Albert Barnes Commentary Revelation 2:4

"But I have [this] against thee, that thou didst leave thy first love." — Revelation 2:4 (ASV)

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee. Despite this general commendation, there are things which I cannot approve.

Because thou hast left thy first love. You have remitted— afhkav—or let down your early love; that is, it is less glowing and ardent than it was at first. The love referred to here is evidently love to the Savior, and the idea is that, as a church, they had less of this than previously characterized them. In this respect, they were in a state of decline. Although they still maintained the doctrines of His religion and opposed the advocates of error, they showed less ardor of affection toward Him directly than they had before. Concerning this, we may remark:

1. What is stated here about the church at Ephesus is not uncommon.

   • Individual Christians often lose much of their first love. It is true that there is often an appearance of this which does not exist in reality. Much of the ardor of young converts is often nothing more than the excitement of animal feeling, which will, of course, soon fade, though their real love may not be diminished or may be constantly growing stronger. When a son returns home after a long absence and meets his parents and brothers and sisters, there is a glow, a warmth of feeling, a joyousness of emotion, which cannot be expected to continue always, and which he may never be able to recall, though he may be continually growing in real attachment to his friends and his home.

   • Churches remit the ardor of their first love. They are often formed under the reviving influences of the Holy Spirit when many are converted and are warm-hearted and zealous young converts. Or they are formed from other churches that have become cold and dead, from which the new organization, embodying the life of the church, was compelled to separate.

     Alternatively, they are formed under the influence of some strong and mighty truth that has taken possession of the mind and gives a peculiar character to the church at first. Or they are formed with a distinct reference to promoting some one great object in the cause of the Redeemer.

     So the early Christian churches were formed. So the church in Germany, France, Switzerland, and England came out from the Roman communion under the influence of the doctrine of justification by faith. So the Nestorians in earlier ages, and the Moravians in modern times, were characterized by warm zeal in the cause of missions.

     So the Puritans came out from the established church of England at one time, and the Methodists at another, warmed with a holier love for the cause of evangelical religion than existed in the body from which they separated. So many a church is formed now amid the exciting scenes of a revival of religion, and in the early days of its history puts to shame the older and the slumbering churches around them.

     But it hardly needs to be said that this early zeal may fade, and that the church, once so full of life and love, may become as cold as those that went before it or as those from which it separated. There may then be a necessity for the formation of new organizations that will be fired with ardor and zeal.

     One only has to look at Germany, at Switzerland, at various portions of the reformed churches elsewhere; at the Nestorians, whose zeal for missions has long since departed, or even at the Moravians, among whom it has so much declined; at various portions of the Puritan churches; and at many an individual church formed under the warm and exciting feelings of a revival of religion, to see that what occurred at Ephesus may occur elsewhere.

2. The same thing that occurred there can be expected to follow in all similar cases. The Savior always governs the church on essentially the same principles. It is not uncommon that when a church has lost the ardor of its first love, it is allowed to decline more and more, until the candlestick is removed—until either the church becomes completely extinct, or until vital piety is completely gone, and all that remains is the religion of forms.