Do you still have your first love for Jesus Christ as when you were first saved?
My message is in the form of a question that you only can answer at the end of our study. The message is derived from the criticism of the church in Ephesus by the Lord Jesus Christ that is followed by a challenge to repentance given to that church as we read in Revelation 2:4–5:
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. 5 Remember 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.
By the way, the message addressed to the church in Ephesus is given through the leader of that church as that is what is meant in Rev 2:1:
“To the angel 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:
The phrase the angel of the church in Ephesus refers to the messenger of the church in Ephesus, that is, its spiritual leader or pastor. This is because the word “angel” is translated from a Greek word (angelos) which means ‘a messenger, an envoy, one who was sent, an angel, a messenger from God.’ Nearly all our major English versions translated this Greek word as “angel” with a few exceptions. The translation of majority of our English versions creates a problem in the mind of the English readers since they will think of angel as the “spirit being” created by God to serve Him and those who are the heirs of salvation – believers. It is perhaps best to translate this Greek word as “messenger” throughout all its occurrences in the seven letters to the churches as is done in such Englis versions as GOD’S WORD Translation or the ISV that reads To the messenger of the church in Ephesus. It is important for us to understand that the “messenger” addressed is a human being and not a spirit being as some may think.
Be that as it may, one of the challenges a believer faces is that of maintaining enthusiasm or being excited about or being on fire for spiritual matters as at the time of salvation. It is not uncommon to see a believer who has been newly converted being excited about the things of the Lord. The person becomes enthusiastic about witnessing for Christ and has passion for the word of God. In fact, the individual seems not to get enough of it and so will be willing to go anywhere at all costs to hear the word of God taught. However, after a while such a person may slack off and so no longer have the kind of zeal for the things of the Lord as the person did at the time of salvation. In effect, the person grows cold in the individual’s relationship with the Lord. There is no doubt that what I said happens for any of many reasons. This we can be sure because the Lord Jesus warned that such a thing will occur, when He described the events that will take place before He returns. This reality is stated in Matthew 24:12:
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
The thing I described was true of one of the seven Asiatic churches where the Lord delivered His messages through the Apostle John. The church was the church of Ephesus that the Lord Jesus criticized for growing cold in their love for Him as in this passage of Revelation 2:4 indicates. Our Lord followed here the same pattern that the Holy Spirit has directed the apostles to follow as they wrote some of the epistles to the churches. This pattern is often to praise a local church before any criticizing. Thus, our Lord Jesus first praised the Ephesians and then He goes on to point out their weakness. The praise for the church in Ephesus is given in Revelation 2:2–3:
2 I 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. 3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
The commendation of the church in Ephesus simply means that they were unwavering about their faith, which is a good thing. The fact our Lord began with a commendation of the believers in the church in Ephesus is important for our application. It should be clear to us that our Lord has set for us the pattern of dealing with believers and even other human beings. We must not fail to recognize what they do well before we point to them what they do wrong. Of course, we all should be careful with receiving praise because it can be dangerous as we may gather from what is written in Proverbs 27:21:
The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.
This aside, the church in Ephesus has been praised for enduring suffering and not tolerating false teaching but there is something that they were not doing well at that point, they have forsaken their first love and so our Lord brings it to their notice. What this means is that they have not abandoned their Christian faith, but they were not where they should be. If I may put it in a practical form that is applicable to us, it is that you are still coming to church regularly, but you are not enthusiastic about your spiritual life.
The Lord Jesus went from commendation to the criticism of the church. The criticism is introduced with the first word yet of Revelation 2:4 that is translated from a Greek conjunction (alla) which means “but, yet, rather, nevertheless, at least.” This word is used here to indicate a transition to something else. It happens that this transition is a contrast to what preceded. The preceding statements in verses 2 and 3 have been positive but the sentence of verse 4 is negative. This means that the Greek conjunction (alla) can be translated here with “but, yet, nevertheless,” to point to that which is not praiseworthy in the church in Ephesus. The first half of the verse has been rendered in a way to make sense in the English by addition of the word ‘this’ or ‘what’ in the English translations Yet I hold this against you since the Greek literally reads nevertheless, I keep having against you. This sentence reflects that the Lord Jesus has some criticism or censure against this church.
The word ‘hold’ is translated from the Greek word (echō) that means “to have.” But there are two nuances to the meanings “to have.” There is the meaning to have in the sense of to hold. Also, there is the meaning to have in the sense of to possess or own. The best meaning here is “to have” in the sense of “to hold”; therefore, the rendering of NIV is a good one. Our Lord indicates that whatever He was holding against this church is something that was still going on at this church as He gave this message to John. This we know because we have a present tense in the Greek indicating the present reality of the charge against this church. It is interesting to note that the word “you” is in the singular referring to the church as a whole. This says to me that every member of the church in Ephesus is guilty of the charge that we have here. You see, if this was not the case, our Lord would have said that there were some exceptions. When a local church is in a rut spiritually, it is very difficult to have an exception. Someone may say, yes, I was in a local church that was in rut, but I was not a part of it. My response is that for this to have been the case, you must have learned doctrine that does not come from the pulpit of that local church. I am saying that believers cannot rise higher than the teaching that comes from their local church. The spiritual life of any believer depends on the word of God. So, if no word of God is taught, there can be no spiritual growth. If there is growth, it must be that the individual is receiving teaching outside that local congregation.
There is always the danger that we face as believers which is to become blind to our faults. This is particularly the case for those believers who believe that they are advancing spiritually, but with little doctrine taught to them. For believers who are taught the whole realm of doctrine will be on the edge all the time recognizing that they have a long way to go in fulfilling God’s plan, and that keeps them from becoming complacent and arrogant. But believers who are not taught the word of God properly often think that because they are doing few things occasionally, such as witnessing, giving, and are moral that they must be perfect Christians. So, our Lord reminds this church that although they have been doing well, there is a blind spot in them that they should become aware of, so He states this blind spot in the sentence of Revelation 2:4 You have forsaken your first love.
This second sentence of our verse has been rendered in various ways in the English. For example, the TEV translates it you do not love me now as you did at first while the NRSV renders it you have abandoned the love you had at first. However, a more literal translation is you have abandoned (given up) your first love. The word translated “forsaken” is from the Greek word (aphiēmi) which has four basic meanings. First, it means to let go, to send away. This sense can be used of a husband divorcing his wife. Second, it means to cancel, to remit, to pardon. This meaning also carries the sense of forgiveness of sins. Third, it means to leave, which has the sense of “to give up” or “abandon.” Fourth, it means to tolerate. The context indicates that the best meaning in our verse is “to leave” in the sense of abandoning or giving up something. So, the word “forsake” is a good choice for communicating the idea in this verse. I am particularly interested in the tense used here in the Greek. It is what is known as the aorist. The implication of this aorist is that our Lord is giving the result of a completed action. This abandoning of their first love is not something that took place over night. It was a gradual process until finally they altogether stopped loving the Lord. This is always the pattern with which Satan goes after us. He convinces us bit by bit about something not being so bad until finally we agree with him that it is not bad at all.
Let me illustrate what I am saying with those who are not consistent with studying the word of God. A believer may start being very positive towards the teaching of God’s word then when the enemy starts attacking an individual, he convinces the person that missing one day is not going to harm the person so the individual believes that; then the enemy moves closer and says, “well you do not have to go every time there is a Bible study because you can get it on tape or on line after all you have other life too.” Then from there he leads this person to the point that the individual stops going altogether, convincing the person that the individual does not need going online to listen. The person can learn by listening to those who preach on the television or radio. What Satan has done is to attack the life of consistency in the believer. For if we stop being consistent with doctrine, definitely, we cease to be consistent with our prayer life, with witnessing and with our lifestyles. I have used this to illustrate my point but let me ask each of us to search his/her soul to see if there is something we have now come to settle in our mind that it is not bad after all when the first few times we did that our conscience disturbed us, but we kept ignoring it until it no longer bothers us. If there is, then you have an example of what I am saying in a personal way.
What is this first love? Before we answer this question, we should note that those translations that indicate that the church does not love Christ as they used to can be misleading if one does not understand the true meaning of love. However, if a person understands that love is a thought-action phenomenon in which the object of love is benefited, he will not misunderstand such translation. There are those who take “first love” as a reference to the initial love that the Ephesians had for each other, and others say it is the initial love that these believers had for the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who take it as Christians’ love for each other base it on what Apostle Paul wrote to this church in Eph 1:15:
For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
While this is not a bad idea, but I am afraid that many times as Christians we tend to forget that we are not the issue in the Bible, but God’s glory is always the issue. This means that those who take this love as the initial love of the church for Christ is closer to the meaning than those who take it as their love for each other. I say this because if a believer loves the Lord Jesus Christ, his love for other believers is expected to follow. There is no way anyone can truly love the Lord and not love a fellow believer who has been purchased by the precious blood of Christ. Apostle John in his epistle is very clear about this point. Consider what is asserted in 1 John 4:21 (NIV84):
And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
We deceive ourselves when we say that we love the Lord, and we hate others. So, really the idea of the Ephesians loving each other is embedded in their love for Christ. This means that realistically those who take this as the love that this church has for Christ implies also the love Christians have for each other.
In any case, I do not believe that it is love for Christ as we think of love as merely an emotion that is meant here although that is part of what is expressed here. Our Lord does not really tell us clearly in this passage about what this first love is. But verse 5 of the second chapter of Revelation helps us to understand that our Lord is referring to their actions and attitudes since He asked them to start doing what they used to do. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, we should state that the first love of the Ephesians refers to their earlier spiritual fervor, zeal, and service to the Lord or their initial enthusiasm in their relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. This service includes evangelism. There are at least four reasons for offering this interpretation. First, the word “first” is translated from a Greek word (protos) which although means “first” but in reference to time can also mean “earlier.” So, it will be fitting if we say that the church has abandoned their earlier spiritual fervor and zeal that motivated them into serving the Lord. Second, our Lord in verse 5 threatened to remove them as a church. We know that the function of the church is to evangelize and teach believers. If a church fails to do this, then for all practical purposes the church has ceased to exist. Teaching and evangelism require enthusiasm and zeal for the truth. Third, Apostle Paul clearly admonished believers to always maintain their zeal since this is something that can easily be abandoned or lost. Therefore, he writes to the Romans in Romans 12:11:
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
Fourth, it is lack of youthful devotion that God charges the children of Israel with, in Jeremiah 2:2:
"Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown.
You see, that love in Jeremiah 2:2 is seen in terms of devotion to Yahweh who is the Lord Jesus. In addition, our Lord while speaking of the tribulation period indicates that believers overwhelmed by wickedness will see their love grow cold in the passage we cited previously, that is, Matt 24:12:
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
So, it is possible that because of persecutions that this church although enduring persecution, no longer possesses the earlier spiritual zeal and fervor they had when they first received the gospel.
I realize that some may object to this interpretation on the grounds of the praise given to this church in terms of their doctrinal purity and their endurance in the face of suffering. I think that this is precisely the problem in today’s church. The evangelical groups maintain doctrinal purity but often they are lacking in true spiritual fervor and enthusiasm. They remain satisfied that they are not wrong in their doctrine of the person of Christ and even of their understanding of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, but that is as far as they go. Thus, you see that there is little teaching of the word of God and not to speak of the fact that they pay little attention to their lifestyles as it relates to the work of the Holy Spirit. They are able to ward off any corruption of doctrine but that’s all. Their zeal for witnessing is almost nonexistent, let alone missionary zeal. So, I believe that this was the state of the church of Ephesus that our Lord had to scold them. We must be careful that we are not so caught up with the fact that we are doctrinally accurate when in fact the life that is produced by the Spirit is nowhere manifested in us. We should also be careful that our knowledge of doctrine does not cause us to forget that we are supposed to be always enthusiastic towards the Lord, rejoicing daily in His gracious manifestations in our lives both in terms of blessings and the inner satisfaction that we have. Hence, I am saying that one danger of the local churches that teach doctrine face is that they can be so caught up with their correctness and attacking of false teachings that they forget that their lifestyles should reflect true enthusiasm in the Lord in every respect. What I am saying is that every believer should not allow that initial zeal and enthusiasm that the person had when the individual first became truly aware of the grace of God in saving the person to grow cold. We must remain conscious so that we do not decline in our enthusiasm because reduced enthusiasm means reduced production. Take this principle and apply it anywhere you like, and you will see it works well. Apply it to people in industry. If a person is less enthusiastic about his job, his production and the quality of his work are reduced. Or apply it to husbands and wives. If there is reduced enthusiasm about each other, the actions and kindness to each other are decreased. So, we should burn it in our souls the principle: reduced enthusiasm means reduced production in life.
I am compelled at this point to demonstrate from the history of the church that it is this diminishing devotion or lack of spiritual fervor that the church in Ephesus is being scolded. Many local churches or denominations have been started with great enthusiasm for the truth and spiritual fervor but after a while this does not seem to be sustained. Take for example, the early churches in Germany, France, Switzerland, and England came out from the Roman Catholic Church under the influence of the doctrine of justification by faith. But today you can hardly notice this fervor and zeal for the doctrine of justification by faith in some of these local churches. Take another example: the Methodist church came out of the Church of England because it felt that the church was dead. Consequently, the Wesley brothers and the early Methodists were enthusiastic about sanctification, evangelism, and faithfulness to the bible by studying it. But today, these emphases are for all practical purposes nonexistent in this denomination. You hear some of these groups promoting same sex marriage in contrast to the Scripture. Some of them no longer regard Scripture as authoritative. I could go on mentioning one denomination after another, but that is not necessary, for all we are interested in is to show that this diminishing devotion to the early enthusiasm of these local churches is what the church in Ephesus was suffering. Although it could manifest itself in lack of love for each other, the truth remains that their zeal and spiritual fervor were no longer what they were at the time this church was first formed.
I have been emphasizing the matter of enthusiasm. Here is my reason. No one ever advances without spiritual enthusiasm. If you are not enthusiastic or “passionate” about the word of God, you can never grow and never know the beauty of being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me ask you: Is there anything that you are more passionate, enthusiastic about than the word of God? If you answer “yes” then you know why your spiritual life is not what it should be in spite of having been exposed to good bible teaching. May we all be encouraged to become enthusiastic about the word and about our Lord Jesus so that we can always remain excited about His word!
Be that as it may, we have considered the criticism of the church in Ephesus and have applied it to us through the question we asked. It is one thing to identify a problem, but it is another thing to solve it. Consequently, our concern is what to do about it. The action we need to take is to repent and return to what we used to be. Thus, the Lord Jesus called the church in Ephesus to repent.
Call for Repentance (Rev 2:5)
Remember 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.
We have seen that our Lord criticized the church in Ephesus for lack of spiritual fervor or enthusiasm, but He displayed His grace by giving them the opportunity to return to that original state. This is something that we should always be aware of. God is always gracious towards us. His intention is never to discipline us but to bless us. However, occasionally He disciplines us to get our attention. To this church, the Lord issued a warning and a call to repentance. This call to repentance should tell us that God never severely disciplines us without warning. The mildest warning is that which He does through the teaching of the word. Our Lord sends His warning in form of an epistle to the Ephesians as stated in verse 5.
Verse 5 contains three commands that our Lord issued to the Ephesians as a way to escape any discipline from Him. Two of these commands are in the aorist tense in the Greek while the other is in the present tense. It seems to me that although these commands are in different tenses, they communicate the idea of commencing some actions. Of course, there is a reason the first command is in the present tense while the others are in the aorist tense. It is this: obedience to the second and third commands depends on the first command. So, the aorist tense indicates an action that is indefinite but can become definite based on obedience to the first command. In other words, it is as the church continuously carries out the first command that we can be certain that they will carry out the second and third commands.
The first command is for the Ephesians to reflect on their past as in the expression Remember the height from which you have fallen or more literally remember from what (state) you have fallen. The command to remember is in the present tense. This says that not only should they begin to think of what they were before, but it is required of them to keep on thinking and focusing on their initial zeal as believers. The word “height” in the NIV84 is added for understanding of the sentence since there is no word “height” in the Greek text. The NIV2011 avoided this because it reads Consider how far you have fallen. It also introduced the word “far” that is not in the Greek. The expression “from which” is translated from a Greek adverb (pothen) which means “from where, from what condition.” The reality is that this word is an interrogative adverb that can be used in three ways; of location; of origin; of cause or reason. When used of location, it means “from what place, from where.” If origin is the concern it means “from what source, given by whom.” However, when used of cause, it means “how, in what way.” In any case, the various English translations are attempts to portray the idea of location. To understand the intended meaning, we should remember the charge against this church was of losing her initial spiritual fervor and zeal. Based on this, it is best to take our word to mean ‘from what state or condition.’ The Ephesians knew what it means to possess spiritual fervor and zeal and it is this condition that our Lord reminds them. Hence, the command is for them to think back and remember how they used to be filled with zeal and enthusiasm for the Lord. They should look back and recall how they were initially filled with joy and enthusiasm about the Savior and about the gospel. This reflection should help them to realize that what they are now is different from what they used to be in terms of enthusiasm or zeal.
Their zeal is gone from them, that is the reason we read next in verse 5 which you have fallen. The word “fallen” is from the Greek word (piptō) that means “to fall.” It can convey the idea of falling from a higher place to a lower place. This may explain the reason the translators of the NIV introduced the word “height” in its translation. Figuratively, it could imply falling under judgment or coming under condemnation. Our context suggests that the idea of falling from a given condition is a preferable way to understand this word. That is, that there is a spiritual fall. The word “fallen” is in the perfect tense in the Greek. The perfect tense in the Greek communicates the idea of a present state that results from past action. However, this perfect tense indicates that the fall is not something that took place immediately. In effect, they did not all of a sudden grow cold in their zeal. As we have mentioned in verse 4, this is something that took place gradually until they arrived at their present condition. Consequently, our Lord is saying that they should reflect on how they arrived at their present state. It could be that they would reflect back and see that may be their fall started with inconsistency in learning the word or meeting together to worship, but whatever the case may be, these believers should be able to tell that they are no longer the same when they reflect about their past activities and actions. They would recognize that they have in fact cooled down in terms of their zeal and spiritual fervor.
The second command is to repent or to change their minds. The word “repent” is translated from the Greek word (metanoeō) which means “to change one’s mind, that is, to repent, to be converted.” Since this word often causes problem to the English reader and also the fact that each time this word is mentioned people immediately assume that sin is the issue, it will be worth our time to briefly examine the historical development of the meaning of the Greek word (metanoeō) used. Originally, although rare in classical and Hellenistic Greek, it has various senses. It can mean “to note after, later,” often with the implication of being too late. It can also mean “to change one’s mind, to adopt another view, to change one’s feeling.” So, it could mean “to change one’s resolve or purpose, to come to a different opinion.” If the change of mind is a result of the recognition that one’s earlier view was foolish, improper, or evil, then the sense is “to regret, to feel remorse, to be sorry.” It should be clear that in pre-biblical and extra-biblical usage this word is not associated with any specific concepts. It is only with further development that our word and the corresponding noun, repentance, came to mean ‘change of mind’ in an emotional and volitional sense as well. To the Greeks, repentance never suggests an alteration in the total moral attitude or a change in one’s direction of life. In short, it never meant a conversion that affects the whole of conduct. However, in the NT, the more dominant meaning is ‘to change one’s mind, to be converted.’ The emphasis is not merely an intellectual change of mind but on the decision by the whole man to turn around. Therefore, ‘to repent’ does not mean merely intellectual change of ideas nor a purely outward turning. It is the change of mind that affects the conduct.
With this understanding of the Greek word (metanoeō) rendered “repent” we should understand that when our Lord issued the command to repent, He is saying that the Ephesians should look back and see how their present condition is different from what it used to be. The result of this reflection will be a change of mind and the realization that they should take actions concerning this difference in their spiritual state.
To emphasize that our Lord is not just asking them to change their minds about their loss of spiritual fervor, but He wants them to take corrective action, so to speak, He offers the third command. This command clearly requires immediate action, so we read do the things you did at first. A more literal rendition is do the earlier works or deeds. Note that the word “work” is in the plural suggesting more than one deed. In addition, there is a definite article in front of “work” to indicate that the works in question are deeds well known to the Ephesians. Our Lord does not tell us here in direct words what these works are, but it should not be difficult to identify them. Let me mention two of these deeds. First, there is the work of evangelism. When a believer is full of spiritual fervor and zeal, he becomes active in personal witnessing or the spreading of the gospel. He is excited about giving the gospel to others. Not only this, he wants to provide doctrine to those who are Christians but are not receiving any teaching. Second, there is the work that deals with helping other believers. This help is of two kinds, spiritual and material. Spiritual help includes encouraging other believers. A believer who has not lost his spiritual fervor or zeal is always ready to encourage other believers by providing them with the appropriate doctrine that they need to deal with whatever they face. Material help comes in many forms, but the most obvious is giving to others – believers and unbelievers – either in terms of money or time. In describing these helps, we are actually saying that a good part of the work of the church is to demonstrate love among its members through the actions of the individual members. Of course, we mentioned two of these deeds, but we should not forget that one of the most noticeable activities of believers is that of assembling together for worship and study of the word of God. In a sense, this is the most important first step in your spiritual life. For, unless a believer is excited about worshipping and learning about the Lord nothing else is possible; spiritual growth is impossible. Thus, it may well be that the church in Ephesus was no longer excited about worship and study of the word as is the case in the present-day local churches. Hence, our Lord is saying that they should revive this interest so that they can once more become a vibrant body of Christ on earth. I keep emphasizing that no believer truly grows without hunger for truth. Unless a person cannot wait to listen to the word of God either through face-to-face teaching or listening to a recorded message that individual cannot grow spiritually. He will always remain a marginal Christian.
We have considered these three commands that are tantamount to a call to return to their original spiritual fervor, but we should note that there is a logical progression to these three commands. First, one has to reflect on the past before he can change his mind about it then he would do something about his condition. But the command to reflect is in the present tense which suggests a continuous action. As we mentioned earlier, this means that believers should keep focusing and thinking of their earlier zeal. They must not forget it. Once a person changes his mind about a past failure, he should take a positive action not to allow the past to affect him. This means that it is not enough to change one’s mind about something, one should do something about it. If it is something that a person can correct, he should seek to do so. But if it is something that we can do nothing about, we should take actions that will ensure we do not repeat the same mistakes. In this case, there is something that the Ephesians could do which is to return to their earlier enthusiasm. We should ask, how? It starts with learning the word of God. As believers learn and apply the word of God, they allow the Holy Spirit to operate in their souls. When the Holy Spirit functions in the way He should, believers will have their original spiritual zeal. It is sad that today believers are not experiencing the true joy that produces this spiritual fervor because they do not understand the word, nor do they understand the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is not functioning, the joy of the Lord will be missing. Without the joy from the Lord no one can have true spiritual fervor or zeal. Therefore, the command to repent is also a call to learn and apply the word of God so that the Holy Spirit will be free to function in the church so that there can be true joy and spiritual fervor.
While God is gracious, He cannot tolerate any disregard for His commands. Therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ now presents the alternative to a failure to comply to His commands. This alternative is the removal of the church. Hence, we read in the last clause of Revelation 2:5, If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Or more literally but if not, I will come to you and move your lampstand from her place, if you should not repent. The literal translation reveals that this is clearly an alternative course of action if this church refuses to comply with the command to repent.
There are four key words that are important in the analysis of this portion of our verse of study. The first is the word “come.” This word is not a reference to the second coming of Christ; instead, it has to do with His visiting this church with discipline. The second is the word “lampstand.” Our Lord has already interpreted this in Revelation 1:20 to mean the church. The third word is “place.” It is translated from the Greek word (topos) which means “place, position, office, region.” This word was used in a religious sense among the Greeks to denote a holy place or sanctuary. It also means someone’s place as in the case of a senator’s seat and one’s place in the world. In our text, while the meaning “place” is good, it seems to me that a better understanding of our word is “position.” The fourth word is “remove” that is translated from the Greek word (kineō) that means “to move, to remove, to set in motion.” In a figurative sense, it means “to cause, to bring about.” In our text, the best meaning is either to move or to remove. In the Greek, our word appears in the subjunctive mood. This simply means that whether our Lord will carry out His threat or not depends on the attitude of the Ephesians towards His command instruction.
What does it mean to remove the church from her place? There are various interpretations offered in regard to what this threat means. One interpreter says that it means that the population will flee away to another place. Others say it means the complete destruction of the church based mostly on the fact that the Muslims destroyed this city and its church. I think that to interpret based on what happened later would be a wrong approach. It seems to me that the interpretation of William Ramsay is probably closer to the truth. He argues that the Ephesians would have understood this to mean a change in the site of the city. This he says is because of the history of change in the city. For, he says that the city followed the sea, and changed from place to place to maintain its importance as the only harbor of the valley. For example, he cited how the port that Paul landed later became a mere marsh. In other words, as the city was flooded, buildings and houses were relocated to keep the city going.
The interpretation of this threat must be related to the word ‘move or remove’ and the indictment handed to this church. Therefore, the threat basically means that the church will be removed. But there are two ways to understand this removal. First, it means removing her from the position she was occupying. At the time of the writing of this epistle, Ephesus was in a sense the headquarters of Asian churches and also this church was a light in darkness caused by idolatry. Her importance could be seen by the praises given to this church by the Church Father, Ignatius. Thus, to remove her from her position means Ephesus will cease to be the headquarters of Christian activity or that her importance will be diminished completely similar to what has happened to Europe. It still exists but her impact in missionary effort, etc., is now diminished. Second, the church will be uprooted completely and moved. These two implications are what our Lord intends for the church to understand. In any case, our Lord would diminish the importance of this church, which could also lead to its physical removal.
Was this threat carried out? It appears to me that the generation of Christians that our Lord threatened here, responded, and returned back to their former zeal for Christ and the gospel. I say this for two reasons. Firstly, the praise of this church by Ignatius was several years after the apostle wrote this epistle to the church in Ephesus. For this church to be still doing well indicates that her members obeyed the command the Lord issued to it. Secondly, it is because the church in Ephesus continued to flourish so that even in A.D. 341 a church council was held here. Of course, we know that from history Ephesus became what is often called “Christian city.” This would suggest that these believers returned to their responsibility of evangelizing so that many of the people in the city responded to the gospel hence idolatry was practically nonexistent in that city perhaps as early as A.D. 262, judging from the fact that the burnt temple of Diana was not rebuilt after it burnt down. However, it appears that the subsequent generations did not pay heed to this warning. This accounts for the fact that the Muslims overran this city that today there is no true sign of Christianity in the location nearest to that old city. Of course, if Christians in this country understand this, they will become aware that the threats posed by Islam or some of these Eastern religions in this country today may just be a sign that indicates that the lampstand of the local churches may just be on the verge of being removed. A group is attracted to Islam because of lies and reaction and others are attracted to Eastern religions because they are bored, and the local churches offer no real spiritual life.
The significance of this threat to Ephesus is to let all the local churches realize that it is very easy to become unimportant. I myself cannot help but feel that this is practically the position of the local churches today. We have become irrelevant and unimportant in the world. The influence of Christianity has become minimized. The church is losing its impact in the world. This passage says to us that we could revise this trend if believers would return to the truth. Our impact is not ever going to be truly politically as many Christians are convinced. No, our impact is always going to be spiritual. If Christians are exactly what we are supposed to be we will impact this world as the early apostles and disciples impacted the world they lived in. But we are too busy with politics or this or that agenda instead of learning the word and witnessing by word and by our lifestyles. Oh, may we see this threat to the church in Ephesus as a wakeup call for Christians everywhere. A church that is without zeal for Christ and without a demonstration of love within its members is in fact not a church at all. They may call themselves this or that Church in Christ, but they are only deceiving themselves.
We have applied to the church of Christ, the Lord’s threat if the church refuses to repent and return to her first love. So, you may wonder how that applies to you as an individual believer. Well, if you do not return to your first love for the Lord Jesus, you face the prospect of punishment from the Lord since the Lord disciplines those He loves as the Scripture says in Hebrews 12:6:
because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
I cannot tell you how the Lord will discipline or punish you if you do not return to your first love since He has several ways of doing such a thing. The only thing I can say is that He will discipline you in such a way that you will feel pain. It could be pain due to illness as implied in one of the ways God communicates to us as we read in Job 33:19:
Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones,
Anyway, if you do not return to your first love for the Lord, you will most certainly not enjoy the filling of the Holy Spirit. A believer who does not operate under the control of the Holy Spirit will become ineffective and unproductive in the person’s spiritual life as the Holy Spirit stated through the pen of Apostle Peter as recorded in 2 Peter 1:8:
For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In any case, the Lord appeals to you to repent and return to your first love. Therefore, you need to strive to have the same zeal you had about spiritual things the very first time you were saved. In effect, I encourage you to keep your spiritual fervor as stated in the passage we cited previously, that is, Romans 12:11:
Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.
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