Returning to First Love and Repentance in Revelation
The concept of "first love" in Revelation refers to the initial fervent devotion and affection believers have for Christ, which can wane over time [8]. The church in Ephesus, for example, is commended for its endurance, discernment, and rejection of evil, yet it is reproved for having "left your first love" [1, 7, 8]. This departure from first love is considered a serious issue, prompting a call to repentance [3, 8].
The biblical text links the loss of "first love" with a need for repentance and a return to "first works" [3]. The command to "remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works" indicates that a decline in spiritual fervor is a fall from a previous state of grace or devotion [3, 9]. This "backsliding" is characterized as turning from God and departing from the simplicity of the Gospel [5]. Such a state displeases God and brings its own punishment [5].
Repentance, in this context, involves a change of mind and action, a turning back to God [3, 4]. The call to "be zealous therefore, and repent" in Revelation 3:19, addressed to the church in Laodicea, further emphasizes the urgency of this spiritual reorientation [2]. The consequence of not repenting is severe: for the Ephesian church, it means the removal of their lampstand, symbolizing the loss of their witness or status as a church [3]. For the church in Pergamum, who tolerated false teachings, the consequence of not repenting is that Christ will "make war against them with the sword of my mouth" [4].
The idea of reconciliation is relevant here, as it signifies a change from enmity to friendship [6]. While reconciliation often refers to God's work in changing the sinner's disposition towards Him, the exhortation to "be reconciled to God" implies laying aside enmity [6]. In the context of Revelation, the call to repent and return to first love suggests a restoration of the intimate relationship and devotion that may have been lost or diminished.
The warnings against backsliding are found throughout scripture, highlighting the proneness of believers to drift from their initial commitment [5]. Passages like Psalm 85:8 and 1 Corinthians 10:12 serve as general warnings against spiritual decline [5]. The exhortations to return from this state are also numerous, as seen in Jeremiah 3:12, 14, 22 and Isaiah 31:6 [5]. The concept of "first love" is not merely an emotional state but is tied to active obedience and devotion, as indicated by the command to "do the first works" [3]. This suggests that genuine repentance involves both a change of heart and a renewal of actions consistent with that initial love for Christ [3].
Sources
- Revelation “But I have this against you, that you left your first love. -- Revelation 2:4”
- Revelation “As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. -- Revelation 3:19”
- Revelation “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent. -- Revelation 2:5”
- Revelation “Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth. -- Revelation 2:16”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Backsliding — Is turning from God -- 1Ki 11:9. Is leaving the first love -- Re 2:4. Is departing form the simplicity of the gospel -- 2Co 11:3; Ga 3:1-3; 5:4,7. God is displeased at -- Ps 78:57,59. Warnings against -- Ps 85:8; 1Co 10:12. Guilt and consequences of -- Nu 14:43; Ps 125:5; Isa 59:2,9-11; Jer 5:6; 8:5,13; 15:6; Lu 9:62. Brings its own punishment -- Pr 14:14; Jer 2:19. A haughty spirit leads to -- Pr 16:18. Proneness to -- Pr 24:16; Ho 11:7. Liable to continue and increase -- Jer 8:5; 14:7. Exhortations to return from -- 2Ch 30:6; Isa 31:6; Jer 3:12,14,22;”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Reconcilation — A change from enmity to friendship. It is mutual, i.e., it is a change wrought in both parties who have been at enmity. (1.) In Col. 1:21, 22, the word there used refers to a change wrought in the personal character of the sinner who ceases to be an enemy to God by wicked works, and yields up to him his full confidence and love. In 2 Cor. 5:20 the apostle beseeches the Corinthians to be "reconciled to God", i.e., to lay aside their enmity. (2.) Rom. 5:10 refers not to any change in our disposition toward God, but to God himself, as the party reconcile”
- Treasury of Scripture Knowledge “Revelation 2:2 cross-references: Psalms 1:6, Matthew 7:23, 2 Corinthians 11:13, Galatians 1:7, Ephesians 4:14, 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:21, 2 Timothy 2:19, Hebrews 6:10, 2 Peter 2:1, 1 John 2:21, 1 John 4:1, Revelation 2:6, Revelation 2:9, Revelation 2:13, Revelation 2:19, Revelation 3:1, Revelation 3:8, Revelation 3:15”
- Revelation (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Revelation 2:4: somewhat . . . because--Translate, "I have against thee (this) that," &c. It is not a mere somewhat"; it is everything. How characteristic of our gracious Lord, that He puts foremost all He can find to approve, and only after this notes the shortcomings! left thy first love--to Christ. Compare Ti1 5:12, "cast off their first faith." See the Ephesians' first love, Eph 1:15. This epistle was written under Domitian, when thirty years had elapsed since Paul had written his Epistle to them. Their warmth of love had given place to a lifeless orthodoxy. ”
- Revelation (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Revelation 2:5: Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen,.... Believers cannot totally and finally fall away from the grace which they have received; but they may fall into sin, and from a degree of grace, and the exercise of it, as these first and pure churches did, from some degree of their love to God, and Christ, and one another; and therefore are called upon to remember, mind, and observe from what degree of it they were fallen; in order to bring them under a conviction and acknowledgment of their evil, and a sense of their present state, and to quicken their desires af”