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Rev_3:19. Ἐγώ emphatically prefixed. The Lord, who alone is the true witness (Rev_3:14), and, at the same time, the one from whom the true gold can be obtained (Rev_3:18), appears as witness against those whom he loves, since through his ἐλέγχειν and παιδεύειν he wishes to make them zealous unto repentance ( ζηλ . κ . μεταν ), and thus participant of his eternal blessings.
ὅσους ἐὰν φιλῶ . Concerning the ἐὰς after the relative in N. T. diction, cf. my note on 1Jn_3:20. Grot. says incorrectly: “ φιλῶ , not absolutely, but relatively; i.e., those whom I have not altogether determined, because of their long-continued sins, to cast away and harden.” Upon a similar misunderstanding rests the remark of Vitringa, that the kind address is directed only to the better part of the church. On the contrary, the entire church is still an object of the seeking love of the Lord.
ἐλέγχω καὶ παιδεύω . The distinction between the two expressions does not lie in the ἐλέγχειν occurring by means of words, and the παιδεύειν by chastisements;[1614] but the ΠΑΙΔΕΎΕΙΝ designating discipline, i.e., education in general,[1615] may occur as well by ἘΛΈΓΧΕΙΝ , as by perceptible chastisements, as ΜΑΣΤΙΓΟῦΝ .[1616] The ἘΛΈΓΧΕΙΝ [1617] occurs when the wrong is so placed before the eyes of any one that he must acknowledge it. From Rev_3:15 on, the Lord has exercised his ἘΛΈΓΧΕΙΝ by completely disclosing the faults of the church; yet he expressly says that this, as well as his entire ΠΑΙΔΕΎΕΙΝ , proceeds from love. It is nowhere said that in this he has already employed, or will employ, what are the proper means of chastisement (blows). On the other hand, to the ΠΑΙΔΕΎΕΙΝ belongs the advice of Rev_3:18. Yet this advice contains the express assurance, that, with the Lord, gold, etc., shall not be lacking. Hence not only the relentless ἘΛΈΓΧΕΙΝ , but also the tendering of grace, is a ΠΑΙΔΕΎΕΙΝ , which testifies to the Lord’s love. But if the Lord thus manifests himself to the “lukewarm” church, it follows that this ( ΟὐΝ ) has to do what the command expressly says: ΖΉΛΕΝΕ ΟὟΝ ΚΑῚ ΜΕΤΑΝΌΗΣΟΝ . The words contain not a hysteron proteron,[1618] but require of the church which is convicted of lukewarmness, an ardent zeal, enkindled by the love manifested by the Lord, and, as the proof of this zeal, a true change of mind.[1619]
[1614] Blows, Luke 23; Luk_16:22. Aret., Grot.
[1615] Act_22:3; Act_7:22; Tit_2:12; 2 Timothy 2.
[1616] Cf. Heb_12:6 with Pro_3:12.
[1617] Cf. Joh_16:8; Joh_8:46; Joh_3:20; 1Co_14:24.
[1618] De Wette.
[1619] Cf. Grot., Beng., Hengstenb., Ebrard.