Albert Barnes Commentary Revelation 3:15

"I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot." — Revelation 3:15 (ASV)

I know your works. (See Barnes on Revelation 2:2).

That you are neither cold nor hot. The word cold here would seem to denote the state where there was no pretension to religion, where everything was utterly lifeless and dead. The language is obviously figurative, but it is such as is often employed when we speak of one as being cold towards another, as having a cold or icy heart, etc.

The word hot would denote, of course, the opposite—warm and zealous in their love and service. The very words that we are constrained to use when speaking on this subject—such words as ardent, (i.e., hot, or burning); fervid, (i.e., very hot, burning, boiling)—show how necessary it is to use such words, and how common it is.

The state indicated here, therefore, would be that in which there was a profession of religion, but no warm-hearted piety. It was a state in which there was not, on the one hand, open and honest opposition to him, and, on the other, such warm-hearted and honest love as he had a right to look for among his professed friends. Furthermore, it was a state in which there was a profession of that religion which ought to warm the heart with love and fill the soul with zeal in the cause of the Redeemer, but where the only result, in fact, was deadness and indifference to him and his cause.

Among those who made no profession, he had reason to expect nothing but coldness. Among those who made a profession, he had a right to expect the glow of a warm affection, but he found nothing but indifference.

I would you were cold or hot. That is, I would prefer either of those states to that which now exists. Anything is better than this condition, where love is professed but does not exist, and where vows have been assumed which are not fulfilled. Why he would prefer that they should be hot is clear enough; but why would he prefer a state of utter coldness—a state where there was no profession of real love? To this question, the following answers may be given:

1. Such a state of open and professed coldness or indifference is more honest. There is no disguise, no concealment, no pretense. We know where one in this state "may be found"; we know with whom we are dealing; we know what to expect. Sad as the state is, it is at least honest. We are so made that we all prefer such a character to one where professions are made which are never to be realized—to a state of insincerity and hypocrisy.

2. Such a state is more honorable. It is a more elevated condition of mind and marks a higher character. Of a man who is false to his engagements, who makes professions and promises never to be realized, we can make nothing. There is essential meanness in such a character, and there is nothing in it which we can respect.

   But in the character of the man who is openly and avowedly opposed to anything, who takes his stand and is earnest and zealous in his course (though it may be wrong), there are traits that, under a better direction, can be elements of true greatness and magnanimity. For example, in the character of Saul of Tarsus, there were always the elements of true greatness; in that of Judas Iscariot, there were never. The one was capable of becoming one of the noblest men that has ever lived on earth; the other, even under the personal teaching of the Redeemer for years, was nothing but a traitor—a man of essential meanness.

3. There is more hope of conversion and salvation in such a case. There could always have been a ground of hope that Saul would be converted and saved, even when "breathing out threatening and slaughter"; of Judas, when numbered among the professed disciples of the Savior, there was no hope. The most hopeless of all persons regarding salvation are those who are members of the church without any true religion, who have made a profession without any evidence of personal piety, and who are content with a name to live. This is so because:

   1. The essential character of anyone who will allow himself to do this is eminently unfavorable to true religion. There is a lack of that thorough honesty and sincerity which is so necessary for true conversion to God. He who is content to profess to be what he really is not, is not a man on whom the truths of Christianity are likely to make an impression.

   2. Such a man never applies the truth to himself. Truth that is addressed to impenitent sinners he does not apply to himself, of course, for he does not rank himself in that class of persons. Truth addressed to hypocrites he will not apply to himself, for no one, however insincere and hollow he may be, chooses to act on the presumption that he is himself a hypocrite or to leave others to suppose that he regards himself as such.

      The means of grace adapted to save a sinner, as such, he will not use, for he is in the church and chooses to regard himself as safe. Efforts made to reclaim him he will resist, for he will regard it as proof of a meddlesome spirit and uncharitable judgment in others if they consider him to be anything different from what he professes to be.

      What right have they to go back of his profession and assume that he is insincere? As a consequence, there are probably far fewer persons converted from those who come into the church without any religion than from any other class of persons of similar number. Indeed, the most hopeless of all conditions regarding conversion and salvation is when one enters the church deceived.

   3. It may be presumed that, for these reasons, God himself will make less direct effort to convert and save such persons. Since there are fewer appeals that can be brought to bear on them, less in their character that is noble and can be depended on in promoting the salvation of a soul, and special guilt in hypocrisy, it may be presumed that God will more frequently leave such persons to their chosen course than he will those who make no professions of religion. (Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14; Isaiah 1:15; Hosea 4:17).