2:2 False Apostles

False Apostles

Revelation 2:2:  “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.”

             “Them which say they are apostles and are not.”  This is in anticipation of the warning in 2:9 (to Smyrna) and 3:9 (to Philadelphia) against “those who say they are Jews but are not.”  These false apostles are judged like the false Jews, – they are liars.

            Eusebius quotes the writings of Hegesippus concerning “the seven sects” which divided the Church in his day:

Every man introducing his own opinion in his own particular way.  From these in turn came false Christs, false prophets, false apostles, who split the unity of the Church by poisonous suggestions against God and against His Christ (4.22.4).

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