The 7 Churches of Revelation

Laodicea - The Lukewarm Church

The final church of this study is the Church of Laodicea – the Lukewarm church. Although I don't go into details with the other churches as to how they relate to us now, I believe Laodicea is a great representation of the western church "system" today. I myself was born in a 3rd world country before emigrating to America with my family. There, the government is corrupt and doesn't have the interests of the people at heart; they only care about their pockets. In this type of situation, who else can you lean on when even your family abandons you? Only God and God alone.

I've seen that faith displayed in my family due to the struggles they've gone through and come out of and that is essentially the thing I see that's missing here (granted many people are on fire for God so I don't want to undermine them). For the most part, in countries such as America, most people have a moderately good life; they can feed and clothe themselves without worry, they have a job to continue paying the bills, the government isn't corrupt (to a crazy extent) so this creates an environment of security and self-reliance.

This alone isn't bad but I feel that as we're walking out our faith and relationship with God, if we're not careful we can easily slip into a state where we feel that because we can earn a living we don't necessarily need God "as much". This very problem is what I believe Jesus is targeting as he addresses this last letter to Laodicea.

Laodicea: The Lukewarm Church

In Revelation 3:15-16, Jesus examines the works of the Church of Laodicea and makes it clear that they are lukewarm, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth". At first glance many look at this passage and believe that what's being said here is that Laodicea is not on fire for the Lord (hot) and doing his will but at the same time they're not worshiping other gods and wallowing in depravity (cold).

I myself thought this way until I did further research and understood the text better. In the passage Jesus makes it clear that he wishes for them to be cold or hot. In this context both cold and hot are positive things. We often see "hot" interpreted as positive and "cold" as negative, however the problem with this view is that Jesus would not wish for us to be cool in our love for him or stray away from him. The passage implies that both cold and hot are positive attributes here while lukewarm is the only negative attribute. In an article by Craig R. Koester from Luther Seminary titled, The Message to Laodicea and the Problem of Its Local Context, Koester addresses this very issue stating,

"In this passage both hot and cold have positive connotations and lukewarm has negative connotations. Since the text deals with the faith commitments of the Laodicean Christians, some have assumed that heat connotes zealous faith and that coldness indicates indifference...but it does not fit the text since it would mean that Christ wanted the congregation to be either hot- that is, more ardent in faith- or cold- that is, more firmly entrenched in unbelief. An appeal for faithfulness would make sense, but a call for unbelief would not. The metaphor requires that both hot and cold be understood positively in contrast to being lukewarm, the negative trait that characterizes the complacency of the Laodicean Christians."

Laodicea's Water Sources

The question now is what is Jesus referring to when he brings up cold, hot, or lukewarm water? One common interpretation draws on historical and geographical knowledge pertaining to the region. Ancient Laodicea had no water sources and needed to supply water to the city by way of aqueducts. About 6 miles to the north of Laodicea was Hierapolis that had healthy hot springs, and about 11 miles east was Colossae that had cold springs that were clean and refreshing to drink from.

The water had to be transported using miles of aqueducts and by the time it reached the city, it was often neither therapeutically hot nor refreshingly cold – just lukewarm. The point that many make here using the historical context is that both hot and cold water has its uses but lukewarm water is useful for nothing. In his article, Koester appeals to a different interpretation which is not as well known.