Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
17. I am rich, and increased with goods ] The words in the original are cognate, as it were, “I am rich, and have gotten riches.” If there be any distinction of sense between them, the second expresses pride in the riches being his own acquisition, in addition to self-complacency in the enjoyment.
For the sense, cf. Hos 12:8, where apparently the self-complacency in material prosperity lends itself to and combines with religious self-satisfaction. Hence it is not necessary to interpret these words either of material wealth, or of fancied spiritual wealth, to the exclusion of the other. St Jas 2:1-6 shews that in the first century, as in the nineteenth, the “respectable” classes found it easiest to be religious, to their own satisfaction.
that thou art wretched ] Inadequate: read that thou art the wretched and miserable one, &c.: the one person truly to be called so, above all others at least, above all the other six Churches.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because thou sayest, I am rich – So far as the language here is concerned, this may refer either to riches literally, or to spiritual riches; that is, to a boast of having religion enough. Prof. Stuart supposes that it refers to the former, and so do Wetstein, Vitringa, and others. Doddridge, Rosenmuller, and others, understand it in the latter sense. There is no doubt that there was much wealth in Laodicea, and that, as a people, they prided themselves on their riches. See the authorities in Wetstein on Col 2:1, and Vitringa, p. 160. It is not easy to determine which is the true sense; but may it not have been that there was an allusion to both, and that, in every respect, they boasted that they had enough? May it not have been so much the characteristic of that people to boast of their wealth, that they carried the spirit into everything, and manifested it even in regard to religion? Is it not true that they who have much of this worlds goods, when they make a profession of religion, are very apt to suppose that they are well off in everything, and to feel self-complacent and happy? And is not the possession of much wealth by an individual Christian, or a Christian church, likely to produce just the lukewarmness which it is said existed in the church at Laodicea? If we thus understand it, there will be an accordance with the well-known fact that Laodicea was distinguished for its riches, and, at the same time, with another fact, so common as to be almost universal, that the possession of great wealth tends to make a professed Christian self-complacent and satisfied in every respect; to make him feel that, although he may not have much religion, yet he is on the whole well off; and to produce, in religion, a state of just such lukewarmness as the Saviour here says was loathsome and odious.
And increased with goods – peplouteka – am enriched. This is only a more emphatic and intensive way of saying the same thing. It has no reference to the kind of riches referred to, but merely denotes the confident manner in which they affirmed that they were rich.
And have need of nothing – Still an emphatic and intensive way of saying that they were rich. In all respects their needs were satisfied; they had enough of everything. They felt, therefore, no stimulus to effort; they sat down in contentment, self-complacency, and indifference. It is almost unavoidable that those who are rich in this worlds goods should feel that they have need of nothing. There is no more common illusion among people than the feeling that if one has wealth he has everything; that there is no want of his nature which cannot be satisfied with that; and that he may now sit down in contentment and ease. Hence, the almost universal desire to be rich; hence the common feeling among those who are rich that there is no occasion for solicitude or care for anything else. Compare Luk 12:19.
And knowest not – There is no just impression in regard to the real poverty and wretchedness of your condition.
That thou art wretched – The word wretched we now use to denote the actual consciousness of being miserable, as applicable to one who is sunk into deep distress or affliction. The word here, however, refers rather, to the condition itself than to the consciousness of that condition, for it is said that they did not know it. Their state was, in fact, a miserable state, and was suited to produce actual distress if they had had any just sense of it, though they thought that it was otherwise.
And miserable – This word has, with us now, a similar signification; but the term used here – eleinos – rather means a pitiable state than one actually felt to be so. The meaning is, that their condition was one that was suited to excite pity or compassion; not that they were actually miserable. Compare the notes on 1Co 15:19.
And poor – Notwithstanding all their boast of having enough. They really had not what was necessary to meet the actual needs of their nature, and, therefore, they were poor. Their worldly property could not meet the needs of their souls; and, with all their pretensions to piety, they had not religion enough to meet the necessities of their nature when calamities should come, or when death should approach; and they were, therefore, in the strictest sense of the term, poor.
And blind – That is, in a spiritual respect. They did not see the reality of their condition; they had no just views of themselves, of the character of God, of the way of salvation. This seems to be said in connection with the boast which they made in their own minds – that they had everything; that they wanted nothing. One of the great blessings of life is clearness of vision, and their boast that they had everything must have included that; but the speaker here says that they lacked that indispensable thing to completeness of character and to full enjoyment. With all their boasting, they were actually blind – and how could one who was in that state say that he had need of nothing?
And naked – Of course, spiritually. Salvation is often represented as a garment Mat 22:11-12; Rev 6:11; Rev 7:9, Rev 7:13-14; and the declaration here is equivalent to saying that they had no religion. They had nothing to cover the nakedness of the soul, and in respect to the real needs of their nature they were like one who had no clothing in reference to cold, and heat, and storms, and to the shame of nakedness. How could such an one be regarded as rich? We may learn from this instructive verse:
(1) That people may think themselves to be rich, and yet, in fact, be miserably poor. They may have the wealth of this world in abundance, and yet have nothing that really will meet their needs in disappointment, bereavement, sickness, death; the needs of their never-dying soul; their needs in eternity. What had the rich fool, as he is commonly termed, in the parable, when he came to die? Luk 12:16 ff. What had Dives, as he is commonly termed, to meet the needs of his nature when he went down to hell? Luk 16:19 ff.
(2) People may have much property, and think that they have all they want, and yet be wretched. In the sense that their condition is a wretched condition, this is always true; and in the sense that they are consciously wretched, this may be, and often is, true also.
(3) People may have great property, and yet be miserable. This is true in the sense that their condition is a pitiable one, and in the sense that they are actually unhappy. There is no more pitiable condition than that where one has great property, and is self-complacent and proud, and who has nevertheless no God, no Saviour, no hope of heaven, and who perhaps that very day may lift up his eyes in hell, being in torments; and it need not be added that there is no greater actual misery in this world than what sometimes finds its way into the palaces of the rich. He greatly errs who thinks that misery is confined to the cottages of the poor.
(4) People may be rich, and think they have all that they want, and yet be blind to their condition. They really have no distinct vision of anything. They have no just views of God, of themselves, of their duty, of this world, or of the next. In most important respects they are in a worse condition than the inmates of an asylum for the blind, for they may have clear views of God and of heaven. Mental darkness is a greater calamity than the loss of natural vision; and there is many an one who is surrounded by all that affluence can give, who never yet had one correct view of his own character, of his God, or of the reality of his condition, and whose condition might have been far better if he had actually been born blind.
(5) There may be gorgeous robes of adorning, and yet real nakedness. With all the decorations that wealth can impart, there may be a nakedness of the soul as real as that of the body would be if, without a rag to cover it, it were exposed to cold, and storm, and shame. The soul destitute of the robes of salvation, is in a worse condition than the body without raiment; for how can it bear the storms of wrath that shall beat upon it forever, and the shame of its exposure in the last dread day?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 3:17-18
Knowest not that thou art wretched.
A great mistake, and the way to rectify it
These Laodicean people were unhappily in such a state that you could not get at them. They were not so poor that they knew they were poor, and therefore when the poverty-stricken were addressed, they said, These things are not for us: we are increased in goods. They were blind, but they thought they saw; they were naked, and yet they prided themselves on their princely apparel, and hence it was hard to reach them. Had they even been outwardly worse, had they defiled their garments with overt transgression, then the Spirit might have pointed out the blot and convicted them there and then; but what was to be done when the mischief was hidden and internal?
I. First, let us think of the Church in Laodicea and listen to their saying; it may prevent us from reaching such a height of pride as to speak as they did.
1. The spirit of self-congratulation expressed itself in a manner strikingly unanimous. It was the general, unanimous feeling, from the minister down to the latest convert, that they were a most wonderful Church. They were heartily at one in having a high estimate of themselves, and this helped to keep them together, and stirred them to attempt great things.
2. This saying of theirs was exceedingly boastful. The present was all right, the past was eminently satisfactory, and they had reached a point of all but absolute perfection, for they needed nothing.
3. They were sincere in this glorying. When they said it they were not consciously boasting, for the text says, And thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. They did not know the truth. How readily do we believe a lie when it fosters in us a high opinion of ourselves.
4. But now see what was their actual state: they were altogether mistaken. These intelligent persons, these wealthy persons, these instructed persons did not know themselves, and that is the grossest kind of ignorance. You remember the Tay Bridge disaster. There is no doubt whatever that the bridge was not fitted for its position, its ordinary strain was all it could bear; but nobody thought so. Undoubtedly the engineers reckoned it would stand any test to which it might be put, and therefore there was no attention given to it to make it any stronger and to provide against sudden disaster; and consequently when a specially fierce hurricane was out one night it swept it all away. That is just the picture of many a Church and many a man, because he is thought to be so pious, and the Church is thought to be so correct and vigorous, therefore no attempt is made for improvement, no special prayer, no cries to heaven.
II. Our Lords blessed counsel.
1. Note how He begins: I counsel thee to buy. Is not that singular advice? Just now He said that they were wretched and poor. How can they buy? Surely it suggests to us at once those blessed free grace terms which are only to be met with in the market of Divine love: Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
2. But next, what does He say? I counsel thee to buy of Me. Ah, they had been dealing with one another: they had been bartering amongst themselves. One brother had brought this talent, another that, and they had grown rich, as they thought, by a mutual commerce. Now, says Christ, compare yourselves with yourselves no longer: give up seeking of man, and buy of Me. It is the very foundation of grace–to be willing to buy of Christ.
3. Now see the goods which He describes. I counsel thee to buy of Me–what? Everything. It is true that only three wants of these people are here mentioned, but they are inclusive of all needs.
4. The counsel of the Lord is not only that we buy of Him everything, but that we buy the best of everything of Him. Gold is the most precious metal, but He would have them buy the best of it, gold tried in the fire; gold that will endure all further tests, having survived that of fire. Remember the raiment too, for that is of the best; our Lord calls it white raiment. That is a pure colour, a holy colour, a royal colour. We put on the Lord Jesus as our joy, our glory, our righteousness. And as to the eyesalve, it is the best possible one, for Jesus says, Anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see.
5. All this is the counsel of Christ, and the counsel of Christ to a people that were proud and self-conceited. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The self ignorance of the Laodiceans
The secret of lukewarmness is disclosed in these words, Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Shall we find fault with the words in themselves? Might they not be taken as an expression of gratitude? Might they not mean, The lines are fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage? Now I would not deny that this may have been meant by the Laodiceans as the language of very exalted piety. Possibly, too, their neighbours might admit the claim, and regard them with admiration. But when we look closely into the words, two unpleasant things appear. First, here is no recognition of the Lord and His goodness; no lowly and grateful ascribing of all to His undeserved lovingkindness and bounty. If the Laodiceans had felt themselves debtors, they would at least have said, By the grace of God I am what I am–Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory. This second thing, too, becomes apparent, in examining the words, that they are a boast; a glorying in self, and not in the Lord; a quiet claim of superiority over other Churches; like the words of the Pharisee, God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are. Their wretched and pitiable condition is presented to themselves in three aspects: as poverty, blindness, and nakedness. What a combination of ills! If you find a fellow-man in this plight, how you commiserate him. Each evil more than doubles the other. And then add inevitable nakedness–with its shamefulness and discomforts–and how woeful the condition! Well, here is a Church of Christ in that pitiable condition. There is material wealth, growing numbers, name and repute in society, many showy and coveted virtues that attract attention and admiration. But look for the faith, the love, the joy, the peace, the hope, the meekness, the piety, the holy zeal, the beneficence, the martyr-spirit, the self-forgetfulness and self-denial, in which the true wealth of a Church consists, and she has nothing. Inquire how much of heaven there is within her borders–how much of the power and joy of the Holy Ghost-and you discover that in the real, true sense she is bankrupt. This Church is blind as well as poor–blind in the eye that sees God. They said, We see, and believed it. But enter the region of spiritual truths and realities–bring up the doctrines of the gospel and the hidden wisdom, comparing spiritual things with spiritual–they are foolishness to the Laodiceans, neither can they know them, because they are spiritually discerned. If spiritual poverty in a Christian Church is sinful, so also is blindness. It is not misfortune, but fault. It need not be. The Saviour was anointed with the Holy Spirit that He might give sight to the blind, and He has lost none of His skill. One thing more characterises this Laodicean Church: instead of the rich and glorious adorning of thy fancy, thou art naked. Grace clothes the happy soul with the garment of salvation, and covers it with the robe of righteousness, so that we appear with acceptance in the presence of the majesty of heaven and earth; but Laodicea in its pride is naked as a beggar. And saddest of all, thou knowest it not: it is hidden from thine eyes. Could aught be more deplorable? (J. Culross, D. D.)
The Church of the Laodiceans
I. The opinion which the Laodiceans held of themselves. Thou sayest. It is not likely that the words which follow were spoken. The saying was in a cherished thought–not in a thought that comes in, if I may so speak, at one door of the spirit and passes out at another, but a thought that a man makes at home in his mind. He who speaks to the Laodiceans, hears this speaking; though the speaking be only thinking, He hears it; though only in feeling, He hears it. Oh, what a different thing life would be, if lived out under the eye of God, from what it now is as lived out under the eye of men! But, mark, every Church presents itself in a particular form to Jesus Christ. Every Church by its worship and communion and fellowship and work is, according to this text, saying something perpetually into the very ear of God. Now these people said, I am rich–rich not in material wealth, though that most likely was true. And they said, I am increased with goods: that is, I am become wealthy. There is a force in the word that gives the idea of their having gained this spiritual treasure by their own exertions, so that it was to their credit to have been thus spiritually rich. And have need of nothing; that is, they were perfectly satisfied. You see there is a sort of climax here: rich–become rich–having need of nothing. First the fact of wealth is stated, then the means by which it was obtained is indicated, and then the result. But now, what does all this mean in plain language? Christ intends to say to these people, that they were self-conceited and self-sufficient. The men who are great in their own eyes are men who have very little to do with God, and very little to do with the works of God; and the Christians and the Churches that are great in their own eyes are Christians and Churches that cannot be much in communion with Christ.
II. Their real condition, as described by one who knew it well. And knowest not that thou art wretched–literally, that thou art the wretched on–the wretched one out of these Asiatic Churches–the wretched one in all the Churches of Christ. The Laodicean Church thought itself to be the great one; and, to correct them, Christ is represented as saying, and knowest not that thou art the wretched one. A slave to vanity and to delusion, this Church was verily the wretched and the pitiable one, a true object for compassion.
III. The counsel. It is just the same with a man who professes to cultivate his mind, to increase his knowledge, and to add to his information–so soon as he begins to rest in what he has gained, and to call it wealth, and to feel rich in it, so soon he arrests his progress in getting to himself the treasures of information and of knowledge. This counsel, I say again, is offered to those who assume and assert that they do not need it. But what is here meant by the word buy?–I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire. The word buy here does not mean to give an equivalent, but to part with this self-sufficiency, and to part with it for something valuable. We often see God bring a conceited man down to no faith at all in order to lift him up to the position of a true believer. What Christ suggests to these people is this, that they shall part with their self-conceit and with their self-sufficiency. By this gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, we may understand sterling godliness as opposed to the form of godliness without the power. Of what use is a sham Christian? Of what benefit is an unreal Church? Things are precious only as they be true and thorough and entire. And white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, etc. Put into plain language, this simply means, get what is really valuable; put on what is really fair and true; and try to see things by a proper and spiritual discernment to be derived from above just aa they really are. (S. Martin.)
Shallowness in religion
Setting aside for a little the question what this lukewarmness or shallowness is, in the higher spiritual life of the soul, we are all of us perfectly well acquainted with those whose characters it marks in common life–shallow, surface, outside men. We see it in one man in the life of the affections. He is full of a ready, courteous, skin-deep kindliness of demeanour, which reaches down to no self-sacrifice, which implies no wearing anxiety for others, which reveals no deep, disturbing love, perhaps, for any one person upon the earth, nay, which perhaps is thoroughly compatible with absolute cruelty of heart. This character is one of utter shallowness; it is marked by an essential poverty in the life of the affections. They are called up by the lightest surface-touch, because to them the surface is all. They are mere land-springs of kindness, easy to break out after a summer shower, easy to dry up after a twelve hours drought. It is demonstration without depth, the brook of shallow love, babbling of its shallowness as it flows. Here is one of these shallow characters: now look at it from another point, and see it in the life of science. See the poor sciolist, with his ready smattering of all learning, veiling even from himself his universal ignorance. For what worth knowing does the man know? His readiness to acquire and his readiness to produce are of the very essence of his disease. Again, you may see the self-same character in the public man. He is the easy repeater of the watchwords of a party, the retailer of other mens aphorisms, the uncomprehending inheritor of a traditional policy. There is not in this man, perhaps, one atom of real knowledge, one acting of any deep principle which could govern, could strengthen, or could ennoble a public life. Here, then, in the ordinary life of this world–having put for the time the higher spiritual world aside–here is this familiar phase of shallowness. And now, how is it to be cured? How are we ourselves to get free from it? We must trace the cause of the evil. The master root of this vice is the selfishness of our fallen nature, working under the peculiar circumstances which belong to ease, to abundance, and to a refined civilisation. Men shaken daily together in the vast sack of common respectabilities round off from one another the sharp corners of their individuality, and thus the curse of shallowness is imparted, like some contagious disorder, from one to another; and all combine to banish, as the source of continual trouble, from their life of painted complacency, deeper and more real qualities. Here is the working of the evil and its cause; and now where is the cure to come from? Wealth cannot buy it; civilisation cannot give it; intellectual power cannot command it. Where then is the cure against all this degradation of humanity? In the Church of Christ, and in it alone, is stored the sufficient remedy. The Lord imparts Himself to the soul that will receive Him. This is the new life of the regenerate. This is the mystery of the new birth in its perfection, in the soul that follows after Christ. And so the shallownesses of his nature are swept away by the mighty burst; the rock is struck and the streams flow, and those whom the Lord has healed, witness of that healing to others. The emptiness of fallen man is filled full by the awful in-dwelling of the Incarnate God. I counsel thee to buy of Me. And what is needed to buy of Him? First, you must believe in the reality of the renewed life. How many fail here! They live in the perpetual dream that for the present they must be shallow, instead of believing in the mighty enfranchisement which the Eternal Son has wrought out for them. Oh, claim it for thyself, and claim it here. Next, join in desire, join in prayer, join in perpetual aspiration, your present life to the life of Christ. This is the great sacramental mystery of our new being. By the power of the Holy Ghost, Christ will work daily within you, if you will seek His working. Only thirdly, seek all this not as a mere apprehension of the understanding, for that will do no good, but seek it as part of a renewed life. Seek it in a life of greater brightness and greater obedience in service. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
The great and dangerous mistake of some professors
All flattery is dangerous; self-flattery is more dangerous; but self-flattery in the business of salvation, is the most dangerous of all.
I. That there are multitudes of such self-deceivers among professors.
II. The grounds and causes of this self-deceit among professors.
1. The natural deceitfulness of the heart, than which nothing is more treacherous and false (Jer 17:9).
2. Satan is a chief conspirator in this treacherous design.
3. The common works found in unregenerate souls deceive many, who cannot distinguish them from the special works of the Spirit in Gods elect (Heb 6:4).
4. To add no more, this strengthens self-deceit exceedingly in many, viz., their observations of and comparing themselves with others. Use 1 shall be for caution to professors. Before I tell you what use you should make of it, I must tell you what use you may not make of it.
(1) Do not make this use of it–to conclude from what hath been said, that all professors are but a pack of hypocrites.
(2) Do not make this use of it–that assurance must needs be impossible, because so many professors are found to be self-deceivers.
(3) Do not make this use of it–to conceal or hide the truths or graces of God, or refuse to profess or confess them before men, because many professors deceive themselves and others also by a vain profession. Use
2. Surely you cannot improve this point to a better purpose than from it to take warning, and look to yourselves, that you be not of that number who deceive themselves in their profession. (John Flavel.)
The unconverted sinners estimate of himself
I. The unconverted sinners estimate of his own condition.
1. I am rich. The word rich is here used in its most extended meaning, as descriptive of the possession of that which is of great value. I am rich. I possess much; and what I possess is well worth having. If the unconverted sinner has money, he is proud of it. He looks upon it as a great portion. But many of the unconverted have no money to be proud of. That circumstance, however, does not prevent them from finding out that they are rich. Perhaps they have respectable family connections, or they have a goodly personal appearance, or they possess superior talents. In any such case, the mind fastens with special complacency upon the circumstance, and feels all the satisfaction attendant upon the consciousness of being rich.
2. And increased with goods. These words embody an additional conceit of the unconverted man. He is rich, and his wealth is not in the course of decay; on the contrary, it is rising in its amount, it is accumulating fast. If he is a young man, he, peradventure, rejoices in the rapid growth and extensive range of his literary and scientific and professional acquirements, and his heart bounds within him as the strong hope arises of approaching distinction and fame. See, again, that man who has left behind him the gay period of youth, and has arrived at the years of maturity and wisdom. He is no longer what he once was. The fire of passion is moderated, and the greaser immoralities of early life are abandoned. From being a person of no character, he is become a person of good character. He is a prudent, a well-behaved, an honourable citizen.
3. And have need of nothing. In these words we are presented with the unconverted mans climax. The prosperity of his state has arrived at the superlative degree.
`II. The unconverted sinners real state.
1. He is wretched. Consider the original state of mankind. Think of its enjoyments, its privileges, its honours, its prospects. What a happy condition! and how wretched the condition which has succeeded! They might be free, but instead of that they are slaves to Satan, to the world, to their own lusts. They might be noble princes; but, alas! they are disgraced outcasts from the Divine favour. They might be kings and priests unto God; but they are doomed criminals, the branded victims of coming vengeance. Surely they are in a wretched condition; they have the Almighty Potentate of heaven and earth for their foe.
2. Miserable. It is intimated here, that when the mind comes to the consideration of the state of the unconverted, the appropriate emotion is pity. The thraldom they are held in calls for pity; the forfeiture they have incurred, the doom they have provoked, the self-deception they are practising, the false security they are indulging, the infatuation they are exemplifying, demand our pity.
3. Poor. If the tattered garment around the body be recognised as the symbol of poverty surely we have the symbol of a deeper poverty when the soul is enveloped in the unclean rags of self-righteousness!
4. Blind. Sinai overhangs him, but he heeds not the frowning mountain. One fairer than the sons of men, and chief among ten thousand, appears to him; but he evinces no sense of His attractions. The deformities of sin do not hinder him from embracing it. Though it be the noon-day of the Gospel, he gropes as one in darkness. The road which he travels is marked for his warning, as the way to everlasting misery and ruin, but he slackens not his pace. Can it be, then, that he sees? Would beauty have no power to draw a man, deformity none to repel him, or dangers to dismay him, unless he were blind?
5. Naked. This completes the picture of an unconverted state. The unconverted are naked in a two-fold respect–in that they want the garment of justification, and likewise the garment of sanctification.
III. Some inferences descriptive of the unconverted mans error.
1. It is a great error. It is just as great an error as possibly can be. It is not, for example, the error of the man who says it is an hour before noon, or an hour after noon, when it is actually just noon; but it is the error of him who declares it is midnight while he stands under the blaze of the meridian sun.
2. It is a surprising error. It is surprising from its very grossness. Man is so prone to err that the occurrence of small mistakes excites no astonishment; on the contrary, we look for it. But it is startling to find men calling bitter sweet, emptiness abundance, disgrace honour, and misery comfort and happiness. The error in question is the more extraordinary, when it is considered that there are such ample means of getting at the truth.
3. It is a pernicious error. Death is the consequence of adhering to this error–death in its most appalling form–the eternal ruin of body and soul.
4. It is an error which, by human means, is incorrigible. We say not that its correction is beyond the power of God. (A. Gray.)
Human need
Man is by nature the neediest of all beings. Nor is it, as some might maintain, his disgrace and the signal of his inferiority that he is thus needy, but rather the mark of his native glory and pre-eminence. For it points to the number and greatness of his faculties. The lower the creature, the less his need; for the more feeble his sensibilities, narrow his powers, and torpid his desires. But, from the most sagacious and strongest of the animal tribes, how vast the difference, in capacity of intellect and feeling, to man! And no less vast the difference of need. He draws from the earth, from the water, and from the air, to satisfy his appetites and to satiate his curiosity; he ransacks every kingdom of nature for his comfort and aggrandisement, and is not content. Is there, then, no satisfaction for a man? God has not made His noblest creature for a wretched failure and a miserable want. Let him bring into light all his abilities and desires–they are not too many or too strong; those of the higher nature as well as the lower; those that tend up to God Himself and heaven and immortality, as well as those that tend downwards and abroad to earthly things. Let him unfold them without fear. The vast supplies from the foreseeing Creator, in the treasury of His truth, are ready. Let him appropriate them to his need. Man is a being that does not need daily bread and clothing and shelter alone; but he needs truth, needs duty, needs love, needs God. The mistake is in trying to gratify fully his nature with such outward things, neglecting the spiritual. It is just this foolhardy and hazardous assurance of satisfaction in outward prosperity, that I apprehend, the author of our text means to expose. Man–whosoever thou art, content with sensual good and clinging to outward treasure–that is not the true gold with which thou fillest thy coffers. That is not the durable raiment with which thou art clad. There are riches of goodness for the heart. To sustain this exhortation, it is not necessary to speak in the exclusive ardour of one idea, but the sober proportion that takes in mans whole estate. He needs, by various education, to get possession of all his members and faculties. He needs to fabricate, needs to manufacture, needs to discover and invent, needs to trade, needs to accumulate; so that every industrial faculty may be brought out, every hand employed, every talent put in motion–nay, so that the community itself may not fail, but be civilised. In setting before you a moral and spiritual need, I certainly do not forget these personal, social, and political necessities, nor would shove them by an inch from their place; but, admitting the latter, maintain the supreme importance, the predominating position of the former. The dull caterpillar may be content with lying upon the ground, hardly appearing animated, like a lump or brown leaf, when the wings are actually folded up within, to bear it into the sunshine and among all the blossoms of the landscape. So a man may be content with a low, earth-bound life, a state of half-manhood, because unconscious of the heaven-bestowed capacities by which he might live above the world. But the mere force of nature will not unfold the man as it does the insect. He may discourage and keep down these wings of the soul. He may, by sin and his rebellious will, wound and mutilate them as they instinctively strive to expand. Yet he cannot remain for ever unconscious of their existence. He cannot exercise them in the mean ways of the world in which he treads. Lacking their true element and use, they will pine and wither with dissatisfaction and remorse. We need the principle of devotion to God and others good. We need the practice of the two great commandments of love to God and man. We need to be humble, need to be patient, need to be meek, to the Father above and our brethren below. We need these dispositions, not only as paying our debt to them, though they are our debt, but as the indispensable requisites of our own well-being. (C. A. Bartol.)
Moral wealth
I. Moral wealth is most foreign to the self-righteous. In morals, the richer a man thinks himself to be, the poorer he is. Pharisaic souls are in utter destitution.
II. Moral wealth is the great want of humanity. Men, whatever else they possess, are abject without it.
1. It is the only wealth that is intrinsically valuable.
2. The only wealth that enriches the man.
3. The only wealth that procures an honourable status in being.
4. The only wealth that secures a true and lasting interest in the universe.
III. Moral wealth is to be obtained only in connection with Christ. Jesus has the gold, the white garment, the eyesalve, the unsearchable riches.
IV. Moral wealth must be obtained by purchase. Buy of Me. You must give up something for it–ease, self-righteousness, prejudices, worldly gain and pleasures. You must sell that you have. (Homilist.)
The spiritually luxurious and proud
What is the condition of the individual Christian (so called) who is represented in the Laodicean Church? Is not this a description of one who is spiritually luxurious and proud? Do not confound the spiritually luxurious with the temporally luxurious. One spiritually luxurious Christian may be a man poor in this worlds goods. He may be the farthest removed from the worlds luxury. He may wear hair-cloth and walk with bare feet. His outward condition has nothing to do with his spiritual state. His supposed riches, his increase of goods, his need of nothing–all refer to his spiritual condition. He thinks he is full of the Divine life. He is one of the Lords favourites. He serenely looks down upon mankind from the high level of a spiritual nobility. He takes his delicious ease amid his good thoughts of himself, and has a lofty scorn for the common herd of Christians. He may be an observer of forms. He may go to church. He may bow his head reverently. He may even enter a brotherhood and take the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience; or, on the other hand, he may be a neglecter of all public worship–above all the means of grace. They are good enough for the crowd, but he has no need of them. In either ease he considers himself a model Christian, and never thinks of applying to himself any of the Divine rebukes for shortcomings and inconsistency. You have often seen such. They are very varied in their earthly conditions, and also in their mode of exhibiting their conceit, but they all have the same satisfaction with themselves.
1. They are spiritually poverty-stricken. The spiritual wealth consisting of appreciation of the Divine promises, close communion with God, and the glorious visions of hope and faith, is altogether lacking. The wealth of sympathy and helpfulness, the wealth of energy for Christ and His salvation, has no representation in them.
2. They are spiritually naked. The grateful sense of indebtedness to a gracious Saviour, melting the soul and humbling it before Him, has never been felt.
3. They are spiritually blind. That is why they do not detect their nakedness. That is why they do not know their coin is all spurious and their wealth but poverty. (H. Crosby.)
What does God think of me
A young lady of thoughtful turn of mind once said to the late Dr. Jowett, Master of Balliol, Doctor, what do you think of God? For a while the doctor was silent, and then, with great solemnity and pathos, he replied, My dear, it is not what I think of God, but what does God think of me.
What we are before God
The Laodiceans said, We are rich and have need of nothing, but God said, Thou art poor and wretched and miserable. In the old tombs of our cathedrals there were frequently two figures on the monuments, one of the deceased king, or knight, or bishop, resting above in his full robes of state as he wore them abroad in life, and another beneath of a thin, emaciated skeleton, which recalled to the eyes of the beholder the realities of the grave below. It is well to have in thought this double imago of ourselves, what we are before the world, and what we are before God. (Free Methodist.)
Poor and needy
Dr. T.L. Cuyler tells us that when the richest American of his day was in his last fatal sickness, a Christian friend proposed to sing to him; and the hymn he named was, Come, ye sinners, poor and needy. Yes, yes, replied the dying millionaire, sing that to me; I feel poor and needy. Yet at that moment the stock markets of the globe were watching and waiting for the demise of the man who could shake them with a nod of his head.
I counsel thee to buy of Me.—
Christ giving counsel
Looked at broadly, these words intimate that the Lord has not given them up, however desperate their condition. To the hearing ear they sound like this, O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in Me is thine help. It will be found that the grace of Christ meets the Laodiceans at every point. Knowing their poverty, the Lord offers to provide them with true and durable riches–gold bright from the fire. The fire-purged gold represents those spiritual possessions in which the true wealth of a Church consists. What shall we count in under this head? Light is thrown on the question by what we are told (2Co 8:1-5) concerning the Churches of Macedonia. They were marked by deep poverty, but that poverty was conjoined with abundance of joy–the joy of the Holy Ghost, which had never failed them since they embraced the gospel; that joy of theirs was gold. Again, even in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality; that liberality of theirs was gold. Again, there was the outflow of love to their suffering brethren in Christ at a distance; they were willing to contribute to their help, even beyond their power: that love was gold. A Church that is rich in these things is rich indeed. Besides being poor, the Laodiceans were naked. So He invites them to make application to Him, and promises to give white raiment, etc. This represents and symbolises the saintliness of life in which saintliness of heart expresses itself. As the dress clothes the body, and answers to its form and size, so a saintly life is the garb, as it were, and expression of a holy heart. The well-doing in which we are not to be weary is not the mere doing of what is good, but of what is beautiful; and beauty of living is the outward of heartbeauty, as a smile is the outward of heart-cheer. Besides being poor and naked, they were blind; answering to the prophets description of the blind people who have eyes, or like those men who appealed to Jesus with the question, Are we blind also? Now we must settle it in our hearts that we can find what we need only in Christ, and nowhere else. Buy, He says, of Me. We must not merely look away from man, we must also look away from ourselves to Him. There is a peculiar and very delightful emotion produced in the mind by fine scenery; almost every one, I suppose, knows what it is. You sit in a room which commands one of the finest views in the country. Your face, however, as it happens, is turned away from the window. You shut your eyes and strive to call up the peculiar emotion to which I have referred. Of course you fail. All the striving in the world would be in vain. What, then? Rise from your chair, open your eyes, step to the window, gaze forth upon the scene outspread before you, and let it produce its own effect upon your mind. In like manner, in religion, we shall not succeed in getting the right feeling by our trying and striving, we must look out of ourselves to Christ. (J. Culross, D. D.)
Jesus, the heavenly counsellor
Uncertainty and doubt will make themselves felt in the history of all who have the journey of life to accomplish. We cannot wonder, then, that in the present day so many guides should present themselves, all professedly eager to help us in our great uncertainties.
I. The counsel Jesus gives.
1. Jesus counsels us what we are to believe. The faculty of belief is as certainly possessed by man as is the faculty of vision; the one is a physical and the other a mental power, but both are possessed by us, and both are to be exercised. Jesus says, I counsel thee what to believe. To believe in God, in His perfections, His power, wisdom, justice, grace, mercy, truth, love. In His providence and care over you, to believe in such a way as that we shall revere, obey, and love God. To believe in Jesus–Ye believe in God, believe also in Me–that I am what the prophets said I should be, the true Messiah. Believe in the fulness of My love, the sufficiency of My atoning work, My ability and willingness to pardon and cleanse, and in the absolute and unchanging truthfulness of all My words. Believe in the Holy Ghost; in His convincing, converting, renewing, sustaining, and sanctifying energy. Believe in the duties pertaining to personal life and godliness as I have revealed them.
2. I have met with not a few young folks who have been sadly perplexed with the question as to what they shall be. One has solved it by saying, I shall be a great merchant; my ships shall sail on many seas, and my servants and warehouses shall be exceedingly numerous. Another has said, Science shall be my study. A third has said, I will be a physician, and I will try to relieve the poor of their maladies. To all such the Heavenly Counsellor comes, and He does not say to such, How mistaken you all are, you must all change your decisions. Oh no, but He counsels the farmer as he sows to sow goodness, that when the reaping time comes he may reap the same. To the philosopher He counsels the study of the wisdom which is from on high, and which is full of good works; and to the merchant He says, Let goodness be the article in which you shall always trade; let it store your warehouses, fill the holds of your ships, and govern all your transactions. To all the Heavenly Counsellor says, Be good; have a good heart, a good conscience, a good intention, a good life.
3. This Heavenly Counsellor tells us also what we are to do. Activity, under His advice, is always to characterise us. The Lord Jesus knows as no one else the great evils of idleness, and how such evils must afflict and torment all who are slothful; and so against this sin He plainly counsels us. In the cultivation of inward holiness and in the development of righteous principles, in the hope of winning souls for heaven and God, work.
II. Christs counsels are all and always golden. So that not any mixture can be detected; they have all passed through, and been stamped in, the minting house of heaven. But how shall we know that these counsels are all golden?
1. In the first place, because of their genuineness. It matters not the test through which we put them, or the analysis they are subjected to; not all the testing in the world can either detect the least impurity or make them more genuine than they are. Who, I should like to know, seeks the good of every man, woman, boy, and girl, as Jesus does? And whose counsel when adopted has resulted in such untold good to millions of our fellow creatures as His? Yes, look at it how, when, and where you may, ring it as you please, weigh it, measure it, or bring any other test you please to bear upon the counsel offered by Jesus, and its genuineness will be made the more evident.
2. Because of the value of His counsels. All genuine things are not so valuable as gold; a violet is a genuine violet, but we dont part with gold for violets. The paper on which I am writing is genuine paper, but it is not of the value of gold. The counsel Jesus gives is not only as valuable, but more so than gold. Do you ask what the advice Jesus gives will procure? It will procure for us the favour of God, the approval of angels, and the esteem of all good men. It will procure for us peace within and purity without, enable us to live soberly, righteously, and godly here, and then to sit down in the kingdom of God above and to go no more out.
3. Like gold, they must be searched for. The name of the mine is the Bible, the implements with which we are to work are prayer, patience, and faith. By knee work and ceaseless industry they will be amply recompensed.
4. Because, like gold, they are to be used. Some people who keep a shop hang up His counsels in their parlours and drawing-rooms; it would be better if they would use them in their business. Some look at them when they put on their Sunday clothes, and then say adieu to them when Sabbath attire is laid away. Better if they would walk and move and live in the same all the week through. Then, like gold, if we use Christs counsels aright, they will increase more and more.
III. No one is entitled to expect this golden counsel for nothing. Men do not part with gold on such terms, nor does Jesus part with His counsels thus, and so He says, I counsel thee to buy.
1. We are to obtain this counsel in the first place by giving up all our sins. What an exchange I It is dross of the worst for gold of the very best kind. If a man were to come and offer gold and crowns, titles and lands, for old rags and bones, I feel sure there would not be many left in all the houses put together; and yet, whilst Jesus offers the gold of heaven if we will only forsake our evil ways and come to Him, how few are really eager to make the exchange.
2. Then in a sense we purchase the gold of heaven by using aright the quantity already given. It is by use the two talents become five, and the five talents ten. If we walk in the light already given, however faint and feeble it may be, it will conduct us to greater clearness and to more perfect vision. (J. Goodacre.)
Christs counsel to a lukewarm Church
He does not willingly threaten, and He never scolds; but He rather speaks to mens hearts, and their reason, and comes to them as a friend, than addresses Himself to their fears.
I. Now, I observe that the first need of the lukewarm Church Is to open its eyes to see facts. Observe that the text falls into two distinct parts, and that the counsel to buy does not extend–though it is ordinarily read as if it did–to the last item in our Lords advice. These Laodiceans are bid to buy of Him gold and raiment, but they are bid to use the eyesalve that they may see. No doubt, whatever is meant by that eyesalve comes from Him, as does everything else. But my point is that these people are supposed already to possess it, and that they are bid to employ it. No doubt the exhortation, anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that thou mayest see, may be so extended as to refer to the general condition of spiritual blindness which attaches to humanity, apart from the illuminating and sight-giving work of Jesus Christ. That true Light, which lighteneth every man that cometh into the world, has a three-fold office as the result of all the parts of which there comes to our darkened eyes the vision of the things that are. He reveals the objects to see; He gives the light by which we see them; and He gives us eyes to see with. Behold Me as I am, and the things that I reveal to you as they are; and then you will see yourselves as you are. So, then, there comes out of this exhortation this thought, that a symptom constantly accompanying the lukewarm condition is absolute unconsciousness of it. In all regions the worse a man is the less he knows it. It is the good people that know themselves to be bad; the bad ones, when they think about themselves, conceit themselves to be good. The higher a man climbs in any science, or in the practice of any virtue, the more clearly he sees the unscaled peaks above him. The frost-bitten limb is quite comfortable. Another thought suggested by this part of the counsel is that the blind man must himself rub in the eyesalve. Nobody else can do it for him. True! It comes like every other good thing, from the Christ in the heavens; and, as I have already said, if we will attach specific meanings to every part of a metaphor, that eyesalve may be the influence of the Divine Spirit who convicts men of sin. But whatever it is you have to apply it to your own eyes. Our forefathers made too much of self-examination as a Christian duty, and pursued it often for mistaken purposes. But this generation makes far too light of it. Apply the eyesalve; it will be keen, it will bite; welcome the smart, and be sure that anything is good for you which takes away the veil that self-complacency casts over your true condition, and lets the light of God into the cellars and dark places of your souls.
II. The second need of the lukewarm Church is the true wealth which Christ gives. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire. Now, there may be many different ways of putting the thought that is conveyed here, but I think the deepest truth of human nature is that the only wealth for a man is the possession of God. That wealth alone makes us paupers truly rich. For there is nothing else that satisfies a mans craving, and supplies a mans needs. That wealth has immunity from all accidents. No possession is truly mine of which any outward contingency or circumstance can deprive me. But this wealth, the wealth of a heart enriched with the possession of God, whom it knows, loves, trusts, and obeys, this wealth is incorporated with a mans very being, and enters into the substance of his nature; and so nothing can deprive him of it. The only possession which we can take with us when our nerveless hands drop all other good, and our hearts are untwined from all other loves, is this durable riches.
III. The third need of a lukewarm Church is the raiment–that Christ gives. The wealth which He bids us buy of Him belongs mostly to our inward life; the raiment which He proffers us to wear, as is natural to the figure, applies mainly to our outward lives, and signifies the dress of our spirits as these are presented to the world. I need not remind you of how frequently this metaphor is employed throughout the Scripture. There is nothing in the world valuer than effort after righteousness which is not based on faith. Buy of Me raiment, and then, listen to the voice which says, Put off the old man with his deeds, and put on the new man of God created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
IV. Lastly, all supply of these needs is to be bought. Buy of Me. There is nothing in that counsel contradictory to the great truth, that the gift of God is eternal life. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Gold tried in the fire.—
Tried gold
I. A precious commodity.
1. Gold represents the blessed Saviour, for He is the most excellent of beings.
2. Gold represents the gospel, for it is the most excellent of systems.
3. Gold represents the Christian graces, for they are the most permanent of treasures. Faith, hope, and love have a power to bless beyond this worlds wealth.
II. This precious commodity tried. Even philosophy itself has confessed that the gold of the gospel alone will sustain in the final conflict.
III. This tried and precious commodity is offered for acceptance It is strange but true that men reject salvation because it is freely offered. Pride resents the humbling conditions. Self-will tramples beneath its feet offered mercy.
IV. The glorious consequence of accepting. Soul riches are the true abiding wealth. (W. Burrows, B. A.)
Aggravated poverty of soul
If a mans gold prove counterfeit, his jewels painted glass, his silver lead or dross, he will not only be found poor when he comes to be tried, and want the benefit of riches, but will also have a fearful aggravation of his poverty, by his disappointment and surprisal. If a mans faith, which should be more precious than gold, be found rotten and corrupt, if his light be darkness; how vile is that faith, how great is that darkness! (J. Owen, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. I am rich] Thou supposest thyself to be in a safe state, perfectly sure of final salvation, because thou hast begun well, and laid the right foundation. It was this most deceitful conviction that cut the nerves of their spiritual diligence; they rested in what they had already received, and seemed to think that once in grace must be still in grace.
Thou art wretched] Most wretched. “The word signifies,” according to Mintert, “being worn out and fatigued with grievous labours, as they who labour in a stone quarry, or are condemned to the mines.” So, instead of being children of God, as they supposed, and infallible heirs of the kingdom, they were, in the sight of God, in the condition of the most abject slaves.
And miserable] Most deplorable, to be pitied by all men.
And poor] Having no spiritual riches, no holiness of heart. Rich and poor are sometimes used by the rabbins to express the righteous and the wicked.
And blind] The eyes of thy understanding being darkened, so that thou dost not see thy state.
And naked] Without the image of God, not clothed with holiness and purity. A more deplorable state in spiritual things can scarcely be imagined than that of this Church. And it is the true picture of many Churches, and of innumerable individuals.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because thou sayest, I am rich: it was said before, that one reason why the condition of a formalist is worse than that of an atheist, or more openly profane person, is, because the former is ordinarily proud and self-conceited, and hath something to stop the mouth of his natural conscience with, which the other wanteth. This is made good in the instance of this lukewarm angel; he said he was rich in a spiritual sense, in his state as a Christian, in spiritual gifts and endowments.
And increased with goods; and every day increasing and growing richer.
And have need of nothing; and needed nothing to make him happy and blessed.
And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; in the mean time he was as miserable as one could be. These words used, are several words signifying persons under various bodily afflictions, and applied to signify this angels forlorn spiritual state, which, in the general, was wretched and miserable, and such as had need of mercy, wanting the true righteousness, wherein any could appear before God not naked, and wanting all true riches; and to complete his misery, he was spiritually blind, and knew not the sad circumstances he was under.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. Self-sufficiency is thefatal danger of a lukewarm state (see on Re3:15).
thou sayestvirtuallyand mentally, if not in so many words.
increased with goodsGreek,“have become enriched,” implying self-praise inself-acquired riches. The Lord alludes to Ho12:8. The riches on which they prided themselves were spiritualriches; though, doubtless, their spiritual self-sufficiency (“Ihave need of nothing”) was much fostered by their worldlywealth; as, on the other hand, poverty of spirit is fosteredby poverty in respect to worldly riches.
knowest not that thouinparticular above all others. The “THOU”in the Greek is emphatic.
art wretchedGreek,“art the wretched one.”
miserableSo one oldestmanuscripts reads. But two oldest manuscripts prefix “the.”Translate, “the pitiable”; “the one especiallyto be pitied.” How different Christ’s estimate of men, fromtheir own estimate of themselves, “I have need of nothing!”
blindwhereas Laodiceaboasted of a deeper than common insight into divine things.They were not absolutely blind, else eye-salve wouldhave been of no avail to them; but short-sighted.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because thou sayest, I am rich,…. In worldly goods, which occasioned her lukewarmness, as riches often do, and her vanity, pride, and arrogance, afterwards expressed. Laodicea was a very rich city, and so will be this church state, through the accession of kings and princes, and great men of the earth unto it, in the former period: riches seldom do any good to the churches of Christ, they did not in Constantine’s time; and it seems that even at the close of the spiritual reign of Christ they will be of bad consequence, since they will usher in the Laodicean church state: or her meaning is, that she was rich in spiritual things; not in grace, but in external gifts, which still remained, upon the very great pouring forth of the Spirit in the last church state; and in good works, on which she too much trusted for salvation, placing her righteousness in them: she is one whom the Jews c call , “rich in the law”:
and increased with goods: with outward peace and prosperity, with much natural and divine light and knowledge, with the purity of Gospel ordinances, even beyond the former church state in her own imagination:
and have need of nothing: contenting herself with these external things: true believers, as considered in Christ, stand in need of nothing indeed, they are complete in him, and have everything in him; but, as considered in themselves, they are daily in need of daily food for their souls, as for their bodies, of fresh light and life, strength and comfort, and of new supplies of grace; wherefore this church shows great ignorance of herself, as well as great pride and arrogance to express herself in this manner:
and knowest not that thou art wretched; as all men are in a state of nature and unregeneracy; which may be the case of many professors, and they be ignorant of it; as to be under a sentence of wrath, obnoxious to the curses of the law, in danger of hell and destruction, lost and undone, and unable to extricate themselves out of such a state: true believers account themselves wretched, as the Apostle Paul did, on account of indwelling sin, and the plague of their own hearts, which the members of this church, the greater part of them, were ignorant of:
and miserable; a miserable man is one that is attended with outward afflictions, but this was not the case of this church; and with spiritual poverty, blindness, and nakedness, and this was her case; some persons neither know their misery, nor their need of mercy:
and poor; not in purse, nor in spirit, nor with respect to outward afflictions, nor as to her church state, but in a spiritual sense; one whom the Jews call a d , “poor in the law”; as such may be said to be who have nothing to eat that is fit to eat; nothing to wear but rags, and have no money to buy either; who are in debt, and not able to pay, nor to help themselves on any account; and this may be the case of professors, and yet not known and considered by them:
and blind; natural men are blind as to a saving knowledge of God in Christ, as to the way of salvation by Christ, as to the plague of their own hearts, as to the work of the Spirit of God upon the soul, and as to the truths of the Gospel, in the power of them; but here it regards blindness with respect to her church state, and its imperfection:
and naked; sin has stripped man of his moral clothing; man’s own righteousness will not cover his nakedness; and whoever is destitute of the righteousness of Christ is a naked person.
c Yalkut Simeoni, par. 2. fol. 106. 2. d Vajikra Rabba, sect. 34. fol. 173. 4. vid. Targum in Cant. viii. 9.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I am rich ( ). Recitative like quotation marks before direct quotation. Old adjective from , riches, wealth. Laodicea was a wealthy city and the church “carried the pride of wealth into its spiritual life” (Swete).
Have gotten riches (). Perfect active indicative of , old verb from , used here of imagined spiritual riches which the church did not possess, just the opposite of church in Smyrna (poor in wealth, rich in grace). This church was in a rich city and was rich in pride and conceit, but poor in grace and ignorant of its spiritual poverty ( , knowest not).
The wretched one ( ). Old adjective from , to endure, and , a callus, afflicted, in N.T. only here and Ro 7:24. Note the one article in the predicate with all these five adjectives unifying the picture of sharp emphasis on “thou” (), “thou that boastest.”
Miserable (). Pitiable as in 1Co 15:19.
Poor (). See 2:9 for spiritual poverty. Perhaps some local example of self-complacency is in mind.
Blind (). Spiritual blindness as often (Mt 23:17), and note “eye-salve” in verse 18.
Naked (). “The figure completes the picture of actual poverty” (Beckwith). See Rev 3:15; Rev 3:16.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Because thou sayest. Connect, as A. V. and Rev., with what follows, not with what precedes. Some interpret I will spue thee out of my mouth because thou sayest, etc.
Increased with goods [] . Rev., have gotten riches. The reference is to imagined spiritual riches, not to worldly possessions. Thou. Emphatic.
Wretched [ ] . Rev., better, giving the force of the article, the wretched one. From tlaw to endure, and peira a trial.
Miserable [] . Only here and 1Co 5:19. An object of pity [] .
Poor [] . See on Mt 5:3.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Because thou sayest,”(hoti legeis) “Because thou sayest,” make the claim, in boastful carnal pride, with a self-satisfied air, Gal 6:14.
2) “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” (plousios eimi kai peplouteka kai ouden chreian echo) I have become and am rich, of my own strength or accord, and I have or hold not a single need; They forgot to recognize that it was God who gave them “the power to get wealth,” Deu 8:18; 1Ti 6:10.
3) “And thou knowest not,” (kai ouk oidas) “And thou dost not (even) perceive, realize, or recognize;” are blind or astigmatized to their spiritual plight before God; they knew not as they should have known, Eph 5:14-18.
4) “That thou art,” (hoti su ei ho) “That thou art the (one),” the congregation that is spiritually impotent powerless, without influence, Joh 5:13-16.
a) “wretched,” (talaiporos) “wretched,” in a wretched state, Rom 7:24.
b) “and miserable,” (kai eleeinos) “And pitiable,” an object of or to be pitied, needing pity, as a cripple, an invalid, Act 3:2.
c) “and poor,” (kai ptochos) “And poor or impoverished in spiritual things and spiritual power, like Jonah under the gourd Jon 4:4-11.
d) “And blind,” (kai tuphlos) “and blind,” and if the blind lead the blind; note their fall, Mat 15:14.
e) “And naked,” (kai gumnos) “And naked,” unclothed in a spiritual sense, lacking spiritual comfort, food, and clothing, Col 3:12-14.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(17) I am rich.The verse means, more literally, Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have grown rich, and in nothing have need, and knowest not that thou art the wretched (such is the emphasis) one, and the pitiable one, and beggarly, and blind, and naked. Thou art the type, the embodiment of wretchedness. The words should, I think, be taken as an amplification of the reason for their rejection. Christ was about to reject them for being in that tepid state which, beginning with self-satisfaction, led on to self- deception. They were rich in worldly goods (unlike the Church in Smyrna), but their very wealth led them into a quiet unaggressively kind of religion; they were proud also of their intellectual wealth; self- complacent because in comfortable worldly circumstances, and became puffed up with a vain philosophy, they learned to be satisfied with their spiritual state, and to believe the best of themselves, and then to believe in themselves. Hypocrites they were, who did not know they were hypocrites. They thought themselves good; and this self-deception was their danger. For, to use Prof. Mozleys words, why should a man repent of his goodness? He may well repent, indeed, of his falsehood; but unhappily the falsehood of it is just the thing he does not see, and which he cannot see by the very law of his character. The Pharisee did not know he was a Pharisee. If he had known it, he would not have been a Pharisee. The victim of passion, then, may be convertedthe gay, the thoughtless, or the ambitious; he whom human glory has intoxicated; he whom the show of life has ensnared; he whom the pleasures of sense have captivatedthey may be converted any one of these; but who is to convert the hypocrite? He does not know he is a hypocrite; he cannot upon the very basis of his character; he must think himself sincere; and the more he is in the shackles of his own character, i.e., the greater hypocrite he is, the more sincere he must think himself (University Sermons, p. 34).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Because may assign reason for the charge of lukewarmness in the last verse; or it may refer forward to next verse, and would correspond with a therefore inserted before I of Rev 3:18. Because thou sayest, etc., therefore I counsel, etc. The Lord’s counsel is infinitely better than their say.
I am rich The question is raised by commentators whether these are boasts over material or spiritual goods. Earlier commentators, as Bengel, Stuart, and others, take the former view; later ones, as Hengstenberg, Dusterdieck, and Trench, the latter. We think the old is better. The true idea certainly is, that in reply to their boasts of earthly goods, our Lord advises them to secure the heavenly. For, 1. This accords with our Lord’s style during his earthly ministry. So Mat 6:19-20: “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” Of the rich fool, Luk 12:21, he says, “So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” 2. This jubilant boasting is not the style of lukewarmness over its spiritual wealth, for the very idea of lukewarmness is indifference to spiritual things. So Stuart wisely and conclusively says, “There are, and have been, indeed, many spiritual boasters in the world; but then they are for the most part men of an enthusiastic turn of mind, and commonly have much fervor, such as it is; whereas the Laodicean Church are plainly characterized as worldling-Christians; grown lukewarm as to divine things.” To say that this Church was indifferent to spiritual things and yet thus fervently boasted of its spiritual goods, is a contradiction. Enthusiastic boasting and indifference are opposites. 3. It is evident that Laodicea was a flourishing city, growing rich under the munificence of the Roman emperors. There can be little doubt that the tide of wealth poured into the pockets and coffers of the Church: the natural danger, without great caution, would be to make her pecuniarily rich and spiritually poor. How easy it was to be liberal in feeling to the liberal paganism by which it was patronized, and to slide into doubt about the importance of being Christians! Quite as easy would it be to exult over the rich incomes flowing into their purses and filling their homes with luxury.
Rich increased with goods need of nothing A glowing and towering climax.
Knowest not Realizest not that, though in pocket a millionaire, in soul thou art a pauper! Our Lord demolishes the proud climax with a series of humiliating adjectives.
Wretched Intrinsically miserable.
Miserable The object of pity from others. By the best readings the first of these two adjectives, and perhaps the second, should have the article before it. The meaning then would be, thou art the wretched and pitiable one. Then the last three adjectives would follow as characterizing that one. Then the three poor, blind, naked, would balance against the previous rich, increased, and need of nothing.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Because you say I am rich, and have amassed wealth, and have need of nothing, and do not know that you are a wretch, a thing of misery, and poor and blind and naked.’
‘Wretched’ and ‘miserable’ both have the article before them suggesting they be read as nouns, thus ‘a wretched one, a thing of misery’.
Laodicea was a wealthy town with wealthy inhabitants and it was extremely proud of its wealth. When it was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 AD it proudly rejected all help from Rome and rebuilt itself from its own resources. It was famed for its black woollen garments, made from the wool of its equally famed black sheep, and there was a famous medical school in its vicinity where Phrygian stone was ground to make collyrium (Gk. ‘kollyrion’ as here – which mixed with oil was used for making an eye salve). Its inhabitants therefore had a very high opinion of themselves and were inordinately proud. Thus Jesus warns them that their view of themselves is really inadequate, for while they admire themselves because of their wealth, spiritually they are really like the homeless wretch in the street, a thing of misery, and poor, blind and unclothed into the bargain. Spiritually they are have-nothings.
The idea of nakedness was regularly used in the Old Testament to depict the sorry state of men before God because of their sinfulness (see Isa 47:3; Lam 1:8; Hos 2:3; Jer 13:25-26; Nah 3:5; Gen 3:7). For blindness see Isa 59:10; Zep 1:17; Mat 23:17; Mat 23:19; Joh 12:40 ; 2Co 3:14; 2Co 4:4; Eph 4:18 ; 2Pe 1:9. Their whole condition is described in Jer 5:27-29. Spiritually they are bare, empty and unseeing.
This church parallels the final stage in the downfall of Israel and Judah. They too had become proud, declaring their riches (Hos 12:8), yet poor (Eze 22:18), blind (Isa 59:10), and naked (Lam 1:8; Eze 16:39). They were counselled to buy what is good (Isa 55:2). Failing to do this Judah came to its final downfall. (see Introduction). And this is the danger at Laodicea.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 3:17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, &c. This angel, or his church, is quite the reverse of the angel of Smyrna: ch. Rev 2:9. Here is a beautiful gradation in the words before us. It is something to be rich, more to be increased with goods, and still more to be in want of nothing; this is preserved with equal beauty in the latter part of the verse: the whole alludes to their spiritual state and spiritual goods. According to the common language of scripture, they only are wretched and miserable, who are oppressed with sins; Mat 11:28 they arepoor, who lose their own soul; Mat 16:26 they are blind, who see not their own sins; Joh 9:40-41 and they are naked, who are utterly destitute of true holiness; see ch. Rev 16:15 Rev 17:16.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 3:17-18 . gives the foundation for the following in the second part of the sentence, Rev 3:18 . [1579] Hengstenb. incorrectly finds the reproach of lukewarmness grounded in Rev 3:17 ; this has occurred already in Rev 3:15 . [1580] The construction is like that of Rev 18:7-8 .
recitative.
. The decision as to whether wealth in earthly money and property, [1581] or the fancied [1582] wealth in spiritual blessings, [1583] be meant, in no event both at the same time, [1584] depends not upon the (doubtful) prefiguration of Hos 12:9 , [1585] nor upon the fact that the speech put into the mouth of the church must refer to possessions of the same kind, as the reply of the Lord ( , . . . ) manifestly referring to spiritual treasures, [1586] but upon the fact that the self-witness of the church ( , . . . ) must harmonize inwardly with the reproach of lukewarmness (Rev 3:15-16 ), and with the entire discourse of the Lord that follows. But this would not be the case, had the church fallen into the grossest mammon-worship, and entirely forgotten any higher need beyond that of their earthly riches. A church, on the contrary, which trusts in its spiritual riches, and still has the consciousness of having obtained these riches, will not be entirely without them, [1587] but is, of course, implicated in an arrogant self-deception concerning its spiritual wealth. The church is in reality not rich; [1588] for, if it were, it would not say so, as in Rev 3:17 . [See Note XL., p. 184.] The three expressions , designate a gradation: [1589] the riches have so increased, that now at last there is no longer any need, but satiety has entered. [1590]
. Therefore a self-deception of the church, for the Lord’s knowledge [1591] is decisive.
. The has an emphatic position: just thou, thou who regardest thyself so rich.
. This adjective occurs in the N. T., besides here, only in Rom 7:24 . Because of his , [1592] one is , i.e., (worthy of pity). [1593] The article before . notes with similar emphasis as the before , that just the one thinking himself rich and elevated above all want is he to whom the . applies. First of all, the . and . stand in sharp opposition to the final words of boasting, . ; then the to the . . . ; while the ideas of the and are combined with that of the , since spiritual poverty essentially identical with spiritual misery may be considered spiritual blindness and nakedness. Thus what the Lord judges concerning the true character of the church appears most definitely expressed in the three items , , and ; hence the advice which now follows (Rev 3:18 ) revolves about the same, as the applies to the , the to the , and the to the .
. Not without a certain irony, [1594] provoked by the arrogant imagination of the one so miserable and poor. Beng. finds in the expression an indication of estrangement, since it is only to strangers that advice, while to those who are one’s own, a command, is given; inapplicable.
. The Roman-Catholic idea of a meritum de congruo can be derived from the only when by pressing the expression, and in opposition to the context (Rev 3:17 , ), an equivalent purchase price is in some way stated; and this is defined as “good works,” [1595] or as “prayer, tears, repentance, good works.” [1596] But if the spiritual good to be obtained from the Lord be once regarded as , the result is, especially according to the type of Isa 55:1 , that the corresponding concrete idea of the is as readily designated as the purity of the by the metaphorical statement ; and it is just as incorrect in the latter expression to think of a confirmation of faith in trouble, [1597] etc., [1598] as to treat the in an unevangelical sense. In accord with the sense, Beng. explains: “It costs no more than the surrender of the idea of one’s own wealth.” [1599]
: As the only Saviour. Cf. especially Rev 1:5 ; in regard to the white garments which are to be purchased of the Lord, cf. Rev 7:14 .
. Spiritual good as that which actually makes rich ( ), in contradistinction to the poverty of the church. To interpret the as “love,” [1600] or as “faith,” [1601] is too special.
. = , Zec 13:9 . The represents the as the cause whence the proceeds; [1602] according to the sense, it is therefore correctly rendered “purified by fire.” [1603] The entire expression designates not “wisdom inflamed with love,” [1604] or “tested faith;” [1605] as, on the contrary, the exposition must be made, that it is only through faith that the . . . is won: but as the purified gold is completely pure and truly precious, so is the spiritual good to be obtained of the Lord unconditionally holy and true, and eternally enriching.
, . . . Cf. Rev 3:4 ; Rev 7:14 ; Rev 19:8 . Only in the figurative mode of presentation, and not in the proper sense, are the “white garments” to be distinguished from the “gold,” just as nakedness is in reality nothing but poverty. The remark of Ebrard is arbitrary, that “the command is to be executed in the reverse order from that in which it is given. The ultimate end, to become rich, viz., in good fruits that have some value before God, is first named; for this, gold must be bought. But before gold can be considered, garments must first be purchased in order to cover the nakedness; and as the covering of the nakedness cannot be accomplished before the eyes are open, eyesalve must first of all be applied.” But the “gold” is mentioned first only because, with respect to fancied riches and actual poverty (Rev 3:17 ), this is the nearest thought; but the succession of the particular items neither in Rev 3:17 nor Rev 3:18 is to be urged, since the and are connected with the , in Rev 3:17 , in a different order from the corresponding members in Rev 3:18 . Only the chief idea , and the corresponding clause in Rev 3:18 , naturally precede.
. N. de Lyra: “Before God and the holy angels.” Beng.: “Before God.” But no such restriction is needed.
. In classical writers, . The word designates a substance brought to the long round form of a , roll (e.g., breadcake), which being mixed with various drugs was used for anointing the eyes. [1606] The Jewish designation ( ) agrees with the form . Here is meant, not the word of God itself, [1607] but the gift of the Holy Ghost which enlightens, [1608] offered indeed by means of the word, and that, too, [1609] already by the present word with its reproof [1610] and grace. [1611] Cf. 1Jn 2:27 . Even here the prefixed applies, [1612] for the Holy Ghost is the Spirit of Christ, sent by him. [1613] The correct knowledge attained by such enlightening ( ) is, however, in fact, at the same time the true treasure, spiritual riches. Upon this depends the inner harmony in the co-ordination of the three points , . . , , . . . , and . . . , as in Rev 3:17 , , and .
[1579] Beng., De Wette, Ebrard.
[1580] Cf. the connection of Rev 3:16 with .
[1581] Andr., Areth., Aretius, C. a Lap., Beng., Ewald, Zll., etc.
[1582] . Cf. Rev 3:9 .
[1583] Beda, N. de Lyra, Rib., Alcas., Grot., Calov., Vitr., Eichh., De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard, Ew. ii., etc.
[1584] Stern.
[1585] Cf. Zec 11:5 .
[1586] For a striking antithesis between earthly and heavenly riches is suggested (Rev 2:9 ).
[1587] As “not being cold,” it will not reject the Lord, the source of riches.
[1588] As it is not “hot,” and therefore does not have full fellowship with the Lord.
[1589] Cf. N. de Lyra, Grot., Beng., De Wette.
[1590] Cf. 1Co 4:8 .
[1591] Cf. Rev 3:15 .
[1592] Rom 3:16 ; Jas 5:1 .
[1593] Suid.
[1594] Cf. Ebrard.
[1595] N. de Lyra.
[1596] C. a Lap., etc.
[1597] As the idea is, in fact, applied, e.g., in 1Pe 1:7 .
[1598] Aret., Vitr., Stern, etc.
[1599] Cf. Vitr., Calov., etc.
[1600] C. a Lap.
[1601] Aret., Vitr., Hengstenb., etc.
[1602] Cf. Rev 8:11 .
[1603] Luther.
[1604] i.e., fides formata . N. de Lyra.
[1605] Hengstenb.
[1606] Wetst.
[1607] Stern. Cf. Psa 9:19 . Hence, in Tr. Siphra , p. 143, Revelation 2 : “The words of the law are the crown of the head, collyrium , to the eyes.” In Schttgen.
[1608] N. de Lyra, Aret., Calov., Vitr., Hengstenb., etc.
[1609] Ebrard.
[1610] Rev 3:15 sqq.
[1611] Rev 3:19 sqq.
[1612] Cf. 1 John, l. c.
[1613] Cf. Act 2:33 ; Joh 16:7 ; Joh 16:14 .
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XL. Rev 3:17 . , . . .
Plumptre: “As Mr. Carlyle has somewhere put it, in one of those epigrams that haunt one’s memory, ‘it is the hypocrisy which does not know itself to be hypocritical.’ It may be noted, as tending to confirm the assumption that the Gospel of St. John and the Apoc. were the work of the same writer, that this is the fault which in the former, again and again, he notes for special condemnation. Those who could not believe are less the object of his censure than those who, believing, feared to confess the Christ lest they should be put out of the synagogue (Joh 12:42-43 ).”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2502
EPISTLE TO LAODICEA
Rev 3:17-18. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
ONE would imagine that a person lukewarm in the concerns of religion must, of necessity, be filled with some good measure of diffidence and fear. But the very reverse of this is found true: for experience proves that self-sufficiency and self-conceit are the invariable attendants of lukewarmness: in fact, they spring out of it naturally, as fruit from the root: for lukewarmness prevents self-examination; and a want of self-examination begets security. The lukewarm person, feeling that he has within himself a sufficiency for all that he is inclined to do, easily persuades himself that he has also a sufficiency for all that he is bound to do: and under this delusion he rests satisfied with himself, without looking out for any foreign aid. Now, this is a most fatal error; and if not removed, it will deprive us of all that Christ himself has purchased for us. That I may remove it from your minds, I will shew,
I.
What mistaken views this people had of their state before God
They thought that they were rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing
[This is the state of the Christian Church generally: I mean of that more respectable part of it which values itself on the avoiding of all extremes. Moral persons, who have a respect for religion, will readily enough acknowledge that they are not so good as they ought to be; but they have no conception of the vast extent of their depravity. Like persons possessed of earthly property, they feel a certain degree of self-congratulation, that they are rich, and increased with goods, and in need of nothing. Their wisdom is sufficient to guide them in the way to heaven. Their righteousness is sufficient to recommend them to the Divine favour. Their strength is sufficient to fulfil their duties, whenever they shall address themselves to the performance of them. This was the state of man in Paradise; and they suppose it to be so still. They are unconscious that their locks are cut; and therefore, in encountering their enemies, are under no apprehension of a defeat. It is possible, indeed, that they may not express these things in words, (though the Laodiceans scrupled not to affirm it;) but it is invariably the language of their hearts: and in proof that these are the sentiments of their hearts, we may appeal to their daily experience. See whether, under a consciousness of their great wants, they are crying to God for the relief of them: if they be not, then is it clear that they feel not the urgency of their wants, or the extent of their necessities. And if any man in the universe were to manifest the same insensibility to his earthly wants, and the same indifference about obtaining a supply of them, we should all conclude, either that he was not so poor as he professed himself to be, or that he had means of supplying his wants which were hid from us.]
But, in the midst of all this self-sufficiency, they were indeed in the most destitute condition
[The force of the original is peculiarly strong: it marks these persons as pre-eminently to be pitied. Respecting every such deluded sinner it may be said, Here is the man most truly wretched, most eminently miserable [Note: See the article prefixed to these two words: That wretched one, That miserable one.]. And, in truth, there is perhaps no other person in the universe so miserable as he. The man who lives in all manner of iniquity is doubtless a a wretched and miserable being: but the man who fancies himself rich in all good, whilst he is altogether destitute, is in a worse condition than he; because he holds fast his delusions, from which the other is free; and despises the remedy, which the other may, in due season, be prevailed upon to apply.
But the grounds of this assertion are here detailed: whilst he, in his own conceit, is in need of nothing, he is in reality poor, and blind, and naked. He is poor: for, whatever he may possess of intellectual or moral good, he has no more of spiritual good than Satan himself. He has no real love to God; no real delight in him; no real desire after him: no real wish to please and honour him. Whatever he may have which may resemble these, it is but a shadow: it has no substance; it has no root; it has no real existence: and in giving himself credit for it, he only deceives his own soul. He is also blind. Whatever capacity he may have in reference to earthly things, he has no spiritual discernment: he has no just sense of the evil of sin, of the beauty of holiness, of the blessedness of serving God. He has no idea of the loveliness of Christ, who is said to be altogether lovely. In a word, he sees nothing as God sees it: and because he says that he sees, his guilt is the deeper, and his misery the more intense [Note: Joh 9:40-41.]. He is naked too, having nothing to hide his deformity from the eyes of a holy God: for all his righteousnesses are as filthy rags [Note: Isa 64:6.]. He may, like our first parents, attempt to cover his nakedness with fig-leaves; but they will not suffice: for the bed is shorter than he can stretch himself on, and the covering narrower than he can wrap himself in [Note: Isa 28:20.]. This is, indeed, the state of unregenerate men, especially of those who have the form of godliness without the power.]
But let us now fix our attention on,
II.
The counsel given them by our blessed Lord
In our blessed Lord there is a fulness treasured up for sinful man; and he invites all to come, and receive out of it according to their necessities.
Are we poor? He offers us gold, to enrich us
[What is this gold, but the grace of Christ; and especially the grace of faith, which unites us to him, and puts us into possession of all his unsearchable riches? This is gold indeed; and has, in cases without number, evinced its sterling worth, having endured the trial of the hottest furnaces which it has been in the power of man to kindle [Note: 1Pe 1:7.]. See the long catalogue of saints recorded in the eleventh chapter to the Hebrews; see what they thought of it; and how it enriched them. Moses found it amply to compensate for the loss of all the treasures of Egypt [Note: Heb 11:24-26.]: and multitudes of others found it more effectual for their advancement than all powers in the universe could have been [Note: Heb 11:33-35.]. By this the poorest man is elevated to a state of honour and happiness inconceivable; even to peace with God on earth, and to all the glory and blessedness of heaven.]
Are we naked? He offers us white raiment to cover us
[This raiment is the unspotted robe of Christs righteousness, which shall be unto all and upon all them that believe in him [Note: Rom 3:22.]. This the Lord Jesus Christ wrought out on purpose for us, by his own obedience unto death: and every soul that is clothed with that robe is so covered, that not a spot or blemish [Note: Eph 5:27.] can be found in him; no, not by the all-seeing eye of God himself [Note: Num 23:21.]. It was for this very end that the Lord Jesus Christ became incarnate and died upon the cross: He was the end of the law for righteousness, to every one that believeth [Note: Rom 10:4.]: and every sinner in the universe, who trusts in Him, may claim him under that endearing name, The Lord our righteousness [Note: Jer 23:6.].]
Are we blind? He offers us eye-salve, to anoint our eyes, that we may see
[This eye-salve is no other than the Holy Ghost himself, whom the Lord Jesus Christ will give to all who call upon him [Note: Luk 11:13.]. It is the office of the blessed Spirit of God to open our eyes, and to turn us from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God. And whoever has received the unction of that Holy One, is enabled to discern the things of the Spirit, which before he could not see [Note: 1Co 2:9-12]; yea, he is enabled, as the Scripture expresses it, to know and understand all things [Note: 1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27.].]
These things, indeed, he tells us to buy of him
[But what have we to pay? If, indeed, we are poor, and blind, and naked, what can we give him in return for such invaluable blessings as are here offered us? Were it required that we should present to him any thing to merit these blessings, we might well sit down in despair. But the terms prescribed by him are exactly suited to our state: we are to buy of him without money and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.] Not but that we are called to make some sacrifices, if we will indeed enjoy his blessings. We must give up our pride, and self-sufficiency, and self-conceit, yea, and all other lusts, whether of the flesh or spirit, that are hateful in his sight. In other words, we must put off the filthy rags of our own righteousness, if we would possess the unspotted robe of his righteousness; and put far from us all conceit of our own wealth and wisdom, in order to receive the full benefit of his gold and eye-salve. And who will not gladly pay this price? It is the price which the beggar pays for the alms tendered to him: he opens his mouth to ask for it, and stretches out his hands to receive it.]
And now, my brethren, I entreat you,
1.
Be sensible of your wants
[Whether ye be sensible of your need of these things or not, ye do really need them; and your misery is so much the greater, if ye think ye need them not. What would you yourselves think of a poor maniac who should fancy himself a king? Would you envy him his self-delusion? Just such deluded creatures are ye, whilst you are insensible to your real condition, as poor, and blind, and naked. Moreover, whilst ye continue under this delusion, there is no hope whatever of your ever receiving the blessings which Christ has so freely offered you. It was not the proud self-applauding Pharisee, but the poor self-condemning Publican, that obtained mercy of the Lord: and it is written for the admonition of all future ages, that, in like manner, he who exalteth himself shall be abased; and he only who humbleth himself shall be exalted.
2.
Comply, in all things, with the counsel given you
[Go to Christ to obtain them. Think not to find them in. any other: but say, Lord, to whom should we go? Thou alone hast the words of eternal life. And be willing to receive them upon his terms. Dream not of bringing to him any thing as a compensation for them, or as a warrant for your application to him. All your warrant is poverty; and your price is your sins, which you are to cast on him, to be forgiven; and to cast from you, to be mortified and subdued. And remember whose counsel this is: it is the counsel of the Faithful and True Witness, who knows all your necessities, and who alone can relieve them. It is the counsel of him who is called, The Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God [Note: Isa 9:6.]. Listen not then to flesh and blood, nor suffer any one to make you hesitate one moment: but go to him with all your wants, and receive at his hands all the blessings of grace and glory.]
3.
Enlarge your expectations to the full extent of Gods promises
[Say not in your hearts, that this is too great, or that is too small to expect at his hands. There is no greater sin than limiting the Holy One of Israel. He bids you open your mouth wide, that he may fill it: and the more enlarged your expectations are, the more abundant will be his gifts. The fact is, that as there is not a want in you, for which there is not a suitable supply in him, so neither is there any thing in him which shall not be made over to you, if only ye will believe in him. Only come to receive out of his fulness, and he will give to you his grace, his peace, his righteousness, his glory. All shall be yours, the very instant that ye are Christs. Only come to him empty, and ye shall be filled: and the more empty ye come, the more shall ye be filled, and the more will he be glorified.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Ver. 17. Because thou sayest ] Si dixisti, satis est, periisti, saith Augustine. He that thinks he knows anything, knows nothing yet as he ought to know, 1Co 8:2 .
And knowest not ] Whatever thou deemest and dreamest of thyself, as setting up thy counter for 1000 pounds, and working thyself into the fool’s paradise of a sublime dotage.
That thou art wretched and miserable, &c. ] Semper inops, misera, infelix, rerum omnium egena as Favolius saith of Athens, and her inhabitants at this day under the Turk.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17, 18 .] In these verses, the is further expanded, as inducing miserable unconsciousness of defect and need, and empty self-sufficiency. And the charge comes in the form of solemn and affectionate counsel. Because (this forms the reason of below: = seeing that Cf. a similar construction in ch. Rev 18:7-8 ) thou sayest [ that ] I am rich, and am become wealthy, and have need in nothing (the three expressions form a climax: the first giving the fact of being rich, the second the process of having become so (in which there is not merely outward fact, but some self-laudation: cf. ref. Hosea), the third the result, self-sufficingness. From the whole context it is evident that not outward worldly wealth, but imagined spiritual riches, are in question. The former is held to be meant by Andr [70] , Areth [71] , Aretius, Corn.-a-lap., Bengel, Ewald, Zllig, al., the latter by Bed [72] , Lyra, Ribera, Alcas., Grot., Calov., Vitringa, Eich., De W., Hengst., Ebrard, Dsterd., Trench. Stern thinks the wealth is partly worldly (Cicero, Epist. ad div. ii. 17, iii. 5; Strabo xii. 16: see on the wealth of Laodicea the Prolegg.), and partly spiritual. But thus the correspondence in our sentence would be confused. Stern is doubtless so far right, that the imagined spiritual self-sufficingness was the natural growth of an outwardly prosperous condition: but the great self-deceit of which the Lord here complains was not concerning worldly wealth, which was a patent fact, but concerning spiritual, which was a baseless fiction), and knowest not that thou ( , emphatic; “thou, of all others:” corresponding to the use of the article below) art the wretched and [ the ] pitiable one ( , as distinguished above others (not as De W., al., “ the well-known ”), as the person to whom above all others the epithets belong. And these epithets are especially opposed to ), and poor and blind and naked (are these adjectives all subordinate to preceding, or are they new predicates dependent on ? Better the latter, if only for the reason that the counsel which follows takes up these three points in order, thereby bringing them out as distinct from and not subordinate to the two preceding), I advise thee (there is a deep irony in this word. One who has need of nothing , yet needs counsel on the vital points of self-preservation) to buy (at the cost only of thy good self-opinion. That a should be advised to buy gold and raiment , and ointment , might of itself shew what kind of buying is meant, even if Isa 55:1 , . , had not clearly defined it. Yet notwithstanding such clear warning not to go wrong, the Roman-Catholic expositors have here again handled the word of God deceitfully, and explained, as Lyra, “ Emere , operibus bonis:” Corn.-a-lap., “verbum ergo emendi significat, quod multa debet homo facere, et multa conferre, ut idoneus sit a Deo accipere ista dona.” Bed [73] and Ribera, somewhat better, “derelictis omnibus,” Bed [74] : “etiam cum voluptatum dispendio,” Rib. (which however is travelling out of the context, making the wealth to be earthly riches): Estius, better still, but curiously characteristic, “ Emere significat aliquod studium prcedens, quo ambiat charitatem (his interpretation of .): quod tamen etiam ex Deo est. Unde statui potest meritum congruum, respectu justificationis.” Far better again Ansbert, though missing the point of : “Numquid is qui miser et miserabilis et pauper et ccus et nudus redarguitur, aliquid boni habet, quod pro tanto bono largitori suo tribuat, nisi forte prius ab ipso accipiat quod pro accipiendis aliis illi tribuat? Sic certe invenit quod det, qui nisi desuper acceperit, non habet quod det.” Augustine seems to be on the right track for the meaning of when he says, “contende ut pro nomine Christi aliquid patiaris.” The term continues the irony. “All this lofty self-sufficiency must be expended in the labour of getting from Me these absolute necessaries.” So most of the later expositors. So even the R.-Cath. Stern, but disguising the truth under an appearance of a ‘quid pro quo;’ “ Welches ist der Kaufpreis? Hat nicht der Herr selbst gesagt, dass sie arm seien und elend, nakt und jammerlich? Ihr Herz sollen sie Christo hingeben, ihr Fuhlen, Denken, Wollen, und thatkraftiges Handeln; sich selbst ganz und gar dem Herrn zur Leibeigenschaft opfern , Mat 13:45-46 ”) from me (who am the source of all true spiritual wealth, Eph 3:8 ) gold ( fresh ) burnt from the fire (the gives the sense of being just fresh from the burning or smelting, and thus not only tried by the process, but bright and new from the furnace. This is better than, with many Commentators, to make the almost = , signifying the source from which the comes, as ch. Rev 8:11 .
[70] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Cent y . VI.
[71]
[72] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[73] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[74] Bede, the Venerable , 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. “E,” mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
In the interpretation, this gold represents all spiritual , in its sterling reality, as contrasted with that merely imaginary sort on which the Laodiceans prided themselves. It is narrowing it too much to interpret it as caritas (cf. Estius above), or fides , as Aret., Vitringa, Hengstb., al., or indeed any one spiritual grace, as distinguished from the sum total of them all), that thou mayest be (aor., literally, mayest have become, viz., by the purchase) rich: and white garments (Dsterd. rightly remarks that the white garments are distinct from the gold only in constituting a different image in the form of expression, not really in the thing signified. On the meaning, see Rev 3:4 , ch. Rev 7:14 , Rev 19:8 . The lack of righteousness , which can be only bought from Christ, and that at the price of all fancied righteousness of our own, is just as much a as the other), that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest (the choice of the word seems as if some particular time were in view when such manifestation would take place. If we are to assign one, it will naturally be that of the Lord’s coming, when , 2Co 5:10 ; when the Lord of the Church will come to see his guests, and all not clad in the wedding robe will be cast out, Mat 22:11 ff.), and collyrium (the use of which is apparent from what follows. The was so called from its shape, being a stick or roll of ointment for the eyes, in the shape of a bread-cake, or – , 2Ki 6:19 , LXX) to anoint (from reff. Tobit, appears to have been the common technical word for anointing the eyes) thine eyes, that thou mayest see (in the spiritual interpretation, this collyrium will import the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which, like the gold of His unsearchable riches, and the white garment of His righteousness, is to be obtained from him, Joh 16:7 ( ), 14 ( .); Act 2:33 ( ), and also at the price of the surrender of our own fancied wisdom. The analogy of 1Jn 2:20 ; 1Jn 2:27 is not to be overlooked: see notes at those places).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 3:17 . Priding herself not merely on the fact but (as is implied) on the means by which it had been secured ( viz. , personal skill, merit) and finally on the independent self-reliant position thus attained: a profuse certificate of merit, selfassigned. To conceit and self-deception the prophet wrathfully ascribes the religious indifference at Laodicea. “No one,” says Philo ( Fragm. p. 649, Mang.), “is enriched by secular things, even though he possessed all the mines in the world; the witless are all paupers.” The reference is to spiritual possessions and advantages. It is irrelevant to connect the saying with the material wealth and resources of Laodicea, as exemplified in the fact that it was rebuilt by its citizens after the earthquake in 60 61 A.D. without help from the imperial authorities (Tacit. Ann. xiv. 27). For one thing, the incident is too far back; for another, the Apocalypse is concerned not with the cities but with the Christian churches. Such an allusion may have been in the writer’s mind, especially if the church included in its membership prosperous and influential citizens, since complacency and self-satisfaction are fostered by material comfort. “If wealthily then happily,” in Laodicea as in Padua. Still, these weeds spring from other soils as well. An inefficient ministry ( cf. Col 4:17 ) and absence of persecution or of special difficulties at Laodicea probably helped to account for the church’s languid state. As John suggests, the church which is truly rich in spiritual and moral qualities does not plume itself upon them (Rev 2:9 ). , cf. the echo of this in Oxyrhynchite Logia , i. 3: [ , ] (?), where blindness and poverty and unconsciousness of both occur. , emphatic; , “needing pity” rather than (as Dan 9:23 ; Dan 10:11 , LXX) “finding pity”; . ( cf. with Rev 3:19 , Sap. iii. 11: ), only here and Rom 7:24 in N. T., two passages representing the extremes of misery unconscious and conscious. . . . = “the embodiment of”.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
nothing. Greek. oudeis.
knowest. App-132.
wretched = the wretched one. See Rom 7:24, and compare Hos 2:11; Hos 5:15.
poor. App-127.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17, 18.] In these verses, the is further expanded, as inducing miserable unconsciousness of defect and need, and empty self-sufficiency. And the charge comes in the form of solemn and affectionate counsel. Because (this forms the reason of below: = seeing that Cf. a similar construction in ch. Rev 18:7-8) thou sayest [that] I am rich, and am become wealthy, and have need in nothing (the three expressions form a climax: the first giving the fact of being rich, the second the process of having become so (in which there is not merely outward fact, but some self-laudation: cf. ref. Hosea), the third the result, self-sufficingness. From the whole context it is evident that not outward worldly wealth, but imagined spiritual riches, are in question. The former is held to be meant by Andr[70], Areth[71], Aretius, Corn.-a-lap., Bengel, Ewald, Zllig, al., the latter by Bed[72], Lyra, Ribera, Alcas., Grot., Calov., Vitringa, Eich., De W., Hengst., Ebrard, Dsterd., Trench. Stern thinks the wealth is partly worldly (Cicero, Epist. ad div. ii. 17, iii. 5; Strabo xii. 16: see on the wealth of Laodicea the Prolegg.), and partly spiritual. But thus the correspondence in our sentence would be confused. Stern is doubtless so far right, that the imagined spiritual self-sufficingness was the natural growth of an outwardly prosperous condition: but the great self-deceit of which the Lord here complains was not concerning worldly wealth, which was a patent fact, but concerning spiritual, which was a baseless fiction), and knowest not that thou (, emphatic; thou, of all others: corresponding to the use of the article below) art the wretched and [the] pitiable one (, as distinguished above others (not as De W., al., the well-known), as the person to whom above all others the epithets belong. And these epithets are especially opposed to ), and poor and blind and naked (are these adjectives all subordinate to preceding, or are they new predicates dependent on ? Better the latter, if only for the reason that the counsel which follows takes up these three points in order, thereby bringing them out as distinct from and not subordinate to the two preceding), I advise thee (there is a deep irony in this word. One who has need of nothing, yet needs counsel on the vital points of self-preservation) to buy (at the cost only of thy good self-opinion. That a should be advised to buy gold and raiment, and ointment, might of itself shew what kind of buying is meant, even if Isa 55:1, . , had not clearly defined it. Yet notwithstanding such clear warning not to go wrong, the Roman-Catholic expositors have here again handled the word of God deceitfully, and explained, as Lyra, Emere, operibus bonis: Corn.-a-lap., verbum ergo emendi significat, quod multa debet homo facere, et multa conferre, ut idoneus sit a Deo accipere ista dona. Bed[73] and Ribera, somewhat better, derelictis omnibus, Bed[74]: etiam cum voluptatum dispendio, Rib. (which however is travelling out of the context, making the wealth to be earthly riches): Estius, better still, but curiously characteristic, Emere significat aliquod studium prcedens, quo ambiat charitatem (his interpretation of .): quod tamen etiam ex Deo est. Unde statui potest meritum congruum, respectu justificationis. Far better again Ansbert, though missing the point of : Numquid is qui miser et miserabilis et pauper et ccus et nudus redarguitur, aliquid boni habet, quod pro tanto bono largitori suo tribuat, nisi forte prius ab ipso accipiat quod pro accipiendis aliis illi tribuat? Sic certe invenit quod det, qui nisi desuper acceperit, non habet quod det. Augustine seems to be on the right track for the meaning of when he says, contende ut pro nomine Christi aliquid patiaris. The term continues the irony. All this lofty self-sufficiency must be expended in the labour of getting from Me these absolute necessaries. So most of the later expositors. So even the R.-Cath. Stern, but disguising the truth under an appearance of a quid pro quo; Welches ist der Kaufpreis? Hat nicht der Herr selbst gesagt, dass sie arm seien und elend, nakt und jammerlich? Ihr Herz sollen sie Christo hingeben, ihr Fuhlen, Denken, Wollen, und thatkraftiges Handeln; sich selbst ganz und gar dem Herrn zur Leibeigenschaft opfern, Mat 13:45-46) from me (who am the source of all true spiritual wealth, Eph 3:8) gold (fresh) burnt from the fire (the gives the sense of being just fresh from the burning or smelting, and thus not only tried by the process, but bright and new from the furnace. This is better than, with many Commentators, to make the almost = , signifying the source from which the comes, as ch. Rev 8:11.
[70] Andreas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. VI.
[71] Arethas, Bp. of Csarea in Cappadocia, Centy. X.2
[72] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[73] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
[74] Bede, the Venerable, 731; Bedegr, a Greek MS. cited by Bede, nearly identical with Cod. E, mentioned in this edn only when it differs from E.
In the interpretation, this gold represents all spiritual , in its sterling reality, as contrasted with that merely imaginary sort on which the Laodiceans prided themselves. It is narrowing it too much to interpret it as caritas (cf. Estius above), or fides, as Aret., Vitringa, Hengstb., al., or indeed any one spiritual grace, as distinguished from the sum total of them all), that thou mayest be (aor., literally, mayest have become, viz., by the purchase) rich: and white garments (Dsterd. rightly remarks that the white garments are distinct from the gold only in constituting a different image in the form of expression, not really in the thing signified. On the meaning, see Rev 3:4, ch. Rev 7:14, Rev 19:8. The lack of righteousness, which can be only bought from Christ, and that at the price of all fancied righteousness of our own, is just as much a as the other), that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest (the choice of the word seems as if some particular time were in view when such manifestation would take place. If we are to assign one, it will naturally be that of the Lords coming, when , 2Co 5:10; when the Lord of the Church will come to see his guests, and all not clad in the wedding robe will be cast out, Mat 22:11 ff.), and collyrium (the use of which is apparent from what follows. The was so called from its shape, being a stick or roll of ointment for the eyes, in the shape of a bread-cake, or -, 2Ki 6:19, LXX) to anoint (from reff. Tobit, appears to have been the common technical word for anointing the eyes) thine eyes, that thou mayest see (in the spiritual interpretation, this collyrium will import the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which, like the gold of His unsearchable riches, and the white garment of His righteousness, is to be obtained from him, Joh 16:7 ( ), 14 ( .); Act 2:33 ( ), and also at the price of the surrender of our own fancied wisdom. The analogy of 1Jn 2:20; 1Jn 2:27 is not to be overlooked: see notes at those places).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 3:17. ) This is not connected with the preceding words, in which their own is inserted, ; but with the following words, as the thing speaks for itself. Thus, ch. Rev 18:7, followed by – .-) A few read . Such a use of the particle , for quoting the language of any one, is of frequent occurrence, but not in the Apocalypse.[55] See ch. Rev 5:12, Rev 18:7, etc.-) I have used my riches, and with my gold I have provided for myself many things; for instance, garments. So the Septuagint, , Hos 12:8.
[55] AC Vulg. retain before . Bh Cypr. 241, omit it-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
I am: Rev 2:9, Pro 13:7, Hos 12:8, Zec 11:5, Luk 1:53, Luk 6:24, Luk 18:11, Luk 18:12, Rom 11:20, Rom 11:25, Rom 12:3, 1Co 4:8-10
have need: Deu 8:12-14, Pro 30:9, Jer 2:31, Mat 9:12
knowest: Rom 2:17-23
wretched: Mat 5:3, Rom 7:24
blind: Isa 42:19, Joh 9:40, Joh 9:41, 2Pe 1:9
naked: Rev 16:15, Gen 3:7, Gen 3:10, Gen 3:11, Exo 32:35
Reciprocal: Exo 32:25 – naked 2Ch 28:19 – made Judah Psa 72:12 – For Pro 8:5 – General Pro 9:4 – General Pro 26:12 – a man Isa 42:18 – ye deaf Isa 46:12 – Hearken Isa 59:6 – neither Isa 64:6 – all our Jer 2:23 – How canst Eze 16:7 – whereas Zep 1:17 – they shall Mat 6:23 – If Mat 7:7 – and it Mat 25:9 – but Mar 10:24 – trust Luk 6:25 – full Luk 6:42 – see Luk 11:35 – General Luk 15:29 – Lo Joh 4:10 – thou wouldest Act 2:40 – Save Act 8:22 – pray Rom 2:19 – art confident Rom 10:3 – to establish 1Co 10:12 – General 2Co 8:7 – as 2Co 11:19 – seeing 1Ti 6:4 – He 1Jo 1:6 – If 1Jo 2:11 – because
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 3:17. The outstanding thought in this verse is to show how much a church can be self-deceived as to its real condition. Doubtless it possessed all of the things named of a temporal nature. One of the evil effects of earthly riches is to mislead their owners into a feeling of independence or self-sufficiency. That is why Jesus speaks of “the deceitfulness of riches” in Mat 13:22. The condition of this church was the opposite to that of Smyrna which was poor in this world’s goods but was rich in faith. Our present case is one of complete deception, for the church had concluded that it had need of nothing. We often hear the remark that some man “is independently rich,” which is just the state of mind the church at Laodicea was cherishing. The Lord admits that those people did not know (or realize) what their actual condition was from a spiritual standpoint. Wretched is defined by Thayer, “Enduring trials and troubles.” They had a good many conflicts because of their lack of spiritual worth, but their confidence in their wealth gave them a false sense of triumph over them all. Miserable virtually refers to the same condition as being wretched and their deception covered their situation also. Poor in faith while rich in the perishable things of this world. Blind means their eyes of faith had become entirely afflicted with a spiritual cataract developed from their corroding wealth, and hence they could not see that they went naked.
Rev 3:18. Gold tried in the fire is a figurative name for faith (1Pe 1:7.) White raiment consists of the righteousness of the Lord’s people (chapter 19:5), and the People could have such raiment to wear if they would follow a life of righteous conduct. Annoint thine eyes. In 2Pe 1:9 the man who lacked the qualities named in that chapter is said to be “blind,” and on that basis the church at Lao-dicea needed to use the anointment of those virtues to remove the cataract from their eyes.
Rev 3:19. Love in this place is from the word that signifies the warmest sentiments of affection. It. makes a strong and unusual situation to say that such treatment of loved ones is the very proof of that love. Yet that is a principle that is true whether a human or divine Parent is being considered. (See Hebrew 12:6, 9.) Be zealous therefore. Since these stern rebukes are evidence of the Lord’s love for them, it should induce them to repent with zeal which means to be active about it. The fundamental meaning of repentance is a change from one condition to another for the better. These people were relying on their temporal wealth for gratification and were poor in faith. They now should take on a sincere interest in the spiritual things of Christ and begin serving him by righteous living.
Commentr by Foy E. Wallace
Verses 17-19.
3. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing”–Rev 3:17-19.
Based on this statement the Lord said: I counsel thee. He informed them, with words of severity, that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked– which, without any other words to be added, simply meant that they were in utter spiritual destitution. He recommended, in their own dialect of merchandising, that they buy of him a gold of greater value than their material wealth; and the white raiment of righteousness to clothe their nakedness; so that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear: as yet, their nakedness had not been exposed; it was within their membership. This note of judgment was a warning of the divine exposure of their spiritual nakedness.
To correct their state of spiritual blindness the Lord admonished them to anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see–to get rid of their self-deception. This figurative language, of course, cannot be literally applied. The eyesalve meant spiritual enlightenment, as in Psa 19:8 –“The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” The gold which the Lord persuaded them to buy meant the raiment of righteousness, as in 1Pe 5:5 — “Be clothed with humility”; and Rev 7:14 — “These are they . . . which washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
These are strong analogies employed by the Lord counselling the Laodiceans to seek the true riches. There were no charges of the evils of error which existed in some of the churches. The Laodiceans professed the truths of the gospel, but with a materialistic apathy which rendered them unconscious of being out of communion with Christ. To assure them of divine love and concern for their restoration, Jesus said: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. The severity of his rebuke was not rejection but a sign of love which seeks to prevent their condition reaching that stage. The mandate, Be zealous and repent, meant the zeal of repentance itself; that it could not be performed in the apathy and passivity of their present attitude. In Mat 12:41, Jesus said that the people of Nineveh “repented at the preaching of Jonah,” but in referring to that event in the book of Jonah, it reads: “When God saw their works.” That is evidently the meaning of the zeal of repentance. It cannot be performed in nonchalance.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 3:17. This verse is sometimes connected with the preceding, as giving a further statement of the reason why the Lord would deal with the church at Laodicea according to His threatening. But it is more natural to connect it with Rev 3:18, and to regard it as containing the ground of the counsel there given. The question may be asked, whether we are to understand the words of the first half of the verse as referring to temporal or spiritual wealth. The words of Rev 3:18 determine in favour of the former. It was not spiritual pride that had made the church at Laodicea lukewarm: the spiritually proud have too many positive elements of character to justify such a description in their case. It was worldly prosperity that had made the church indifferent to the energy and power of Divine truth. Outwardly she could still profess the Christian faith. But, to be held in reality, that faith must be accompanied by a clear and deep perception of the vanity of this world. To such a state of mind riches are a bar. The rich may no doubt enter into the kingdom of God as well as the poor, but they do so with difficulty (Mar 10:23-24). Their wants are satisfied with corn and wine; the world pays homage to them; they have much goods laid up for many years; they are free from anxiety as to the future; and they will leave their substance to their babes. Why should they be eager about religion? They have difficulty in being hot. Yet they would not oppose religion. It is easier to conform to it. They cannot oppose it or be cold. Such is the state of mind which the Lord seems here to address, and hence the powerful language of the following words, and knowest not that thou art the wretched one, and miserable, etc. Thou callest the poor wretched: thou art the wretched one: to thee really belong the misery and the poverty and the blindness and the nakedness for which thou pitiest or professest to pity others.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. This church’s partial opinion of herself, her vanity and vain-glorious ostentation, accompanied with self-esteem: she said she had need of nothing.
Observe, 2. That this boasting and vain-glorious ostentation did very probably spring from, and was occasioned by, this church’s worldly prosperity: thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods. We are apt to mistake the warm sun for God’s blessing, and to apprehend when we are great that we are gracious; and because rich in goods, conclude ourselves rich in grace: but, alas! God lifts up the light of his common providence upon thousands whom he does not lift up the light of his reconciled countenance upon.
Observe, 3. Christ’s impartial judgment concerning this church of Laodicea, Thou sayest, thou art rich, and needest nothing: but I say, thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
Behold here, How some have little or no grace, who yet conceit they have much grace; as some reckon their temporal, so there are others that value their spiritual, estate, at many thousands beyond what it really is, and when upon a just balance of account they are worth nothing. Ah, miserable souls! empty and guilty, poor and pennyless in spirituals, wanting every thing, but especially a sight and sense of their poverty and wants.
Observe, 4. The counsel given by Christ to this church, very suitable to her condition: What pinches more than poverty? here is gold to enrich us. What shames us more than nakedness? here is a promise of raiment to clothe and cover us. What afflicts and grieves us more than blindness? here is eye-salve to anoint us.
But observe the order of the words, 1. Christ says not, I commanded thee, but, I counsel thee. O infinite condescension! the Lord Jesus does not always command like a king, but sometimes counsels like a friend; he counsels us by his Spirit, he counsels us by his ministers, he counsels us by our own consciences.
2. Christ’s counsel is to buy; that is, earnestly to desire, and sincerely to endeavour, the procuring such spiritual blessings as we want: we buy with our prayers, our tears, our endeavours.
3. The blessings offered, tried gold, that will bear the touchstone, that faith and holiness which will give thee boldness in judgment. White raiment, or the merits of the Mediator, which covers our shame and nakedness out of the sight of God. And eye-salve, or the grace of spiritual illumination, whereby we see the want and worth of these spiritual blessings.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rev 3:17-19. Because thou sayest, I am rich In gifts and grace, as well as worldly goods; and increased with goods Greek, , literally, And have enriched myself, by my own wisdom and virtue; and have need of nothing Imagining thy state in religion to be very prosperous and happy; and knowest not Dost not so much as suspect that thy religion is at all defective: that thou art In Gods account; wretched, miserable, &c. In a most deplorable condition, destitute of every desirable blessing. I counsel thee Who art poor, and blind, and naked; to buy of me Without money or price; gold tried in the fire Living faith, purified in the furnace of affliction; that thou mayest be rich In the enjoyment of Gods favour, and communion with him, and all the blessings consequent thereon. And white raiment True and genuine holiness; that thou mayest be clothed With the divine image and nature. And anoint thine eyes with eye-salve Spiritual illumination; the unction of the Holy One, which teacheth all things; that thou mayest see Mayest possess that acquaintance with God and things divine which is essential to true religion. As many as I love Even thee, thou poor Laodicean. As if he had said, Do not imagine that what may seem severe in this address, proceeds from any unkindness to thee: far from it: love, that is, a regard to thine immortal interests, dictates the whole. O how much has his unwearied love to do! From this principle, I rebuke For what is past: and chasten That men may amend for the time to come. Be zealous, therefore More so than thou hast ever been, and deeply repent Of thy prevailing lukewarmness and indolence.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 17
I am rich rich; in piety and good works. They whose religious attainments are really the least, take generally the greatest pride in them.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, {13} and poor, and blind, and naked:
(13) The spiritual misery of men is metaphorically expressed in three points which are matched as corresponds to those remedies offered in Rev 3:18 .