Being a Full Account of the Seven Letters Sent by Our Lord
to the Seven Congregations of the Province of Asia Minor
Revelation II:I — III:XXII · c. AD XCVI · The Island of Patmos
No. VII · Revelation III:XIV–XXII
The Lukewarm Church
The Letter in Full
14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; 15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. 19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. 21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. 22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.Revelation 3:14–22 · King James Version Also available in the NRSVue, an ecumenical modern translation
"The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God."
None given — the only one of the seven churches to receive no praise whatsoever.
"Thou art neither cold nor hot... because thou art lukewarm... I will spue thee out of my mouth." The church believed itself "rich, and increased with goods," yet was in truth "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."
"Buy of me gold tried in the fire... white raiment... anoint thine eyes with eyesalve"; "be zealous therefore, and repent." "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock."
"To sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."
History & Ruins
Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities in Asia Minor, a banking center so self-sufficient that after a devastating earthquake it rebuilt itself without imperial assistance. It was also famed for a glossy black wool and for a medicinal eye-powder exported across the empire — both directly echoed in Christ's rebuke of a people spiritually poor, naked, and blind.
The city had no natural water source of its own; water was piped in for miles from the hot springs of Hierapolis and the cold springs of Colossae, arriving lukewarm and mineral-laden — the literal geography behind the letter's most famous image. Sections of that ancient pipeline can still be seen among the ruins.
Near modern Denizli; the white travertine terraces of Pamukkale (ancient Hierapolis) lie a short distance away.