Who was the "First Love" of the church of Ephesus?

[Light on the Hill]

Revelations Chapter 2 (KJV)
1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I also hate.

I've seen anti-Paul's throw Rev 2 around saying it was talking about him because Ephesus was congratulated for kicking out false apostles. A problem I see with this is that Paul and/or Timothy is said to have founded the church of Ephesus. Is Rev 2:4 referring to Paul/Timothy as Ephesus's first love? Or could it be John the Baptist since the first followers at Ephesus were followers of John? It could be talking about Christ, but He is talking to them in the letter. I mean He could be calling himself the first love, but I feel like He is referring to something/someone else.

 

[sandman]

You may have heard the term “right church wrong pew” ….In this case….. wrong church.

The 7 churches spoken of in Revelation including Ephesus are not referring to the Ephesus in the epistles.

There are several differences …unfortunately I don’t have the time to go through them tonight.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

I've seen anti-Paul's throw Rev 2 around saying it was talking about him because Ephesus was congratulated for kicking out false apostles. A problem I see with this is that Paul and/or Timothy is said to have founded the church of Ephesus. Is Rev 2:4 referring to Paul/Timothy as Ephesus's first love? Or could it be John the Baptist since the first followers at Ephesus were followers of John? It could be talking about Christ, but He is talking to them in the letter. I mean He could be calling himself the first love, but I feel like He is referring to something/someone else.

Of course our "First Love" is Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Blessings.

 

[Light on the Hill]

You may have heard the term “right church wrong pew” ….In this case….. wrong church.

The 7 churches spoken of in Revelation including Ephesus are not referring to the Ephesus in the epistles.

There are several differences …unfortunately I don’t have the time to go through them tonight.

That sounds interesting, I never heard that. Do you have any good resources on this topic?

 

[sandman]

That sounds interesting, I never heard that. Do you have any good resources on this topic?

I would be happy to ... It is going to have to wait till tomorrow evening. I have payroll to finish up and I don't want to do a half baked job job with the info.

 

[sandman]

That sounds interesting, I never heard that. Do you have any good resources on this topic?

I feel confident that you have read the epistle of Ephesians as well as the other church epistles (Romans through Thessalonians) written to us in this administration (dispensation) of Grace (Eph 3:2) of the one new man (Eph 2:15)

The Greek word for fellowship in verse 9 according to all critical Greek and Aramaic text is the Greek word oikonomia →(house administration) not koinonia → (fellowship, sharing in common) as the KJV has ….which most likely came from the later “ Textus Receptus” due to an error in transmission.

The following verse should read as follows (also the words “by Jesus Christ” are not in any critical Greek or Aramaic text. (probably a deliberate forgery)


Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship "administration" of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things. by Jesus Christ:

That verse is referencing the mystery in Eph 3:6 & Eph 2:15.

I bring this up for good reason…

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,



“The Lords Day” or “Day of the Lord” is very much different than that of which we live today. We live in the time or administration of Grace, you won’t find much grace in the Lords day (which does not just pertain to the single event of the Lords return to the mount) …The Lords day encompasses everything from beginning to end of Revelation including what is prophesized about this time in the OT and gospels just as this administration of grace encompasses everything about the one body of Christ.

Here is a stark difference ….. How much grace is there in Revelation ???

It is used twice …. once in the opening salutation Rev 1:4 and once in the closing verse Rev 22:21.

Compare that to the 72 times in the seven Church epistles of Romans through Thessalonians. ….. If you want to include Acts (10x) and Timothy through Jude (34x)… all of which pertain to the administration of grace but not directly written to the church …. that is 116x.

But being fair…. I would deduct 27x from all of the epistles where grace is used as an opening and closing salutation. Which would leave us with 89 total times grace being referred to …. but all things being equal ….if we deduct the salutations from Revelation…. there would be ~ zero ~

Additionally grace is used 37 x throughout the entire OT …and only 4x in gospels. There has always been grace with God, but seeing Gods grace and living in it are two different things.

This administration of grace will terminate at the gathering together unto Him when Christ comes for those of us in Christ and we are gathered together in the air …. He does not physically come to the earth at the gathering together (rapture)

Speaking of being “in Christ” … or “in Christ Jesus” … or “in Jesus” ….”in Him” … “in the Lord”

Those are used over 80x from Romans to Jude …I’ll bet you already know how many times it is used in Revelation …~0~

Because Revelation does not deal with the mystery of the one body ….it’s gone with the gathering together unto Him. Revelation is Gentiles and Jews.

There is plenty more comparisons and notation I could submit but you get the idea.

If you want more I will be happy to submit…

 

[oikonomia]

The first love the church in Ephesus left was the love for Jesus Himself.

Oh yes.
We can be very busy, very discerning, very knowledgeable, very zealous and depart from the love of Jesus just for Him being Jesus.

We can love our work to the point that we lose our first love - the love of Jesus.
We can hate what He hates, yet be subtly removed from loving Him for Himself.

The church in Ephesus had left their first love.
They were told to do the first works over.
I think these are the works of shepherding the sheep.

Jesus asked Peter if Peter loved Him. Three times after Peter's three denials, He restored Peter by asking this.
Each time Jesus added that IF Peter loved Him he must take care of and shepherd His sheep.

My opinion is that the love of Jesus goes hand in hand with loving the Body with the fellow members.
If we love the Lord we must shepherd the sheep, feed the sheep, be an example to the sheep.
We must express our love for the Head of the Body by caring for the the members of the Body.

The first love is the best love. The first love is the holding of Christ preeminent above all things.
We love Him for Himself. We love Him not only for what He can do for us, though that also.
We love Him because He is altogether lovely like an emmense magnet of our hearts.

No one can compete with Him. No one can compare with Him.
He is FIRST in everything. We just love Him.

 

[Mr. M]

I've seen anti-Paul's throw Rev 2 around saying it was talking about him because Ephesus was congratulated for kicking out false apostles. A problem I see with this is that Paul and/or Timothy is said to have founded the church of Ephesus. Is Rev 2:4 referring to Paul/Timothy as Ephesus's first love? Or could it be John the Baptist since the first followers at Ephesus were followers of John? It could be talking about Christ, but He is talking to them in the letter. I mean He could be calling himself the first love, but I feel like He is referring to something/someone else.

First, whatever the Lord spoke to the saints at Ephesus,
He says to us all, for every message concludes the same way:
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The first love of every believer is the Church, "the pillar and ground of the truth",
For:
1 John 4:
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God whom he has not seen?
21 And this commandment we have from Him:
that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Our love is perfected in Christ, to love Christ is to love His Body.
Colossians 2:2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love,
and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge
of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ.

Ephesians 4:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every
joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share,
causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

 

[Carl Emerson]

First Love was not a 'who'

First Love was an action they had departed from i.e. caring for each other as recorded in early Acts.

This same warning applies to much of Christianity today with few exceptions.

 

[oikonomia]

First Love was not a 'who'

First Love was an action they had departed from i.e. caring for each other as recorded in early Acts.

This same warning applies to much of Christianity today with few exceptions.

What would you say to Jesus asking again and again of Peter, Do you LOVE Me?

Each time, He tells Peter, that IF he loves Him he will take care of His sheep, the other disciples?

Isn't this reminiscient of the church leaving her first LOVE and being exhorted to return to her first WORKS?

 

[Carl Emerson]

What would you say to Jesus asking again and again of Peter, Do you LOVE Me?

Each time, He tells Peter, that IF he loves Him he will take care of His sheep, the other disciples?

Isn't this reminiscient of the church leaving her first LOVE and being exhorted to return to her first WORKS?

AMEN...

 

[oikonomia]

The church in Ephesus is where the Apostle Paul really poured out all of his God given wisdom and revelation.
They must have been an eager and opened audience. And all the time Paul spent there, they seemingly pulled out of
him the utmost of his wisdome and revelation.

The last word to them in his epistle is this:
Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility. (Eph. 6:24)

This is his summation of all he has written. The empowering grace of Christ will enabler them, supply them, and
be with them. The condition for such blessing is to LOVE the Lord Jesus in incorruptibility.
There love for Christ must not get corrupted, sidetracked, distracted, weakened, dampened in any way.

Between Paul admonishing the church in Ephesus to love the Lord in incorruptibility
and the letter (Second Ephesians?) sent by John from the Lord in Revelation chaoter 2, something had happened.

It could be that some had influenced them to leave the apostle Paul's example and revelation.
It could be the the inroads of corruption came in because of their turning against Paul's shepherding teaching and revelation.
When they began to turn away from Paul's ministry, corruptibility crept in with inferior service.

Second Timothy 2:15 - This you know, that all who are in Asia turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

Perhaps the contrarian neglect of Paul's revelation came in from co-workers of Paul who turned away from him.
And latter through the Apostle John, the Lord tells them that they had left their first love - not a love for Paul per se.
But they turned away from the ministry which so engendered thier love for the Lord and one another.

There was hope though, in their repentance and rememberance of their former blessedness.

Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent. (Rev. 2:5)