What Does Revelation 3:15 Mean in the King James?
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse prefers a clear temperature, even cold, to work that has become neither one thing nor the other.
THE MEANING
The verse reads your work as carrying a temperature now. It names cold and hot alike as preferable to being neither, so the exposure is not simply that you lack fervor; it is that your work has no clear character. The words meet you where your work is, not where you wish it appeared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that only fervor is acceptable: the verse names cold as preferable to being neither cold nor hot.
THE ROOT
ζεστός
zestos
GROWS FROM
ζέω
zeō
To boil or be hot; by extension, to be fervent.
“Hot” belongs to the same word family as boiling and fervency, so it carries more force than mild warmth. The contrast is between distinct temperatures, not simply between more and less enthusiasm.
ALSO GROWS
zeō: To boil; to be fervent.
ζέω
Romans 12:11 uses a form of this verb for “fervent,” showing that the language of heat can also describe active intensity.
zestos: Hot, boiling.
ζεστός
This is the word used here, making the contrast about a recognizable state of heat.
ψυχρός
psychros
GROWS FROM
ψύχω
psychō
To cool, including by blowing.
English can make “cold” sound only like a failure of warmth, but the same word describes cooling that can refresh. Here cold is expressly preferred to an indistinct in-between, so it is not simply another name for rejection.
ALSO GROWS
psychō: To cool; to grow cold.
ψύχω
Matthew 24:12 uses this verb for love growing cold, showing how cooling can name a change in a relationship.
psychros: Cold.
ψυχρός
Matthew 10:42 uses this word for a cup of cold water, showing that cold can also be refreshing.
THE PATTERN
Scripture exposes dividedness by showing the instability or obscurity it creates.
And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.THE THREAD
So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.The same Greek words for cold and hot return in the next verse, which gives the in-between its name: lukewarm. The repeated temperatures show that “neither” is not an empty middle; it is a distinct state with a consequence.
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