Each Revelation letter to a church has a general pattern of a greeting and introduction, praise for their behavior, a warning or correction, plus a reminder of what is to come (hint, it’s the Kingdom!)

For some context, the church in Ephesus (Rev. 2:1-7) was visited and established by Paul back in Acts 18 & 19. We know from these passages that the silversmith Demetrius, and his shrines or idols to the goddess Artemis, were popular opposers of the message of Jesus the Messiah. From the book of Ephesians, we know that Paul believed the Ephesians loved all of God’s people, but still needed guidance on how to daily live out the Christian walk. Knowing this can impact how we read the letter John transcribed to them in Revelation 2, and how we can take that message and apply it to our own churches and lives.

After greeting the church in Ephesus, through John, Jesus writes to the church of Ephesus and commends them on their hard work, perseverance, and holding fast to doctrinal truths diligently (v.2-3). But their correction is that they have forsaken the love they had at first (v.4). Some people debate the exact meaning this has, but personally, when paired with the information we have from Paul’s writing, I believe this means they have lost the love they had for God’s people.

Back in Paul’s time, they were a church in the middle of a dark, secular, perverse community. Yet, they were growing and evangelizing in a way that was drawing people away from worshiping other gods, and bringing them to repentance. Clearly they were doing something right at this time to be so appealing to people in such a community, so much so that those trying to make a profit off of sinful practices started a riot! And THAT is what I believe they lost.

This church seems to have swung the pendulum to the side of practicing truth without love. While we can only speculate, I do think this likely looked like church leaders who were so focused on ensuring their church stood out from the worldly crowds, they lost the compassion for those outside of their own doors. They lost the zeal and vigor for spreading the gospel, and became too heavily focused on trying to maintain the doctrinal ‘purity’ they had built.

Notice how Jesus doesn’t say in these verses they should stop holding fast to those important practices, but rather they should do them in combination with what they did at first, loving others in their community so well that they were attracted to the church. In fact, right after this reminder, he even says that he appreciates that they hate the same detestable practices he does! Jesus was never saying to disregard the importance of true and accurate teaching of the Gospel message. But he was challenging a church who had been a beacon of light to their community, to remember how they felt in those early days when they received the Holy Spirit, and go back to the same energy and passion for the people they were surrounded by.

Well-established churches or believers, especially those who hold tightly to doctrinal truths, must be on guard for this same loss of love in their own communities and hearts. Not compromising on the biblical truths they hold, but never losing sight of the greatest commandment, to LOVE one another. We all may have a bit more Ephesus in us than we think… which isn’t always a bad thing, but is something we must be cognizant of to make sure we are still remembering the love we must show, in order to have the opportunity to experience the “paradise of God” (v.7).