I don’t usually participate in the Doctrinal Forums because I am not a Bible Scholar. I have not studied Greek or Hebrew. I have a high school education...and a lot of life experience. I was saved as an adult in 2004. I don’t do a lot of independent study, but I have attended Sunday School for about 9 years, the last 5 years or so as the leader of our (very) small group of single women. Not only am I the youngest person in our class, I am also the “baby†Christian, in that the other members of our class have been saved for several years longer than me. Our curriculum is supplied to me, although I do get to decide how I will present it. I try to bring in “real-life stories†as illustrations. I use my life as an example quite often. I do this, not presenting myself as any sort of “shining exampleâ€, but as a picture of how God uses the circumstances of our lives to show His glory, power, grace and forgiveness…and loving correction!
I am a KJVP. I love the poetic flow of the King James. It’s my Bible of choice. The “Old English†doesn’t usually confuse me, but when I can’t grasp the context of a passage, I simply search out the same passage in other English Bible versions until Holy Spirit shows me the truth. I don’t search out commentaries, just God’s Holy Words in different versions. I can’t tell you all the different versions that have brought clarity to me. Sometimes I “get it†with the first version I select…and sometimes it’s 4 or more…but Holy Spirit always brings clarity! Because of this, I cannot discount, like some do, versions other than the KJ as being the Word of God.
So why am I chiming in? Simply because it’s been bandied about how “regular†people interpret the Bible at “face valueâ€. Well, I am a “regular†person. So I thought I might explain how I, a regular person, interpret Revelation 3:15-16:
The first thing I do is to look at those two verses in context. That takes us to verses 14-18:
14And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
What is Jesus saying here? The Laodiceans are lukewarm. They are neither cold nor hot. Jesus doesn’t like lukewarm. The analogy that comes to my mind is chocolate milk. Hot chocolate milk is yummy. Cold chocolate milk is yummy. But lukewarm chocolate milk (whether it started out as hot or cold) can actually make a person sick. Literally sick. Food poisoning sick. Have you ever had food poisoning? I have. I vomited my guts out!
Jesus says, “I would thou wert cold or hot.†So, what does Jesus want for us? He wants us to come to repentance and accept Him as our personal savior so we can have eternal life with Him as His bride in Heaven.
So, if it were true, as some claim, that in the context of this passage, that “cold†equals “unsavedâ€, that would mean that Jesus would prefer us to be either saved (hot) or unsaved (cold), as opposed to “sitting on the fence†(lukewarm), as it were. I just don’t believe that! It’s against everything Jesus stands for! No, the truth of the matter is (in plain English) that Jesus compared hot/cold to lukewarm. Lukewarm is the inferior position. He made no distinction is this passage between hot and cold. And He could easily have done so…such as “To the church of the Laodiceans, thou once wert hot for the Lord, but now wax cold, because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.â€
So that’s my “regular†interpretation of those verses. Take it as you will.