Revelation 2:4

The Pulpit Commentary - Revelation 2:4

Going back in the ways of God. "Nevertheless I have … first love." There is no stage of our heavenward journey that is so hard as that which we go over for the third time. When in the ardour of our first love we first traversed that part of the road, we went along vigorously, with a strong elastic step. And when we went back, though we went slowly enough at first, like as when the boy's ball, which he has flung high into the air, when ceasing its upward ascent, begins to descend, that... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Revelation 2:4

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee - Notwithstanding this general commendation, there are things which I cannot approve.Because thou hast left thy first love - Thou hast “remitted” (ἀφῆκας aphēkas) or let down thy early love; that is, it is less glowing and ardent than it was at first. The love here referred to is evidently love to the Saviour; and the idea is, that, as a church, they had less of this than formerly characterized them. In this respect they were in a state of... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Revelation 2:4

Revelation 2:4. Nevertheless, I have somewhat to allege against thee Exemplary as thou art in many respects; or, as somewhat is not in the original, the verse may be properly read, I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love Namely, the zeal and fervour of it, which thou didst manifest to me and my cause; that love for which the church at Ephesus was so eminent when St. Paul wrote his epistle to them. Neither they nor their pastors need to have left this; they might have... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Revelation 2:1-7

Letter to Ephesus (2:1-7)Over the years the church at Ephesus had been troubled constantly by false teachers, as Paul had warned (cf. Acts 20:17,Acts 20:29-30). The false teaching condemned in Paul’s letters to Timothy and in the letters of John was centred in Ephesus. Later the church in Ephesus was troubled by the Nicolaitans, who taught that Christians could best demonstrate their freedom from rules and regulations by eating food that had been offered to idols and joining in immoral... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Revelation 2:4

hast left = didst leave. thy, &c. Compare Deuteronomy 7:7-9 . Jeremiah 2:1 , Jeremiah 2:2 .Ezekiel 16:6-10 . love. App-135 . Only here and Revelation 2:19 in Rev. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Revelation 2:4

But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.What a shocker is such a statement as this. The charge is not that they were in danger of leaving their first love, but that they had already done so! A lot of ink has been wasted on the explanation of "what" exactly was their first love. The first love of every true church is our Lord himself; and what is indicated here is the departure (in heart) of the Ephesian church from their Lord who had redeemed them. Oh yes, they were... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Revelation 2:4

Revelation 2:4. Thou hast left thy first love.— Not quite forsaken, but remitted and relaxed the former love and zeal; which is condemned, and for which they are dreadfully threatened; because the angel and his church, notwithstanding their zeal against the false apostles, by giving way to them at last, or from other causes, had, in a measure, forsaken their first love which they bore to the Lord Jesus. It is very plain, that these epistles, though inscribed to the governors of the churches,... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Revelation 2:4

4. somewhat . . . because—Translate, "I have against thee (this) that," c. It is not a mere somewhat" it is everything. How characteristic of our gracious Lord, that He puts foremost all He can find to approve, and only after this notes the shortcomings! left thy first love—to Christ. Compare 1 Timothy 5:12, "cast off their first faith." See the Ephesians' first love, Ephesians 1:15. This epistle was written under Domitian, when thirty years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle to... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Revelation 2:1-7

A. The letter to the church in Ephesus 2:1-7Jesus Christ told John to write the letter to the church in Ephesus to commend the Ephesian Christians for their labors and perseverance in God’s truth. He also wanted to exhort them to rekindle their former love for the Savior. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Revelation 2:4

3. Rebuke 2:4The Ephesians, however, were serving Jesus Christ and maintaining orthodoxy as a habit rather than out of fervent love for their Savior (cf. Ephesians 1:15-16). Many commentators, however, took the first love as a reference to the Ephesians’ love for one another (cf. Acts 20:35; Ephesians 1:15). [Note: See John R. W. Stott, What Christ Thinks of the Church, p. 27.] Yet the emphasis in all these letters on the congregations’ allegiance to Jesus Christ seems to favor the view that... read more

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