Bede — Commentary on Scripture

Revelation 3:2

For I have not found your works perfect before my God. The works of a ruler are not perfect before God if he does not strive to rouse others, even if he seems blameless to men.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:3

I will come upon you as a thief. As in the parable of the gospel, so here by the example of a thief to be avoided, he warns to be vigilant.

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Revelation 3:4

But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled their garments. He did not say a few people, but a few names. For he calls his own sheep by name; he knows Moses by name, and he writes the names of his saints in heaven.

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Revelation 3:5

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. He urges everyone to the habit of those who have kept the seamless robe of baptism unblemished.

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Revelation 3:7

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write. Philadelphia is interpreted as brotherly love, which is promised the open door of the kingdom and to be loved by the Lord.

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Revelation 3:7

Who opens and no one shuts, etc. The secrets of the divine law are revealed to the faithful by the power of Christ alone and are closed to the unfaithful.

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Revelation 3:7

These things says the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David. That is, the royal authority, whether born from the lineage of David or because the prophecy of David was revealed through the dispensation of Christ.

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Revelation 3:8

Behold, I have set before you an open door, etc. The door of heavenly knowledge, which Christ has opened to his Church, is never shut by any force or effort.

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Revelation 3:8

Because you have a little strength, etc. He shows the reason that this church deserves these gifts, because it does not trust in its own strength but in the grace of Christ the King. It is the praise of the protecting God and the devotion of the Church that the door of victory is opened to one of little faith, and that little strength is strengthened by faith.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:9

Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not. He promised this to the whole Church at that time, because not only in Philadelphia did they believe from the synagogue of the Jews, as we find in the Acts of the Apostles.

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Revelation 3:10

Because you have kept my word of patience, etc. Because you have kept my example in enduring adversities, I will in turn keep you from imminent tribulations; not indeed that you will not be tempted, but that you will not be overcome by adversities. And although the Church is always exercised by adversities, here the hour of temptation and the humiliation of the Jews under the time of Antichrist can be signified, so that as in the following in the sixth order often, so also here in the sixth angel the final persecution is designated. In which indeed the evil Jews, deceiving and being deceived, but others, by the teachings of the great prophet Elijah, understanding the law spiritually and incorporated into the members of the Church, are believed to be strongly victorious over the enemy.

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Revelation 3:11

Behold, I come quickly. Hold fast what you have, etc. Lest you grow weary in enduring. For I will quickly help, lest perhaps, if you fail, another receives the reward decreed for you. Thus, the number of saints, which is fixed with God, cannot be shortened by the treachery of growing tares. If indeed a crown is given to another when lost, the place of him who lost what he held is not vacant.

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Revelation 3:12

And I will write on him the name of my God. Because indeed by adoption we are called sons of God.

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Revelation 3:12

And the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem. He will be associated with the unity of the Church, which by heavenly grace is regenerated into a new life.

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Revelation 3:12

And my new name. This is the Christian name, not because it is new to the Son of God, who had this glory before the world was made, but new to the Son of Man who was dead and has risen, and sits at the right hand of God.

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Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, etc. He who overcomes adversities for my sake will gloriously fear no further loss of adversity in the temple of the Church. These pillars, that is, holy men, now strengthen the Church by supporting it, then will adorn it by standing out, just as those two in the doors of Solomon's temple.

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Revelation 3:14

And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write. Laodicea is called the beloved tribe of the Lord, or they were in the vomit. For there were those to whom he would say: I will begin to spew you out of my mouth. And to others he says: I rebuke and chasten those whom I love. From the Greek, it is interpreted as the just people.

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Revelation 3:14

These things says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, etc. Amen is truly or faithfully interpreted. Therefore, Christ, who is in the essence of divinity the truth, reminds us that he is made the beginning of the creation of God through the mystery of the Incarnation, so that through these things he conforms the Church to endure sufferings.

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Revelation 3:15

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot, etc. You are neither fervent in faith nor entirely unfaithful. If you were still unfaithful, the hope of conversion would still remain for you; but now, because you do not do the will of the Lord that you have known, you will be cast out from the bowels of my Church.

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Revelation 3:17

Because you say, "I am rich and increased with goods," etc. Content with faith alone, you falsely claim the riches of righteousness for yourself, but if you truly desire to be rich, buy the fervor of charity tested in the flame of tribulations, having left everything, and anoint the eyes of your mind not with the stibium of deceptive boastfulness but with the eye salve of divine knowledge. To anoint the eyes with eye salve is to merit the understanding of the holy Scriptures through the execution of good works.

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