Commentaries:
Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown
I know thy works--expressing His omniscience. Not merely "thy professions, desires, good resolutions" (Revelation 14:13, end).
thy labour--Two oldest manuscripts omit "thy"; one supports it. The Greek means "labor unto weariness."
patience--persevering endurance.
bear--evil men are a burden which the Ephesian Church regarded as intolerable. We are to "bear (the same Greek, Galatians 6:2) one another's burdens" in the case of weak brethren; but not to bear false brethren.
tried--by experiment; not the Greek for "test," as 1 John 4:1. The apostolical churches had the miraculous gift of discerning spirits. Compare Acts 20:28-30, wherein Paul presciently warned the Ephesian elders of the coming false teachers, as also in writing to Timothy at Ephesus. TERTULLIAN [On Baptism, 17], and JEROME [On Illustrious Men, in Lucca 7], record of John, that when a writing, professing to be a canonical history of the acts of Paul, had been composed by a presbyter of Ephesus, John convicted the author and condemned the work. So on one occasion he would not remain under the same roof with Cerinthus the heretic.
say they are apostles--probably Judaizers. IGNATIUS [Epistle to the Ephesians, 6], says subsequently, "Onesimus praises exceedingly your good discipline that no heresy dwells among you"; and [Epistle to the Ephesians, 9], "Ye did not permit those having evil doctrine to sow their seed among you, but closed your ears."
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
Hosea 5:3
1 Thessalonians 1:3
Revelation 2:3
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