Albert Barnes Commentary Revelation 2:3

"and thou hast patience and didst bear for my name`s sake, and hast not grown weary." — Revelation 2:3 (ASV)

And have borne. You have borne up under trials; or you have borne with the evils with which you have been assailed. That is, you have not given way to murmuring or complaints in trial; you have not abandoned the principles of truth and yielded to the prevalence of error.

And have patience. That is, in this connection, you have shown that you can bear up under these things with patience. This is a repetition of what is said in Revelation 2:2, but in a somewhat different connection. There it rather refers to the trouble which they had experienced on account of the pretensions of false apostles, and the patient, persevering, and enduring spirit which they had shown in that form of trial; here the expression is more general, denoting a patient spirit in regard to all forms of trial.

And for my name's sake have laboured. On account of me, and in my cause. That is, the labour here referred to, whatever it was, was to advance the cause of the Redeemer. In the word rendered "have laboured"—ekopiasas—there is a reference to the word used in the previous verse—"your labour"—kopon sou; and the design is to show that the "labour," or trouble there referred to, was on account of him.

And have not fainted. You have not become exhausted or wearied out, so as to give up.

The word used here (kamnō) occurs in only three places in the New Testament: Hebrews 12:3, Lest you be wearied and faint; James 5:15, the prayer of faith shall save the sick; and in the passage before us. It properly means to become weary and faint from toil, and so on; and the idea here is that they had not become so wearied out as to give up from exhaustion.

Professor Stuart renders the sense of the whole passage thus: "You cannot bear with false teachers, but you can bear with troubles and perplexities on account of me; you have undergone wearisome toil, but you are not wearied out thereby."

The state of mind represented here, considered as appropriate for a Christian, is that we should not tolerate error and sin, but we should bear up under the trials they may incidentally cause us.

We should have such a repugnance to evil that we cannot endure it, as evil. Yet, we should also have such love for the Savior and His cause as to be willing to bear anything we may be called to suffer in that cause, even if it relates to or springs from that evil.

Furthermore, while we may grow weary in His work—for our bodily strength may become exhausted ()—we should not grow weary of it.

And though we may face many perplexities and much opposition, we should not relax our zeal but should persevere with an ardor that never faints, until our Savior calls us to our reward.