Bede — Commentary on Scripture

And on the stone a new name written. That we may be called and may be the sons of God.

What no one knows except the one who receives it. Because he who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar. The hypocrite does not taste how sweet the Lord is.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:17

To him who overcomes I will give hidden manna. He who despises the enticement of the flesh, although hypocrites may urge it, will justly be filled with the sweetness of the invisible bread that came down from heaven.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:17

And I will give him a white stone. That is, a body now made white by baptism, then shining with the glory of incorruption.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:18

These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire. He explains what the flaming eyes are below, saying: I am he who searches the minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:18

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write. Thyatira is translated as sacrifice. The saints offer their bodies as a living sacrifice.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:20

To seduce my servants to commit fornication, etc. Certainly, under the name of Christ, she taught spiritual fornication and idolatry. For how could she openly teach the worship of idols, who called herself a prophet in the Church?

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:20

But I have this against you, that you permit the woman Jezebel, etc. Indeed, you are commendable in your work and faith, but you are reproachable in this, that you do not rebuke with worthy denunciation the synagogue of pseudo-apostles, who falsely claim to be Christians. The name Jezebel, which signifies a flow of blood, is fitting for heretics. And it is conjectured that there was a woman in the aforementioned church teaching these crimes, who was a figure of all Jezebel throughout the world, to whom he also threatens clear vengeance.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:22

Behold, I will cast her onto a bed. By God's just judgment, it happens that she lies in the bed of eternal punishment, who led the wretched into the bed of lust.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:23

And I will give to each of you according to your works. Therefore, our works and words can be known to men, but only He who sees knows what each one thinks, what each one desires, and where each one wishes to arrive through them. By what consequence is he called the knower of hidden things, punishing fornication and idolatry, which are manifest crimes, unless because these can also be called offenses even in the smallest? "You will destroy all who commit fornication away from You" (Psalm LXII). And the same apostle John, who hears these things, concluded when discussing false brothers: "Little children," he said, "keep yourselves from idols" (1 John V).

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:23

And all the churches shall know that I am he who searches minds and hearts. In minds, he signifies desires; in hearts, thoughts.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:23

And her children into death. Here he calls the posterity and works of the woman her children, threatening them with not the momentary death of the body but the eternal death of the soul.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:24

To you I say, and to the rest who are in Thyatira. Just as he urges the impious to repent and threatens them with punishment, so he encourages the pious to patience with promises of eternal rewards.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:24

Who have not known the depths of Satan, etc. Just as those who work iniquity do not know God, even though they may preach Him. Likewise, God, although He knows all, does not recognize the workers of iniquity.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:24

I will put upon you no other burden, etc. I will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. Otherwise, he says, be wary of false prophets (Matt. VII). For I do not send you new doctrine, but what you have received, keep it until the end.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:26

To him who overcomes falsehoods and keeps my commands, etc. The Church has this power in Christ, as the body in the head. In whom, according to the Apostle, God has given us all things (Rom. VIII).

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:27

And he shall rule them with a rod of iron. He governs the meek with inflexible justice, so that they may bear more fruit; but he destroys the obstinate, so that they either perish eternally, or the earthly desires and muddy affairs of the old man are crushed in them, whatever has been contracted and ingrained from the mire of sins.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 2:28

And I will give him the morning star. Christ is the morning star, who, after the night of the world has passed, promises and reveals to the saints the light of eternal life.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:1

I know your works, that you have a name that you live, and you are dead. You appear to be alive, but if you do not watch in correcting the wicked, you will be counted among the dead.

Commentary on Revelation

Revelation 3:1

And to the angel of the church in Sardis write. He reproves this angel, that is, the priest, for being less diligent in correcting evils. However, he praises some who walk in white garments, to whom the name of the Sardis stone, indeed precious, is fitting.

Commentary on Revelation