Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 3:18

"I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich; and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and [that] the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest; and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see." — Revelation 3:18 (ASV)

I counsel you to buy.—There is, perhaps, a touch of irony here. How could the poor and naked buy? But the irony has no sting, for the counsel only recalled the invitation of the prophet to buy without money and without price (Isaiah 55:1).

Gold—i.e., golden coin, tried, or fired out of fire, and so free from alloy or dross. Trench suggests that “gold” here stands for faith. Does not, however, the self-deceiving state of this Church rather point to love as the missing grace? The Laodiceans were like those who had many graces in appearance; they were not unlike one who had gifts, tongues, understanding, and liberality, but lacked that fervent love without which all was as nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1–3). Or, to use Trench’s own image, they were lacking in the only grace accepted as currency in the kingdom of God.

“O merchantman at heaven’s mart for heavenly ware,
Love is the only coin which passes there.”

But the possession of this love would bring their zeal out of the tepid into the fervent state. Such love, pure and fervent, could only spring from God, who would shed abroad His love in their hearts (Romans 5:5).

White raiment.—The putting on of apparel and the stripping of it off were tokens of honour and humiliation (See 2 Samuel 10:1;Isaiah 67:2, 3; Hosea 2:3, Hosea 2:9; Zechariah 3:3–5; Revelation 16:15; Luke 15:22).

The wedding feast was near. The unclad would then be put to shame (Matthew 22:11–13). Let them be prepared against this by putting on Christ (Colossians 3:10–14) and His righteousness (Philippians 3:9), so that the shame of their nakedness does not appear—or, much better, is not made manifest.

Eyesalve.—They were blind; they were proud of their intellectual wealth; they boasted of their enlightenment . Self-deceived, they thought, like the Pharisees, that they saw .

It would be better for them to receive the anointing of the Holy One (1 John 2:20), which would teach them all things, and especially reveal to them their self-ignorance.

This anointing might be painful, but the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened (such is the remarkably parallel thought in the Epistle to the Ephesians), and they would be enabled to see and appreciate spiritual things (Compare to John 9:7, John 9:25; 1 Corinthians 2:10–14; Ephesians 1:18, Ephesians 5:19).