Revelation 3:15

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot.

Two possible meanings of this are intriguing, and either one or both could be correct. Which is the right turns upon what Jesus meant by "I would thou wert cold or hot." If the Lord's reprimand here is the rough equivalent to, "You Laodicean Christians are just like the notoriously lukewarm drinking water in your town," then he meant that the Christians should be either like good cold drinking water, or like a beneficial hot drink from one of the thermal springs. On the other hand, if the "lukewarmness" here has reference solely to the spiritual temperature of the people, then he could have meant that he could prefer them to be cold, "because a lukewarm Christian can do the church more harm than an outright enemy of the faith."[64] Others have explained the possible meaning thus, "An honest atheist is more acceptable to the Lord than a self satisfied religious man."[65] Whatever, exactly, was meant, the principal idea is devastatingly clear. This church had lost its enthusiasm, zeal, and excitement concerning their holy religion. Through the ages they have come to stand for the most disgusting thing on earth, a fat, lazy, self-righteous and complacent church, basking in their own presumed achievements, but wholly unacceptable to the Lord.

[64] John T. Hinds, op. cit., p. 62.

[65] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 105.