Rev. iii. 7.
Editorial footnote · Against Heresies, Book 4, Preface or unspecified section · Original source
Testimonia — Early Christian Bible Commentary
Revelation 3
1“And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars says these things: “I know your works, that you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which you were about to throw away, for I have found no works of yours perfected before my God.
3Remember therefore how you have received and heard. Keep it and repent. If therefore you won’t watch, I will come as a thief, and you won’t know what hour I will come upon you.
4Nevertheless you have a few names in Sardis that didn’t defile their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
5He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
7“To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
8“I know your works (behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut), that you have a little power, and kept my word, and didn’t deny my name.
9Behold, I make some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10Because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
11I am coming quickly! Hold firmly that which you have, so that no one takes your crown.
12He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name.
13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:
15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.
16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth.
17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing,’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;
18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.
19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me.
21He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”
Early Christian texts and source notes
In Isa. xi. 2, as he shows in his eighth sermon, where this subject is further pursued; otherwise, one might have supposed he referred to Rev. iii. 1.
Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, / BOOK ELEVENTH. / ARGUMENT. / 31. Of the seventh day, in which completeness and repose are celebrated. · Original source
Augustine refers to John viii. 25; see p. 415. He might rather have referred to Rev. iii. 14.
Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, / BOOK ELEVENTH. / ARGUMENT. / 32. Of the opinion that the angels were created before the world. · Original source
Rev. iii. 16.
Editorial footnote · The City of God, THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, / BOOK THIRTEENTH. / ARGUMENT. / 24. How we must understand that breathing of God by which "the first man was made a living soul," and that also by which the Lord conveyed His Spirit to His disciples when He said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." · Original source
But if some one oppose our opinion, and say that the holy angels are not referred to when it is said, "Let there be light, and there was light;" if he suppose or teach that some material light, then first created, was meant, and that the angels were created, not only before the firmament dividing the waters and named "the heaven," but also before the time signified in the words, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth;" if he allege that this phrase, "In the beginning," does not mean that nothing was made before (for the angels were), but that God made all things by His Wisdom or Word, who is named in Scripture "the Beginning," as He Himself, in the gospel, replied to the Jews when they asked Him who He was, that He was the Beginning;—I will not contest the point, chiefly because it gives me the liveliest satisfaction to find the Trinity celebrated in the very beginning of the book of Genesis. For, having said, "In the Beginning God created the heaven and the earth," meaning that the Father made them in the Son (as the psalm testifies where it says, "How manifold are Thy works, O Lord! in Wisdom hast Thou made them all"), a little afterwards mention is fitly made of the Holy Spirit also. For, when it had been told us what kind of earth God created at first, or what the mass or matter was which God, under the name of "heaven and earth," had provided for the construction of the world, as is told in the additional words, "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep," then, for the sake of completing the mention of the Trinity, it is immediately added, "And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." Let each one, then, take it as he pleases; for it is so profound a passage, that it may well suggest, for the exercise of the reader's tact, many opinions, and none of them widely departing from the rule of faith. At the same time, let none doubt that the holy angels in their heavenly abodes are, though not, indeed, co-eternal with God, yet secure and certain of eternal and true felicity. To their company the Lord teaches that His little ones belong; and not only says, "They shall be equal to the angels of God," but shows, too, what blessed contemplation the angels themselves enjoy, saying, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones: for I say unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The City of God, THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, / BOOK ELEVENTH. / ARGUMENT. / 32. Of the opinion that the angels were created before the world. · Original source
But, again, they object that breath is understood to have been emitted from the mouth of God; and if we believe that is the soul, we must consequently acknowledge it to be of the same substance, and equal to that wisdom, which says, "I come out of the mouth of the Most High." Wisdom, indeed, does not say it was breathed out of the mouth of God, but proceeded out of it. But as we are able, when we breathe, to make a breath, not of our own human nature, but of the surrounding air, which we inhale and exhale as we draw our breath and breathe again, so almighty God was able to make breath, not of His own nature, nor of the creature beneath Him, but even of nothing; and this breath, when He communicated it to man's body, He is most appropriately said to have breathed or inspired,—the Immaterial breathing it also immaterial, but the Immutable not also the immutable; for it was created, He uncreated. Yet, that these persons who are forward to quote Scripture, and yet know not the usages of its language, may know that not only what is equal and consubstantial with God is said to proceed out of His mouth, let them hear or read what God says: "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth."
Source passage · edition’s verse reference · The City of God, THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE, / BOOK THIRTEENTH. / ARGUMENT. / 24. How we must understand that breathing of God by which "the first man was made a living soul," and that also by which the Lord conveyed His Spirit to His disciples when He said, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." · Original source