Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 2:4

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

The speaker’s verdict shows, on the other hand, that however much had been gained at Ephesus by resisting the false apostles, not all was well there. They had “forsaken” or “let go” (GK 918) their “first love.” This was a serious defect. If uncorrected, it would result in their loss of light-bearing (v.5). The majority of commentators take the first love to refer to the original Christian love the Ephesians had for one another. Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesian elders to “help the weak” (Acts 20:35) and the warm commendation he gives them in their early years for their fervent love of one another (Ephesians 1:15) may lend support to this view. Other commentators, however, see the “first love” as a reference to their inner devotion to Christ that characterized their earlier commitment, like the love of a newly wedded bride for her husband (cf. Ephesians 5:22ff.). This interpretation is supported by the fact that the letters to the other churches reveal problems of inner betrayal to Christ as subjects of his complaint. Neither view necessarily eliminates the other. Loving devotion to Christ can be lost in the midst of active service, and certainly no amount of orthodoxy can be a substitute for a failure to love one another. “First” (GK 4755) love suggests that they still loved, but with a quality and intensity unlike that of their initial love.