Openbaring 3:15

15 Ik weet uw werken, dat gij noch koud zijt, noch heet; och, of gij koud waart, of heet!

Openbaring 3:15 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 3:15

I know thy works
Which were far from being perfect, and not so good as those of the former church:

that thou art neither cold nor hot;
she was not "cold", or without spiritual life, at least in many of her members, as all men by nature are, and carnal professors be; she was alive, but not lively: nor was she wholly without spiritual affections and love; to God, and Christ, to his people, ways, truths, and ordinances; she had love, but the fervency of it was abated: nor was she without spiritual breathings and desires altogether, as dead men are; or without the light and knowledge of the Gospel, and a profession of it, and yet she was not "hot"; her love to God and Christ, and the saints, was not ardent and flaming; it was not like coals of fire, that give most vehement flame, which many waters cannot quench the had not fervency of spirit in the service of the Lord; nor was she zealous for the truths of the Gospel, and for the ordinances of it, and for the house of God and its discipline; nor did she warmly oppose all sin, and every error and false way.

I would thou wert cold or hot;
which must be understood, not absolutely, but comparatively; and not that it was an indifferent thing to Christ whether she was one or the other; but he alludes to what is natural among men, it being generally more agreeable to have anything entirely hot, or entirely cold, than to be neither; and so uses this phrase to show his detestation of lukewarmness, and that it is better to be ignorant, and not a professor of religion, than to be a vain and carnal one; Christ desires not simply that she might be cold, but that she might be sensible of her need of spiritual heat and fervency.

Openbaring 3:15 In-Context

13 Die oren heeft, die hore wat de Geest tot de Gemeenten zegt.

14 En schrijf aan den engel van de Gemeente der Laodicensen: Dit zegt de Amen, de trouwe, en waarachtige Getuige, het Begin der schepping Gods:

15 Ik weet uw werken, dat gij noch koud zijt, noch heet; och, of gij koud waart, of heet!

16 Zo dan, omdat gij lauw zijt, en noch koud noch heet, Ik zal u uit Mijn mond spuwen.

17 Want gij zegt: Ik ben rijk, en verrijkt geworden, en heb geens dings gebrek; en gij weet niet, dat gij zijt ellendig, en jammerlijk, en arm, en blind, en naakt.