Revelation 3:14

In Laodicea (en Laodikiai). Forty miles south-east of Philadelphia and some forty miles east of Ephesus, the last of the seven churches addressed with special messages, on the river Lycus on the border of Phrygia, near Colossae and Hierapolis, recipient of two letters by Paul ( Colossians 4:16 ), on the great trade-route from Ephesus to the east and seat of large manufacturing and banking operations (especially of woollen carpets and clothing, Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, p. 40ff.), centre of the worship of Asklepios and seat of a medical school and also of a provincial court where Cicero lived and wrote many of his letters, home of many Jews, called by Ramsay (op. cit., p. 413) "the City of Compromise," the church here founded apparently by Epaphras ( Colossians 1:7 ; Colossians 4:12 ), now a deserted ruin, one of six cities with this name (meaning justice of the people). No praise is bestowed on this church, but only blame for its lukewarmness. The Amen (o Amhn). Personal (masculine article) name here alone, though in Isaiah 65:16 we have "the God of Amen" understood in the LXX as "the God of truth" (ton qeon ton alhqinon). Here applied to Christ. See Isaiah 1:5 for o martu o pisto (the faithful witness) and Isaiah 3:7 for o alhqino (the genuine), "whose testimony never falls short of the truth" (Swete). The beginning of the creation of God (h arch th ktisew tou qeou). Not the first of creatures as the Arians held and Unitarians do now, but the originating source of creation through whom God works ( Colossians 1:15 Colossians 1:18 , a passage probably known to the Laodiceans, John 1:3 ; Hebrews 1:2 , as is made clear by Revelation 1:18 ; Revelation 2:8 ; Revelation 3:21 ; Revelation 5:13 ).