CuapTer II].—Vv. 1-6. The message to Sardis. The title of the speaker (drawn from i. 4, 16, 20), as general as
ns
364 Ill.
aHerod. Τάδε λέγει 6 ἔχων τὰ ἑπτὰ πνεύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ τοὺς ἑπτὰ vil, 138 3 ; + ο αν ¢ ax >” Εὶ ~ ae) λ οὕνομα ἀστέρας" Οἶδα σοῦ τὰ έργα, ὅτι " ὄνομα ἔχεις ὅτι {ῆς, καὶ ” νεκρὸς εἶχε, ὡς ο. a ἐπ "A@jv-€t. 2. Γίνου “ypnyopav, καὶ ' στήρισον τὰ λοιπὰ ἃ ἔμελλον ἀπο- ας ἐλαύ- x ft ve, Plato θανεῖν ' οὐ yap εὑρηκά σου ἔργα] πεπληρωμένα ἐνώπιον τοῦ Hipp. 5 mR > 2 ΜΙά/.281ε. Θεοῦ µου. 3. "μνηµόνευε οὖν πῶς ' εἴληφας καὶ ἤκουσας, καὶ τήρει
b ics li. 1”, 2A > x , ε- εν {ἂν / ‘ τ Tim. v. καὶ ee ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσης, © ἤξω ὡς " κλέπτης, καὶ 6: Philo, 5 , Co) ο 9. KN , > A ” 257 de proe 00 μὴ γνῶς” ‘qotay ὥραν ἤξω ἐπὶ σέ. 4. ᾽Αλλὰ έχεις ὀλίγα fug. § το.
ε Eph. v. 14.
d Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 16 (Helbing 85). e See Gal. iii. 2f., Heb. x. 321. f John iii. 11, 33, xiv. 17, xvii. 8. g il. 5, 16. h Jer. xlix. 9, Matt. xxiv. 43 =Lk. xii. 39, see on 1 Lhess. ν. 2. i Tem
poral ace. as xi. 2, 6, 9, xii. 6.
lea bef. εργα is om. by Lach., WH, Ws., Sw. (AC, 1 mg.).
2For yvws (ACP, 1, etc., Areth., Al., (marg.) read the correct γνωση with QQ,
in the similar letter to Ephesus, has no special bearing on the subsequent ad- dress, unless an antithesis be implied between the plenitude of the divine spirit and the deadness of a church which had the name or credit of being “alive”. The sweeping verdict of ver. I upon the formalism of the local church —which had lapsed from its pristine vitality, just as the township of S. had by this time declined from its old his- torical prestige—is modified by the re- cognition of better elements not yet too far gone in decay to be recovered (2) and of a goodly nucleus of members. The metaphor is paralleled by a Jewish esti- mate of orthodoxy (Kidd. 71 6) which dubbed Mesene as ‘“ dead,” Media as “ill,” Elymais as ‘in extremis,” and the strict inhabitants of the Ghetto be- tween the Tigris and the Euphrates as soheal Gavia.
Ver. 2. ἔμελλον, epistol. impf.—aoov ἔργα, “any works of thine”. Judged from the Divine standpoint (ἔνωπ. θ.), no matter how satisfactory is the verdict of outsiders upon her or of her own com- placency, her condition is decadent.
Ver. 3. Memory again the lever for repentance (as at ii. 5); εἴληφας aoristic pf. (cf. v. 7, Burton 88) rather than pf. of existing result (Weiss, Bs.); πῶς = our colloquial “how ” (practically equivalent to «ναι. The melancholy feature about contemporary indifference at S. was that it had a fine beginning behind it: yet this very circumstance afforded hopeful ground for an appeal. καὶ τήρει (the primitive deposit of the faith) καὶ (to secure this steadfast adherence) µετανόη- σον (aor., sharp and decisive act of re- pentance). As ver. 4 (compared with ver. 2) implies, positive stains were visible in
Ws., Bs., Sw., Bj.) Lach. Ti. Tr. WH vg., Aeth., Syr., Απάς, Pr.,
the local church no less than sins of mere omission. Sardis and Laodicea, which apparently were the only members of this group untroubled by outside perse- cution or inward error, were the least satisfactory of all the seven. ἐὰν οὖν μὴ γρηγορήσῃς, although the need is so desperate (cf. below on xvi. 15). The sudden and signal visitation of punish- ment threatened in the following words (for ὥραν in acc. cf. Moult. i. 63, Abbott’s Diat. 2013) is left vaguely impressive. It may be that (as in Jude 4, 18, and 2 Peter) jocal libertinism meant a slackening of belief in the second Advent.
Ver. 4. Od. dv. “quasi paucos no- minatos, 2.ε., bonos qui nominatione digni sunt” (cf. the use of πρόσωπα = per- sons or individuals, in Clem. Rom. and Ignat.). ἐμόλ. (cf. Fragment of Un- canonical Gospel, Oxvrhyn. 2 cent. A.D., line 16 μεμολυμμένος ἐπάτησας, κ.τ.λ.) the sullied garment an emblem of moral stains, including but not identical with that of πορνεύειν (xiv. 4, cf. Sir. xxli. I, 2). The language reflects that ot the votive inscriptions in» Asia Minor, where soiled clothes disqualified the worshipper and dishonoured the god. Moral purity qualifies for spiritual com- munion (note the dramatic contrast of this ἄξιοι [cf. on ii. 16] with that of xvi. 6); the apocalyptic beatitude is: blessed are the pure in life, for they shall join God (see on xiv. 14, xix. 8). Note here only in the seven messages an escha- tological promise unintroduced by the phrase 6 νικῶν, although νετ. 5 really repeats the same idea. ottTws= ‘as being victor ” (i.e., accordingly). The idea of heavenly raiment is distinctively Persian (Brandt, 575, 580; Ltiken, 122), but per- meates Jewish eschatology from Enoch