KJV: Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
YLT: 'But I have against thee: That thy first love thou didst leave!
Darby: but I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first love.
ASV: But I have this against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love.
ἔχω | I have |
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 1st Person Singular Root: ἔχω Sense: to have, i.e. to hold. |
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κατὰ | against |
Parse: Preposition Root: κατά Sense: down from, through out. |
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ὅτι | that |
Parse: Conjunction Root: ὅτι Sense: that, because, since. |
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ἀγάπην | love |
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ἀγάπη Sense: brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence. |
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σου | of you |
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive 2nd Person Singular Root: σύ Sense: you. |
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τὴν | - |
Parse: Article, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: ὁ Sense: this, that, these, etc. |
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πρώτην | first |
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Feminine Singular Root: πρῶτος Sense: first in time or place. |
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ἀφῆκες | you have abandoned |
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 2nd Person Singular Root: ἀφίημι Sense: to send away. |
Greek Commentary for Revelation 2:4
For the phrase “have against” see Matthew 5:23. The οτι hoti clause is the object of εχω echō didst leave First aorist active (kappa aorist, but with ες ̇es instead of ας ̇as) of απιημι aphiēmi a definite and sad departure. [source]
“Thy love the first.” This early love, proof of the new life in Christ (1 John 3:13.), had cooled off in spite of their doctrinal purity. They had remained orthodox, but had become unloving partly because of the controversies with the Nicolaitans. [source]
Not in the text, and unnecessary. The following clause is the object of I have. “I have against thee that thou hast left,” etc. “It is indeed a somewhat which the Lord has against the Ephesian Church; it threatens to grow to be an everything; for see the verse following” (Trench). For the phrase have against, see Matthew 5:23; Mark 11:25; Colossians 3:13. [source]
Rev., more correctly, rendering the aorist, didst leave. The verb originally means to send, away or dismiss. See on John 4:3. [source]
Compare Jeremiah 2:2. The first enthusiastic devotion of the Church to her Lord, under the figure of conjugal love. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Revelation 2:4
The exact meaning of the term here is uncertain. The following are the principal interpretations: 1. The officials known as angels or messengers of the synagogue, transferred to the Christian Church. These were mere clerks or readers; so that their position does not answer to that of the angels presiding over the churches. There is, besides, no trace of the transfer of that office to the Christian Church. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 2. Angels proper Heavenly guardians of the churches. This is urged on the ground that the word is constantly used in Revelation of a heavenly being; by reference to the angels of the little ones (Matthew 18:10), and to Peter's angel (Acts 12:15). It is urged that, if an individual may have a guardian angel, so may a Church. Reference is also made to the tutelar national angels of Daniel 10:21; Daniel 12:1. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- But why should the seer be instructed to write to heavenly messengers, with exhortations to repentance and fidelity, and describing them as “rich,” “poor,” “lukewarm,” etc. (Revelation 2:4; Revelation 3:1, Revelation 3:16)?-DIVIDER- 3. The angels are a personification of the churches themselves: the Church being spoken of as if concentrated in its angel or messenger. But in Revelation 1:20, they are explicitly distinguished from the golden candlesticks, the churches. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- 4. The rulers ard teachers of the congregation. These are compared by Daniel (Daniel 12:3) to stars. See Malachi 2:7, where the priest is called the messenger (angel) of the Lord; and Malachi 3:1, where the same word is used of the prophet. See also Haggai 1:13. Under this interpretation two views are possible. (a) The angels are Bishops; the word ἄγγελος sometimes occurring in that sense (as in Jerome and Socrates). This raises the question of the existence of episcopacy towards the close of the first century. (b) The word is used of the ministry collectively; the whole board of officers, including both presbyters and deacons, who represented and were responsible for the moral condition of the churches. See Acts 20:17, Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:1-5. -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- Dr. Schaff says: “This phraseology of the Apocalypse already looks towards the idea of episcopacy in its primitive form, that is, to a monarchical concentration of governmental form in one person, bearing a patriarchal relation to the congregation, and responsible in an eminent sense for the spiritual condition of the whole … . But even in this case we must insist on an important distinction between the 'angels' of the Book of Revelation and the later diocesan Bishops. For aside from the very limited extent of their charges, as compared with the large territory of most Greek, Roman Catholic, and Anglican Bishops, these angels stood below the Apostles and their legates, and were not yet invested with the great power (particularly the right to confirm and ordain) which fell to the later Bishops after the death of the Apostles … . The angels, accordingly, if we are to understand by them single individuals, must be considered as forming the transition from the presbyters of the apostolic age to the Bishops of the second century” (“History of the Apostolic Church”). -DIVIDER- -DIVIDER- [source]
First aorist indicative of βασταζω bastazō repeated reference to the crisis in Revelation 2:2.And hast not grown weary (και ου κεκοπιακες kai ou kekopiakes). Perfect active indicative of κοπιαω kopiaō old verb, to grow weary (Matthew 6:28), play on the word κοπος kopos late form in ες ̇es for the regular ας ̇as (λελυκας lelukas). like απηκες aphēkes (Revelation 2:4) and πεπτωκες peptōkes (Revelation 2:5). “Tired in loyalty, not of it. The Ephesian church can bear anything except the presence of impostors in her membership” (Moffatt). [source]
Perfect active indicative of κοπιαω kopiaō old verb, to grow weary (Matthew 6:28), play on the word κοπος kopos late form in ες ̇es for the regular ας ̇as like απηκες aphēkes (Revelation 2:4) and πεπτωκες peptōkes (Revelation 2:5). “Tired in loyalty, not of it. The Ephesian church can bear anything except the presence of impostors in her membership” (Moffatt). [source]