Revelation 2:3Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

They were still stricter and more circumspect in choosing teachers, elders, and superiors. Therefore the Lord says: "thou hast tested those who call themselves apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."

In apostolic times many learned men, both among Jews and among pagans, were converted to Christianity. They often mixed the notions of their own reason with the teaching of the Apostles.

From this arose various sects, whose founders also called themselves apostles and teachers, and sowed tares among the wheat.

But while the Apostles themselves and apostolic men were still alive, such self-appointed men were strictly examined, and the churches were warned against their false teaching.

To those who overcome temptations and passions, the Lord promises to grant the eating of the fruit from the tree of life.

"But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate" (Rev 2:6). The Nicolaitans were heretics of the apostolic age. They were a branch of the Gnostics, marked in practical life by corruption.

Besides St. John the Theologian, the Apostles Peter and Jude also rebuke the Nicolaitans for corruption (2 Pet 2:1 ff.; Jude 4).

"To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Rev 2:7). This tree in the heavenly paradise of God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

To eat the fruit of this tree is communion with the Godhead, or, what is the same, eternal blessedness. Eden's paradise with the tree of life (Gen 2:9; 3:22) served only as a type of the heavenly paradise (Lk 23:43).

These, of course, are responsible for the condition of the Church entrusted to them. Therefore the shortcomings and virtues of that Church are quite justly reckoned either as merit or as blame to its presiding shepherd.

First of all, the Lord commands that an epistle be written to the angel of the Church of Ephesus. This is surely because Ephesus was the metropolis of Asia Minor, not only politically but also ecclesiastically.

In keeping with this significance of the Ephesian Church and its bishop, the Lord addresses the latter as the One who holds the seven stars in His hand and walks among the seven lampstands. That is, He has the central place in the whole Church and governs her.

The Lord praises the bishop and, in his person, the whole Ephesian Church for its works. He praises its labors for its own improvement and that of others, and its constancy in this holy work.

He also praises it for removing evil men from its midst and for conscientiously testing those who came to them under the guise of Apostles of Christ. In fact, as it turned out, they did not teach what the Apostles taught.

Finally, with respect to sufferings for the name of Christ, the Ephesian Church showed complete readiness to endure them. Such are its merits before God.