Passage

Revelation 3.14

Book: Revelation · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

12. He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name. 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

14. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16. So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:12-16, ASV)

WEB

12. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my own new name. 13. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.

14. “To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:

“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:12-16, WEB)

KJV

12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

14. And 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; ^{of the Laodiceans: or, in Laodicea}

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:12-16, KJV)

YLT

12. He who is overcoming, I will make him a pillar in the sanctuary of my God, and without he may not go any more, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, that doth come down out of the heaven from my God, also my new name. 13. He who is having an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the assemblies.

14. 'And to the messenger of the assembly of the Laodiceans write: These things saith the Amen, the witness, the faithful and true, the chief of the creation of God;

I have known thy works, that neither cold art thou nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. 16. So, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth; (Revelation 3:12-16, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the exalted Christ, dictating to John
Audience: the church at Laodicea
Location: written on Patmos, addressed to Laodicea in the Lycus valley
Time period: commonly dated to the reign of Domitian, c. AD 95

Theological reading

The beginning of the creation of God. This title is the standard Arian and modern Jehovah's Witness proof text for the claim that Christ is himself a created being, and the argument turns on the word arche.

Arche does not mean first in a series. Its range covers origin, source, ruler, and principle, and the cognate archon means ruler while archegos means originator or founder. The construction here is a genitive, the arche of the creation of God, which is naturally read as the origin or source from which the creation comes rather than as the first item within it. Colossians makes the same move explicitly, calling Christ the arche and the firstborn from the dead, in a passage that has just said all things were created by him.

The decisive evidence is internal to Revelation. The same book applies arche to Christ twice more, at 21:6 and 22:13, in the paired formula the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. In those places beginning cannot mean first created thing, because it is paired with end, and because the same formula is used of the one who sits on the throne. A reading of 3:14 that makes arche mean first creature has to give the word a different sense in the same book from the sense it plainly bears twice elsewhere.

The setting adds a further note. Laodicea was wealthy, known for banking, black wool, and a medical school producing eye salve, and the letter turns each of those against the church: buy gold tried in the fire, white raiment, and eyesalve that thou mayest see. The self-designation as the faithful and true witness opens a letter to a congregation whose testimony had become lukewarm.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G2937 - ktisis, ktisis, Strong's G2937
G0746 - arche, arche, Strong's G0746
G1577 - ekklesia, ekklesia, Strong's G1577
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316
G3004 - lego, lego, Strong's G3004

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Jesus Has a God Therefore Not God Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.