"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this: 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
(Revelation 2:1-4)
Christ comes to the Ephesians as the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, that is, as One intimately aware of all that is going on in the churches. The Ephesian church is first commended for testing and rejecting false apostles. They had considerable discernment, for false teachers often appeared disguised as Angels of light (2 Cor. 11:13-15).
They have persevered in guarding the internal doctrinal purity of the church's faith, yet have not grown weary. However, they have lost their first love. This probably means they had lost their passion for the message of the gospel. Their focus was on maintaining the inward purity of the church, for which they are commended, so the rebuke must deal with their focus toward the outside world. The mention that He walks among the seven golden lampstands is intended to remind the introverted readers that the primary role in relation to their Lord should be that of a light of witness to the outside world. A passionate love for Christ leads us to love those outside and seek to win them. This they have lost. That losing their first love was tantamount to becoming unzealous witnesses is suggested further by seeing a link with Matthew 24:12-14, which shows such an end-time expectation: "Most people's love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come." The Ephesians were to remember how far they had fallen in the loss of their first love, and to return to what they had done at first -a reference to those days in which the entire province of Asia heard the word of the Lord through Paul and the Ephesian church (Acts 19:10). Otherwise, their lampstand will be removed. Those who had contained and shed abroad so much light through their possession of truth might lose it entirely.
(G.K. Beale)
BTW, I'd like to add that this is not to be distorted as "A little less doctrine and more love". No, the road to Christian maturity is 100% doctrine and 100% love.
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