Commentaries:
In the letter to the Laodiceans, Jesus is referred to as "the Faithful and True Witness" (martyr). None of the other letters to the seven churches uses this title. Christ emphasizes His own faithful and true character because the Laodiceans so completely lack these two qualities. Christ's example shows that to be a fitting witness of God, one must be faithful and true, that is, spiritually reliable and accurate. A true witness of God is a reflected example of the life of Jesus Christ in word and behavior.
Martin G. Collins
'You Are My Witnesses...'
Jesus Christ calls Himself "the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness. . . ." We say, "Amen," at the end of a prayer. What is "amen"? It affirms that the prayer is true and one agrees with it. Here Jesus is the Amen. Descriptive terms follow it to help us understand—He is a "Faithful and True Witness." Christ is the faithful and true witness of God—His example is an exact representation of what God would be like if He were a man. Already, He is contrasting Himself with the Laodicean and what He finds so distasteful. They are faithless in carrying out their responsibilities to Christ. They are lukewarm—good for nothing but vomiting.
We have been called to be witnesses. Through the prophet Isaiah, God says, "[Y]ou are My witnesses . . . that I am God" (Isaiah 43:12). He has made witnessing our responsibility. We witness with our lives, but the Laodicean fails miserably as a witness because he is so worldly. The only witness Christ gets out of him is that he is worldly, which is spiritually useless.
The illustration described here is as if the Laodiceans were on trial and Christ, the Faithful and True Witness, is testifying against them. As the Source of all creation, He is not fooled by their diplomacy and compromise: He sees their witness is unfaithful and untrue. In fact, the word Laodicea means "judgment of the people," and the entire letter is a study in contrasting judgments, the Laodicean's and God's. The physical man looks at his material and social circumstances and evaluates himself as spiritually sound. On the other hand, the spiritual God looks at the same person and sees spiritual poverty.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The World, the Church, and Laodiceanism
The seventh and last of the attitudes within the church, Laodiceanism is the attitude that dominates the era of the end time. It seems more natural to think that this attitude would be the least likely to dominate in such terrible times—that it ought to be obvious that the return of Christ is near. Though it seems contradictory for the church to become lukewarm during such a stimulating period, Christ prophesies that it will occur. It indicates the power of Babylon! Spiritually, she is so very alluring. To our eyes, the world may look ugly, but its spiritual charm distracts us from more important things. Why does Babylon dominate the church in the end time? It dominates the world, and the Christian permits it to dominate him!
In August 1987, a well-known evangelist in the church of God said, "You would be surprised how often the Work internally mirrors the world externally. I don't think we realize how often this is true." Why? Church members bring the world's ways into the body. Laodiceanism is so subtle that those who seemingly are best-equipped to detect it are blind to it! This is Christ's major concern for these people. It is not only that they are Laodicean, but also that they are blind to their own state!
John W. Ritenbaugh
The World, the Church, and Laodiceanism
Laodiceanism is nothing more than a virulent form of worldliness in which devotion to Christ deteriorates, while attention to the world—its ways, attitudes, and conduct—intensifies. Perhaps we have been deceived into thinking that a Laodicean is lazy, or that a Laodicean is irreligious. But God never accuses them of being lazy.
Worldly people can be very religious. A Laodicean can appear to be very religious. The condition here is a matter of insipid devotion to the true God, His Christ, and His truth.
Christ reacts strongly to this because the indifference of Laodiceanism cannot be trusted. He does not know whether to believe their professions because He sees a great deal of insincerity and hypocrisy. He considers it essentially mean-spirited, as He is the object of their profession of faith, and what they claim is not backed by performance in their attitudes and works. The works are worldly even though they may appear religious.
Their high opinion of themselves—"I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing"—gives a good indication to whom they are really devoted, and so they profess to be what they are not. This, of course, is insincerity and hypocrisy, and it is a result of their indifference to Christ. They lack devotion to Him. So what Christ feels so strongly about is that honesty and a relationship with Him is weak or missing because their faith is so weak.
John W. Ritenbaugh
What Is the Work of God Now? (Part One)
Consider that this is Christ's message to His church just before the end, and this is what is most important for His people as we approach the end. Doctrine is mentioned seven times. Is that interesting in light of the times in which we live? We are seeing a major part of the church going haywire on doctrine! Is there something in the letter to Thyatira that mentions things that are happening in that group?
The letters contain at least eleven warnings to these seven churches but also at least twelve promises. Christ mentions faith, patience, conduct, and doctrine. But the two greatest, related concerns for His church at the end are works (Revelation 2:2,9,13,19; 3:1,8, 15) and overcoming (Revelation 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21).
Today, an awful lot of people are interested in church government at this time. It is not even mentioned by Christ! There are people who are interested in rituals, sacraments, and ceremonies, of which would be things like baptism or the Passover. But nothing in the seven letters alludes to these things. Nor is there anything in them about preaching the gospel around the world. These things have their place, but what we see is Christ's concern with doctrine, conduct, warnings to repent, and promises of reward.
Now these things that are not mentioned are less important than faith, repentance, and holiness, all of which directly impact on doctrine, conduct, and receiving the promises. All of these are bracketed between His statements about works and overcoming.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Revelation 2-3 and Works
Laodicea means "the people judge." Consider that, for Jesus to give the church this name, a great deal of judging must be happening within it. Part of it relates to their judgment of their own spiritual condition (which is the opposite of God's judgment), but in addition, when people judge themselves to be "in need of nothing," it becomes easy for them to judge others by their personal standards. While revealing in itself, this becomes even more serious when we remember what makes a judgment righteous.
In John 5:30, Jesus says that He judged according to what He heard, implying that He was hearing from the Father. This explains why His judgment was righteous—because He sought the Father's will rather than His own. Once He had heard His Father's will, then He could make a true and righteous judgment. With the church in Laodicea, the people are judging, and the implication is that they are judging according to themselves. They are not seeking the will of Christ, and being too distant from Him to hear His words, they cannot make a true judgment. The people are judging, but they are doing so unrighteously.
As another contrast, in the letter's salutation, Jesus calls Himself "the Faithful and True Witness." He was, and is, a perfect representation of the Father. He tells Philip, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" (John 14:9). The Father and the Son are one in mind, purpose, will, and character. Because of the closeness of their relationship, Jesus perfectly reflects the image of the Father. Likewise, our ability to be witnesses of God depends on how much we resemble Him in mind, purpose, will, and character. Yet if that relationship is growing cold, the image that we project will be neither faithful nor true. We will project the image of whatever has our attention, and in most cases, it will be some aspect of this world.
In Revelation 3:15, Jesus says that, based on their works, the Laodiceans "are neither cold nor hot." They are neither invigorating and refreshing on the one hand nor cleansing and healing on the other. They do produce works, but they are not the good works that God prepared beforehand for them (Ephesians 2:10). Because their works are so distasteful to Him, He vomits the individuals out, violently ejecting them from His Body.
In God's instructions to Israel, He warns them that the land would "vomit them out" if they defiled it and themselves by not obeying Him (Leviticus 18:24-29). This warning appears in a passage about not following the ways of neighboring nations—to be separate and distinct from the surrounding culture. This relates to the letter to Laodicea because Laodiceanism can be defined as a subtle form of worldliness. A Christian not fully committed to taking on the image of Christ will passively conform to the culture around him. The end result is a poor—even contrary—witness because the Laodicean looks more like the world than like his High Priest! In such a state, any works performed will be of no value to the Creator God.
His vomiting them out for being lukewarm is tied to their self-assessment of riches and wealth: "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:16-17, ESV). They judge themselves as already complete. They are not hungering and thirsting after righteousness—they already feel full. They are not seeking out the richness of a relationship with Christ—they have other "riches" that make them feel wealthy. They fail to recognize their poverty of spirit. Because of this, any works performed will be abhorrent to Christ since the works do not involve Him—they are self-directed and leave Him on the outside looking in.
By way of contrast, Paul knows that he is wretched, and it drives him to thankfulness for Christ (Romans 7:24-25). In the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, the tax collector likewise recognizes his sinfulness, and it motivates him to seek God (Luke 18:9-14). The tax collector is justified rather than the one doing the "good" works without God.
Verse 18 contains Jesus' counsel to the Laodiceans: "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." Though these are commands for the individual, none of them can be accomplished unilaterally. They can be done only through drawing closer to Jesus Christ.
David C. Grabbe
The Relationship Deficit (Part Three)
Laodicea is spiritually blind and filled with self-righteousness, things that are revealed primarily in their attitudes and actions. They say they "have need of nothing." The relationship, for all intent and purposes, seems to be forgotten. If any person has no need of God or Christ or of anything, it is because they really think highly of themselves.
They are not saying this verbally; Christ is reading their actions. Notice that He does not even tell them to "hold fast." Maybe there is nothing left to hold fast to. He simply exhorts them to repent because they have so little remaining of what they received and heard in the past. There is apparently virtually nothing to hold on to?almost nothing to be faithful to.
The name Laodicea means "people ruling." If we take this name to be indicative of their condition, then the name clearly indicates that God is no longer running their lives. They are simply doing their own thing while still professing to believe.
John W. Ritenbaugh
What Is the Work of God Now? (Part Four)
Was Jesus Created by God (Revelation 3:14)?
The correct meaning of the phrase "the Beginning of the creation of God" is the Beginner or Author of God's creation. "Beginning" is a rendering of the Greek word archee, which refers to an originating instrument or active cause of origin (see Colossians 1:15-17). In his The New Testament in the Language of Today, William F. Beck translates this as "The Origin of God's creation." As the Creator or Originator of all things, Jesus is the Head and Governor of all creatures; He is the King of creation (see Psalm 148). For further discussion of this meaning, please see the commentary on this verse by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown and the one by Adam Clarke.
Proverbs 8:22-31 is sometimes cited as evidence that Jesus was created. However, this passage is clearly referring to wisdom personified (see verse 1), not to God! Notice that God possessed wisdom in the beginning and used it in creating the worlds.
The Bible tells us plainly that Jesus (who many believe was Melchizedek—Genesis 14:18-20) had no beginning of days nor end of life (Hebrews 7:1-3). He was not created, but was the Creator of all things that were made (Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 1:2; 2:10). He was with the Father in the beginning, and all things were made by Him (John 1:1-3). He has always existed.
Additional Reading:
Fully Man and Fully God?
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing Revelation 3:14:
1 Kings 11:4-6
Amos 7:7-9
Amos 7:10-17
Matthew 13:22-23
Matthew 25:2
Luke 15:8-10
Luke 21:29-35
Luke 21:34-36
Hebrews 2:3
Revelation 3:19
Revelation 3:20
