15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would that thou wert cold or hot.
16. So then because thou are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
This scripture has always intrigued me. It does not seem strange to me that God condemns the apathetic, preferring even the outright evil to those who haven't bothered to make up their minds and fight. I remember the story of Saul: despite the fact that Saul was strongly opposed to Christianity, he received a revelation of Christ's truth anyway. And then, that strong-willed man became a Christian and spent the rest of his life promoting Christianity. I think a moral from that story is that God has a special respect for His children that have convictions. Even when those convictions don't agree with God's truth, He still respects them for it.
Anyway.
While studying this scripture, I first turned to the scriptures discussed in the footnotes. This particular statement was specifically delivered to the congregation at Laodice. Apparently, the Laodiceans were pretty apathetic.
This site has an interesting translation of and commentary on the verse:
16. neither cold nor hot-So one oldest manuscript, B, and Vulgate read. But two oldest manuscripts, Syriac, and Coptic transpose thus, "hot nor cold." It is remarkable that the Greek adjectives are in the masculine, agreeing with the angel, not feminine, agreeing with the Church. The Lord addresses the angel as the embodiment and representative of the Church. The chief minister is answerable for his flock if he have not faithfully warned the members of it.
I will-Greek, "I am about to," "I am ready to": I have it in my mind: implying graciously the possibility of the threat not being executed, if only they repent at once. His dealings towards them will depend on theirs towards Him.
spue thee out of my month-reject with righteous loathing, as Canaan spued out its inhabitants for their abominations. Physicians used lukewarm water to cause vomiting. Cold and hot drinks were common at feasts, but never lukewarm. There were hot and cold springs near Laodicea.
I didn't know that lukewarm water was used to induce vomiting, but it makes a lot of sense that that particular allusion would be made in the text. Also of note: this writer asserts that "the chief minister is answerable for his flock if he have not faithfully warned the members of it." This is an interesting remark, very reminiscent of Jacob 1:19:
And we did magnify our office unto the Lord, taking upon us the responsibility, answering the sins of the people upon our own heads if we did not teach them the word of God with all diligence; wherefore, by laboring with our might their blood might not come upon our garments; otherwise their blood would come upon our garments, and we would not be found spotless at the last day.
This sentiment is also echoed in Acts 20:26-27, for those of you who don't accept the Book of Mormon:
26. Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Clearly, there is something worth noting here: if you have the truth, you have a very serious obligation to share it. Mormons are often criticized for so overtly sharing their religion, but the fact is, if you know the truth of Christ, you have the responsibility to help everyone you know learn it, too. As it is said in Jacob and apparently in Revelation 3:16, we will all pay for the sins of those who would not have sinned if we had witnessed to them the truth.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary has this telling line, in reference to Revelation 3:16: "If religion is worth anything, it is worth every thing. Christ expects men should be in earnest."
I think the biggest overarching concept of Christianity is that life is a war, a battle between good and evil. So often we are willing to overlook the war, in favor of the battle. And getting so caught up in life's little crises can so easily lead to spiritual myopia, and lukewarmness of the spirit. Faith, in the LDS Bible Dictionary, is defined as a principle of action: if you are not acting, you are not exhibiting faith. Because faith is more than a mere belief; it is the prompt to act.
Because true faith always moves one to action, it is important to remember what we are supposed to do: "Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:11-12).
This fight we are supposed to be engaged in is not merely a personal one. We suffer from the same problem as the Islamists: the definition of our struggle is lost to us. While the jihad of Islam apparently began as a personal, internal struggle, their new jihad is all about killing others for the sake of Allah. While Christianity's struggle is never about killing for God, we deal with the same problem: is our Christian struggle one to be undertaken only in the soul, or is there a physical battleground to match?
The answer is clear. While violence from Christians is usually condemned, we are called to act in ways that require us to step out from our shells. We "wrestle...against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness... against spiritual wickedness in high places." We are meant to somehow find it within ourselves to truly fight for Christ--and not just internally. We have the obligation to our God to fight the wicked in high places. We owe it to Christ to oppose the principalities, the governments, that actively depose Christianity and all that it stands for. We owe it to the Lord to don that armor of God begin the fight.
It is a difficult battle we must fight, because as Christians we are taught to be meek, and turn the other cheek. And yet, at the same time, we are cautioned to "wrestle" with things as terrifying and depressing as principalities and evil rulers. Our fight is not a violent one: our fight is one of vocal opposition to moral decrepitude, and it must be fought with passion. Passion, because those who are apathetic, or lukewarm, to the fight for Christianity, will be spued out of God's mouth.
And I wouldn't know from personal experience, but that doesn't sound like fun to me.
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