Study Notes
The Necessity of Humility June 25, 2017
Revelation 3:14-22
To the Church in Laodicea 14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
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Study Notes
14. This is the one letter in which the titles of Christ are not drawn from the description in chapter 1. They stress his faithfulness and his authority. The Amen reflects ‘the God of truth’ (lit. ‘the God of Amen’, Isa. 65:16) and is reinforced with the faithful and true witness (cf. 1:5). This reliability stands in sharp contrast to the unfaithfulness of the Christians in this city.
Ruler (archē) combines the thoughts that Christ has the supreme authority over creation and that he is the origin of created being (cf. John 1:3; Col. 1:15–18). There are a number of resemblances in Colossians (which Paul had directed to be read in Laodicea, Col. 4:16) to expressions in this letter. It is a reasonable conclusion that the Laodicean church had copied and treasured Colossians and that John is appealing to their knowledge of it.
15. The deeds of this church are summed up in the accusation you are neither cold nor hot. The imagery may be derived from the water-supply of the city which appears to have been drawn from hot springs at some distance, so that it arrived at the city lukewarm. This forms a contrast with the hot springs at nearby Hierapolis and the cold, refreshing water at Colosse. ‘Hot water heals, cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless for either purpose, and can serve only as an emetic.’ Alternatively the words may mean that the Christianity of this church was lukewarm, when the meaning would be ‘outright denial is better than phoney piety’ (Orr). To prefer a rejection of the faith to the way the Laodiceans professed it is startling to say the least (cf. 2 Pet. 2:21). But to profess Christianity while remaining untouched by its fire is a disaster. There is more hope for the openly antagonistic than for the coolly indifferent. ‘There is no one farther from the truth in Christ than the one who makes an idle profession without real faith’ (Walvoord). Their coolness was a denial of all that Christ stands for.
16. Lukewarm (chliaros, here only in biblical Greek) underlines the trouble, which is spelt out in the repetition of neither hot nor cold. On I am about to (mellō) Simcox comments, ‘The word used does not necessarily imply that the intention is final, and v. 19 shows that it is not.’ A very strong warning has been given, but it is still a warning. To spit you out of my mouth expresses in the strongest way a vigorous repudiation of the Laodiceans. Lukewarmness is not to be endured. The Ephesians were condemned for too great a zeal, coupled as it was with lovelessness, the Laodiceans for too little.
17. This church says (habitually, present tense), I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing (contrast Smyrna, where the church was poor materially but rich spiritually, 2:9). Laodicea was a self-reliant city. It did indeed receive help from the government in AD 17, but when it was destroyed by the earthquake in AD 60, Tacitus could say the city ‘without any relief from us, recovered itself by its own resources’.
But this commendable attitude in material things can be a disaster if carried over into the spiritual realm. The Laodicean church saw itself as wealthy and there is an article before wretched which yields the sense ‘You are the wretched one’, ‘the wretched one par
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Study Notes excellence’ (Charles). Where an unsatisfactory state of affairs is concerned this church leads all the rest. It is pitiful (eleeinos, ‘in need of mercy’); it is poor, blind and naked, which is surely a hit at Laodicea’s banking, medical school, and clothing manufacturers. For poor (ptōchos) see note on 2:9. 18. For this threefold deficiency the remedy is in Christ. From him they should buy gold refined in the fire (cf. 1 Pet. 1:7), real wealth. White clothes should be seen against the city’s reputation for making clothing from black wool. Nakedness was in the ancient world the ultimate humiliation (cf. 2 Sam. 10:4; Isa. 20:4; Ezek. 16:37–39; Nah. 3:5; etc.), while contrariwise to be clothed in fine clothing was to receive honour (Gen. 41:42; Esth. 6:6–11; Dan. 5:29). The putting of salve on the eyes may allude to the fact that there was a world-famous remedy for sore eyes which came from Phrygia and may have been especially associated with Laodicea. Christ alone gives real sight (cf. John 9:39).
19. Those (hosous, ‘as many as’) makes no exceptions. Chastening is the lot of all whom God loves (cf. Prov. 3:12). On love Charles comments, ‘It is a touching and unexpected manifestation of love to those who deserve it least among the Seven Churches.’ The I is emphatic; chastening comes not from hostile forces but from the Lord of the church himself. This is the basis of an exhortation to a continuing state of zeal (be earnest, zēleue, is present continuous) and a decisive act of repentance (repent is aorist of once-for-all repentance).
20. Here I am! (paraphrase for ‘Behold’) is vivid. John sees it before his eyes. Christ is there, standing at the door. He is knocking, where the tense signifies not a perfunctory rap, but a knocking continued in the hope of a response. Up till this point the letter has been addressed to the church as a whole, but now there is a change. If anyone is an appeal to the individual. Even if the church as a whole does not heed the warning, some individuals may. There is a note of tender pleading and probably also that of love (cf. Song 5:2). Christ promises to enter in to anyone who opens the door. More than that: I will eat (deipnēso) … conveys the thought of familiar intercourse. The deipnon was the main meal of the day and was a leisurely affair, not a hurried snack (cf. John 14:23). And he with me brings the believer into active fellowship. It is not necessary for the sense, but it emphasizes the continuing fellowship. It all forms a remarkably tender appeal to a church far gone from its rightful state.
21. The throne signifies royal honour, and a place with Christ is the highest honour conceivable for a Christian. This is emphasized by likening it to the way Christ is enthroned with the Father (cf. 22:1, 3). Just as I overcame is important. Christ overcame by the way of the cross and this set the pattern for his followers (cf. 12:11). They face grim days. But let them never forget that what seemed Christ’s defeat was in fact his victory over the world.
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Study Notes
1 They need not fear if they are called upon to suffer, for in that way they too will conquer.
3:14–22 The letter to the church in Laodicea
Laodicea was situated on the bank of the River Lycus. Its position at the junction of three imperial roads traversing Asia Minor favoured its development as a wealthy commercial and administrative centre. Three facts known throughout the Roman world about the city throw light on this letter: it was a banking centre, whose banks even Cicero recommended for exchanging money; it manufactured clothing and woollen carpets, made especially from the glossy black wool of sheep reared locally; and it had a medical school and produced medicines, notably an eye ointment made from a pulverized rock in the area. The stern characterization of the church’s spiritual life (17) and the call for its repentance (18) are both couched in terms of these three activities of the city.
14 As the Amen Jesus is the embodiment of the faithfulness and truthfulness of God (see Is. 65:16). The Christian use of ‘Amen’ adds the thought that he is also the guarantor and executor of the purposes of God. Such a designation stands in vivid contrast to the faithlessness of the Laodiceans. The title the ruler of God’s creation is better rendered ‘the prime source of all God’s creation (NEB). It is like ‘Alpha’ in the title ‘Alpha and Omega’ (1:8), and here is perhaps intended to emphasize the Lord’s authority and power to carry out that purpose of which he is guarantor and faithful witness.
15–16 The terms cold, hot and lukewarm are likely to relate to waters around and in Loadicea. Nearby Hierapolis was famed for its hot springs; Colosse, also near at hand, was noted for a cold, clear stream of excellent drinking water. Since, however, the River Lycus dried up in summer, Laodicea had to use a long viaduct for its water, which was not only tepid but impure and sometimes foul, making people sick. The church of that city had that effect on Christ—a vivid and horrifying picture of judgment. (V 16 should not be taken as indicating that the Lord prefers an atheist or a fanatical religious zealot to a tepid Christian. The issue is the possession of genuine life in Christ by those who profess the Christian faith, not the way they hold it.)
17–18 In a single sentence with contrasting clauses (You say I counsel you ) the … … irony of the Laodiceans’ situation is brought home to them. In spite of their wealth they are wretched and pitiful; despite their physicians and medicaments for the eyes they are blind; and in spite of their abundance of cloth they are naked. Accordingly the Lord calls on them to buy from him what they lack (cf. 1 Cor. 2:6–16; 2 Cor. 4:1–6). 19 The nauseating condition of the Laodiceans has not quenched the love of Christ for 1 Morris, L. (1987). Revelation: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, pp. 84–86). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
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Study Notes them; his scathing judgments are the expression of an affection that wishes to lead them to repentance (cf. Heb. 12:4–11). The gracious invitation that follows in v 20 is given, not to the church as a whole, as though Christ was outside the church (which would require, ‘If the church will hear my voice I will go in and eat with them, and they with me’), but to … each individual within it, conveying the offer of the risen Lord to share with any who will open the door of fellowship in even the commonest activities of life.
21 Just as a high privilege is offered to these unworthy Christians so is a promise greater than all those previously uttered: just as believers invite Christ to make his home with them in this transitory life, so the Lord will invite anyone who endures to the end to share in the coming ages the throne that the Father has given to him. The fulfillment of the promise is portrayed in 20:4–6, the ‘millennial’ rule in history, and 22:5, the eternal reign in 2 the new creation.
REVELATION 3:14–22 The Letter to Laodicea
14 ‘Write this to the angel of the church in Laodicea. “These are the words of the 15 Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your 16 works: you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I’m rich! I’ve done well! I don’t need anything!’—but you don’t know that 18 you are miserable, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. This is my advice to you: buy from me gold refined in the fire—that’ll make you rich!—and white clothes to cover yourselves and prevent your shameful nakedness being seen; and also healing 19 ointment to put on your eyes, so that you will be able to see. When people are my friends, I tell them when they’re in the wrong, and I punish them for it; so stir up 20 your spirits and repent! Look! I’m standing here, knocking at the door. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to them and eat with them, and 21 they with me. This will be my gift to the one who conquers: I will sit them beside 22 me on my throne, just as I conquered and sat with my father on his throne. Let the one who has an ear listen to what the spirit is saying to the churches.” ’
At the beginning of the year 2011, there were extraordinary floods in Australia. To begin with it was part of Queensland, the vast state in the north-east of the country. Then it was more of the state, and still more. Then the floodwaters extended southwards across the
2 Beasley-Murray, G. R. (1994). Revelation. In D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, & G. J. Wenham (Eds.), New Bible commentary: 21st century edition (4th ed., pp. 1432–1433). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.
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Study Notes border into New South Wales. Hundreds of thousands of homes were ruined, and millions of people displaced. The effect on businesses will not be known, at the time I am writing this, for some while, if ever.
In late January, the Prime Minister of Australia announced that there would be a one-off tax to help the country to rebuild after the devastation. Nobody who had been affected would have to pay, nor would the very poor. It was the least Australians could do, to reach out and help those who had lost everything.
That sense of an emergency in which the state has to come to the rescue goes back a very, very long way, at least to the Roman world of the first century. As we saw in the previous letter, Philadelphia had been devastated in the earthquake of AD 17, and had gratefully accepted help from central funds in Rome. But when a later earthquake, in AD 61, did major damage to several cities in the Lycus valley, to the south of Philadelphia, one city was able to refuse imperial help. It was a proud thing to do. Most would have jumped at the offer. But Laodicea reckoned it didn’t need outside help. It was quite rich enough, thank you very much.
That tells us one of the most important things we need to know about Laodicea, which stood at the junction of important trade routes running more or less north-south and east-west across the district of Phrygia. Like many towns similarly situated, Laodicea profited from the regular traffic. It was, in fact, the banking centre of the whole region, and we know today what that means. But there was more. The town boasted a fine medical school; people would come from far distances to train as doctors. In particular, the school specialized in ophthalmology, the healing of the eyes. Laodicea was a good place to get hold of a particularly popular Phrygian eye-powder.
Still there was more. The local farmers in Laodicea had developed a particular breed of black sheep whose wool was of especially fine quality. This seems to have generated a fashion, which the breeders were only too happy to support. Clothes made from the Laodicean wool were highly sought after.
The one thing the city did not have was good water. The river Lycus at that point is not strong, and sometimes it dries up altogether in the summer. There are, however, two other sources of water, one to the north and the other to the southeast. To the north, standing high on a dramatic cliff, is the city of Hierapolis. It boasts to this day a set of hot springs to which tourists come from all over the world; the hot, chemically charged water comes bubbling out of the ground (channelled, today, into the bathing pools of various hotels), and spills over the cliff, leaving a white mineral deposit visible from miles around. In the first century they built aquaducts to bring this water across to Laodicea in the centre of the valley, four or five miles away. They can still be seen today—with their insides covered in hardened mineral deposit. But by the time the water arrived in Laodicea it was no longer hot. It was merely lukewarm. What was worse, the concentrated chemicals made it
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Study Notes unsuitable to drink, unless for medicinal reasons you wanted to make yourself physically sick.
To the south-east of Laodicea was the town of Colosse. It, too, had suffered badly in the earthquake of AD 61, but had not been rebuilt. Colosse, however, had a splendid supply of water, flowing down from high, snow-capped Mount Cadmus: fast-flowing, chilly streams of almost Alpine quality. But by the time the water reached Laodicea, 11 miles away, the normal Turkish heat meant that it, too, had become lukewarm.
It is this remarkable feature of Laodicea—hot water that has cooled down, and cold water that has heated up—which forms the most famous part of this most famous of the seven letters. Indeed, the word ‘Laodicean’ has become proverbial for ‘lukewarmness’, with the meaning of ‘apathetic’, ‘neither one thing nor the other’. So Jesus addresses the church with a mixture of sorrow and, it seems, real anger: ‘You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.’ ‘Vomit’ is not too strong a word here. Jesus is disgusted at the taste of Laodicean Christianity. It makes him sick.
The ‘local colour’ of this letter continues in full strength. ‘You say, “I’m rich! I’ve done well! I don’t need anything!” ’ Apparently the smug, well-off attitude of the town as a whole had rubbed off on the Christians. But Jesus leaves them in no doubt. They are, in fact, miserable and pitiful (two general terms for their actual condition, even though it didn’t feel like that): they are, more specifically, poor, blind and naked. They need the sort of gold that only Jesus can give. They need the kind of fine clothes—white ones, rather than the black ones so popular locally!—that only he can provide (white robes, we remind ourselves, were worn by the newly baptized, signalling their commitment to a new, holy life). They need a new kind of eye-salve; the Phrygian speciality won’t do to heal the spiritual blindness of the place and the people. This is devastating stuff, all the more so for its multiple echoes of local culture.
Saint Teresa of Avila once complained to the Lord about what she was suffering. ‘This’, he is said to have replied, ‘is how I treat my friends.’ Teresa, who by then prayed in the good, direct and biblical style, retorted, ‘Then you shouldn’t be surprised that you have so few of them.’ Verse 19 has just the suggestion of that kind of wry humour: after the withering denunciations of verses 15–18, Jesus now says, in effect, ‘Now you know how I treat my friends!’ It is because the Laodicean Christians are still, despite everything, on Jesus’ list of friends—and Jesus is a faithful friend, even if we are not—that he will tell them sharply and truly when they are in the wrong. Because he is not only a friend but their Lord, he will also punish them, not to devastate them but to bring them to their senses. ‘Stir up your spirits and repent!’ One might say to many parts of today’s church: if the cap fits, wear it.
As well as local colour, the letter to Laodicea carries the most striking descriptions of
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Study Notes
Jesus himself, and the most powerful promise. Strange, perhaps, that the one church that was in real trouble drew from the Lord the most intimate and loving promise. Perhaps there’s a lesson there too. Jesus describes himself as ‘the Amen’, the one who stays true to his word, ‘the faithful and true witness’, and, more remarkably, ‘the beginning of God’s creation’. This echoes Colossians 1:15–20 (in a letter which was designed to be forwarded to Laodicea, as Colossians 4:16 indicates): Jesus is the one through whom God’s world came to be, and also the one in whose resurrection the new creation has been launched. That cosmic plan puts the Laodicean lukewarmness into even more embarrassing perspective. Here is Jesus, the lord of the cosmos, and here are you, smug and self-satisfied but in fact poor, naked and blind!
And then there come the two closing promises. I said that verse 15 was the most famous verse in the letter, but verse 20 runs it close: ‘Look! I’m standing here, knocking at the door.’ I must have heard dozens of talks and sermons on that verse, all encouraging the hearers to open the door of their hearts, of their lives, and to let Jesus come in. Wonderful. Vital. Absolutely necessary. But, sadly, not quite what this passage is about. The echoes of stories in the gospels suggest that the one knocking on the door is the master of the house, returning at an unexpected hour (as in the warning to Sardis in 3:3), while the one who should open the door is the servant who has stayed awake. It is, then, Jesus’ house in the first place; our job is simply to welcome him home. And the echoes of the ancient scriptures suggest a different but related image. This is the bridegroom, knocking on the door of the house where his beloved lies asleep (Song of Solomon 5:2). A glance at Revelation 21:2 suggests that this may have been in mind as well.
And again there is more. For some reason, all those talks and sermons I used to hear never got around to the second half of the verse: ‘I will come in to them and eat with them, and they with me.’ No early Christian could have heard those words without thinking of the regular meal, the bread-breaking, at which Jesus would come powerfully and personally and give himself to his people. Such meals anticipate the final messianic banquet (see 19:9). They are advance ‘comings’ of the one who will one day come fully and for ever.
Those who share this meal, and who are thereby strengthened to ‘conquer’ as Jesus ‘conquered’ through his death, will have the most extraordinary privilege. It is already quite mind-blowing to think of Jesus sharing the throne of God—though the early Christians saw this as the fulfilment of Psalm 110 and Daniel 7. But now it appears that ‘those who conquer’ are going to share Jesus’ throne as well. They will (that is) share his strange, sovereign rule over the world, the rule to which he came not by force of arms but by the power of suffering love. This is what it means to be ‘a royal priesthood’.
The seven letters are ended. Let anyone with an ear listen, today as much as in John’s
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Study Notes
3 day, to what the spirit is saying to the churches.
Revelation 3:14–22
The Letter to the Church at Laodicea
The courier who had been entrusted by the apostle John with the seven letters to the seven churches neared his journey’s end. Having embarked from the island of Patmos with the book of Revelation securely tucked away in his messenger’s pouch, he would have begun his travel along the circular route by first visiting Ephesus. Moving northward he would pass through the cities of Smyrna and Pergamum, at which point, turning southeast, his journey would lead him to Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia. Finally, having come almost full circle along the well-beaten trade route, he would arrive at his final destination: Laodicea.
As he no doubt tarried in each of the cities long enough to hear the public reading of the respective letters, his understanding of the nature and practice of the local church surely blossomed. Ephesus: so zealous for theological purity and yet growing coldly indifferent to one another. Smyrna: wracked with poverty as a result of persecution and suffering, yet standing firm. Pergamum: so full of love and compassion but in danger of theological and moral compromise. Thyatira: the epitome of growth and development but overly tolerant of false teaching. Sardis: known throughout the world for life and love, but in reality spiritual putrefaction was rampant. And Philadelphia: so small, so seemingly insignificant, yet so diligent and patient in the face of a hostile world. He must have thought he had seen it all until he came to Laodicea! … Laodicea was a wealthy city, perhaps the wealthiest in all of Phrygia. It was so wealthy that following a devastating earthquake in 60 a.d. the city rebuilt itself without financial aid from Rome. In the Annals (xiv.27) Tacitus wrote: “Laodicea arose from the ruins by the strength of her own resources, and with no help from us.” It was a city known not simply for its monetary success (it was a banking center) but for its linen and wool industry (especially black sheep!) as well as its medical school. Probably the most famous medicinal product to come out of Laodicea was an eye ointment made from a power produced in Phrygia.
Self-confident, self-sufficient, seemingly well-endowed to such a church which … considered itself rich, our Lord says “Buy from me gold that you may become rich” (v. … 18); to such a church which took pride in its textile industry, our Lord says “Buy from me …
3 Wright, T. (2011). Revelation for Everyone (pp. 36–41). London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox.
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Study Notes white garments that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed” (v. 18); to such a church which boasted of its contribution to ophthalmic medicine our Lord says “Buy from me eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see” (v. … 18). The severity of this letter is unmistakable, as is also the absence of a single word of praise or commendation. “Even in the nearly dead church at Sardis there was a faithful remnant, but no such remnant is clearly discernible in the Laodicean church” (Beale, 302).
We don’t know how or when the gospel came to Laodicea. Paul most likely never visited the church and thus it seems probable that Epaphras, servant of the Lord in Colossae, initiated the work there. Colossians 4:12–16 indicates that Paul wrote a letter to the congregation at Laodicea, a letter now lost to us (Laodicea is mentioned five times in the letter to the Colossians: 2:1; 4:13, 15, 16(2)). Beyond this we know little of its history.
Vv. 14–17 This is the only instance in the seven letters where the description of Jesus is not taken from the visionary portrait of chp. 1. In describing himself as “The Amen” Jesus is probably alluding to Isa. 65:16, the only time this title is used of God.
Our Lord discerns two things in Laodicea: (1) moral and religious tepidity or lukewarmness (vv. 15–16), and prideful self-sufficiency (v. 17).
(1) Moral and religious tepidity (vv. 15–16) In sum, the Christianity at Laodicea was flabby and anemic! What is the significance of the terminology of cold, hot, and lukewarm? Often people think that by “hot” Jesus is referring to zealous, lively, hard-working Christians, and that by “cold” he is referring to lifeless pagans. Hot, so goes the argument, refers to spiritually active believers whereas cold refers to apathetic pagans. But this creates a problem: how can Jesus prefer the indifferent pagan to the backslidden, lukewarm Christian? Granted, the latter is bad, but is it really the case that Jesus would prefer his lukewarm people to be in blatant unbelief? This seems highly unlikely.
An understanding of certain features of the topography of the land may go a long way in helping make sense of Jesus’ imagery.
It is important to be aware of the fact that Laodicea was only six miles south of Hierapolis and eleven miles west of Colossae. These three cities were the most important of all in the Lycus Valley. Laodicea itself lacked a natural water supply and was dependent on its neighbors for this vital resource.
It is now believed that “hot” and “cold” don’t refer to the spiritual “temperature”, as
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Study Notes
it were, of the believer and the unbeliever, but to the “hot” medicinal waters of Hierapolis on the one hand (whose “hot springs” reached 95 degrees), and the “cold” refreshing waters of Colossae on the other. If this is what Jesus had in mind, “the church is not being called to task for its spiritual temperature but for the barrenness of its works” (Mounce, 125–26). The church was providing neither refreshment for the spiritually weary (portrayed through the imagery of “cold” water from Colossae), nor healing for the spiritually sick (portrayed through the imagery of “hot” water from Hierapolis). The church was simply ineffective and thus distasteful to the Lord. This relieves the problem of why Christ would prefer the church to be “cold” rather than “lukewarm”. The church in Laodicea is rebuked, therefore, for the useless and barren nature of its works, indicative of its stagnant spiritual condition. In the word “lukewarm” there is probably another allusion to the hot springs of Hierapolis, located just 6 miles north of Laodicea. As the hot, mineral-laden waters traveled across the plateau towards Laodicea, they gradually became lukewarm before cascading over the edge directly in view of the Laodicean populace. There are actually archaeological remains in Laodicea of an aqueduct system that would have carried water from Hierapolis. They could hardly forget this lukewarm water which would make one sick if drunk. “That is what you are like to Me,” says Jesus. The imagery is graphic! Be it noted, however, that this “spewing” out of Christ’s mouth is not necessarily an unalterable decree of judgment, but rather a threat of divine discipline which may be abated through repentance and obedience (cf. v. 19).
(2) Prideful, self-sufficiency (v. 17) Their spiritual barrenness was probably the rotten fruit of a prideful self-sufficient attitude. Ladd explains:
“The church boasted that it was healthy and prosperous. The Greek of this verse literally rendered is, ‘I am rich and I have gotten riches.’ Not only did the church boast in her supposed spiritual well-being; she boasted that she had acquired her wealth by her own efforts. Spiritual complacency was accompanied by spiritual pride. No doubt part of her problem was the inability to distinguish between material and spiritual prosperity. The church that is prosperous materially and outwardly can easily fall into the self-deception that her outward prosperity is the measure of her spiritual prosperity. [The church] is in reality like a blind beggar, … destitute, clad in rags” (66).
There seems to be a deliberate contrast drawn between Smyrna and Laodicea. Smyrna suffered from material poverty (ptocheia) but was regarded by Jesus as spiritually wealthy (plousios). Laodicea, on the other hand, was materially wealthy (plousios) but spiritually poor (ptocheia). Thus, despite their banks, they were beggars! Despite their famous eye-salve,
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Study Notes they were blind! Despite their prosperous clothing factories, they were naked!
Vv. 18–20 Continuing to use imagery derived from their own commercial activities (and it is but imagery or figurative language, so don’t press the concept of “buying” things from Jesus too far!), he counsels them to make several purchases in those areas where they fancy themselves self-sufficient. Jesus likens himself to a merchant who visits the city to sell his wares and competes with other salesmen. “I advise you,” he says, “to forsake your former suppliers and come trade with me.”
“Gold” = Spiritual wealth, often the result of refining by the fires of suffering (cf. Job 23:10; Prov. 27:21; Mal. 3:2–3; 1 Pt. 1:6–9). By the way, there is obvious paradox here, for how can “poor” people purchase a commodity as expensive as gold? Cf. Isa. 55:1–2.
“White garments” = Works of righteousness which were so lacking in Laodicea (“uncovering the shame of nakedness” is “language often used in the OT when God accused Israel of participation in idolatry: see Isa. 43:3; Ezek. 16:36; 23:29; Nahum 3:5). One can hardly miss the contrast no doubt intended here between the famous and profitable “black” wool from the sheep in Laodicea and the “white” woolen garments essential to their spiritual lives.
“Eyesalve” = restoration of their spiritual vision. The founder of the medical school at Laodicea was a famous ophthalmologist named Demosthenes Philalethes.
Stott’s words are to the point:
“Here is welcome news for naked, blind beggars! They are poor; but Christ has gold. They are naked; but Christ has clothes. They are blind; but Christ has eyesalve. Let them no longer trust in their banks, their Phrygian eyepowders and their clothing factories. Let them come to Him! He can enrich their poverty, clothe their nakedness and heal their blindness. He can open their eyes to perceive a spiritual world of which they have never dreamed. He can cover their sin and shame and make them fit to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light. He can enrich them with life and life abundant” (122–23).
The appeal which follows in vv. 19–20 has been the subject of considerable debate. Here are the options.
(1) The salvation view—According to one interpretation, this appeal is addressed to unbelievers. The door at which Christ stands is the door to one’s heart or life. The knocking and voice of Christ are heard through the preaching of the gospel. The opening of the door is the decision of the will to invite Christ into one’s
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Study Notes
heart or life. The result is that in conversion Christ enters the person to take up permanent residence.
(2) The fellowship view—According to this view, the invitation is addressed to backslidden, unrepentant believers who, in their self-sufficiency, had excluded (indeed, excommunicated) the risen Lord from their congregational and personal lives. But “in an act of unbelievable condescension he [Jesus] requests permission to enter and re-establish fellowship” (129), a fellowship portrayed in the imagery of a feast in which Christ and his people share.
Of special importance is the possible allusion in this passage to Song of Solomon 5:2 , which if intentional, would lend support to the possibility of a … typological/figurative interpretation of the book.
(3) The eschatological view—This interpretation says that the invitation (v. 20) has a future fulfillment. It is addressed to backslidden believers in the church at Laodicea and pertains to Christ’s second coming. The door at which Jesus stands is a metaphor for the imminence of his return (cf. James 5:9). Those who are prepared and alert to receive their Savior at his coming will enjoy intimate communion with him in the messianic feast of the age to come. This view links v. 20 with v. 21 and the promise of co-regency in the future kingdom.
The salvation view strikes me as highly unlikely. According to v. 19, Jesus is addressing the children of God who, as children, are recipients of divine, loving discipline. Jesus has in view the corporate discipline of the church, similar to what we saw in 2:5 with regard to the church at Ephesus. Also, v. 19 is an obvious allusion to Prov. 3:11–12 and Hebrews 12:5–6, both of which have in view the children of God. We should also note the connection between v. 19 and v. 20. V. 20 is a description of what repentance is and what follows upon it, namely, a restoration of intimate communion between Jesus and the believer. We also must acknowledge the obvious reference to the messianic kingdom feast. In this regard, see Luke 12:35–39; 22:28–30. Added to this is the fact that the sharing of table fellowship was a common image in those days for deep communion and the strong bonds of affection and companionship.
Whereas some see in the “feast” and the imagery of “dining” a reference to the Lord’s Supper, I find this unlikely. The picture here is one in which Jesus himself dines personally with the individual, whereas in the Eucharist it is we all, corporately, who share a meal in remembrance of the sacrifice of Christ.
Thus the appeal of v. 20 is not to unbelievers so that they might be saved. Rather it is an appeal to individuals (“anyone”) within the church to repent and forsake their spiritual half-heartedness. As a result one may experience now the intimate communion and fellowship of which the feast in the messianic kingdom is the consummation. All present
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Study Notes fellowship with Jesus is a foretaste of that eternal felicity which will be consummated in the age to come.
It is also interesting to note that Laodicea was situated foursquare on one of the most important road junctions in Asia Minor. Each of the four city gates opened on to a busy trade route. “The inhabitants,” observes Hemer, “must have been very familiar with the belated traveler who ‘stood at the door and knocked’ for admission” (204).
Vv. 21–22
4 For “reigning” with Christ, see Rev. 1:6; 5:10; 20:4, 6; 22:5.
4 Storms, S. (2016). Biblical Studies: The Seven Letters of Revelation (Re 3:14–22). Edmond, OK: Sam Storms.
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