ACC ~ Revelation 3 v7 - 13

OVERVIEW:

Christ promises to love his church, for Philadelphia means “brotherly love” (BEDE). In this church, the Christians represent the highest form of saintly life, humility and steadfastness even in temptation (VICTORINUS). The Christ who addresses this church is holy and true, for he is sinless and truly is God and man (OECUMENIUS). Christ possesses “the key of David,” for he is both the son of David and the one foretold by David (TYCONIUS). As the one with David’s key, Christ rules over physical and spiritual Israel (OECUMENIUS) and reveals through the Holy Spirit the secrets of the law and the psalms (TYCONIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Through the use of this key, Christ opens and closes, for he reveals the secrets of the law to the faithful alone (PRIMASIUS), judges the hypocrites (TYCONIUS) and in the Holy Spirit gives the power both to speak and to understand (GREGORY THAUMATURGUS).

The preaching of the gospel is an open door throughout the world through which all may enter (TYCONIUS). Those who are faithful to the gospel may have little power, yet they possess strength in their confidence and faith in Christ (OECUMENIUS, PRIMASIUS). Indeed, many who now live in unbelief, especially the Jews, will at the end be gathered from the whole world into the church (TYCONIUS, OECUMENIUs). In the meantime, Christ will deliver his church from every kind of trial and persecution (TYCONIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Therefore, all the faithful, even confessors, should be aware of the snares of the devil, lest they fall (CYPRIAN). However, God has fixed the number of the elect, so that should someone fall away, another will take his or her crown (AUGUSTINE). But those who retain their love for the Lord and receive the crown of life will see God (OECUMENIUS) and adorn the church now and forever (BEDE). Unlike schismatics who leave the church, those who persevere in love to the end will never go out of the church. Rather, these will possess the new name of Christian, for the Son of man has died, was raised and is ascended (TYCONIUS). These will have eternally the name of the new Jerusalem and immortality (APRINGIUS) and receive blessings which are so sublime that they have never been named anywhere (OECUMENIUS).

3:7a | Write to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia

HUMILITY, SIMPLICITY, STEADFAST FAITH. VICTORINUS OF PETOVIUM: This sixth class represents the highest manner of life of the elect saints, namely, of those who are humble in the world and are untutored in the Scriptures but hold steadfastly to the faith and in no way withdraw from the faith out of fear. To these he says, “I have set before you an open door,” and he further says, “For you have kept the word of my patience”—with such little strength—“and I will save you from the hour of temptation.” And that they might know his glory in this manner, he does not permit them to be handed over into temptation. “He who conquers,” he says, “he will become a pillar in the temple of God.” A pillar is a decoration of a building, and so he who perseveres will obtain a nobility in the church. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.2.

THE LORD PROMISES TO LOVE HIS CHURCH. BEDE: Philadelphia is interpreted “brotherly love,” and to [that church] is opened the door of the kingdom and he promises that she will be loved by the Lord. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 3.7.

3:7b | The Holy One, the True One

CHRIST IS SINLESS, TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN. OECUMENIUS: The Holy One is the Son of God. And the seraphim bear witness to this when they ascribe the threefold holiness to the one lordship, as though he possesses nothing earthly nor sinful, and even though the Word became flesh, “He did not sin, nor was any guile found in his mouth,” as the prophet Isaiah says. He is said to be “true,” for he is, and he truly is what he is said to be. He is said to be God, and the title is not false, for he is truly God, Immanuel, even though the accursed Nestorius does not agree to this. He became man, not because he ceased to be God, but he is truly man, even though Eutyches, hated by God, is displeased with this claim. What he is, he is truly, and there is nothing concerning him which is by way of mere ascription, as the Nestorians say, nor is there anything which is mere appearance and fantasy, as the Eutychians would have it, and also that accursed and despicable race of Manichaeans. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.

3:7c | The Key of David

CHRIST IS FROM DAVID. TYCONIUS: “Who has the key of David,” that is, royal authority. He says “the key of David” either because Christ was born from his family or because David himself foretold many things concerning Christ. Through the dispensation of Christ, as though by a key, the secrets of the law and of the prophets and of the psalms were made manifest. Christ himself attests to this when he says, “Everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7.

CHRIST HAS THE THRONE OF DAVID. OECUMENIUS: Since the key signifies the authority, when he says, “he who has the key of David,” it is clear that just as David ruled the physical Israel, so in addition to the physical Israel, I also rule the spiritual Israel. However, to be sure, the distinction of authority differs by an incomparable superiority. For, what equality does humankind have with God? And this good news the holy angel, Gabriel, spoke to the Virgin concerning the Lord: “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of David, his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Therefore, since Christ possessed a likeness to the reign of David, it is appropriate that he speak of “him who has the key of David.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.

THE HOLY SPIRIT OPENS THE TREASURES OF KNOWLEDGE. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: His kingdom is called “the key of David,” for this is a symbol of authority. And, moreover, the Holy Spirit is the key of the book of the Psalms and of every prophecy, for through him the treasures of knowledge are opened. He received the first key according to his humanity, but the second key he possesses according to his deity, which has no beginning. Since in some of the copies there is written “hades” instead of “David,” through the image of the “key of hades” the authority of life and death is ascribed to Christ. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7.

3:7d | Who Opens and No One Shuts

THE POWER OF SPEAKING AND OF UNDERSTANDING. GREGORY THAUMATURGUS: These things, moreover, as I judge, he gives forth only and truly by participation in the divine Spirit. There is need of the same power for those who prophesy and for those who hear the prophets. No one can rightly hear a prophet unless the same Spirit who prophesies bestows on him the capacity of grasping his words. And this principle is expressed indeed in the holy Scriptures themselves when it is said that only he who shuts opens, and no other one whatever; and what is shut is opened when that word of inspiration explains mysteries. ORATION AND PANEGYRIC ADDRESSED TO ORIGEN 15.

CHRIST CLOSES THE DOOR OF LIFE TO HYPOCRITES. TYCONIUS: “Who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.” It is evident that Christ opens [the door] to those who knock, but to hypocrites who knock and say, “Lord, Lord open to us,” he closes the door of life and says to them, “I do not know from where you come; I never knew you, you evildoers.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7.

CHRIST ALONE OPENS THE SECRETS OF THE LAW. PRIMASIUS: The secrets of the divine law are disclosed to the faithful by the power of Christ alone, and they are closed to the unbelievers. However, when he loosens, no one shuts, and when he binds, no one loosens. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7.

3:8a | An Open Door

THE DOOR OF THE CHURCH. TYCONIUS: He had said before, “who opens and no one shuts,” lest anyone say that the door of the church, which God opens in the whole world, can be closed by anyone in some part of the world. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.8.

CHRIST WILL PRESERVE THE PREACHING OF APOSTOLIC DOCTRINE. TYCONIUS: The door, which Christ opened, he then began to reveal to the church when he opened the mind of his disciples so that they might understand the Scriptures. This door is never shut, by the power or the effort of anyone, which is already opened to those who preach to the whole world. For this reason the apostle says, “A wide door has opened for us in the Lord, and there are many adversaries.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.8.

3:8b | You Have Little Power

FAITH KEEPS STRONG THOSE WHO LIVE AMONG THE FAITHLESS. OECUMENIUS: Philadelphia was a small city and thereby possessed little power. Nonetheless, by keeping the faith of Christ, it rose above its own strength, as one undaunted to live among those who trouble the faithful. Then, as a reward for their genuineness to him, he promises that many on the Jewish registry will come to her and accept the faith in Christ. For this is what it means for them to worship at her feet, namely, in the last days to choose to be enrolled in the church, that is, to be a part of the church. And the prophet also joyfully spoke of this: “I have chosen to be thrown aside in the house of my God, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.

TRUE STRENGTH IS IN THE POWER OF CHRIST. PRIMASIUS: He shows the reason why the church has merited these gifts: because she does not have confidence in her own powers but in the power of Christ the king. And confessing that she has but little power, she is glorified, having been redeemed not in herself but in the Lord. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.8.

3:9 | Bowing Before Your Feet

GOD WILL GATHER ALSO JEWS. TYCONIUS: “Behold, those from the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie: behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and learn that I have loved you.” At that time he promised to the universal church that there will be “one flock and one Shepherd.” We should note that it was not only in Philadelphia that there were believers from the synagogue of the Jews, as we find recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. … He said to the second angel, “You have the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not.” Nevertheless, he did not promise that there would be some who would come from them, that is, [fall] at the feet of the body of Christ. We believe that this will happen everywhere, since God will command his church to be gathered from the whole world. Therefore, to the sixth angel, that is the one before the last, he promised what he had indicated to the others without any promise. And so he foretells to the sixth angel what will happen before the final end, that the unbelieving will come as suppliants to the church of God. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.9.

3:10 | Kept from the Hour of Trial

CHRIST WILL DELIVER THE CHURCH. TYCONIUS: Although the church is constantly put to the test by both internal and external conflict, and either individuals partially or the whole generally are attacked by various temptations, yet the hour of temptation may also refer to the time of the antichrist who will come in the future. From this hour Christ the Lord promises that he will free every church that remains firm in his [commandments], so that the temptation to ruin might be recognized to be a deception. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALPSE 3.10.

CHRIST WILL NOT ALLOW THE FAITHFUL TO BE TEMPTED BEYOND ENDURANCE. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: By the “hour of trial” he speaks either of the persecution against the Christians which occurred almost immediately by those who ruled Rome at that time, from which he promised that the church would be freed, or he speaks of the universal coming of the antichrist against the faithful at the end of time. From this coming he pledges to free those who are zealous, for they will beforehand be seized upward by a departure from there, lest they be tempted beyond what they are able [to endure]. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.10-11.

3:11 | Hold Fast

HOLD FAST TO RIGHTEOUSNESS. CYPRIAN: For confession [of Christ] does not make one immune from the snares of the devil. Nor does it defend one who is still placed in the world with a perpetual security against worldly temptations and dangers and onsets and attacks. Otherwise we should never have seen afterwards among the confessors the deceptions and debaucheries and adulteries that now with groaning and sorrow we see among some. Whoever that confessor is, he is not greater or better or dearer to God than Solomon. As long as he walked in the ways of the Lord, so long he retained the grace he had received from the Lord. After he had abandoned the way of the Lord, he lost also the grace of the Lord. And so it is written, “Hold what you have, lest another receive thy crown.” Surely the Lord would not threaten to deprive of the crown of righteousness unless when righteousness parts, it is necessary that also the crown depart. THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH 20.

THE NUMBER OF THE ELECT IS FIXED. AUGUSTINE: I have said all this about those who have been predestined to the kingdom of God, whose number is so fixed that not one can be added to it or taken from it. I have not been speaking of those who, although he had declared and spoken, have been called but not chosen, because they were not called according to his purpose. The fact that the number of the elect is fixed, not to be increased or diminished, is suggested even by John the Baptist, where he says, “Bring forth therefore fruit befitting repentance. And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father.’ For I say to you that God is able out of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” The words show that those who do not bring forth fruit are to be cut off, in such a way, however, that the number [of children] promised to Abraham will not fall short. However, it is more openly declared in the Apocalypse: “Hold fast what you have, that no one receive your crown.” For if another is not to receive a crown, unless someone first lose it, the number is fixed. ADMONITION AND GRACE 13.39.

GAINING THE CROWN OF LIFE. OECUMENIUS: “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may take your crown.” And what is it which you hold fast? Clearly one’s genuine love for the Lord, in which, should one contend unto the end, he will obtain the crown of life. For the victors’ prizes go only to those who remain to the end. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.

3:12a | A Pillar in the Temple of God

THE ONE WHO CONQUERS WILL SEE GOD. OECUMENIUS: And I will make him who conquers temptations to rejoice always in the vision of God, for this is what it means to become a pillar of the divine temple. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.

THOSE WHO PERSEVERE. BEDE: Whoever has conquered adversity for my sake will be glorious in the temple of the church and will never fear any further loss from adversity. These pillars, that is, holy men, now defend the church by supporting it, but then adorn the church by their eminence, just as the two pillars at the entrance of Solomon’s temple. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 3.12.

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH THERE WILL BE NO SALVATION. TYCONIUS: “And he shall never go out of it.” The nations went out from God, and they gave to idols that worship which they owed to God alone. But “all the families of the nations will remember and turn to the Lord and shall worship before him.” This refers to those whom he foretold would come “from the synagogue of Satan.” For having broken the bond of charity, the schismatics have gone out of the house of God. They are those who have separated themselves from the body of the whole church which is throughout the world and who vainly glory in themselves and firmly believe that they are the whole church, even though they themselves are not everywhere. For when he says that “he shall never go out of it,” he shows that at the end of time there will be a struggle. For it will happen that after unity there will be a final struggle in which there will be another separation. And wherever anyone will have been freed, he shall certainly not go out, and he shall remain in the house, not as a slave but as a son. And therefore God allowed those who were saved from the flood in the ark to go out, because until that time there was still time for returning from one’s sins. However, at the end of time it will not be allowed one any longer to come out, for whoever at that time will go out, will have not occasion for repentance. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.12.

3:12b | The New Name

THE NEW NAME IS THAT OF THE SON OF MAN. TYCONIUS: “And I will write on him the name of my God.” That is, we are signed with the name of Christian. “And the name of the city of the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven.” The name of the church that daily comes down from God out of heaven, that is, from the church that is reborn by the Lord. He speaks of it as new because of the newness of the Son of man who is the new Jerusalem. … “Indeed, the name which is above every name.” However, this name is not new because it refers to the Son of God, who existed before the world and possessed this glory with the Father. Rather, this name is new in regard to the Son of man who died and on the third day rose again and, ascending to the heavens, sits at the right hand of the Father. For it is the Son of man who said “my new name,” whom [John] saw “in the midst of the seven lampstands.” This Son of man is God “at whose name every knee bows, in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.12.

THOSE WITH THE NEW NAME. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: [I will write on him the name of my God] so that he might be signed with the divine name and be adorned with the glory of immortality and might receive the name of the divine city of Jerusalem, which is the vision of peace, and so fully enjoy the society of perpetual quiet and security. This is that city which descends out of heaven from God, so that the saints might dwell and repose within it. “And my new name.” In God nothing is old, because he does grow old with age. But the name of the Lord is always new, always fresh. And if any is named by this name, having been changed by the eternal power, he will obtain eternal life. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.12.

THE JOY AND BLESSEDNESS OF VICTORY. OECUMENIUS: Through these names he depicts the joy of God and the blessedness of dwelling in the midst of blessings, which they will have in the coming age. The “new name” has never been heard anywhere, which the saints, who reign with Christ and who are called “friends” and “brothers” and “servants” will obtain. But the new name transcends even these designations. For these names are written in holy Scripture and have been heard by people. But the new name has been unnamed in every place. And that he says “of my God” suggests that he does not deem himself unworthy of the limitations of his condescension or of the humility of his human nature. For if he had disdained these things, who would have compelled him to be personally united to the flesh and so to fashion our salvation? COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3.7-13.