What was Hopeful in Ephesus.
At a first glance this verse seems out of its place. It looks like a part of the Lord's commendation that had been forgotten at the proper moment, and is now mentioned as an afterthought. A little reflection, however, shows that it occupies its proper place, and it carries force from this very fact. Here is, so to speak, a starting-point for return to first love. This very "hatred" will make the revival of love the easier. Let them be encouraged and take heart and hope accordingly.
I. I do not think we can speak with much certainty about Nicolaitanism. We may set it down as a heathenish mode of life under a Christian designation, turning the grace of God into licentiousness, a reconciling of Christian faith with the practice of fleshly lusts, or Antinomian principles.
II. The Ephesian believers had not been poisoned by that false and deadly charity which speaks smooth and honeyed things to sin, and stands on friendly terms with it. They "hated" the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, and we are to take the word "hate" in its full force as the opposite of love. Coexistent with hatred of their deeds, there doubtless was compassion for the men themselves and some endeavour to save them.
III. Christ hates as well as loves. He would not be perfect if He did not; He would lack one of the most regal qualities of His nature. The angel of the Church of Ephesus was at one with Christ in hating the deeds of the Nicolaitanes; and this, so far as it went, was a token of vitality and vigour in the Church's system, and it formed a starting-point for return to first love. It was not merely a good sign, but a good thing. Once let a Church or an individual cease to be shocked by Nicolaitane deeds, make light of them, wink at them, apologise for them, and the downward course is all but certain. On the other hand, so long as evil is sternly hated, there is not merely the possibility, but the hope, of returning first love, with all that this restoration involves.
J. Culross, Thy First Love,p. 95.
Reference: Revelation 2:6. W. Arnot, Good Words,vol. iii., pp. 189-191.