As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and
knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with
me.
He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down
with me in my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down
with my Father in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches.
The first sentence in what we take to be an epilogue
might quite well be regarded as part of the Laodicean
letter. The words seem at first to express naturally the
reaction from the sharp censure conveyed in the preceding
sentences. But, as we read on, we become conscious that all
reference to the Laodiceans has ceased, and that the writer
is drifting farther and farther away from them. The final
promise has no apparent relation to their situation and
character.
Now, when it is remembered that the Seven Letters were
not real letters, intended to be sent separately to Seven
Churches, but form one literary composition, it becomes
evident that an epilogue to the whole is needed, and that
this is the epilogue. One might hesitate where the Laodicean
letter ends and the epilogue to the Seven Letters begins.
The writer passes almost insensibly from the one to the
other. But it seems best to suppose that the epilogue begins
at the point where clear reference to the circumstances and
nature of Laodicea ceases. And when the transition is placed
here a difficulty is eliminated. After the extremely sharp
condemnation of Laodicea, it seems hardly consistent to give
it the honour which is awarded to the true and courageous
Church of Philadelphia alone among the Seven, and to rank it
among those whom the Author loves. We can understand why
Philadelphia, the true city, the missionary Church, in
danger even yet ever enduring, should receive that
honourable mention; but we cannot understand why
Philadelphia and Laodicea should be the only two that
receive it.
But, as part of the epilogue, this first sentence unites
all the Seven Churches and the entire Church of Christ in
one loving waning: the Seven Letters have conveyed much
reproof and chastisement, but the Author reproves and
chastens those whom he loves. The admirable suitability of
the remainder as an epilogue is a matter of expository
interpretation rather than of the historical study at which
the present book has aimed.
In a few words the historical epilogue to this historical
study is summed up.
Among the Seven Churches two only are condemned
absolutely and without hope of pardon: Sardis is dead:
Laodicea is rejected. And among the Seven Cities two only
are at the present day absolutely deserted and uninhabited,
Sardis and Laodicea. Two Churches only are praised in an
unreserved, hearty, and loving way, Smyrna and Philadelphia.
And two cities have enjoyed and earned the glory of being
the champions of Christianity in the centuries of war that
ended in the Turkish conquest, the last cities to yield long
after all others had succumbed Smyrna and Philadelphia.
Other two Churches are treated with mingled praise and
blame, though on the whole the praise outweighs the blame;
for their faith, steadfastness, works, love, service and
patience are heartily praised, though they have become
tainted with the false Nicolaitan principles. These are
Pergamum and Thyatira, both of which still exist as
flourishing towns. One church alone shall be moved from its
place; and Ephesus was moved to a site about three
kilometres distant, where it continued an important city
until comparatively recent time, though now it has sunk to
an insignificant village.