CuapTer II, 1-CHapTeEr III. 20. The
aes
-
péow τῶν ἑπτὰ λυχνιῶν τῶν χρυσῶν :
\ , ΔΝ τὸν κόπον καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν σου, καὶ ὅτι οὐ δύνῃ "βαστάσαι κακούς, ‘ , , καὶ émelpagas τοὺς λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς εἶναι ἀποστόλους "καὶ οὐκ
ὀφρὺν βαστάσει), ''Τποι canst not so much as tolerate”.
“tested, put to the proof”. e Cf. on i. 6.
seven open letters or pastorals (in the modern and ecclesiastical sense of the term) are appeals for vigour and vigil- ance which reflect a mind in which imaginative, even mystic fervour was accompanied by shrewd penetration into the existing state of morals and religion in the Asiatic communities. Their dis- orders and difficulties do not escape the notice of the prophet. He will neither spare nor despair of the churches. He speaks in the name of a Lord who knows not only who are his, but what they are, One who is keenly alive to their plight and struggles (οἶδα, ii. 1, etc.) alike against inward corruption and the ex- ‘ternal pressure of the Empire, one to whom their obscure provincial conflict is a matter of infinite moment.
ii. 1-7, to Ephesus.
Ver. 1. The political and commer- ‘cial primacy of Ephesus, conjoined with its prestige as a centre for the Imperial cultus which flourished be- ‘side the local cult of Diana, lent it cecumenical importance in the Eastern Empire. Christianity had for about half a century already made it a -sphere and centre, and its position was enormously enhanced after the crisis of 7ο A.D. in lalestine, when Asia Minor became one of the foci of the new faith {cf. von Dobschiitz, pp. too f.). The -description of the speaker is carried on from i. 12, 16, 20, with κρατῶν for -€xwv (the church is neither to be plucked nor to be dropped from his hand) and the addition of περιπατῶν to ἐν µέσῳ (activity and universal watchfulness, cf. Abbott, pp. 196 f.), touches which make the sketch more definite, but which are too slight to be pressed into any signili- cance, unless one supposes a subtle general contrast between the ideal of the churches—“a star shining by its own inherent light”—and their actual con- dition upon earth which, like the lamp, requires constant replenishing and care, if its light is not to flicker or fade.
Ver. 2. οἶδα: nothing escapes his notice, neither the good (2-3, 6) nor the bad (4, 5) qualities. ἔργα = the general course and moral conduct of life, exem-