ACC ~ Revelation 2 v1 - 7

OVERVIEW:

In writing to the churches, John addresses angels (ORIGEN). Or, in writing to the angel of the church, John is addressing each church directly (OECUMENIUS). The Evangelist finds each church worthy of praise and of blame, for each church is representative of the whole church (BEDE). In every church there will be false teachers and there will be the failure of sin. Therefore, John reminds this church that teachers must be tested for truth (OECUMENIUS), and he reminds this church that God has promised to pardon sinners (TERTULLIAN, CYPRIAN). However, good works, especially that of love, must follow repentence (VICTORINUS, APRINGIUS); otherwise God will move from patience to punishment (OECUMENIUS). Christ threatens also to come and judge those who are evil in the church even as he blesses the good (CAESARIUS OF ARLES).

Excessive desire and the slough of vice are the results of the perverse heresy of the Nicolaitans. Such heresy makes the church weak (APRINGIUS). The obedient must hear the Spirit, or Christ (OECUMENIUS), who promises rewards to those who conquer, either to the martyr (TERTULLIAN) or to the repentant (APRINGIUS). The fruit of the tree of life is the new life of knowledge and love that comes through the gospel (METHODIUS). To eat of this tree refers to the eternal life given to those who resisted the evil demons (ANDREW OF CAESAREA). The church is itelf the spiritual paradise in which the celestial bread is given from the tree of life, Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross (TYCONIUS).

2:1 | Write to the Angel of the Church in Ephesus

PATIENCE, STEADFAST LOVE AND HATRED OF FALSEHOOD. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: In the first letter, [John] says, “I know your work and toil and your patient suffering”—I know that you work and toil, and I see that you are patient; lest you think that I will remain a long time away from you—“and that you are not able to bear evil persons and those who call themselves apostles you have found to be liars, and you have suffered patiently for the sake of my name.” All of these things are in view of praise, and no ordinary praise. And yet it is good that such persons and such a class of people and such elect persons be admonished in every way, lest they be robbed of those blessings which are their due. But he said that he had a few things against them. “You have forsaken your first love,” he said. “Remember from where you have fallen.” When someone falls, he falls from a height, and therefore he says “from where,” since even to the very end works of love must be practised, for this is the principal commandment. And, therefore, unless this be done, he threatened to “move the lampstand from its place,” that is, to scatter the people. However, they hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which he also hates, and this is deserving of praise. “Works of the Nicolaitans” refer to the fact that before that time there were factious and troublesome men who as ministers made for themselves a heresy in the name of Nicolaus, so that what had been offered to idols could be exorcised and eaten, and that anyone who had committed fornication might receive the peace on the eighth day. And, therefore, he praised those to whom he wrote and promised to such great people the tree of life, which is in the paradise of their God. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.1.

THE SPIRITUAL PERSON MAY ADDRESS EVEN ANGELS. ORIGEN: In many places, and especially in the Psalms, you will find speech addressed to the angels. Power has been given to man—at least to him who has the Holy Spirit—to speak even to the angels. I shall give one example from these instances, so that we might realize that angels too can be taught by human voices. It has been written in the Apocalypse of John, “Write to the angel of the church of the Ephesians, ‘I have something against you.’” And again, “Write to the angel of the church of Pergamum, ‘I have something against you.’” Clearly it is a man who writes to angels and enjoins something. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 23.7.

THE ANGEL IS THE CHURCH. OECUMENIUS: He speaks periphrastically of the church in Ephesus as an “angel of the church in Ephesus.” For the guardian angel of the church has not sinned, so that it requires the admonition to repent. He is rather most holy and for this reason exists at the right hand of the Lord, giving as proof of this the purity of his nature and flashes as of light. Moreover, what need would there be for him who is conversing with the Evangelist to say, “write to him [the angel],” since the holy angel was present and was listening to the conversation (being on the right hand of the one speaking)? And, finally, the saint himself interprets the vision seen by him and says, “He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” He did not say “to the angels of the churches” but “to the churches.” And so, also in the remaining interpretations you will find the words “write the following to the angel of the church,” not that he is speaking about the angel but about the church. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.1-7.

EVERY CHURCH IS WORTHY OF PRAISE AND BLAME. BEDE: He blames part of this church, and he praises part of this church, according to the quality of its name. For Ephesus may be interpreted as either “great fall” or “my will in it.” … He shows that what he writes to the individual churches, he is saying to all the churches. For, it was not the church of the Ephesians alone, which, should it not repent, was to be moved from its place, nor was Pergamum only the seat of Satan, and not everywhere. Likewise, the remaining things of the individual churches are common to every church. … The “tree of life” is Christ, by the vision of whom holy souls are nourished in the celestial paradise and in the present body of the church. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 2.1, 7.

2:2 | Testing Those Who Call Themselves Apostles

IT IS NECESSARY TO TEST THOSE WHO PREACH. OECUMENIUS: And he says, “You are not able to bear evil men,” for you have acquired the habit of hating evil, and “you have tested those who have called themselves apostles but are not, and you have found them to be false.” Those in Ephesus fulfilled the divine command that they should not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. Therefore, they tested those who preached the gospel among them, and through this testing they found some to be false apostles who were proclaiming counterfeit doctrines. He speaks of those who were disciples of Cerinthus, who were contemporary with the Evangelist and were proclaiming profane teachings. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.1-7.

2:4 | I Have This Against You

GOD WILLS TO PARDON THE PENITENT. TERTULLIAN: 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. But he would not threaten the impenitent if he failed to pardon the penitent. ON PENITENCE 7-8.

2:5a | Repent and Do the Works You Did at First

THE CALL TO REPENTANCE IS A PROMISE OF FORGIVENESS TO THE PENITENT. CYPRIAN: But I wonder that some are so obstinate as to think that penance ought not to be allowed to the lapsed or as to consider that pardon ought to be denied to the penitent when it is written, “Remember whence you have fallen and repent and do the former works.” This is certainly said to him who, it is ascertained, has fallen and whom the Lord exhorts to rise again through works since is it written, “Alms deliver … from death.” Certainly not from that death which once the blood of Christ extinguished and from which the water of beneficial baptism and the grace of our Redeemer freed us, but from that which afterward creeps in through sins. In another place, also, time is given for repentance, and the Lord threatens the one who does not do penance. “I have,” he says, “many things against you: that you permit your wife Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication and to eat of things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time that she might repent, and she does not want to repent of her fornication. Behold, I will cast her upon a bed, and those who commit fornication with her are in the greatest tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.” The Lord certainly would not exhort to repentance if it were not because he promises pardon to the penitent. LETTER 55.22, TO ANTONIAN.

REPENTANCE IS TO BE FOLLOWED BY ACTIONS THAT EXPRESS REPENTANCE. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: For although he wishes that we remember those instances in which we have badly fallen, he exhorts that we might not fall again. And that our faults which we have committed might be cleansed, he shows a way by which one might come to pardon when he says, “Repent.” That is, wash away your sins with tears, just as “that sinful woman,” as a type of the church, “washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and wiped them with her hair.” And he exhorts and commands what one should do after repentance: “Do your first works,” either by an extraordinary goodness or do those works which you had done in the earnestness of your first conversion. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.5.

2:5 | I Will Come and Remove Your Lampstand

GOD MOVES FROM PATIENCE TO PUNISHMENT. OECUMENIUS: By the words “I will come to you,” he does not suggest any movement that involves a change of position, since God fills all things. Rather, he indicates, as it were, a change from his longsuffering to punishment. He speaks of the removal of the lampstands, that is, of the churches as his own abandonment [of them], which, when it comes against the sinners, brings them into every kind of distress and trouble, so that they might also say, “My eye was troubled with anger,” and “My heart was troubled within me.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.1-7.

THE LAMPSTAND MOVED BUT NOT TAKEN AWAY. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: Note that he did not say that he “takes away” [the lampstand] but that he “moves.” For the lampstand signifies the one Christian people. Therefore, he says that this lampstand is to be moved, not taken away, so that we might understand that in the very same church the evil are moved and the good confirmed. Moreover, he means that by the hidden but nonetheless just judgment of God, that which is taken from the evil is given as increase to the good. This fulfills that which is written, “He who has, it will be added to him; but to him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken from him.” EXPOSITION OF THE APOCALYPSE 2.5, HOMILY 2.

2:6 | The Works of the Nicolaitans

NICOLAITAN INDULGENCE NOT TRUE TO THE APOSTOLIC NICOLAUS. CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA: Similar, too, are those who claim to be followers of Nicolaus. They keep one of the man’s sayings, forcing its meaning: “One must misuse the flesh.” But this admirable man showed that we ought to curtail pleasures and desires and to use this discipline to weaken the impulses and onset of the flesh. Those who wallow in pleasure like goats are (you might say) violating the body and are plunged in the delights of passion. They do not realize that the body, whose nature is fleeting, falls into rags, while the soul is buried in a slough of vice, when they follow the instructions of pleasure rather than a man of apostolic faith. STROMATEIS 2.118.3-5.

HERESY MAKES THE CHURCH WEAK. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: Of the Nicolaitans, it is interpreted as “a pouring out” or “the folly of a fainting church.” And this is rightly said of heretics who have been poured out from the container of the truth and have tumbled headlong into the mud of deceit. And, concerning this pouring out, it is said in the Law: “You are poured out as water; you will not rise up.” Clearly, the foolishness of a fainting church is the perverse teaching of the heretics, for they do not bring healing to the wound of the people, but they afflict upon the people the greatest of weaknesses, thinking foolish thoughts about God and being themselves fully taken over by ridiculous ideas. Concerning such persons it is said: “They have restored the sorrow of my people to dishonor, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.” TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.6.

2:7a | Hear What the Spirit Says

LET THE OBEDIENT HEAR. OECUMENIUS: “He who has an ear,” that is, who is obedient by obeying the divine precepts, “let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” He says “the Spirit,” either because the visions of the Revelation are effected by the Spirit, or he calls Christ “spirit,” in that he is and is known to be God. Just as he does not fail to be called “Son of man” in that he is and is known to be man. For the Godhead is said to be all together “spirit,” as the Lord himself says in speaking to the Samaritan woman: “God is a spirit, and it is necessary that those who worship him, worship in spirit and in truth.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.1-7.

2:7b | Who Conquers Will Eat of the Tree of Life

GOD DETERMINES THE PRIZE FOR THE MARTYR. TERTULLIAN: In still another sense, a persecution can be considered as a contest. Who sets the terms of any contest if not the one who provides the crown and the prizes? You will find the terms of this contest decreed in the Apocalypse, where he proclaims the rewards of victory, especially for those who really come through persecution victorious, and in their victorious struggle have fought not merely against flesh and blood but against the spirits of wickedness. Obviously, then, the superintendent of the games and the one who sets the prize is the one who decides who is the winner of the contest. The essence, then, of a persecution is the glory of God, whether he approves or condemns, raises up or casts down. ON FLIGHT IN TIME OF PERSECUTION 1.5.

THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF LIFE COMES THROUGH THE GOSPEL. METHODIUS: The tree of life which paradise once bore, now again the church has produced for all, even the ripe and comely fruit of faith. It is necessary that we bring such fruit when we come to the judgment seat of Christ, on the first day of the feast. For if we are without it we shall not be able to feast with God nor to have part, according to John, in the first resurrection. For the tree of life is wisdom first begotten of all. “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her,” says the prophet, “and happy is every one that retains her.” “A tree planted by the waterside, that will bring forth its fruit in due season.” That is, learning and charity and discretion are imparted in due time to those who come to the waters of redemption. One who has not believed in Christ nor understood that he is the first principle and the tree of life, since he cannot show to God his tabernacle adorned with the best of fruits, how shall [this person] celebrate the feast? How shall he rejoice? Do you desire to know good fruit of the tree? Consider the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, how pleasant they are beyond mere human words. Good fruit came by Moses, that is the law, but not as good as the gospel. For the law is a kind of figure and shadow of things to come, but the gospel is truth and the grace of life. The fruit of the prophets was pleasant, but not so pleasant as the fruit of immortality which is plucked from the gospel. BANQUET OF THE TEN VIRGINS 9.3.

WE FEED ON CHRIST IN THE CHURCH. TYCONIUS: “Who conquers, I will grant to eat from the tree of life,” that is, from the fruit of the cross, “which is in the paradise of my God.” The church is to be regarded as paradise, for “all things were done in figure,” and Adam was “the shadow of the one to come,” as the apostle teaches. Indeed, the tree of life is the wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross. In the church and in the spiritual paradise, he gives to the faithful food of life and the sacrament of the celestial bread, of which you read, “Wisdom is the tree of life to those who embrace her.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.7.

REWARDS ARE PROMISED TO THOSE WHO REPENT. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: He has spoken of the toil of the church. He has described the perversity of the heretics. Now to those still in their failures, he exhorts to repentance, and [he] promises rewards after this toil to those who are victorious, so that, entering into paradise, they might freely eat from the tree of life, for which Adam was expelled from paradise, lest he eat anything from it. And so he says, “which is in the paradise of my God,” where, namely, the wind breathes life, where the mysteries give virtue, and he furnishes the fruit of the tree of life, that is, an eternity which does not fade away. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.7.

CHRIST IS WISDOM AND ETERNAL LIFE. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Every person has a physical ear, but only the spiritual person has a spiritual ear, such as was granted to Isaiah. And to such as conquer in the struggle against the demons, he promised to give “to eat from the tree of life,” that is, to grant them to share in the blessings of the future age, for eternal life is figuratively depicted through the tree. And Christ is said to be both, as is clear from what Solomon says and what our apostle writes in another passage. For, concerning wisdom, Solomon says, “She is the tree of life,” while John writes about Christ,“This is God and eternal life.” If, therefore, we are allowed to attain to these things, let us accomplish the victory over our sufferings. For, most certainly proper recompense will follow our trials, by the grace and beneficence of our Lord, Jesus Christ, with whom be glory to the Father together with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 2.7.