Commentary on Revelation & Paul 18 part 2/3

Moreover He inveighs against a part of the angel, saying: 'But I have against you, that you have left your first love.' Far be it that He should rebuke him whom before He praised; but retaining the aforesaid rule, He teaches that the Church on pilgrimage bears the worst mingled with the best. One therefore is he who deserts the love he had begun; another is he who is said even toward the evil to keep patience for God's name: to the one, in short, it is said, 'You have patience, and have not fainted'; to the other, 'Remember whence you have fallen, and do penance, and do the first works. But if not, I will come to you quickly, and will move your candlestick out of its place, unless you do penance.' Here He says He will move the candlestick of him whom He invites to do penance.

What the angel is, that also the candlestick is, whose part He says He does not take away, but moves out of its place, signifying him who, although he is not cut off from the Church until he is separated by the winnowing-fan of the last judgment, has yet lost his own salvation and all the light of the candlestick: and though he may seem honored with spiritual gifts, he is nevertheless known to be dead to himself. For what lives in him is another's. Again He speaks well to a part: 'But this you have good, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,' that is, idolatry and fornication, as He afterward shows. Teaching thereupon all the Churches, He says: 'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.'

'To him that overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life,' that is, of the fruit of the cross, which is, He says, 'in the paradise of my God.' The paradise also can be understood as the Church, for all things were done in a figure, and Adam, as the Apostle teaches (Rom. V), went before as a shadow of Him who was to come. But the tree of life is the Wisdom of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who hung upon the cross, who both in the Church and in the spiritual paradise offers to the faithful the vital nourishment and the sacrament of the heavenly bread, of which we read (Prov. III): 'Wisdom is life to those who embrace her.' 'And to the angel of the Church of Smyrna write: These things says the first and the last, who was dead and lives: I know your tribulations and poverty, but you are rich.'

He speaks to the whole Church, which is poor in spirit and possesses all things, whence the Apostle (2 Cor. VI): 'As having nothing and possessing all things.' 'And you are blasphemed by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.' Here too it is shown that He does not speak to a particular Church only, because it was not at Smyrna only that there were or are blaspheming Jews. Now the name of Jews can here be understood in a twofold manner, either the Jews openly outside, or those placed within, that is, false Christians. For the name of Jew is a religious name, whence the Apostle (Rom. II): 'He is a Jew,' he says, 'who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter.' And again (Phil. III):

'For we are the circumcision, who serve God in the spirit, having no confidence in the flesh': yet these too ought not to be deserted, though they are called even a synagogue of Satan, since we know (John XIII) that the Lord, by bearing with Judas even to the end, gave us an example of patience. 'Fear none of those things which you are about to suffer.' Assuredly He forewarns the whole Church that it should in no way fear the whole body of the devil. 'Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days.' These things said suit the universal Church, against which the devil ever exercises inextricable enmities.

And therefore in ten days is signified the course of the present life, on account of the Decalogue, in which the sum of the law briefly consists: for here are the necessary divine commandments, where there is need of self-control. Hence the divine word (Matt. V): 'Agree with your adversary,' that is, the law, 'while you are with him in the way' of this world, signifying, that is, the whole time, when against the various enticements of desires the battle is waged with the law instructing us, so that by the grace of God, the five carnal senses being subdued—which, because of the twofold sense, are doubled and make ten—the victory may be gained. 'Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.' 'He that endures unto the end, the same shall be saved' (Matt. XXIV).

'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: He that overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.' The eating of the forbidden tree (Gen. II, III) procured this for posterity. But Christ, from the sanctuary of His side, with water and blood flowing forth, watering the wood of the cross, thence made the firstfruits of salvation to sprout up from the very place whence He knew the original evil had arisen, saying: 'Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.' Wherefore if anyone overcomes, in Him he shall be able to overcome. 'And to the angel of the Church of Pergamos write: These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword.' Concerning the twice-sharp sword enough has been said. 'I know where you dwell, where the throne of Satan is.' He speaks to the whole Church, because everywhere that tempter is, to whom it is said:

'She shall watch your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel' (Gen. III). For the world is set in wickedness. The throne of Satan is the men whom he wickedly possesses. He returns to the particular, because although the whole sevenfold Church is figured in these seven places, yet things were done in these particularly which He praises or rebukes. 'And you hold my name, and have not denied my faith. In those days Antipas my witness and faithful one, who was slain among you.' Among many also Christ is slain, whether by those who do not believe He rose again, or because in themselves they deny Him by damnable vices, where Satan dwells. 'But I have a few things to say against you.' Assuredly against other members to be blamed, not those to whom He says:

'And you have not denied my faith. You have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam' (Num. XXIV), 'who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the eyes of the children of Israel, to eat of sacrifices and to commit fornication.' These are the two principal things by whose enjoyment the hypocrites serve: to eat and to fornicate, as the Lord says: 'But within you are full of rapine and incontinence and all iniquity' (Luke XI; Matt. XXIII). Idolatry is spiritual fornication. 'You have destroyed,' he says (Ps. LXXII), 'all those who fornicate away from you.' 'Likewise you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans': likewise do penance. 'But if not, I will come to you quickly, and will fight against you with the sword of my mouth.'

That is, by the sword of the mouth, it ought to be understood of the Church, according to the preceding form of understanding. Now the sword is the precepts of both testaments, by which the despisers are divinely vanquished. 'For whoever have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law' (Rom. II). 'He that has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches: To him that overcomes I will give of that hidden manna,' that is, of the invisible bread, which came down from heaven, who therefore became man, that man might eat the bread of angels (John VI). In figure of this, that manna in the wilderness went before, which because they ate, they are declared by the Lord to be dead, because they remained unbelieving.

Of this hidden and spiritual manna in particular, which promises immortality to the faithful, they did not eat, since He says (ibid.): 'Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you shall not have eternal life in you.' For those who even then could be spiritually fed by that food, merited to attain the same immortality, as Moses and the rest. For they ate the same spiritual food, as the Apostle teaches (1 Cor. X), because the visible manna did not harm them who used the bodily food spiritually. Just as neither will the spiritual manna of the Lord's body profit the men of the present time, if they receive it unworthily, because they eat and drink judgment to themselves.

'And I will give him a white stone,' that is, adoption into a son of God (1 Cor. XI). For the stone is a precious gem, which is to be understood after the manner of that pearl which the merchant finding, sold all and purchased it (Matt. XIII). Another translation, indeed, put 'pearl.' 'And upon the stone a new name, which the mouth of the Lord has named.' Otherwise, upon baptism and martyrdom, which 'no one,' He says, 'knows except him who receives it.' For the hypocrites, though they may seem to have the surface so far, yet cannot penetrate the very power of understanding (Isa. LXII). 'Having,' he says, 'the form of piety, but denying the power thereof.' Hence the same John (1 John II):

'He who says that he knows Him, and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.' 'And to the angel of the Church which is at Thyatira write: These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: I know your works, and love, and faith, and ministry, and patience, and your last works more than the first.' Here it is more fully declared that in the one body of the Church both the part of the good is soothed with praise, and that of the evil is reproached with rebukes. Where He both approves by praising the works together with love, faith, ministry, and patience, and moreover says that the last are amplified beyond the first by increase. 'But I have many things against you, that you allow your wife Jezebel' (1 Kings XVI),

'who calls herself a prophetess, and you allow her to teach and to seduce my servants, to fornicate and to eat of sacrifices.' The angel, that is, the Church, is a general name; but the quality of what is said shows to whom the discourse suits: what part, what species, what office suits the angel, and how from a part of one body it passes from a part or from a figure to the proper meaning, and returns from the proper meaning to the figure. These things were done, and it is conjectured that a woman particularly existed in the aforesaid Church, from whose particular figure the discourse of Jezebel is now figuratively transferred to the general figure of the whole world. The angel therefore, that is, the Church—since it still consists of good and reprobate—is here recognized in a twofold manner:

but because it has both those set over it and the peoples, therefore in the angel is signified the office of the preachers, just as when we relate that a man has performed some work, by the account of our discourse the quality of the individual members is announced and shown; so that if, for example, we say that he has seen or spoken words, we without doubt refer the one to the eyes, the other to the tongue, which is proved to suit this person of the angel, since indeed the angel is known to be a messenger, to whom, as to a watchman, it belongs both to see the things to be corrected and to announce the things to be kept; thus through the other named works the offices of the members are signified.

When therefore He now praises the works greater than the first, He brings in generally the person of all; and because among those set in office there are also negligent ones, therefore He subjoins that Jezebel permits fornication, and from the class of the saints, to whom power is divinely given of permitting or restraining, He therefore passes to the whole Church, thereby constituting the one set over them guilty—not because he himself did it, but because he permitted it to be done, and by permitting became a partaker in the transgressions—wherefore He follows, saying: 'I gave her time that she might do penance, and she would not repent of her fornication.' He did not say, 'I gave to you' or 'to you' (singular); or is not he who consents to a fornicator himself a fornicator?

But because He passes from the species to the genus, therefore He so shows the saints to be strangers to this crime, that through the reproach of the evil He may ever wish them to remain solicitous for the members, though what their right hand does the left hand does not know—which we easily recognize if we spiritually distinguish the flocks from the shepherds, and the lower members from the more eminent, or fit each to its own times. Now the fornication of Jezebel, being general, foreshadowed both bodily and spiritual adultery, when under the name of Christ she spoke of fornication and idolatry. 'For you have destroyed,' he says, 'all those who fornicate away from you.'

'Behold, I cast her into a bed, and those who committed adultery with her into very great tribulation, unless they repent of their works.' The bed here is given to be understood as the security of the offenders, which the vile and shameful promise to themselves through the impurity of their crimes, when, sinning, they have not experienced the vengeance of present wrath, and so far neglect penance until sudden destruction comes upon them, like the pain of one giving birth, and they shall not escape. Now it is said to be given by God in this neglect of security, when they are deserted by a hidden yet not unjust judgment. Concerning this security we read elsewhere (Prov. I): 'The turning away of the little ones shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.'

Another translation put 'mourning' for 'bed,' by which it designated eternal misery, 'unless they repent of their works. And I will kill her children with death.' By 'children' here we recognize the power and works of the woman to be figured; but by 'death' He threatens not the momentary death of the body, but the eternal death of the soul. For those excesses, being mentioned and corrected by no penance, apostolic authority often testifies that not temporal discipline but eternal punishment is owed. For they are not of the number of those of whom it is said: 'He scourges every son whom He receives' (Heb. XII), but of those to whom it is said: 'O Israel, now I will not be angry with you'; and, 'My zeal has departed from you' (Ezek. XVI).

Not that they had obtained propitiation, but because they will be judged unworthy to be scourged temporally. 'And all the Churches shall know that I am the searcher of reins and hearts' (Jer. XVII). Do not the Churches know, before He betrays the adulterers and slays them, that God is the searcher of reins and hearts? Or how can it be said to the Church, 'You shall know,' and she not from the beginning of her faith have known God to be the knower of hidden things? Not therefore by the experience of events, but by sure faith it is to be held that He punishes with death not the manifest but the hidden idolaters and adulterers. For He says these are to be smitten with eternal damnation. 'And I will give to every one of you according to your works.' Now He no longer rebukes the whole for a part, but the whole for the whole, since He promises to each their own.

'For each one,' says the Apostle (Gal. VI), 'shall bear his own burden.' And turning to the good part of the same angel He says: 'But to you I say, the rest who are at Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say.' 'You have not known' is put in place of, as if He should say, 'you have approved by no consent.' For the Lord also perhaps testifies that He does not know those whom He has not received into His discipline. There follows: 'I will not put upon you any other burden, but that which you have, hold fast until I come.' That is, I will not lay upon you the burdens of the law, of which the Apostle says (Gal. V): 'Stand fast, and do not again be held under the yoke of bondage.' Therefore hold fast the light burden or the light yoke of Christ (Matt.

XI), which through the Spirit of adoption is made light, under which, willing us to persevere, He says: 'But that which you have, hold fast until I come.' 'And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, I will give him power over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessel of a potter they shall be broken, as I also received from my Father.' In Christ the Church has this power as the body in the head. For if any worthily has cleaved to His body, she is truly said to have what the Son possessed by hereditary right, in whom (according to the Apostle) God has given us all things. The rod of iron, wholly inflexible justice, rules the meek, destroys the obstinate. 'And I will give him the morning star.'

The morning star it is fitting to understand both as Christ and as the first resurrection, because He, appearing, both drove away the darkness of errors, and, as the resurrection hastens, the darkness of the worldly night shall be put to flight. For this star seems to offer both the end of the night and the beginning of the day. CHAPTER III. 'To the angel of the Church which is at Sardis, write: These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead. Be watchful and steadfast, and confirm the rest which were about to die. For I do not find your works full before my God. Remember how you have received, and keep what you have heard, and do penance.' 'You have a name,' He says, 'that you are alive, and you are dead.'

Let it not be said except to one who has committed a mortal crime. He does not say, 'Confirm the things which were about to die,' except to him who, still having some living things in his office, is permitted not to remain in the death of sin. For he cannot be confirmed who has lost the office of teacher. 'I do not find your works full before my God.' For it is not enough for a tree to live and to be green, yet not to have the due fruits. He also commends penance for preceding faults. 'But if you do not do penance, I will come and will rouse my coming to you; as a thief I will come, and you shall not know at what hour I will come to you.' For if you are negligent at the very voice, the unforeseen hour of calling will forestall you. There follows:

'Yet you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments, and they have walked with me in white, for they are worthy.' Great is the praise of the few who among the defiled evil ones remain unspotted in their garments by the continual brightness of virtues, to whose habit God calls, saying: 'He that overcomes shall be so clothed in a white garment.' The few holy ones assuredly knew that there was in their midst a multitude of the defiled; yet themselves remaining unspotted, they groaned as Ezekiel (Ezek. IX) and mourned over the iniquity which was done in their midst. 'And I will not blot out his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels.' As in the Gospel (Matt. X):

'I too,' He says, 'will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven.' And in Luke 10: 'Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.' 'To the angel of the Church which is in Philadelphia, write: These things says the holy and true one, who holds the key of David' — that is, royal power. He calls it the key of David either because Christ was born of David's stock, or because David himself foretold many things concerning Christ. By whose dispensation, as by a key, the hidden things of the Law, the Prophets and the Psalms were laid open, as He Himself testifies when He says in Luke 24: 'It is necessary that all things be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me.' 'Who opens, and no one shuts; and who shuts, and no one opens.'

The secrets of the divine Law are opened by the power of Christ alone — opened to the faithful, shut to unbelievers; and when He looses, none can shut; when He binds, none can loose. 'Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut, because you have but little strength.' The door which Christ opens then began to be unlocked for the Church, when He opened the understanding of His disciples that they might grasp the Scriptures (Luke 24). This is barred by no one's force, since through their preaching it now lies open throughout the whole world. Whence the Apostle says (1 Corinthians 16): 'A great door is opened to us in the Lord, and the adversaries are many.'

But when He says, 'You have little strength, and you have kept my word, and have not denied my name,' He shows the reason why the Church merits these gifts: because she trusts not in her own strength, and, confessing that she has but small strength, glories not in herself but as one redeemed in the Lord. 'Behold, I will give some from the synagogue of Satan, from those who say they are Jews and are not, but lie. Behold, I will make them come and worship before your feet, and they shall know that I have loved you, because you have kept the word of my patience.' This new thing He then promised to the Church of Philadelphia only; for He foretells the remaining time, and especially that near the end of the world, when the Jews, believing in Christ, shall be joined to His Church, which truly says (Psalm 56):

'The strangers are made subject to me.' For concerning the Jews the Apostle also says (Romans 11) that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and so all Israel should be saved. 'And you shall know that I have loved you' — namely when I shall have made the Jews, who once boasted of their noble lineage, humble in the faith and subject to you; and you shall recognize, and they themselves shall recognize, what kind of love I show toward you. For many of the Jews come to the Church, saying, as it is written: 'Put me into one of your priestly offices, that I may eat bread.' 'Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which is to come upon the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.'

Although the Church is unceasingly exercised by inward and outward conflict, and though — whether individuals in particular, or the whole in general — she is here assailed by various temptations, so too the time of the coming Antichrist is signified, from whom Christ the Lord promises that He will deliver the whole Church which stands firm in its own, so that the temptation of ruin may be recognized as deception. 'I come quickly; hold fast what you have, lest anyone else take your crown.' Here, with utterly astonishing consideration, we recognize the number of the elect, whom He calls apostles, called according to His purpose.

Those whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son — showing that to this number none can be added nor any taken away, since He speaks of that man losing his own crown in such a way that another comes to receive it. Whence it is understood that no other can succeed, if he who held it should guard it with persevering faith. Thus too the pride of the Jews was frustrated, who gloried in the stock of Abraham. 'For God is able,' He says (Matthew 3), 'from these stones to raise up children to Abraham' — so that the sure promise might stand by gift, and carnal boasting be made void in the race. 'He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.' A pillar befits buildings both for strength and for adornment;

so too the conquerors of the world stand eminent in the Church by the gift of dignity, and bear it by the office of charity. 'And he shall go out no more,' He says. The younger son had gone out (Luke 15), that is, the people of the Gentiles; but reconciled and redeemed by the death of that fatted calf, that is, by the blood of Christ, he goes out no more — indeed, one whom the King brought into His chamber (Song of Songs 3), and by however many battering-rams of schisms or persecutions he may be shaken, he is not moved. 'For the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal (2 Timothy 2): The Lord knows those who are His.' So here also: 'I will write upon him the name of my God' — because, namely, we are called sons of God by adoption (Romans 8),

(Romans 8) 'and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven from my God, and my own new name.' The inscription of the name suggests the eminence of dignity and the vision of peace. For Jerusalem is interpreted (Hebrews) as 'vision of peace.' 'New,' however, because of the newness of life in which we are commanded to walk. Yet this name of Christ, which is above every name (Philippians 2), did not accrue to the Son of God in time so that it should be thought called 'new' for that reason, since He always remained coeternal with the Father in the same brightness, of which He says to Him (John 17): 'which I had with you before the world was.' But it is 'new' on account of the human nature, in which He willed both to die, and, having died, rose again; hence through the prophet (Isaiah 43): 'Behold,' He says, 'I make all things new which now shall spring forth';

and the Apostle (2 Corinthians 5): 'Old things have passed away; behold, all things are made new.' Hence too we have deserved to be reckoned by the Christian name. 'To the angel of the Church of Laodicea write: These things says He who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness.' That here 'Amen' is placed, I think we should note; for 'Amen,' when interpreted, means 'true' or 'faithfully.' Whence in this place it must without doubt be referred to that essence of the Godhead of which God, speaking to Moses, says (Exodus 3): 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: He who is has sent me to you.' For He truly is, who is ever the same. But because in the one person of Christ the assumed humanity was also to be proclaimed, He consequently says (chapter 3): 'the beginning of the creation of God.'

For 'the beginning of the creation of God' is fittingly understood to mean Christ the Lord on account of the mystery of the Incarnation, of whose person we read written (Proverbs 8): 'The Lord created me, the beginning of His ways'; and the Apostle (Hebrews 10): 'Having confidence in the entrance into the holy places by the blood of Christ, who has initiated for us a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh, and a great priest,' etc. For He Himself is the way who is the fatherland; He Himself the author of faith who is also its consummator; He Himself the Alpha and the Omega, He the beginning whom none precedes, He the end whom none succeeds in the kingdom. 'I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were cold or hot! But because you are lukewarm, I will begin to vomit you out of my mouth.'

Here can be recognized the persons of certain nobles of this world, whom He therefore says to be neither hot nor cold, but rather lukewarm: because, although such abundance of riches flows around them, they are nevertheless found barren in works of piety, nor are they kindled to good works by any regard of compassion. Therefore the poor too are said to be neither cold nor fervent, who neither abound in riches — by using which the lukewarm grow torpid — nor, by not sharing them with the needy, are they justly marked as lacking the fervor of good works. But it can also here signify the person of those with whom, within the chamber, the Scriptures are handled, but outwardly it is unknown whether they are faithful; and, presuming confidently and securely, they are found empty of works.

Therefore He says they are neither cold nor fervent, that is, neither unbelieving nor faithful. And because by such lukewarmness both kinds cause Him nausea: 'I will vomit you,' He says, 'out of my mouth'; but because it is the time of repentance, let them not flatter themselves with the false name of the rich and powerful, whose poverty and blindness and nakedness is rebuked, but let them hear Him who counsels them and promises true riches, namely knowledge. For it befits both that they be not vomited out from His inmost bowels. Now let them buy for themselves gold, of which He speaks (Proverbs 16): 'Receive wisdom as gold, and knowledge as choice silver.'