candlestick out of its place, Rev 2:5; and (6) He assures them, and all others, that whosoeverovercomes He will "give himto ear of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God," Rev 2:7
Rev 2:1-7
1. To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, "These things says He who holds the 7 stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the 7 golden lampstands: 2. "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; 3. and you have perservered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary. 4. Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5. Remeber therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lamostand from its place - unless you repent. 6. But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7. "He who has an ear, let him hear whatthe Spirit says to the churches (plural). The him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."
Rev 2:1 [Unto the angel]The minister; the presiding presbyter; the bisop-in the primitive sense of the word "bishop" - denoting one who had the spiritual charge of a congregation.
Rev 2:1 [of the church] Not of just the church of Ephesus, but of the one church of God. The Church of God, today consist of many denominations, with acceptence of the Grace of Jesus as the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin, and the gift of eternal life to those that believe.It is probable that all who were Christians there were regarded as members of one church - though for convenience they may have met to worship in different places. Thus, there was one church.
Rev 2:2 [I know thy works] The common formula with which all the epistles to the 7 churches are introduced. It is designed to impress upon them deeply the conviction that He was intimately acquainted with all that they did, good and bad, and that therefore He was abundantly qualified to dispense rewards or administer punishments according to truth and justice. It may be observed that, as many of the things referred to in these epistles were things pertaining to the heart - the feeling, the state of the mind - it is implied that He who speaks here has an intimate acquainance with the heart of man, a prerogative which is always attributed to the Savior. But no one can do this who is NOT divine; Below are some Bible verse that show proof of the divinity of Christ.
Ps 7:9 Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the just; For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds. NKJV
Jer 11:20 But, O Lord of hosts, You who judge righteously, Testing the mind and the heart, Let me see your vengeance on them, For to You I have revealed my cause. NKJV
Jer 17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings. NKJV
1 Sam 16:7 But the LORD said to Sammuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD look at the heart." NKJV
1 Kings 8:39-40 then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), NKJV
Rev 2:2 [And thy labor] The word used here kopos means properly "a beating," hence wailing, grief,with beating the breast; and then it means excessive labor or toil adapted to produce grief or sadness, and is commonly employed in the New Testament in the latter sense. It is commonly understood, as in our translation, in the sense of labor, though it would seem that the other signication, that of trouble, would not be inappropriate. If it means labor, it refers to their faithful service in His cause, and especially in opposing error. It seems to me, however, that the word "trouble" would better suit the connection.
Rev 2:2 [And thy patience] Under these trials; to wit, in relation to the efforts which had been made by the advocates of error to corrupt them, and to turn them away from the truth. They had patiently borne the opposition made to the truth, they had manifested a spirit of firm endurance amidst many arts of those opposed to them to draw them off from simple faith in Christ.
Rev 2:2 [And how thou canst not bear them which are evil] Canst not "endure" or "tolerate" them. They had no sympathy with their doctrines or their practices, they were utterly opposed to them. They had lent them no countenance, but had in every way shown that they had no fellowship with them. The evil persons here referred to were, doubtless, those mentioned in this verse as claiming that "they were apostles," and those mentioned in Rev 2:6 as the Nicolaitanes.
Rev 2:2 [And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles] Thos hast thoroughly examined their claims. It is not said in what way they had done this, but it was probably by considering attentively and candidly the evidence on which they relied, whatever that may have been. Nor is it certainly known who these persons were, or on what grounds they advanced their pretensions to the apostolic office. It cannot be supposed that they claimed to have been of the number of apostles selected by the Savior, for that would have been absurd, and the only solution would seem to be that they claimed either;
(1) that they had been called to that office after the Savior ascended, as Paul was; or (2) that they claimed the honor due to this name or office, in virtue of some elections to it, or (3) that they claimed to be successors of the apostles, and to possess and transmit their authority. If the first of these, it would seem that the only ground of claim would be that they had been called in some miraculous way to the rank of apostles, and, of course, of the evidence on which they would rely that they had such a call. If the second, then the claim must have been founded on some such plea as that the apostles office was designed to be elective, as in the case of Matthias (Acts 1:23-26), and that they maintained that this arrangement was to be continued in the church; and then an examination of their claims would involve an investigation of the question, whether it was contemplated that the aostolic office was designed to be perpetuated in thar manner, or whether the election of Mayyhias was only a temporary arrangement, designed to answer a particular purpose. If designed to be perpetuated by a regular succession, and that they, by ordination, were in a line of that succession, and then the examination and refutation of the claim must have consisted in showing, from the nature of the office, and the necessary qualifications for the successors of the apostles, as such. On either of these suooositions, such a line of arguement would be fatal to all claims to any succession in the apostolic office now. If each of these points should, of course their claims to the rank of apostles would cease; just as all claims to the dignity and rank of the apostles must fail now. The passage becomes thus a strong arguement against the claims of any persons to be "apostles," or to be the "successors" of the apostles, in the uniqueness of their office.
Rev 2:2 [And are not] There were NEVER any apostles of Jesus Christ but the original twelve whom he chose, Matthias, who was chosen in the place of Judas (Acts 1:26), and Paul, who was specially called to the office by the Savior after His resurrection.
Rev 2:2 [And hast found them liars] Hast discovered their pretensions to be unfounded and false In 2 Cor 11:13, "false apostles" are mentioned, and, in an office of so much honor as this, it is probable that there would be not a few claimers to it in the world. To set up a claim to what they knew they were not entitled to would be a falsehood, and as this seems to have been the character of these people, the Savior, in the passage before us, does not hesitate to designate them by an appropriate term, and to call them liars. The point here commended in the Ephesus church is, that they had sought to have a "pure ministry," a ministry whose claims were well founded. They had felt the importance of this, had carefully examined the claims of the pretenders, and had refused to recognize those who could not show, in a proper manner, that they had been designated to their work by the Lord Jesus. The same zeal, in the same cause, would be mommended by the Savior now.
Conclusion of Rev Chapter 2, part 1: The church of Ephesus was faced with the problem of false apostles and untruths, and they labored, with great patience to stave off the false people who were trying to take over for the honor of the office instead of pure service to the Lord. They could NOT bear these that were evil. They tested them and found them to be liars. There stand for the Lord was an admirable act. Through all of this we will see in the second part of The Church of Ephesus their DEADLY sin.
In comparison today, we see churches that are commendable and honorable, and yet they have a flaw that must be corrected if they are to become the witness that Christ wants them to be. We can learn much from these messages to the 7 churches of Asia. After all we are of THE CHURCH AGE!
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In His Name,
Rev. Zack martin Sr.
updated by @zack-martin: 03/07/15 02:35:48PM
