Revelation 02

To the Church in Ephesus--the church at the end of the Apostolic Age

2:1 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus, write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who has a firm grasp on the seven stars in his right hand – the one who walks among the seven golden lamp stands:

In chapter 1, John wrote about "the things that were," meaning the eternal pre-existence of the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapters 2-3, he wrote about "the things that are," meaning the seven local churches which literally existed in the days in which John wrote this book. These seven churches will also be types of churches that have been found all throughout church history. All seven of these types of churches existed in each period of time history. There were also times in history when each of these seven churches dominated history. 

The Greek word for "angel" is ἄγγελος (angelos), meaning a divine or human messenger. John was writing to a human messenger, most likely a pastor, who would deliver and read the letter to the Ephesus church. This was a circular letter which would be routed to all of the churches. 

The Greek word for "ephesus" is Ἐφέσῳ (ephesow), meaning desired one. Ephesus was founded by the apostle Paul. He taught the entire counsel of the Word of God to the Ephesians, meaning that they were a very mature church. When Paul left Ephesus in Acts 20, he warned them about false teachers coming into the church. Close to the death of Paul, he wrote a letter to Timothy. Timothy was the pastor of the Ephesus church during Paul's imprisonment. He was having some problems dealing with these false teachers. Afterwards, the Apostle John became the pastor of Ephesus. After John was arrested by Domitian and exiled to the island of Patmos, there was another pastor over the church of Ephesus. This pastor was most likely the ἄγγελος (angelos) of which John wrote this letter.

Ephesus was not only a beautiful city, it was also the chief city of the province of Asia. Pliny called it “the Light of Asia.” It was both the religious and commercial center of that entire area which influenced both East and West—Asia and Europe. When Paul landed at the harbor in Ephesus, he looked down Harbor Boulevard, all in white marble. As he moved toward the center of the city, he saw all sorts of lovely buildings, temples, and gift shops. There was a large market on his right as he went up the boulevard, and ahead of him on the side of a mountain was a theater that seated twenty thousand people. Off to his left was the great amphitheater that seated over one hundred thousand people. At times there were as many as one to two million people gathered in Ephesus. It was here that Paul had his greatest ministry, and it was here that John later became pastor.

This city was first formed around the temple of Diana by the Anatolians who worshiped Diana. The first temple was a wooden structure, built in a low place very near the ocean—in fact, the waters lapped at the very base. In time, the Cayster and the little Maeander River brought down so much silt that, by the time of Alexander the Great, it had filled in around the temple. The river itself is as thick as soup because it is carrying so much soil deposit.

When Alexander took the city (by the way, the temple burned on the night Alexander was born), he turned it over to one of his generals, Lysimachus. Because the silt was coming and the harbor was filling up, Lysimachus moved the people to a higher location, and that is where the ruins of the city can be seen today. It is the city which was there when Paul came.

At the site of the old temple, a foundation of charcoal and skins was laid over this low, marshy place, and Alexander the Great led in the construction of a new temple of Diana which became one of the eight wonders of the ancient world. It was the largest Greek temple ever constructed. In it were over one hundred external columns about fifty–six feet in height, of which thirty–six were hand carved. The doors were of cypress wood; columns and walls were of Parian marble; the staircase was carved out of one vine from Cyprus.

The temple served as the bank of Asia and was the depository of vast sums of money. It was an art gallery displaying the masterpieces of Praxiteles, Phidias, Scopas, and Polycletus. Apelles’ famous painting of Alexander was there. Behind a purple curtain was the lewd and crude image of Diana, the goddess of fertility. She was many–breasted, carried a club in one hand and a trident in the other. Horrible is Diana of the Ephesians could be accurately substituted for “Great is Diana of the Ephesians.”

Diana was the most sacred idol of heathenism. Her temple was four times larger than the Parthenon at Athens, and it was finally destroyed by the Goths in A.D. 256. Of course, it was standing in Paul’s day. If you want to see something of the magnificence of the place, go to Istanbul, to the Hagia Sophia. Those beautiful columns that are there were taken out of the temple of Diana by Justinian when he built Hagia Sophia. Seeing only these columns gives us some conception of the beauty of the temple of Diana.

Around the temple of Diana were performed the grossest forms of immorality. She was worshiped by probably more people than was any other idol. The worshipers indulged in the basest religious rites of sensuality and the wildest bacchanalian orgies that were excessive and vicious. And farther inland, the worship of Diana became nothing more than sex orgies, and her name was changed from Diana to Cybele.

Paul came to Ephesus on his third missionary journey to begin a ministry. For two years the Word of God went out from the school of Tyrannus. Of this experience Paul wrote, “For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries” (1 Cor. 16:9).

Later John, the “apostle of love” and the “son of thunder,” came to Ephesus as a pastor. He was exiled to Patmos, then after about ten years of being exiled and imprisoned, he returned to Ephesus. The Basilica of Saint John, which is located on the highest point there, is built over the traditional burial spot of the apostle John.

The one walking around the seven churches is the Lord Jesus Christ. The seven stars are the seven messengers, or pastors of these churches. The seven lamp stands are these seven churches. All of the churches were in Asia Minor, which is modern Turkey. The Lord Jesus Christ is described as the author of these messages.  

2:2 ‘I know your works as well as your labor and steadfast endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil. You have even put to the test those who refer to themselves as apostles (but are not), and have discovered that they are false.

John wrote down a commendation for the church of Ephesus. They had worked hard at not tolerating evil. There were some false apostles who had entered the Ephesian church. The elders discovered that they were false apostles, so they removed them. They were commended for this action.

2:3 I am also aware that you have persisted steadfastly, endured much for the sake of my name, and have not grown weary.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ was also aware of how they had persisted in the major Bible doctrines of their faith. They were commended for this as well.

2:4 But I have this against you: You have departed from your first love.

The Greek word for "love" is ἀγάπη (agape), meaning divine love. Divine love comes from the study and application of Scripture. The Ephesians were now second generation believers. They were not as mature in the Scriptures as their parents, whom Paul had taught the entire counsel of the Word of God. Without this love of the study of the Scriptures, they had departed from their first love, which was Christ. The only way to know the mind of Christ is to study the Scriptures.

2:5 Therefore, remember from what high state you have fallen and repent! Do the deeds you did at the first; if not, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place – that is, if you do not repent.

The Greek word for "fallen" is πίπτω (pipot), a perfect active indicative verb, meaning to fall under condemnation. For their lack of deep Bible study, the Ephesians had fallen under condemnation and this condemnation would continue into the future, unless they repented.

 The Ephesians were commanded to study and apply Bible doctrine like they had done in the past when they were a strong and mature church under Paul's teaching. If they refused to do this, then the Lord Jesus Christ would walk among them and snuff their candlestick out. This does not mean that they would lose their eternal life, because one cannot lose something that is eternal. They were told that if they did not change their attitude, they would no longer exist as a physical church.

2:6 But you do have this going for you: You hate what the Nicolaitans practice – practices I also hate.

The Greek word for "hate" is μισέω (miseow), a present active indicative verb, meaning to presently and continually not choose the teachings of the Nicolaitans.

The Greek word for "Nicolaitans" is Νικολαΐτης (nikolaitais), a compound Greek word meaning "to conquer the people." There is nothing known about the Nicolaitans, except that they were heretics. From the Greek language, the name leans toward them being a heretical group which showed distinction between the laity and the people. Many of the Greco-Roman mystery religions possessed satanic religious systems where the laity ruled over the people. There is also this distinction in the Catholic Church, as the laity rules over the people. It is very possible that both  heretical groups patterned themselves after the mystery Babylon religious system, which permeated into all of the pagan cults and isms after the dispersion at the Tower of Babel. 

The New Testament teaches the priesthood of the believers, where every believer is a priest before the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, he commended the Ephesians for not choosing the false teachings of the Nicolaitans. 

2:7 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’ 

There are two types of churches in the New Testament. The invisible church consists of believers in all denominations. The visible church is a mixture of wheat and tares, or a mixture of believers and unbelievers. Those "who have an ear to hear" or the believers inside the Ephesus church. Only believers can hear and understand the Word of God. Believers can only hear what the Holy Spirit allows them to hear. The Holy Spirit will not permit those who follow the teachings of the Nicolaitans to partake of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. This means that Nicolaitans and their followers will not enter into God's kingdom.

The Nicolaitan church represented the apostolic church era from 30-100 A.D. The apostles offered very deep teachings of Scripture. After the apostles disappeared, the early church fathers continued to teach. They did a great job of defending the Word of God from heretics, but their teaching was not as deep as that of the apostles.