Given that the Ephesians were faithful “doers”, it is tempting to imagine that the love they were lacking was that of emotion or attitude. The actions remained, but the original motivation was gone. But in the next verse (Rev 2:5), the text suggests something more was lacking. They are called to repent and do the deeds they did “at first”. The repetition of the adjective “first” suggests a direct parallel with their lacking love. Their early love had been tangibly expressed in action. Whatever these actions were, they had evidently diminished over time. Were they tangible acts toward each other or to God? Probably they were both. The Ephesians had expressed their true love to each other in attitude and action. And in so doing they were expressing their genuine love to God, the giver of all life and abundance. We too must never begin to think that simply doing our Christian duty can ever substitute for tangible love of the brethren expressed in word and action. For it is only through loving the brethren that we can begin to aspire to love God as we truly ought (1 John 4:20-21).
Valentine’s Day celebrates the expression of romantic love. It is a day to pause and reflect over whether we have lost our first love, and to renew our commitments to those we do love. For those that are married, it is an occasion to rekindle and express afresh the love commitments that were mutually expressed on the wedding day. For all Christians, married or single, it is also an occasion to pause and reflect whether we have lost our first love of a greater sort. This was precisely the problem for the church in Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7. They were “doing” things right. They were labouring and toiling for the Gospel with fervour. They were doctrinally sound, testing and casting out false teachers. They were persevering faithfully under persecution without growing weary. But despite their exemplary service (impressive indeed by modern standards) they were firmly reprimanded for a greater failure. They had “left” their first love. The verb aphiēmi used in 2:4 takes on a number of different meanings in the New Testament. It can mean to “separate” or “depart from” and it is used 3 times in the legal sense of “divorce” by Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:11-13. It could be said of the Ephesians that though they were going through the rudimentary outward motions, so thoroughly had their love grown cold, that they had effectively divorced themselves from Christ. But it also can connote simple neglect (e.g. Matt 23:23; Mk 7:8). Though the Ephesians were doing all the very right things, they had neglected the love they had expressed in their first encounter of Christ.
Given that the Ephesians were faithful “doers”, it is tempting to imagine that the love they were lacking was that of emotion or attitude. The actions remained, but the original motivation was gone. But in the next verse (Rev 2:5), the text suggests something more was lacking. They are called to repent and do the deeds they did “at first”. The repetition of the adjective “first” suggests a direct parallel with their lacking love. Their early love had been tangibly expressed in action. Whatever these actions were, they had evidently diminished over time. Were they tangible acts toward each other or to God? Probably they were both. The Ephesians had expressed their true love to each other in attitude and action. And in so doing they were expressing their genuine love to God, the giver of all life and abundance. We too must never begin to think that simply doing our Christian duty can ever substitute for tangible love of the brethren expressed in word and action. For it is only through loving the brethren that we can begin to aspire to love God as we truly ought (1 John 4:20-21).
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A Bit About Barry:Barry is currently serving as the Community Pastor for Single Adult Ministries at Centre Street Church in Calgary, Alberta, having over twenty years of experience in various capacities of single adult ministry. Barry offers both a pastoral perspective as well as academic expertise on the subject having completed his Ph.D. (University of Cambridge) on the topic of Paul's discussion of singleness in 1 Corinthians 7. Barry is author of the book Redeeming Singleness: How the Storyline of Scripture Affirms the single life (Crossway, 2010). Barry is an international speaker and teacher. He is unmarried and currently resides in Calgary, Alberta. Archives
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