Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Parallel translations
- WEB But I have this against you, that you left your first love.
- KJV Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
- BSB But I have this against you: You have abandoned 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 24:12–13Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold.
- Jer 2:2–5“Go, and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I remember for you the kindness of your youth, the love of your weddings; how you went after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown.
- Heb 6:10–11For God is not unrighteous, so as to forget your work and the labor of love which you showed toward his name, in that you served the saints, and still do serve them.
- Phil 1:9This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;
- 2 Th 1:3We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;
- 1 Th 4:9–10But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
- Rev 3:14–17“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:
- Phil 3:13–16Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do. Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before,
- Rev 2:14But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
- Rev 2:20But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to 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.