Revelation 22:15

Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie.

Dogs ... "This can denote a thoroughly immoral person, and that may be its meaning here."[65] Male prostitutes in the old pagan temples were commonly called "dogs." The attitude toward dogs in the ancient culture was quite different from that in America today. Dogs were generally wild, vicious, dirty, cowardly, and disgusting. They were the scavengers of ancient cities.

Sorcerers ... The black arts were common in John's day, and they have again become so in our own. Satan still operates in the same old ways; he has not invented a new sin in thousands of years.

Fornicators ... See full comment on this in my Commentary on Hebrews, p. 325.

Murderers ... The Christian view of this is more strict than that of the natural man. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus made the antecedent attitudes of contempt and hatred to be murder "in principle."

Idolaters ... The ancient idolatry was enshrined in the temples of paganism; but the modern idolatry is more subtle, and is identified with self-love and the selfish disregard of others. The old temples with their idol gods are no more, except in some backward nations; but people still worship power, fame, wealth, gold, science, themselves, or humanity anything except the one true and Almighty God.

Every one that loveth and maketh a lie ... Most commentators stress the broad implications of this, noting that it does not say, "anyone who ever told a lie." True as this is, we may not suppose that God takes a light view of any falsehood, however inoffensive it may appear to people.

Without ... This is actually the big word in the whole verse. It does not mean that just outside of God's city such characters as these are lurking and trying to enter. "Their doom is not mere exclusion from the city but is the lake of fire (Revelation 21:8)."[66] "Outside, or without, therefore involves a reference to the lake of fire."[67]

[65] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 227.

[66] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 293.

[67] Martin Rist, op. cit., p. 547.