Wahyu 2:2

Bahasa Indonesia Sehari-hari

Aku tahu segala pekerjaanmu: baik jerih payahmu maupun ketekunanmu. Aku tahu, bahwa engkau tidak dapat sabar terhadap orang-orang jahat, bahwa engkau telah mencobai mereka yang menyebut dirinya rasul, tetapi yang sebenarnya tidak demikian, bahwa engkau telah mendapati mereka pendusta.

Parallel Translations

Alkitab Terjemahan Baru
Aku tahu segala pekerjaanmu: baik jerih payahmu maupun ketekunanmu. Aku tahu, bahwa engkau tidak dapat sabar terhadap orang-orang jahat, bahwa engkau telah mencobai mereka yang menyebut dirinya rasul, tetapi yang sebenarnya tidak demikian, bahwa engkau telah mendapati mereka pendusta.

Alkitab Terjemahan Lama
Aku tahu segala perbuatanmu dan kelelahan dan sabarmu, dan Aku tahu bahwa engkau tiada boleh tahan segala orang jahat, tetapi engkau sudah mencoba orang-orang yang mengatakan dirinya rasul, tetapi bukan, dan sudah engkau dapati mereka itu pendusta;

Contextual Overview

¹ Vnto the Angel of the Churche at Ephesus, write: these thynges sayth he that holdeth the seuen starres in his ryght hande, and that walketh in the middes of the seuen golden candlestickes: ² I knowe thy workes, and thy labour, and thy patience, and howe thou canst not forbeare them which are euyll: and hast examined them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and hast founde them lyers: ³ And hast suffred, and hast patience, and for my names sake hast laboured, and hast not faynted. ⁴ Neuertheles, I haue [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first loue. ⁵ Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first workes: Or els I wyll come vnto thee shortly, & wyll remoue thy candlesticke out of his place, except thou repet. ⁶ But this thou hast, because thou hatest the deedes of the Nicolaitans, which (deedes) I also hate. ⁷ Let hym that hath an eare, heare what ye spirite sayth vnto the Churches. To hym that ouercommeth, wyll I geue to eate of the tree of lyfe, which is in the middes of the paradise of God.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

know: Revelation 2:9, Revelation 2:13, Revelation 2:19, Revelation 3:1, Revelation 3:8, Revelation 3:15, Psalms 1:6, Matthew 7:23, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Timothy 2:19, Hebrews 6:10

how: Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:14, Revelation 2:15, Revelation 2:20, Revelation 2:21, Galatians 1:7, Ephesians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 2 Peter 2:1-3, 1 John 4:1

thou hast: 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, 1 John 2:21, 1 John 2:22, 1 John 4:1

Reciprocal: Leviticus 13:34 - the seventh Leviticus 14:40 - take away Deuteronomy 18:21 - General Psalms 36:4 - abhorreth Psalms 139:21 - Do not I Proverbs 19:27 - General Ecclesiastes 3:8 - a time to hate Song of Solomon 2:15 - the foxes Isaiah 66:18 - I know Luke 21:19 - General John 10:5 - General John 10:14 - know 1 Corinthians 12:10 - discerning 2 Corinthians 11:29 - and I burn Philippians 1:10 - approve things that are excellent 1 Timothy 1:3 - charge 2 Peter 1:6 - patience Revelation 13:10 - Here Revelation 21:8 - and all

Cross-References

Genesis 1:31
And God sawe euery thyng that he had made: and beholde, it was exceedyng good. And the euenyng & the mornyng were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:8
And the Lord God planted a garden eastwarde in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had shapen.

Genesis 2:11
The name of ye first is Pison, the same is it that compasseth the whole lande of Hauilah, where there is golde:

Exodus 23:12
Sixe daies thou shalt do thy worke, and in the seuenth day thou shalt rest: that thyne oxe and thyne asse may rest, and the sonne of thy mayde and the straunger may be refreshed.

Exodus 31:17
For it is a signe betweene me and the children of Israel for euer: for in six dayes the Lorde made heauen and earth, and in the seuenth day he rested and was refreshed.

Deuteronomy 5:14
But the seuenth day is the Sabbath of the Lorde thy God: thou shalt not do any worke, thou nor thy sonne, nor thy daughter, nor thy man seruaunt, nor thy mayde, nor thine oxe, nor thine asse, nor any of thy cattell, nor the straunger that is within thy gates: that thy man seruaunt, and thy mayde, may rest as well as thou.

Isaiah 58:13
Yea if thou turne thy feete from the sabbath, so that thou do not the thing whiche pleaseth thy selfe in my holy day, and thou call the pleasaunt, holy, and glorious sabbath of the Lorde, and that thou geue hym the honour, so that thou do not after thyne owne imagination, neither seeke thyne owne wyll, nor speake thyne owne wordes:

John 5:17
And Iesus aunswered them: My father worketh hitherto, and I worke.

Hebrews 4:4
For he spake in a certayne place of the seuenth daye on this wyse: And God dyd rest the seuenth daye from all his workes.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I know thy works,.... The good works, both of ministers and churches; no evil works are mentioned, nor anything complained of in this church but an abatement of the fervour of her first love. Christ, as the omniscient God, knows all the works of his people, and the springs, and principles, and ends, and views of them, whether they are done in obedience to him, and spring from love to him, and are performed in his strength, and by his grace, and are directed to his glory; and such he takes notice of, approves of, and is well pleased with, not as the ground of his delight in their persons, but as the fruits of his own grace; and during the apostolic age, churches and ministers were very diligent in working; yea, they were laborious, as follows:

and thy labour: particularly the labour of ministers of the Gospel, in these times, in the frequent preaching of it, in season and out of season; and in the constant administration of the ordinances; and in the diligent exercise of church discipline. The work of the ministry is a laborious work to the mind in studying, and to the body in the outward discharge of it; and it becomes more so, through the malice and opposition of enemies, and the weakness of friends; and such as are diligent and laborious deserve respect, even double honour; and though they may not have it from men, yet Christ takes notice of them and their labours, and commends them for them, and will reward them.

And thy patience; as this may refer to the ministers of the word, it may denote their patience in suffering reproaches and persecutions for the sake of the Gospel, which they bore patiently, cheerfully, and constantly; and in bearing the infirmities of weak saints, in their several communities; and in reclaiming and restoring persons out of the way; and in waiting for the success of their ministry, and their continuance and perseverance in it. And as this may respect members of churches, it may point at their patience under afflictions from the hand of God, and under reproach and persecution from men, for their embracing and professing the Gospel; and their patient waiting for the heavenly glory, and their firm expectation of it, and their perseverance unto it.

And how thou canst not bear them that are evil; that were so either in their principles or in their practices, or both; men that lived immoral lives, and held erroneous doctrines, these the primitive ministers and churches could not bear; they had an inward abhorrence and detestation of them in their minds; they could not bear them in communion with them; they admonished them according to the nature of their offence, and cast out such as were obstinate and incorrigible; they withdrew from such as were disorderly, and rejected heretics after the first and second admonition; their zeal for church discipline is here taken notice of to their commendation.

And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not,

and hast found them liars; this doubtless was done in the church at Ephesus, where, after the Apostle Paul's departure, grievous wolves, in sheep's clothing, entered, and men arose from among themselves, speaking perverse things, Acts 20:29; yet it was not peculiar to that church, though it was to the apostolic age; for in no other could men with any face pretend to be the apostles of Christ; and such there were, who sprung up in the several churches at Jerusalem, Corinth, Galatia, and elsewhere, who called themselves the apostles of Christ, but were false apostles, deceitful workers; they pretended to have their doctrine, call, mission, and commission, immediately from Christ, as the true apostles had, and a power to work miracles, and talked of inspirations and revelations by the Spirit of God. Now the apostles, ministers, and churches of those times, tried their pretensions and doctrines by the word of God, and by the fruits which they produced in themselves and others; and through that discerning of spirits which they had, they found them to be liars; that they were not, nor had they what they pretended to be, and have, and exposed them as such.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I know thy works - The common formula with which all the epistles to the seven churches are introduced. It is designed to impress upon them deeply the conviction that he was intimately acquainted with all that they did, good and bad, and that therefore he was abundantly qualified to dispense rewards or administer punishments according to truth and justice. It may be observed that, as many of the things referred to in these epistles were things pertaining to the heart - the feelings, the state of the mind - it is implied that he who speaks here has an intimate acquaintance with the heart of man, a prerogative which is always attributed to the Saviour. See John 2:25. But no one can do this who is not divine; and this declaration, therefore, furnishes a strong proof of the divinity of Christ. See Psalms 7:9; Jeremiah 11:20; Jer 17:10; 1 Samuel 16:7; 1 Kings 8:39.

And they labor - The word used here (κόπος kopos) means properly “a beating,” hence wailing, grief, with beating the breast; and then it means excessive labor or toil adapted to produce grief or sadness, and is commonly employed in the New Testament in the latter sense. It is used in the sense of trouble in Matthew 26:10, “Why trouble ye (literally, why give ye trouble to) the woman?” (compare also Mark 14:6; Luke 11:7; Luke 18:5; Galatians 6:17); and in the sense of labor, or wearisome toil, in John 4:38; 1 Corinthians 3:8; 1Co 15:58; 2 Corinthians 6:5; 2 Corinthians 10:15; 2Co 11:23, 2 Corinthians 11:27, et al. The connection here would admit of either sense. It is commonly understood, as in our translation, in the sense of labor, though it would seem that the other signification, that of trouble, would not be inappropriate. If it means labor, it refers to their faithful service in his cause, and especially in opposing error. It seems to me, however, that the word “trouble” would better suit the connection.

And thy patience - Under these trials; to wit, in relation to the efforts which had been made by the advocates of error to corrupt them, and to turn them away from the truth. They had patiently borne the opposition made to the truth, they had manifested a spirit of firm endurance amidst many arts of those opposed to them to draw them off from simple faith in Christ.

And how thou canst not bear them which are evil - Canst not “endure” or “tolerate” them. Compare the notes on 2 John 1:10-11. That is, they had no sympathy with their doctrines or their practices, they were utterly opposed to them. They had lent them no countenance, but had in every way shown that they had no fellowship with them. The evil persons here referred to were, doubtless, those mentioned in this verse as claiming that “they were apostles,” and those mentioned in Revelation 2:6 as the Nicolaitanes.

And thou hast tried them which say they are apostles - Thou hast thoroughly examined their claims. It is not said in what way they had done this, but it was probably by considering attentively and candidly the evidence on which they relied, whatever that may have been. Nor is it certainly known who these persons were, or on what grounds they advanced their pretensions to the apostolic office. It cannot be supposed that they claimed to have been of the number of apostles selected by the Saviour, for that would have been too absurd; and the only solution would seem to be that they claimed either:

(1)That they had been called to that office after the Saviour ascended, as Paul was; or,

(2)That they claimed the honor due to this name or office, in virtue of some election to it; or,

(3)That they claimed to be the successors of the apostles, and to possess and transmit their authority.

If the first of these, it would seem that the only ground of claim would be that they had been called in some miraculous way to the rank of apostles, and, of course, an examination of their claims would be an examination of the alleged miraculous call, and of the evidence on which they would rely that they had such a call. If the second, then the claim must have been founded on some such plea as that the apostolic office was designed to be elective, as in the case of Matthias Acts 1:23-26, and that they maintained that this arrangement was to be continued in the church; and then an examination of their claims would involve an investigation of the question, whether it was contemplated that the apostolic office was designed to be perpetuated in that manner, or whether the election of Matthias was only a temporary arrangement, designed to answer a particular purpose. If the third, then the claim must have been founded on the plea that the apostolic office was designed to be perpetuated by a regular succession, and that they, by ordination, were in a line of that succession; and then the examination and refutation of the claim must have consisted in showing, from the nature of the office, and the necessary qualifications for the office of apostle, that it was designed to be temporary, and that there could be properly no successors of the apostles, as such. On either of these suppositions, such a line of argument would be fatal to all claims to any succession in the apostolic office now. If each of these points should fail, of course their claims to the rank of apostles would cease; just as all claims to the dignity and rank of the apostles must fail now. The passage becomes thus a strong argument against the claims of any persons to be “apostles,” or to be the “successors” of the apostles, in the uniqueness of their office.

And are not - There were never any apostles of Jesus Christ but the original twelve whom he chose, Matthias, who was chosen in the place of Judas Acts 1:26, and Paul, who was specially called to the office by the Saviour after his resurrection. On this point, see my work on the Apostolic Church (pp. 49-57, London ed.).

And hast found them liars - Hast discovered their pretensions to be unfounded and false. In 2 Corinthians 11:13, “false apostles” are mentioned; and, in an office of so much honor as this, it is probable that there would be not a few claimants to it in the world. To set up a claim to what they knew they were not entitled to would be a falsehood, and as this seems to have been the character of these people, the Saviour, in the passage before us, does not hesitate to designate them by an appropriate term, and to call them liars. The point here commended in the Ephesian church is, that they had sought to have a “pure ministry,” a ministry whose claims were well founded. They had felt the importance of this, had carefully examined the claims of pretenders, and had refused to recognize those who could not show, in a proper manner, that they had been designated to their work by the Lord Jesus. The same zeal, in the same cause, would be commended by the Saviour now.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 2:2. I know thy works — For the eyes of the Lord are throughout the earth, beholding the evil and the good; and, being omnipresent, all things are continually open and naked before him. It is worthy of remark, that whatsoever is praiseworthy in any of these Churches is first mentioned; thereby intimating that God is more intent on finding out the good than the evil in any person or Church; and that those who wish to reform such as have fallen or are not making sufficient advances in the Divine life, should take occasion, from the good which yet remains, to encourage them to set out afresh for the kingdom of heaven. The fallen or backsliding who have any tenderness of conscience left are easily discouraged, and are apt to think that there is no seed left from which any harvest can be reasonably expected. Let such be told that there is still a seed of godliness remaining, and that it requires only watching and strengthening the things which remain, by prompt application to God through Christ, in order to bring them back to the full enjoyment of all they have lost, and to renew them in the spirit of their mind. Ministers continually harping on Ye are dead, ye are dead; there is little or no Christianity among you, c., c., are a contagion in a Church, and spread desolation and death wheresoever they go. It is far better to say, in such cases, "Ye have lost ground, but ye have not lost all your ground ye might have been much farther advanced, but through mercy ye are still in the way. The Spirit of God is grieved by you, but it is evident he has not forsaken you. Ye have not walked in the light as ye should, but your candlestick is not yet removed, and still the light shines. Ye have not much zeal, but ye have a little. In short, God still strives with you, still loves you, still waits to be gracious to you take courage, set out afresh, come to God through Christ; believe, love, obey, and you will soon find days more blessed than you have ever yet experienced." Exhortations and encouragements of this kind are sure to produce the most blessed effects; and under such the work of God infallibly revives.

And thy labour — He knew their works in general. Though they had left their first love, yet still they had so much love as excited them to labour, and enabled them to bear persecution patiently, and to keep the faith; for they could not tolerate evil men, and they had put fictitious apostles to the test, and had found them to be liars, pretending a Divine commission while they had none, and teaching false doctrines as if they were the truths of God.