First LOVE- LOVE GOD

 By the time the apostle John recorded Jesus Christ’s letter to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7), more than sixty years had passed since the inception of the church of God. The sprawling city of Ephesus prospered as the commercial center of the ancient world and a focal point for pagan worship. The physically imposing Temple of Diana towered over the city’s landscape, influencing and encouraging the evil practice of magic.

Amid this vital, bustling, and sinful metropolis, the Ephesian church was born. Despite its carnal surroundings, the nascent church endeavored to be doctrinally faithful to its divine Founder, striving to resist the influence of Satan and his false teachers (Revelation 2:1-3). However, in His letter to the Ephesians, Christ rebuked them, declaring, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4; emphasis ours throughout).

What does Christ mean by “first love”? What motivates His admonition?

1. Does the Bible define “first love”? Revelation 2:4.

Comment: While Scripture does not explicitly define “first love,” we can infer much from other statements in God’s Word. The apostle John uses the Greek words protos agape in Revelation 2:4, which translates as the “foremost (first) love.” In Matthew 22:36-38, Christ declares that the “first and great commandment” is, essentially, to love God unconditionally (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12). In effect, Jesus asserts that our unconditional love for God is our first and foremost responsibility, enabling us to love the law and each other (I John 4:7, 21; 5:2-3). As an example of this, upon receiving the Holy Spirit on the Pentecost following His ascension, the new recipients’ first experience an enthusiastic love for God, along with unconditional love for one another (Acts 2:41-47; 4:31-35).

2. What happened to the Ephesian church’s spiritual condition that made Christ’s reprimand necessary? Acts 20:28-31.

Comment: Around AD 56, the apostle Paul prophesied that upon his departure, false teachers would infiltrate the Ephesian fellowship to lead them astray, and men from among the congregation would also rise up to corrupt the divinely established doctrinal truths (see also Ephesians 5:6-7). Although the Ephesians deserved praise for their dedication to Christ (Ephesians 1:15), Paul feared they would neglect their duty to love one another.

Soon after his exit, his dire prediction came true. Disputes arose, leading to division. Many drifted away, and the loving fellowship of earlier years began to wane (I Timothy 1:18-20; 4:1-3). Paul ordered Timothy to remain in Ephesus to combat these very problems (I Timothy 1:3-7), emphasizing that it was necessary to promote “love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,” from which many in the early church had strayed (Galatians 1:6-7).

3. Did other first-century churches struggle with their spiritual conditions? Hebrews 5:11-13; Galatians 4:9; Jude 3-4.

Comment: Declining spirituality was an all-too-common condition found in many of the churches of this period. In his epistle to the Galatians, Paul reveals his concern that not enough emphasis was being placed on love and devotion, as they were “attempt[ing] to be justified by law” (Galatians 5:4). Recognizing their obsession with the letter of the law, Paul encourages them instead to fulfill the spirit of the law by showing love, gentleness, and empathy, while refusing to “grow weary while doing good” (Galatians 5:13-14; 6:1-2, 9-10).

Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church points out diminishing faith along with growing strife and division (I Corinthians 3:2-3; 11:18). The author of Hebrews also admonishes church members of that time that they are drifting away from and neglecting their salvation (Hebrews 2:1, 3). Along with His admonition to the Ephesian church in Revelation 2, Christ also warns the churches at Sardis and Laodicea about their dangerously faltering faith (Revelation 3:1, 15-17), for when our faith falters, our first love soon follows.

“You have left your first love.” Christ’s rebuke in Revelation 2:4 contrasts with what Paul had written to the same Ephesian church 35 years earlier, that he never stopped giving thanks for them because of their faith in Christ and their love for the saints (Ephesians 1:15-16). At the time of Christ’s letter, most of the Ephesian Christians are second-generation believers. Still, they fight against evil, guard against false teachers, and labor with steadfast resolve to serve Christ (Revelation 2:2-3). They retain doctrinal purity, but lack deep, heartfelt devotion to Christ and to the brethren.

While the work is challenging, the church in Ephesus remains busy and by many standards can be considered successful. Christ, however, accuses them of leaving their first, God-centered love, settling instead for something less passionate and more mechanical. Many of today’s churches with their full calendars and weary workers would fit a similar description.

Along with His strong rebuke, Christ offers the Ephesians a remedy, which we will examine as we continue our study on first love.

1. What is Christ’s prescription for the Ephesians? Revelation 2:5, 7.

Comment: Christ follows His admonition in Revelation 2:4 with a three-part exhortation for the church at Ephesus, beginning with “remember therefore from where you have fallen” (Revelation 2:5). Christ prescribes a sincere and thorough self-examination of the Ephesians’ spiritual condition (II Corinthians 13:5; Psalm 119:59; Haggai 1:5, 7). He strongly implies their need to compare thoughtfully their current love with their former, or first, love. He implores them to recall the goodness they once experienced and to embrace again their initial, unconditional zeal that they had displayed in their early years (Matthew 3:8; Acts 4:31-33; Lamentations 3:40).

The second and third parts of the exhortation are “repent and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5). Christ wants the Ephesians to recognize and correct the error of their ways by repenting and returning to a better state of mind—a state that most newcomers to the faith experience upon their baptism and initial justification (Acts 2:41-47; Matthew 3:8; Hebrews 10:32). It is here that we receive the gifts of peace from God, which reveal His grace and provide our motivation to serve Him and man (Romans 5:1-5; II Thessalonians 3:16; Colossians 3:15).

2. How does our first love motivate our first works? Acts 2:41-47; John 12:25-26; I Corinthians 13:4-7.

Comment: Christ refers to our first love as protos agape. Such love is more than mere affection—it is an action. The good works (or first works) that a Christian performs come from a sincere and zealous desire to serve God by serving man with no thought about selfish desires for reward, recognition, or reciprocal service (Deuteronomy 6:5; Acts 2:41-47; I Corinthians 13:4-7; Romans 13:10; Matthew 22:37-39). By eliminating these desires, a Christian allows for God’s nature, rather than his own, to motivate him, helping to ensure that the work accomplished is without pretense and pleasing to both God and the recipient (I John 4:8; Colossians 1:10; Hebrews 6:10; James 3:16-18; I Peter 1:7).

3. Why does Christ threaten to remove the Ephesian church’s lampstand? Revelation 2:5; Hebrews 10:38-39; Haggai 1:6; Luke 9:62.

Comment: A spiritual fall is serious if one is unable to get back up or is not motivated to do so (James 3:2; Romans 11:22; Hebrews 2:3; 6:4-6; 10:26-27). Sin will soon begin to corrupt the mind and can quickly become a way of life (Luke 11:26 Acts 7:51-53; 8:21; II Peter 2:22; Proverbs 21:16; Ephesians 4:19). Salvation is at stake (Hebrews 2:3)! At the very moment a sinner needs closeness with God, he instead can find himself opening up to the influence of Satan the Devil, which only compounds the danger (Mark 4:15; II Corinthians 11:3; I Peter 5:8). Therefore, Jesus wisely threatens the Ephesian church with the loss of a lampstand—the expulsion from the fellowship of the Body of Christ—a forceful and compelling warning to provoke a heightened sense of urgency to remember and repent while there is still time (Isaiah 55:6; John 12:35-36; Hebrews 3:13; Ephesians 5:16).

Finally, Christ ends His admonition with the most hopeful of all promises: “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7; 21:7).