Bible Strands
Revelation 2:4
But I have this against you: You have abandoned your first love.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus, immediately after commending their doctrinal vigilance and endurance (2:2–3), then pivots with a single "but."
The words — ἀγάπην (agapēn), accusative singular, "the love" — the specific object of the rebuke, not a general virtue but the love that was theirs and is now absent.
The thread — Jeremiah 2:2 recalls Israel's "first love" as a memory God holds; Matthew 24:12 warns that love will grow cold under pressure; Hebrews 6:10 asserts God does not forget the love shown in service.
Why it lands — The charge is not wrong doctrine or ceased activity (both are affirmed in 2:2–3) but the cooling of the affection that animated them; the remedy in 2:5 is to recall the distance fallen, repent, and resume the first deeds.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Cross-references
- Matthew 24:12 Because of the multiplication of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.
- Jeremiah 2:2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.
- Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you have shown for His name as you have ministered to the saints and continue to do so.
- Philippians 1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,
- 2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are obligated to thank God for you all the time, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing more and more, and your love for one another is increasing.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
- Revelation 3:14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God’s creation.
- Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,
- Revelation 2:14 But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
- Revelation 2:20 But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.