Revelation 2 Interpretation

[FreeThinker619]

To the church in Ephesus

1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:


2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.


3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.


4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.


5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

 

[technomage]

Did you have a specific question, or were you looking for an exegesis of the passage?

 

[FreeThinker619]

Did you have a specific question, or were you looking for an exegesis of the passage?

an exegesis, sir.

 

[FreeThinker619]

i spoke on this on another site and im wondering if i left anything out but:

My thoughts on the above post is I believe the "first love" that is being referred to is the love of doing good. Many people start out with great sincerity and a heart to do good deeds but get caught up in organized religion and find that world to be one of greed and deception. The discovery that they have been lead astray tends to trim the flame of their passion to do good for there brother/sister. God is telling them to rekindle their passion for good works -- not just preaching the gospel, but real works of kindness and generosity as were described by John the Baptist at the very beginning of the Christian movement.

-- Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." So the people asked him, saying, "What shall we do then?" He answered and said to them, "He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise." Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Collect no more than what is appointed for you." Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, "And what shall we do?" So he said to them, "Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages."{Luke 3:7-14 NKJV}

These are the sort of works by which the wise virgins "buy" (earn) oil for their lamps.

-- "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing." ... "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them {having not done charitable deeds}, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. "And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell {the poor and those needing help}, and buy for yourselves. {do good works}' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. "Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming."{Luke 24-45-25:13 NKJV}

-- And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. {Revelation 18:6-8 NKJV}

 

[technomage]

an exegesis, sir.

Reading your analysis, I rather like it. Frubal to you.

 

[Pegg]

To the church in Ephesus

1"To the angel[a] of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:


2I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.


3You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.


4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.


5Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

its a human trait to loose enthusiasm and love for things that we grow accustomed to. When we learn something new, we are usually really excited about it....but after time we might loose some of our initial enthusiasm for it.

The Watchtower view is that this is what happened to the Ephesian congregation. They lost the initial love and zeal for their newly found faith in Christ.

 

[AmbassadorForChrist]

Revelation 2:4: Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

First love - the Jews in the Old Testament (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim) often records the reference to "first love" as the LORD GOD, not to human love of doing good; it always refers to the LORD GOD, because we find inside the Old Testament (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim) recorded that Israel had often forsaken the LORD GOD. For God was in a symbolic way "married" to Israel and Israel was also promised to be "married" to the land; but Israel always forsaking the LORD GOD. Revelation 2:4 has nothing to do with human good works or good deeds or doing good; it only refers to the love for the LORD GOD of Israel as proof inside the Old Testament (Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim)