Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Parallel translations
- WEB But I have this against you, that you left your first love.
- BSB But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
- NKJV Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
- NASB But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
- NLT “But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Despite their strengths, they have abandoned their first love. It matters because right doctrine and labor are hollow without love for Christ.
Overview
Christ's complaint is pointed: the church has left the love it had at first, whether love for him, for one another, or both. Their orthodoxy and diligence had grown cold of heart. This warns every faithful church that zeal for truth must never replace warmth of love.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Matt 24:12–13And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
- Jer 2:2–5Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
- Heb 6:10–11For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
- Phil 1:9And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
- 2 Th 1:3We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;
- 1 Th 4:9–10But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
- Rev 3:14–17And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
- Phil 3:13–16Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
- Rev 2:14But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
- Rev 2:20Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Revelation ends the story with the slain-yet-standing Lamb who is worthy, the Lion of Judah, the Alpha and Omega, the returning King who makes all things new and dwells with his people forever.
How Revelation 2:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.