Revelation 3:4

Rev_3:4

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis.

A solemn warning for all Churches

I. General defilement.

1. A vast deal of open profession, and but little of sincere religion. You can scarcely meet with a man who does not call himself a Christian, and yet it is equally hard to meet with one who is in the very marrow of his bones thoroughly sanctified to the good work of the kingdom of heaven. We meet with professors by hundreds; but we must expect still to meet with possessors by units.

2. A want of zeal. Ah! we have abundance of cold, calculating Christians, but where are the zealous ones? Where are those who have an impassioned love for souls?

3. The third charge against Sardis was that they did not look to the things that remained and were ready to die. This may relate to the poor feeble saints. And what does the Church do now? Do the shepherds go after those that are wounded and sick, and those that are weary? Yes, but how do they speak? They tell them to perform impossible duties--instead of strengthening the things that remain and are ready to die.

4. Another charge which God has brought against the Church is, that they were careless about the things which they heard. He says, Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast; and repent. If I am wrong upon other points, I am positive that the sin of this age is impurity of doctrine, and laxity of faith.

II. Special preservation. Thou hast a few names. Only a few; not so few as some think, but not as many as others imagine! There is not a church on earth that is so corrupt but has a few. Since there are but a few, there ought to be great searchings of heart. Let us look to our garments and see whether they be defiled. The fewer the workmen to do the work the greater reason is there that you should be active. Be instant in season and out of season, because there are so few.

III. A peculiar reward. They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. That is to say, communion with Christ on earth shall be the special reward of those who have not defiled their garments. Go into what company you please, do you meet with many men who hold communion with Christ? Oh, Christian! if thou wouldst have communion with Christ, the special way to win it is by not defiling thy garments, as the Church has done. They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

1. This refers to justification. They shall walk in white; that is, they shall enjoy a constant sense of their own justification by faith; they shall understand that the righteousness of Christ is imputed to them, that they have been washed and made whiter than snow, and purified and made more cleanly than wool.

2. Again, it refers to joy and gladness: for white robes were holiday dresses among the Jews. Let thy garments be always white, for God hath accepted thy works.

3. And lastly, it refers to walking in white before the throne of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

The believers at Sardis

I. Those persons who are here spoken of were truly holy. Those men were the glory of their Church; and we might have expected that the heavenly purity of their principles and their conduct would have shed around them a highly beneficial influence, and would have induced many others to have pursued along with them a course so splendid in itself, and so happy and brilliant in its termination.

II. The passage represents these truly holy persons as only few in number. The truly holy, in every age of the world have borne but a very small proportion to the great mass of mankind.

III. These holy persons were found in a place where great degeneracy prevailed. Religion is like the snowdrop that flowers amid the colds and frosts of winter, or like the violet that blooms in all the beauties of its varied and vivid tints, and breathes all the richness of its fragrance unhurt by the foul and noxious weeds that flourish in its immediate vicinity.

IV. The few holy persons in the church at Sardis had the promise of great honour being conferred upon them. White, in the inspired volume, is frequently used to denote the holiness of the Christian character, and, at the same time, to represent the success, the prosperity, and the honour which all enjoy who possess it. (John Johnstone.)

Sardis

I. The commendation and the honour which our Lord bestowed upon the few exemplary characters in the Church at Sardis.

1. Garment is put for a holy life answerable to a profession of discipleship to Jesus Christ. There were a few disciples in the church at Sardis who were clothed with the garment of humility: as the elect of God, holy and beloved, they had put on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and long-suffering, and had been enabled to adorn the doctrine of God, their Saviour, by a holy and uniform consistency of conduct.

2. When we consider the power, the subtlety, the enmity, and the vigilance of Satan; and the innumerable sources of seduction by which the people of God are constantly surrounded; and the many sinful propensities that lodge within their own hearts, we are surprised that any of them pass through life without defiling their garments. Nothing could be more unaccountable, did we not know the cause of their preservation. They are kept by the power of God, or it would be impossible they could stand secure from falling, even for a moment!

II. The distinguished honour which our Lord promised to confer upon those Christians in Sardis who had not defiled their garments.

3. Our Lord gives encouragement to His faithful disciples, by assuring them of His final testimony of approbation. I will confess His name before my father, and before His angels. (J. Hyatt.)

Christian life has power to resist adverse influences

There is nothing on earth that has such power to destroy Christian life as a society of men who bear the name of Christ without manifesting His spirit and life. A dead Church is a mightier obstacle to Christian vitality than the influences of the world or the sneers of the keenest infidelity; it freezes the influence of truth, it paralyses the power of prayer, it lays its cold hand on the pulses of the Christians faith, chilling them into a death-like sleep. But yet, with that fact before us, we shall try to show that every Christian may overcome those influences which hinder his life. We shall try to show that we have no right to be weak Christians, moulded by social circumstances, but are bound to be Christians whose deep life makes circumstances its servants.

I. True Christianity can conquer adverse social influences. Now here it must be granted as an obvious fact that some men are more liable to be swayed by social influences than others. Those whose character is weak, and whose feelings are strong and undisciplined, are doubtless more easily carried away by mere impulse than men of naturally strong character and power of self-control. But yet it is possible for us to gain an elevation above such influences, for in Christianity we can discern the elements of a power which will confer it. We shall perceive this by glancing briefly at the manner in which circumstances and social influences attain their greatest sway over men; and then by showing how, in a true Christian life, the sources of that power are overcome.

1. The absence of a ruling emotion is one great element in the power of circumstances. Now true Christianity is essentially the enthronement of one feeling in the heart--the love of God through Christ, and because that feeling ascends to the eternal and unchanging, it must pre-eminently give a firmness to the character that defies the force of circumstances.

2. The absence of purpose in life is the other element in the power of circumstances, for it is too obvious to need illustration, that a purposeless life must be the creature of circumstances, and at the mercy of every influence. Now a true Christian life-purpose is a life-surrender to God; it is to live constantly as in the eye of the Eternal King, to exist that we may be self-consecrated to Christ and attain a resemblance to Him; a purpose not visionary but sublime--a purpose not attained in the middle of life nor at lifes close, but going onward into the life of boundless ages. But it will be more obvious that such an aim in life must shut out the force of circumstances, from the fact that it can only be lived through an independent and individual conviction of Christian truth. We want men who are not echoes, but voices; men who draw their inspiration from prayer rather than from preaching, from individual self-consecration, and not from collected sympathy. Then should we feel less that external things can effect the grandeur and earnestness of our Christian life. And one other fact will bring all this to a personal and direct application. We must be thus conquerors over circumstances and opposing forces, for our Christianity will ever be weak. We must be men, not spiritual infants, or we shall lose our Christian mission in life.

II. This conquest contains in itself the elements of everlasting blessedness. Who does not feel it better to be alone with Christ in struggling with opposing influences than to be up-borne by the current of popularity and stimulated by the flattery or friendship of men? And when thus we gain, through our own battle, a deeper insight into the mystery of that life of Jesus, and have the consciousness of a growing fellowship with Him, we are already being clothed in the white garments of eternity, and walking with the Son of God. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)

The undefiled few

I. The undefiled few.

II. The present power of Christs undefiled few. It would appear to be one of the Divine arrangements that the many should be blessed in the power and influence of the few. No single phase of human life but has been lifted up into dignity for ever through the example of some noble moral hero. There are ever the few in political life who see clearly, grasp principles vigorously, and lead aright the unthinking many. There are many students in the walks of science and literature who never reach beyond the common level, and in each age there are a few men of genius like Bacon, and Butler, and Newton, and Herschell, who rise high up above their fellows, the giants of the intellectual world. The principle may even be seen working within the Church.

III. The future glory of Christs undefiled few.

1. They who struggle after goodness now shall find themselves then settled in goodness for ever. He who tries to reach Christlike purity daily finds his dangers growing less, his temptations becoming fewer, his struggles ever more surely ending in the victory of the good.

2. Above all, these undefiled few shall have a communion with Christ of an extraordinary intimacy and preciousness. With Me. (R. Tuck, B. A.)

The two garments

The words garment, robe and raiment are used in the Scriptures to typify character. When a man repents of sin and joins himself by faith to Jesus Christ, he is clothed with a new nature. He puts on Christ, so that there is not only an inward faith in Christ, but some good degree of outward resemblance in daily conduct. This may be called the garment of grace. It means Christian character. Now character is not determined by a single act, but by habitual conduct. It is a fabric made up of thousands of threads, and put together by uncounted stitches. However thorough may be the cleansing process wrought upon the heart at the time of conversion, yet no one becomes absolutely spotless. We live also in a defiling world. If we walk through certain streets in this city we must be on the lookout, or our clothes will become besmirched. A good man goes to his place of business and finds himself in the atmosphere of Mammon. It is every citizens duty to take a citizens part in politics; but when he becomes a zealous partisan there is plenty of pitch around in the caucus and the convention, and unless he is a conscientious man he is apt to be defiled. In social life he encounters the prevailing trend for show and self indulgence and expensive living. On a white surface the slightest spot shows painfully; and it is no easy thing to keep the spiritual raiment clean. Yet by the indwelling power of Christs grace there are those even in Sardis who keep their spiritual garments comparatively clean. If a true follower of Christ becomes soiled with impurity, he grieves over it, repents of it, and hastens to that Saviour who pardons and restores. By such processes can only the garment of grace be kept from utter disfigurement and defilement. By and by this garment of grace shall be laid aside for the garment of glory. The one is for time; the other is for eternity. The first garment is a Christian character formed by the regenerating Spirit of God in this world. The other is a Christian character completed, consummated, and glorified in that world wherein entereth nothing whatsoever that defileth. They walk with Jesus in white, for they are worthy. Determine that whatever others may do you will be a thorough and consecrated servant of your Master, even in Sardis. Determine that you will keep the garment of character undefiled. If all Sardis is infected with the lust of gold, let not the canker eat into your soul. However many in Sardis rush off into frivolities and into these scenes of folly that make deathbeds terrible, do you choose rather the joys of holy converse with the Master in the upper chamber. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)

The few in Sardis

I. The rarity of those who are the true saints on the earth. Sadly the truth presses on every mind that it is the many who are sluggish and fruitless, it is only the few who are faithful. A little band of executive Church labourers produce what each year gathers.

II. Their purity. They have not defiled their garments. Holiness of life is more than vividness of experience.

III. The prospect of the saints.

1. The word here rendered walk means to accompany around. Thence it is applied to sharing the continuous lot of one with whom we dwell.

2. They shall walk with Me. The companionship is that of Christ Himself, for it is He that is here speaking.

3. It is the symbol of glory hereinafter to be revealed to believers. Here are two thoughts distinctly suggested, each of which has great value. The one is that the glory of that future state is not so much in its triumphs and trophies as in its graces. The glory is its sinlessness, its perfect freedom from all pollution. So it is of much more importance what we shall be than what we shall have. Then the other thought is that holiness here is its own reward, here and yonder too.

IV. The prerogative of the saints. They are worthy. The significance of this statement takes its force from the connection in which it stands. One prerogative is asserted in their behalf; they are proper companions for Gods Son. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)

The duty of maintaining an unsullied character

I. Consider the great difficulty of preserving innocence amidst surrounding corruption.

1. The natural abhorrence which rises in the breast at the first appearance of its detestable form is insensibly weakened and effaced by repeated views of it. There is, besides, in the view of a multitude running to do evil, a temptation of peculiar force.

2. Amidst the universal infection of vice some men there are whose particular constitution, or want of experience in the ways of the world, expose them greatly to its deadly influence. The man of good nature, and of an easy, pliable temper, who suspects not the treachery of others, becomes an easy prey to the temptations of the wicked.

II. The dignity and excellence of that man who, notwithstanding every assault, maintains an unsullied character.

III. Enforce the imitation of christs example by the great motive mentioned here.

IV. The reason for conferring such honours on the good and virtuous. They are worthy. (J. Main, D. D.)

Gods little remnant keeping their garments clean in an evil day

I. Offer a few propositions concerning this remnant.

1. Gods remnant are a holy people. They are a set of men that study to keep clean garments.

2. God has a special eye of favour and kindness on this remnant in a sinful and declining time.

II. Show that Christ has a high value for this remnant.

1. Consider what an account He makes of them when compared with the rest of the world (Isa_43:4; Psa_119:119; Lam_4:2).

2. That this little remnant are worthy on Christs account will appear if we consider the names and compellations that He gives them (Mal_3:17).

3. Consider the endeared relations they stand under unto Him. There is a legal, a moral, and a mystical union between Him and them.

4. That they are worthy in His esteem appears from what He does for them (Rev_1:5; Heb_8:12; Heb_4:16).

III. Inquire into what is imported in the remnant keeping their garments clean.

1. That even Gods remnant are not without danger of defiling themselves with the sins and defections of their day.

2. That foul garments are very unbecoming and unsuitable unto Gods remnant. A careful study of universal obedience unto all known and commanded duties. A holy caution and tenderness in guarding against all sin, especially the prevailing sins of the day.

IV. Inquire into the import of the consolatory promise made unto the remnant that keep their garments clean.

1. What is imported in walking with Him?

(1) It necessarily supposes the souls subsistence in a separate state, or after its separation from the body, otherwise it could not be said to walk with Him.

(2) Its activity.

(3) Perfect peace and agreement between Christ and men.

(4) Intimacy.

(5) Full pleasure, satisfaction, and complacency.

2. What is imported in walking with Him in white?

(1) That then all their black and beggarly garments shall be laid aside.

(2) That perfect holiness shall then be their adornment.

(3) Victory over all their enemies, whether outward or inward.

(4) High honour.

(5) Priestly service.

(6) A blessed conformity between Christ and them.

(7) The beauty of the Lord their God will then be upon them.

V. Inquire into the connection between the duty and the privilege, between keeping the garments clean and walking with Christ in white.

1. Negatively there is no connection of merit, as if our keeping of clean garments did deserve that we should walk with Christ in white.

2. Positively there is--

(1) A connection of decree or purpose in this matter.

(2) A connection of promise.

(3) A connection of meetness or congruity.

(4) A connection of evidence.

Application:

1. Holiness is to be studied and pursued, however it may be ridiculed and mocked at by a profane world.

2. They labour under a mistake who think or say that it is a vain or unprofitable thing to serve the Lord and to keep His way.

3. Gospel purity and holiness is not such a common thing as the world apprehends.

4. See hence what it is that sweetens the pale countenance of the king of terrors to believers: it is this, they see that upon the back of death they will be admitted to walk with Christ in white. (John Erskine, D. D.)

Sardis

In the case of the Church at Sardis, we observe--

I. The sad spectacle of spiritual declension. The Church is represented as having only a name to live. The world sometimes sees the worst side, and God the best, but in Sardis it was the opposite. The word dead, however, is not used absolutely, but comparatively, for there were certain rare plants in this desert of decaying vegetation that required to be watched and strengthened. Yet the faith and virtue of these were in danger.

1. There were some things ready to die. What things? Faith, love, zeal, hope.

2. Things requiring to be strengthened. Weak and incipient virtue, languishing graces, and faint desires. Things that are decaying need cherishing. Learn a lesson of the gardener, and nurse the exotics of the soul. Give thy soul room and stimulus and appropriate exercise.

3. Things that needed remembrance. Appeal to experience, to the memory of former days and old associations. We may forget our past history and so live a sort of fragmentary life.

4. Things that needed to be repented of. Dereliction of duty, loss of faith, decay of love.

II. The cheering spectacle of religious fidelity. Thou hast a few names, etc.

1. Redeeming features in the most sombre landscapes. There is always a green spot in the desert.

2. The saints in Sardis were in striking contrast to the society around them. They were pure amidst impurity, holy among the vile. They closed their eyes to the brilliant illusions, their ears to the flattering enticements, or corrupt pagan society.

III. The glorious spectacle of the coronation and triumph of faith. They shall, etc. Weigh the reward thus symbolically described.

1. Heavens purity for the pure on earth.

2. Enrolment in the register of heaven for those who have held fast the faith of the saints.

3. Recognition before God and the angels for those who, though scorned of men, are eternally honoured by God. (W. E. Daly, B. A.)

Purity rewarded

True, all our lives long we shall be bound to refrain our soul and keep it low; but what then? For the books we now forbear to read, we shall one day be endued with wisdom and knowledge. For the music we will not listen to, we shall join in the song of the redeemed. For the Figures from which we turn, we shall gaze unabashed on the beatific vision. For the companionship we shun, we shall be welcomed into angelic society and the communion of triumphant saints. For the pleasures we miss, we shall abide, and evermore abide, in the rapture of heaven. (Christina G. Rossetti.)

Pure amidst defilement

A writer tells of going with a party down into a coal mine. On the other side of the gangway grew a plant which was perfectly white. The visitors were astonished that there, where the coal-dust was continually flying, this little plant should be so pure and white. A miner who was with them took a handful of the black dust and threw it upon the plant; but not a particle adhered. Every atom of the dust rolled off. The visitors repeated the experiment, but the coal-dust would not cling. There was a wonderful enamel on the folds of the white plant to which no finest specks could adhere. Living there amid clouds of black dust, nothing could stain the snowy whiteness. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)

They shall walk with Me in white.--

Walking in white

I. The promise of continuous and progressive activity. They shall walk. There remaineth a rest for the people of energies of a constant activity for God. They shall walk in all the more intense than it was at its highest here, and yet never, by one hairs breadth, trenching upon the serenity of that perpetual repose. And then there is the other thought too involved in that pregnant word, of continuous advancement, growing every moment nearer and nearer to the true centre of our souls, and up into the loftiness of perfection.

II. The promise of companionship with Christ. If there be this promised union, it can only be because of the completeness of sympathy and the likeness of character between Christ and His companions. The unity between Christ and His followers in the heavens is but the carrying into perfectness of the imperfect union that makes all the real blessedness of life here upon earth.

III. The promise of the perfection of purity. Perhaps we are to think of a glorified body as being the white garment. Perhaps it may be rather that the image expresses simply the conception of entire moral purity, but in either case it means the loftiest manifestation of the most perfect Christlike beauty as granted to all His followers.

IV. The condition of all these promises. There is a congruity and proportion between the earthly life and the future life. Heaven is but the life of earth prolonged and perfected by the dropping away of all the evil, the strengthening and lifting to completeness of all the good. And the only thing that fits a man for the white robe of glory is purity of character down here on earth. There is nothing said here directly about the means by which that purity can be attained or maintained. That is sufficiently taught us in other places, but what in this saying Christ insists upon is that, however it is got, it must be got, and that there is no life of blessedness, of holiness and glory, beyond the grave, except for those for whom there is the life of aspiration after, and in some real measure possession of, moral purity and righteousness and goodness here upon earth. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 3:4. Yet thou hast a few names — That is, persons; even in Sardis — Corrupt and indolent as the general state of the place is; who have not defiled their garments — Who, notwithstanding the common corruption, have preserved their purity, having neither spotted themselves, nor partaken of the guilt of other men’s sins. These persons, though few, had not separated themselves from the rest; otherwise the angel of this church would not have had them. Yet it was no virtue of his that they were unspotted; whereas it was his fault that they were but few. They shall walk with me in white — In joy, in perfect holiness, in glory. “It is well known that white robes were worn on occasions of great joy, and sometimes in triumphal processions; to both which there is probably a reference here. Priests also were clothed in white; and the addition of that dignity may likewise be implied as certainly coming within the scheme of Christ with regard to his people: see Rev 1:6. Some think here is an allusion to the custom of the sanhedrim, when they examined the candidates for the high-priesthood; if they judged the candidate worthy, they gave him a white garment; if unqualified, he was sent out from among them in mourning.” — Doddridge. For they are worthy — A few good among many bad are doubly acceptable unto God. O how much happier is this worthiness than that mentioned Rev 16:6.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Revelation

WALKING IN WHITE

Rev 3:4.

The fond fancy that the primitive Church was a better Church than todays is utterly blown to pieces by the facts that are obvious in Scripture. Here, in the Apostolic time, under the very eye of the fervent Apostle of Love, and so recently after the establishment of Christianity on the seaboard of Asia, was a church, a young church, with all the faults of a decrepit old one, and in which Jesus Christ Himself could find nothing to commend, and about which He could only say that it had a name to live and was dead. The church at Sardis suffered no persecution. It was much too like the world to be worth the trouble of persecuting. It had no heresy; it did not care enough about religion to breed heresies. It was simply utterly apathetic and dead. And yet there was a salt in it, or it would have been rotten as well as dead. There wore ‘a few names, even in Sardis,’ which, in the midst of all the filth, had kept their skirts white. They had ‘not defiled their garments,’ and so with beautiful congruity the promise is given to them - ‘they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.’ The promise, I said. It would have been wiser to have said the promises, for there are a great many wrapped up in germ in these quiet, simple words. Nearly all that we know, and all that we need to know, about that mysterious future is contained in them. So my purpose now is, with perfectly inartificial simplicity, just to take these words and weigh them as a jeweler might weigh in his scales stones which are very small but very precious.

I. We have here, then, the promise of continuous and progressive activity - ‘they shall walk.’

In Scripture we continually find that metaphor of the ‘walk’ as equivalent to an outward life of action. To make that idea prominent in our conceptions of the future is a great gain, for it teaches us at once how imperfect and one-sided are the thoughts about it which come with such fascination to most of us wearied men. It is a wonderful, unconscious confession of the troubled, toilsome, restless lives which most of us live, that the sweetest and most frequently recurring thought about the great future is, ‘There remaineth a rest for the people of God’; where the wearied muscles may be relaxed, and the tortured hearts may be quiet. But whilst we must not say one word to break or even to diminish the depth and sweetness of that aspect of the Christian hope, neither must we forget that it is only one phase of the complete whole, and that this promise of the text has to be taken with it. ‘They shall walk,’ in all the energies of a constant activity, far more intense than it was at its highest here, and yet never, by one hair’s breadth, trenching upon the serenity and indisturbance of that perpetual repose. We have to put together the two ideas, which to all our experience are antagonistic, but which yet are not really so, but only complementary, as the two halves of a sphere may be, in order to get the complete round. We have to say, with this very book of the Apocalypse, which goes so deep into the secrets of heaven, ‘His servants serve Him and see His face’ - uniting together in one harmonious whole the apparent and, as far as earth’s experience goes, the real opposites of continual contemplation and continual activity of service. It is so hard for us in this life to find out practically for ourselves how much to give to each of these, that it is blessed to know that there comes a time for all of us, if we will, when that difficulty will solve itself, and Mary and Martha shall be one person, continually serving and yet continually sitting, no more troubled about many things, in the quiet of the Master’s presence, ‘They shall walk,’ harmonizing work and rest, contemplation and service.

And then there is the other thought, too, involved in that pregnant word, of continuous advancement, growing every moment, through the dateless cycles, nearer and nearer to the true centre of our souls, and up into the loftiness of perfection. We do not know what ministries of love and service may wait for Christ’s servants yonder, but of this we can be quite sure, that all the faculties for service which we see crippled and limited by the hindrances of earth will find in the future a worthier sphere. Do you think it likely that God should so waste His wealth as to take men and redeem them and sanctify them, and prepare them by careful discipline and strengthen their powers by work, and then, just when they are out of their apprenticeship and ready for larger service, should condemn them to idleness? Is that like Him? Must it not rather be that there is a wider field for the faculties that were trained here; and that, whatsoever there may be in eternity, there will be no idleness there?

II. Still further, here is the further promise of companionship with Christ. ‘They shall walk with Me’

‘How can two walk together except they be agreed?’ If there be this promised union, it can only be because of the completeness of sympathy and the likeness of character between Christ and His companions. The unity between Christ and His followers in the heavens is but the carrying into perfectness of the imperfect union that makes all the real blessedness of life here upon earth.

‘With Me.’ Why! that union with Christ is all we know about heaven. All the rest is imagery, that is reality. All the rest is material symbol, that is what it all means.

In the sweet, calm words of Richard Baxter’s simple, but deep song -

‘My knowledge of that life is small, The eye of faith is dim; But ‘tis enough that Christ knows all, And I shall be with Him.’

We ask ourselves and one another, and God’s Word, a great many questions about that unseen life; and sometimes it seems to us as if it would have been so much easier for us to bear the burdens that are laid upon us if some of these questions could have been answered. But we do not really need to know more than that we shall be ‘ever with the Lord.’ Two, who are ever with Him, cannot be far from one another. So we may thankfully feel that the union of all is guaranteed by the union of each with Him. And for the rest we can wait.

Only remember that to walk with Him implies that those who were but little children here have grown up to maturity. We try to tread in His footsteps here, but at the best we follow Him with tottering feet and short steps, as children trying to keep up with an elder brother. But there we shall keep step and walk in His company, side by side. For earth the law is, ‘leaving us an example that we should follow His steps.’ For heaven the law is ‘they shall walk with Me’; or, as the other promise of this book has it, ‘they shall follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,’ No heights are so high to which He rises but He will make our feet like hind’s feet to tread upon the high places; no glories so great but we shall share them. Nothing in His divine nature shall part Him from us, but we shall be ever with Him. Let us comfort one another with these words.

III. Further, my text speaks a promise of the perfection of purity. ‘They shall walk with Me in white.’

The white garment, of course, is a plain metaphor for unsullied purity of moral character. And it is worth notice that the word employed by the Apocalyptic seer here for white, as indeed is the case throughout the manifold references to that heavenly colour which abound in this book, implies no dead ghastly white, but a flashing glistering whiteness, as of sunshine upon snow, which, I suppose, is the whitest thing that human eyes can look upon undazzled. So of the same radiant tint as the great White Throne on which He sits shall be the vestures of those that follow Him. The white robe is the conqueror’s robe, the white robe is the priest’s robe, the white robe is the copy of His who stood in that solitary spot on Mount Hermon, just below its snowy summit, with garments ‘so as no fuller on earth could white them’; white as the driven and sunlit snow that sparkled above. Perhaps we are to think of a glorified body as being the white garment. Perhaps it may be rather that the image expresses simply the conception of entire moral purity, but in either case it means the loftiest manifestation of the most perfect Christlike beauty as granted to all His followers.

IV. And so, lastly, note the condition of all these promises.

‘Thou hast a few names, even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white: for they are worthy.’ The only thing that makes it possible for any man to have that future life of active communion with Jesus Christ, in perfect beauty of inward character and of outward form, is that here he shall by faith keep himself ‘unspotted from the world.’ There is a congruity and proportion between the earthly life and the future life. Heaven is but the life of earth prolonged and perfected by the dropping away of all the evil, the strengthening and lifting to completeness of all the good. And the only thing that fits a man for the white robe of glory is purity of character down here on earth.

There is nothing said here directly about the means by which that purity can be attained or maintained. That is sufficiently taught us in other places, but what in this saying Christ insists upon is that, however it is got, it must be got, and that there is no life of blessedness, of holiness and glory, beyond the grave, except for those for whom there is the life of aspiration after, and in some real measure possession of, moral purity and righteousness and goodness here upon earth.

Do not be surprised at that word - ‘They are worthy.’ It is an evangelical word. It declares the perfect congruity between the life on earth and the issue and reward of the life in heaven. And it holds up to us the great principle that purity here is crowned with glory hereafter. If the white garments could be put upon a black soul they would be like the poisoned shirt on the demigod in the Greek legend, they would bite into the flesh, and burn and madden. But it is impossible, and for ever and ever it remains true that only those who have kept their garments undefiled here shall ‘walk in white.’ It does not need absolute cleanness from all spot, God be thanked! But it does need, first, that we shall have ‘washed our robes and made them white’ in the ‘blood of the Lamb.’ And then that we shall keep them white, by continual recourse to the blood that cleanses from all sin, and by continual effort after purity like His own and received from Him. They who come back as prodigals in rags, and have their filthy tatters exchanged for the clean garment of Christ’s righteousness, with which by faith they are invested, and who then take heed to follow Him, with loins girt and robes kept undefiled, and ever washed anew in His cleansing blood, shall be of the heavenly companions of the glorified Christ, joined to Him in all His dominion, and clothed in flashing whiteness like the body of His glory.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3:4 Soiled . . . clothes represent an impure life (Zech 3:4), while white clothes depict purity (see Rev 6:11; 7:13-14; 22:14). • Walk expresses how a person lives (see Gen 17:1; Pss 81:13; 82:5; Rom 8:4; Gal 5:16).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev_3:4. The accusation, admonition to repentance, and threat thus far made to the entire church, are contrasted (ἀλλʼ), by way of limitation, in regard to individual members, with the commendation that these have kept themselves free from the general sinfulness, and a corresponding promise; cf. Rev_2:4; Rev_2:6.

ἔχεις. Because, as members, they belong to the entire church. Beng.: These, even though indeed few, had not separated themselves; otherwise the angel of the church would not have them.

ὀνόματα. Men designated by name;[1363] cf. Rev_11:13; Act_1:15; Num_1:2; Num_1:18; Num_1:20. Ewald. An allusion to the ὌΝΟΜΑ ἜΧΕΙς[1364] is not to be acknowledged, because there the conception is entirely different from here.

Ἅ ΟὐΚ ἘΛΌΛΥΝΑΝ ΤᾺ ἹΜΆΤΙΑ ΑΎΤΩΝ. The figurative expression is arbitrarily pressed if the ἹΜΆΤΙΑ be interpreted as something special, whether as referring to the bodies as the clothing of the soul,[1365] or the consciences,[1366] or the righteousness of Christ put on by faith.[1367] It is, further, without all foundation, when Ebrard, in the entire figurative expression, tries to find a spiritual self-pollution arising from spiritual self-concupiscence,spiritual onanism. Too much also is made of the figure if the presupposed purity of the garment be derived from baptism by a mistaken appeal to Rev_7:14.[1368] N. de Lyra already correctly abides by the general idea whereby the being defiled occurs by means of sin,[1369] in which sense, of course, it may be said that the ἹΜΆΤΙΑ are the life itself, and actions of works,[1370] or profession and life.[1371] We have not to ask throughout as to what is properly meant by the garment; the entire figure of the defiling of the clothing is a designation of the impure and unholy life and conversation.[1372] To the commendatory recognition, corresponds also the promise of the reward: ΚΑῚ ΠΕΡΙΠΑΤΉΣΟΥΣΙΝ ΜΕΤʼ ἘΜΟῦ ἘΝ ΛΕΥΚΟῖς (viz., ἹΜΑΤΊΟΙς). Incorrectly, Aretius, who identifies the white garments with the undefiled garments: They will persevere in the pursuit of good works. The white garments, with their bright hue of victory,[1373] are peculiar to those in heaven.[1374] They who, in their earthly lives, have kept their garments undefiled will walk with Christ[1375] in white garments, since, thus adorned, they will live in the state of immortal glory,[1376] before the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the full and blessed enjoyment of his fellowship. [See Note XXXV., p. 183.] But the more definitely the promise περιπ. μετʼ ἐμ. ἐν λευκοῖς stands with respect to the testimony of acknowledgment ἃ οὐκ ἐμόλυναν τ. ἱμ. αὐτ.,especially as marked by the addition on ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν,the more remote appears the side reference to the heavenly priesthood of the blessed which is to be indicated by the white garments, especially if, in connection therewith, the Jewish custom be thought of, that the priests examined before the Sanhedrim were clad in black or white garments, according as any defect were or were not found in their bodies.[1377]

ὅτι ἄξιοί εἰσιν. The foundation is entirely in the sense presented in Rev_16:6.[1378] As, there, they who have shed blood must drink blood, so here, white garments are promised the undefiled because they are worthy of this. The idea, however, lying at the basis of the remuneration,[1379] leads also, in this passage, where the discourse is concerning reward, not to the Roman-Catholic idea of a merit, because, as Calov. correctly says, in substance, Christ alone, by faith, renders them worthy. Life itself,[1380] with all its powers exercised by those clad in white robes, is a free gift of the grace of the Lord; a meritum could be spoken of only when man, by his own powers, keeps himself undefiled. Thus, however, John designates only a congruency between the acts and the honor rendered to them, even though the honor exceed the act.[1381]

[1363] Vatabl.

[1364] Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[1365] Areth., Zeger.

[1366] Alcas., Tirin., Grot., Prie.

[1367] Calov.

[1368] Beda, Rib., C. a Lap.; cf. Zeger, Hengstenb.

[1369] Cf. also Ew., De Wette, Bleek, Stern.

[1370] Aretius.

[1371] Vitr.

[1372] Cf. Rev_3:2.

[1373] Beng.

[1374] Rev_3:5; Rev_6:11; Rev_6:9; Rev_19:8.

[1375] μετʼ ἐμοῦ. Cf. Luk_23:43; Joh_17:24.

[1376] N. de Lyra.

[1377] Schöttgen, in loc. Cf. Vitr., Züll.

[1378] Cf. Rev_14:13; Rom_2:6; 2Co_5:10.

[1379] De Wette. Cf. Rev_16:5, the δίκαιος εἶ.

[1380] Cf. Rev_3:1.

[1381] Grot. Cf. Vitr. (Cf. Luk_20:35.)

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

XXXV. Rev_3:4. περιπατήσουσιν μετʼ ἐμοῦ ἐν λευκοῖς

Trench: The promise of life, for only the living walk, the dead are still; of liberty, for the free walk, and not the fast-bound. Gerhard (Loc. Th., xx. 328) finds, in the white garments, the symbol of victory, innocency, glory, and joy, yea, even royal dignity. Gebhardt: The bright or white garments symbolize positive purity, holiness, or righteousness (cf. Rev_19:8).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 3:4 . ὀλ . ὀν . “quasi paucos nominatos, i.e. , bonos qui nominatione digni sunt” ( cf. the use of πρίσωπα = persons or individuals, in Clem. Rom. and Ignat.). ἐμόλ . ( cf. Fragment of Uncanonical Gospel, Oxyrhyn . 2 cent. A.D., line 16 μεμολυμμένος ἐπάτησας , κ . τ . λ .) the sullied garment an emblem of moral stains, including but not identical with that of πορνεύειν (Rev 14:4 , cf. Sir 22:1-2 ). The language reflects that of the votive inscriptions in Asia Minor, where soiled clothes disqualified the worshipper and dishonoured the god. Moral purity qualifies for spiritual communion (note the dramatic contrast of this ἄξιοι [ cf. on Rev 2:16 ] with that of Rev 16:6 ); the apocalyptic beatitude is: blessed are the pure in life, for they shall join God (see on Rev 14:14 , Rev 19:8 ). Note here only in the seven messages an eschatological promise unintroduced by the phrase ὁ νικῶν , although Rev 3:5 really repeats the same idea, οὕτως = “as being victor” ( i.e. , accordingly). The idea of heavenly raiment is distinctively Persian (Brandt, 575, 580; Lüken, 122), but permeates Jewish eschatology from Enoch (lxii. 15, 16, the elect clothed after the resurrection in eternal “garments of glory”) down to Slav. En. xxii. 8; 4 Ezr 2:39 , Ezr 2:45 ( cf. Herm. Sim. viii. 2) and Asc. Isa. iv. 16 (garments = spiritual bodies in which the saints are vested at the last day, stored up in seventh heaven; cf. 8:26, 9:24 f., uidi stolas multas et thronos et coronas jacentes). περιβαλεῖται κ . τ . λ ., like Joshua (Zec 3:3 f.); or (as others suggest) like priests acquitted before the Sanhedrin, who were robed in white. In the Apoc., as in En. lxxxv. xc., white is the colour of righteousness, associated with innocence (and joy? Ecc 9:8 ), just as black with evil. In Apoc. Pet. 5, the dwellers in Paradise are clothed in ἔνδυμα ἀγγέλων φωτινῶν , whilst the angels who (Rev 3:6 ) chastise the wicked are robed in black. All such metaphors reflect the primitive notion that clothing somehow could form almost a part of a man’s personality, corresponding to his identity and character ( E. Bi. 1140, 1141), rather than the Roman custom of assuming a white toga uirilis to mark entrance upon manhood’s privileges (“uitae liberioris iter,” Ovid). τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς , this favourite symbol of the Apocalypse which goes back even to pre-exilic Judaism (Isa 4:3 , cf. Exo 32:32 f., etc.; for the Babylonian background, cf. Jeremias, 69 f.), had through the influence of Dan. (Rev 12:1 ) a great vogue in apocalyptic dreams as an apt image no longer of a share in the temporal felicity of God’s reign but of personal salvation. For a name to be erased from the book of life (one’s deeds not corresponding, upon scrutiny, to one’s position; cf. Rev 20:12 , Jub. xxxvi. 10) meant condemnation, or exclusion from the heavenly kingdom. To have one’s name retained (“and never will I blot out,” etc.) on the list of heavenly citizens was by this time a current metaphor for eternal fellowship with God and his people, and (by a natural inference drawn in Rev 13:8 ) for predestination, the belief in which formed then as always a vivid inspiration in distress and conflict. For the erasure of names from the civic register, consequent upon their owner’s condemnation, cf. Dio Chrys. xxxi. 336 c , ὅταν δημοσίᾳ τινὰ δέῃ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀποθανεῖν ἐπʼ ἀδικήματι , πρότερον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐξαλείφεται ; Xen. Hell. ii. 3, 51, and Arist. Pac. 1180. Also Dittenberger’s Sylloge inscript. Graec . 2 439 20 (iv. B.C.) ὃς δʼ ἂν δόξηι μὴ ὢν φράτηρ ἐσαχθῆναι , ἐξαλειψάτο τὸ ὄνομα αὐτο͂ ὁ ἱερεύς , and Orientis Græci Inscr. Sel. 218 129 (iii. B.C.) ἐξαλείψαντας τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐκείνου . The special comfort of this verse is intelligible when one reads the prayer offered in contemporary Jewish worship ( cf. Shmone-Esreh xii. Palest, recension): “for apostates let there be no hope, may the kingdom of the haughty quickly collapse in our days, and may the Nazarenes and the Minim suddenly perish, may they be blotted out of the book of Life and not enrolled along with the righteous”.

The message to Sardis, the most vehement of the seven, has some interesting resemblances to that addrtssed to Ephesus; cf. Rev 2:1 = Rev 3:1 , Rev 2:5 ( μνημ .) = Rev 3:3 , Rev 2:5 (visitation) = Rev 3:5 , Rev 2:6 = Rev 3:4 . The hope described in Rev 3:5 is burlesqued by Lucian ( Peregr. xl.) who describes his pseudo-Christian hero as seen after death περιπατοῦντα ἐν λευκῇ ἐσθῆτι , φαιδρόν κοτίνῳ τε ἐστεμμένον . The metaphorical references to raiment gain point in view of the local trade in woollen goods and dyed stuffs.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, who have with all religion guarded themselves from sin and moral contagion, even from the very show of evil, as S. Jude exhorteth, verse 23.

Pure from all spot and shining with glory. So it is to be understood always hereafter as in the next verse.

They are meet and fit, to wit, because they are justified in Christ, as they have truly showed it: for he is righteous that worketh righteousness: but so, as the tree bringeth forth fruit. See Rom. 8:18.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The three oldest manuscripts prefix "but," or "nevertheless" (notwithstanding thy spiritual deadness), and omit "even."

names--persons named in the book of life (Rev 3:5) known by name by the Lord as His own. These had the reality corresponding to their name; not a mere name among men as living, while really dead (Rev 3:1). The gracious Lord does not overlook any exceptional cases of real saints in the midst of unreal professors.

not defiled their garments--namely, the garments of their Christian profession, of which baptism is the initiatory seal, whence the candidates for baptism used in the ancient Church to be arrayed in white. Compare also Eph 5:27, as to the spotlessness of the Church when she shall be presented to Christ; and Rev 19:8, as to the "fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints," in which it shall be granted to her to be arrayed; and "the wedding garment." Meanwhile she is not to sully her Christian profession with any defilement of flesh or spirit, but to "keep her garments." For no defilement shall enter the heavenly city. Not that any keep themselves here wholly free from defilement; but, as compared with hollow professors, the godly keep themselves unspotted from the world; and when they do contract it, they wash it away, so as to have their "robes white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7:14). The Greek is not "to stain" (Greek, "miainein"), but to "defile," or besmear (Greek, "molunein"), Sol 5:3.

they shall walk with me in white--The promised reward accords with the character of those to be rewarded: keeping their garments undefiled and white through the blood of the Lamb now, they shall walk with Him in while hereafter. On "with me," compare the very same words, Luk 23:43; Joh 17:24. "Walk" implies spiritual life, for only the living walk; also liberty, for it is only the free who walk at large. The grace and dignity of flowing long garments is seen to best advantage when the person "walks": so the graces of the saint's manifested character shall appear fully when he shall serve the Lord perfectly hereafter (Rev 22:3).

they are worthy--with the worthiness (not their own, but that) which Christ has put on them (Rev 7:14). Eze 16:14, "perfect through MY comeliness which I had put upon thee." Grace is glory in the bud. "The worthiness here denotes a congruity between the saint's state of grace on earth, and that of glory, which the Lord has appointed for them, about to be estimated by the law itself of grace" [VITRINGA]. Contrast Act 13:46.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis] A few persons, names being put for those who bore them. And as the members of the Church were all enrolled, or their names entered in a book, when admitted into the Church or when baptized, names are here put for the people themselves. See Re 3:5.

Have not defiled their garments] Their souls. The Hebrews considered holiness as the garb of the soul, and evil actions as stains or spots on this garb. So in Shabbath, fol. 152, 2: "A certain king gave royal garments to his servants: those who were prudent folded them up, and laid them by in a chest; those who were foolish put them on, and performed their daily labour in them. After some time the king asked for those royal robes; the wise brought theirs white and clean, the foolish brought theirs spotted with dirt. With the former the king was well pleased; with the latter he was angry. Concerning the former he said: Let those garments be laid up in my wardrobe, and let the persons go home in peace. Of the latter he said: Let the garments be put into the hands of the fuller, and cast those who wore them into prison." This parable is spoken on these words of Ecclesiastes, Ec 12:7: The spirit shall return to God who gave it.

They shall walk with me in white] They shall be raised to a state of eternal glory, and shall be for ever with their Lord.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(4) The best MSS. commence this verse with “But,” or “Nevertheless.” The case of the Sardian Church was bad, yet the loving eyes of the faithful witness would not ignore the good. There were a few who had not defiled their garments. These had not succumbed to the oppressive moral atmosphere around them. The words cannot, of course, be understood of absolute purity. Their praise is that, in the deathlike, self-complacent lethargy around, they had kept earnest in the pursuit of holiness, and had not forgotten Him who could cleanse and revive. (Comp. Rev_7:14.)

They shall walk with me in white.—This “white” is not the white of the undefiled robe; it is the lustrous white of glory, as in the promise in the following verse. (Comp. also Rev_2:17.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. Thou hast] Read, But thou hast, and omit even.

a few names] Some understand, from the similar use of the word “names” in Act_1:15, that at this time it was usual for every Church to keep a register of all its members. 1Ti_5:9 seems certainly to imply such a register of office-bearers at least. It is possible indeed that the “names” are spoken of as entered in the heavenly Book of Life (cf. the next verse): but the use of that image would be far more forcible, if the readers of the Revelation were familiar with an approximate counterpart to that Book on earth.

have not defiled their garments] Which were cleansed (Rev_7:14) by the Blood of Christ, but may be defiled again by deadly sin. See St John’s I Eph_1:6-7; where we are told both of the absolute sufficiency, and of the conditional efficacy of that Blood for cleansing. It seems to be fanciful to inquire minutely what the “garments” are, whether their bodies or their baptismal robes: there may be an allusion to Zec_3:3 sqq.

in white] Son_6:11; Son_7:9. It is idle to ask whether these are the same garments which they kept undefiled during their probation: but no doubt it is meant that their keeping these undefiled proves them “worthy” of those.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis,.... The Alexandrian copy and others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, "but thou hast a few names", &c. or "a few men", as the Ethiopic version renders it; who were called by name, and were men of renown, excellent men, men famous for holding the truth of doctrine, and for powerful and practical godliness; men of great light and grace, and who were known by name to God and Christ: these are said to be but "few", not in comparison of the world, in which sense all the elect of God are but few, though a large number, considered in themselves; but in comparison of formal lifeless professors of religion, with which this church state abounds; and which, if we were not as dead as we are, might easily be observed; there may not only be hypocrites in churches, but a majority of them: yea, these few may be understood in comparison of the greater number of true believers; for in this period of the church there are but few, even of them, that are lively, zealous, and careful, and are heartily concerned for the purity of doctrine, discipline, worship, and conversation; and a few there are, blessed be God, even in this our Sardian church state. God will have a few in whom he will be glorified in the most declining times; and the Lord knows and takes notice of these few; and for their sake the church state is kept up, the Gospel and its ordinances are continued; nor is a church to be judged of by the number of its members, nor is a multitude to be followed to do evil,

Which have not defiled their garments; the Ethiopic version adds, "with a woman", the woman Jezebel. They were not guilty either of corporeal or spiritual fornication, which is idolatry; they kept their outward conversation garments pure, and maintained a profession of Christ and his truths incorrupt; they did not defile it by an unbecoming walk, or by a denial of Christ and a departure from him, and by embracing false doctrines; they were neither erroneous in their principles, nor immoral in their practices; few there, are indeed of this sort. Defiled garments, in either sense, very ill become members of the reformed churches. Among the Jews (i), if a priest's garments were spotted or defiled, he might not minister; if he did, his service was rejected,

And they shall walk with me in white; there is a walking in Christ by faith; and a walking before him as in his sight; and a walking worthy of him, in all well pleasing in his ways and ordinances; and here a walking with him, in a way of special and comfortable communion, both here and hereafter: and this is in white; in white raiment, meaning either in the robe of his own righteousness, compared to fine linen and white; or in the shining robes of immortality and glory; and may be expressive of that spiritual joy which such shall be partakers of, as well as of their spotless purity and innocence in the other world. White raiment was used among the Romans as a token of joy at festivals, and on birthdays, and at weddings, and such like times,

For they are worthy; not of themselves, or through any works of righteousness done by them, which are neither meritorious of grace here, nor of glory hereafter; but through the grace of God, and worthiness of Christ. The Jews have a saying somewhat like this (k),

"they that walk with God in their lifetime, "are worthy" to walk with him after their death;

In the Apocrypha we read:

"Take thy number, O Sion, and shut up those of thine that are clothed in white, which have fulfilled the law of the Lord.'' (2 Esdras 2:40).

This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version,

(i) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 35. 1. (k) Tzeror Hammor, fol. 10. 3.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.

Ver. 4. Thou hast a few names] Though no thanks to the pastor, who was a mercenary eye-servant. Here the people’s praise is the pastor’s shame. These good souls were but few, their names (as one said of the good emperors) might have been written within the compass of a ring. Rari quippe boni (Juvenal, Sat. 13); Diaconos paucitas honorabiles feeit, saith Jerome. Christ’s flock is little. Few received him in the flesh, Joh 1:12; he wondered at one good Nathanael. At his coming shall he find faith upon the earth? Yes, sure, saith one; now he may find many faiths; such as they be; so many men, so many faiths, but few that hold faith and a good conscience together, 1Ti 1:19, whereby they have put on Christ, Gal 3:27; Eph 4:24; Rev 16:15.

They shall walk with me in white] That is, they shall be glorified with perfect righteousness, purity, charity, dignity, and festivity.

For they are worthy] In Christ’s account and acceptation. Like as those were not worthy that came not when called to the participation of his benefits, Mat 22:8.

They are worthy] Non dignitate sua, sed dignatione divina. Or, They are worthy, not absolutely, but in comparison of those before mentioned.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis - See the analysis of the chapter. The word “names” here is equivalent to “persons”; and the idea is, that even in a place so depraved, and where religion had so much declined, there were a few persons who had kept themselves free from the general contamination. In most cases, when error and sin prevail, there may be found a few who are worthy of the divine commendation; a few who show that true religion may exist even when the mass are evil. Compare the notes on Rom 11:4.

Which have not defiled their garments - Compare the notes on Jud 1:23. The meaning is, that they had not defiled themselves by coming in contact with the profane and the polluted; or, in other words, they had kept themselves free from the prevailing corruption. They were like persons clothed in white walking in the midst of the defiled, yet keeping their raiment from being soiled.

And they shall walk with me in white - White is the emblem of innocence, and is hence appropriately represented as the color of the raiment of the heavenly inhabitants. The persons here referred to had kept their garments uncontaminated on the earth, and as an appropriate reward it is said that they would appear in white raiment in heaven. Compare Rev 7:9; Rev 19:8.

For they are worthy - They have shown themselves worthy to be regarded as followers of the Lamb; or, they have a character that is suited for heaven. The declaration is not that they have any claim to heaven on the ground of their own merit, or that it will be in virtue of their own works that they will be received there; but that there is a fitness or propriety that they should thus appear in heaven. We are all personally unworthy to be admitted to heaven, but we may evince such a character as to show that, according to the arrangements of grace, it is fit and proper that we should be received there. We have the character to which God has promised eternal life.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, a few persons even in that polluted place,

which have not defiled their garments; who have kept their integrity and innocency. There is a garment of Christ’s righteousness, which, once put on, is never lost, nor can be defiled; but there are garments of holiness also: hence the apostle calls to Christians to be clothed with humility. As sin is expressed under the notion of nakedness, so holiness is expressed under the notion of a garment, Eze 16:10; 1Pe 5:5. Those who have not defiled their garments, are those that have kept a pure conscience.

And they shall walk with me in white: the Romans used to clothe their nobles, and such as were competitors for honours, in white garments; the priests and Levites also amongst the Jews, when they ministered, were clothed in white, 2Ch 5:12. God and his holy angels are in Scripture set out to us as clothed in white, Dan 7:9; Mat 17:2; 28:3. Those that triumphed upon victories obtained, were clothed in white amongst the Romans. To these usages, or some of them, the allusion is, and the meaning is, they shall be to me as kings, and priests, and nobles, they shall be made partakers of my glory:

for they are worthy; though they have not merited it, yet I have judged them worthy; they are worthy, though not with respect to their merit, yet with respect to my promise.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

4. A few names—Recorded, perhaps baptismally, upon the Church parchments, (the earthly counterpart of the heavenly book of life,) and so here the word denoting the blessed owners of the names.

Defiled their garments—As if one were walking with clean skirts through a dirty world, where the utmost care is necessary to “keep himself unspotted.” Jas_1:27.

Shall walk with me—Along the golden pavements of the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:21.

Walk with—As in a public procession, or as two associates, in public view.

In white—Not here indicating priesthood, although white was the colour of the priest in officiating. But the white of both the priesthood and the saints is an emblem, based on the natural idea of white as identical with purity. The white background presents the strongest contrast to all spot; and the white is associated with the cheerful and exhilarating colour of light, splendour, glory. All these stand in conceptual opposition to blackness, foulness, impurity, iniquity, wretchedness, woe. Hence in the primitive Church the candidate for baptism was dressed in white to indicate the professed purity of his Christian life. To live worthily was to preserve the whiteness of his robe; to commit sin was to stain it with a spot. Here the promise is, that the white garment of a well-sustained earthly life shall be exalted into the white garments of future glory.

Are worthy—Justified by grace, and walking worthily of their high vocation, the Lord pronounces them worthy. Not that the best of our doing entitles us to heaven, but when we meet the conditions of grace, grace graciously pronounces us worthy. Note on Rom_3:27.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But thou hast a few names in Sardis. The "but" (Revised Version) must be added, and the "even" (Authorized Version) omitted, on conclusive evidence. "Names" is hero used in the sense of persons; (Act_1:15 and Rev_11:13, where the Revised Version has "persons there is no reference to the totally different use of "to have a name" in ver. 1. Bode remarks, "He knoweth his own sheep by name, as he knew Moses by name, and writeth the names of his own in heaven." These few are like the few righteous in Sodom. Though they consent to abide in the Church, they do not leaven it, nor does their presence save it: "They shall deliver but their own souls by their righteousness". (Eze_14:14, Eze_14:16, Eze_14:18, Eze_14:20) The word for "defile" (molunein) occurs only here, Rev_14:4, and 1Co_8:7. Its radical meaning is "to besmear," and so "to befoul." That of miainein (Joh_18:28 Tit_1:15 Heb_12:15 Jud_1:8) is rather "to stain," which is not necessarily "to befoul." That of koinoun (Mat_15:11-20 Mar_7:15-23 Act_10:15 Act_11:9 Act_21:28 Heb_9:13) is "to make common or profane." In most eases all these three are rendered "defile" in our version. These few in Sardis have kept themselves "unspotted from the world" in which they live. Neither the corruption of heathendom nor the torpor of a moribund Church has infected them. Their contact with a dead body has imparted no life to the body and no defilement to them. There is no need to press the metaphor and give a special meaning to "garments whether their souls, or their bodies, or their consciences, or their baptismal robes. The metaphor is implied in "putting on the new man", (Eph_4:24 Col_3:10) "putting on Christ", (Rom_13:14 Gal_3:27) where the word for "put on" is enduesyai , "to be clothed with." They shall walk with me. In accordance with Christ"s high-priestly prayer (Joh_17:24; comp. Joh_21:24). In white. This elliptical expression (en leukoiv) for "in white robes" occurs in the New Testament only here and Joh_20:12, and is another small link between the two books. The word "white" (leukov), excepting in Mat_5:36 and Joh_4:35, is in the New Testament always used of heavenly purity and brightness. Thus also Plato, Crwmata de leuka prepont an yeoiv ein ("Laws," 956); and Virgil of the souls in the other world, "Omnibus his hives cinguntur tempora vitta" ("AEneid," 6:665). (See notes on Rev_1:14) As we might expect, the word is specially frequent in Revelation. Of course, the white garments referred to here, vers. 5, 18, and Rev_4:4, are quite different from the undefiled garments just mentioned. The one is the imperfect purity of struggling saints on earth, the other the perfect purity of glorified saints in heaven. The promise, therefore, is threefold.

(1) They shall walk, i.e. they shall have life and liberty.

(2) They shall have Christ as their constant Companion.

(3) They shall be in unsullied glory.

And why? Because they are worthy. The merit is not theirs, but Christ"s, in whose blood they have washed their robes, (Rev_7:14 1Jn_2:2) and by whose grace they are preserved in holiness. (1Jn_1:7) It is because they have by God"s help fulfilled the conditions which he has promised to accept, that they are worthy. The nearest approach to this declaration of worthiness on the part of God"s saints seems to be Luk_20:35 (not Luk_21:36) and 2Th_1:5, 2Th_1:11. But in all these passages they are "accounted worthy" (kataxiwyentev) rather than "worthy" (axioi). In Rev_16:6 we have the opposite worthiness of those who have earned the "wages of sin" instead of the "gift of God". (Rom_6:23) Such persons are literally worthy, and not merely accounted worthy.

The present blessedness of the consecrated life: a Whit Sunday sermon.

"They shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy." This is Whit Sunday, and its very name carries us back in thought to the literal and impressive manner in which the Christian Church of the early centuries was wont to interpret our text when she celebrated the Feast of Pentecost. For it was at this feast so the Book of the Acts tells us that there were reaped for Christ and his Church those famous firstfruits of the harvest of converted men, which in the ages to come Christ"s ministers should gather in. On that day there were added to the Church some three thousand souls, who were all straightway baptized according to St. Peter"s word, "Repent, and he baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." The Day of Pentecost, therefore, became a chosen day in the early Church for the reception by baptism of converts to the Christian faith. On that day they who had lived heretofore in Judaism or in heathenism were clothed in white robes, and gathered in numerous throngs at the baptisteries of the churches; there, with music and holy psalms, and with many elaborate symbolic ceremonies, they received the initiatory rite of the Christian Church. But the most striking feature of the day was the procession of white-robed candidates, and that so fastened itself on the mind of the Church, that the day which commemorated the Feast of Pentecost came to be called, as it is amongst us still, Whir or White Sunday, Alba Dominica, or the white Lord"s day. Those who were on that day baptized had been counted worthy for they had renounced heathenism or Judaism, and had confessed Christ to he numbered amongst the Christian fellowship. And hence they were arrayed in white garments; for was it not written, "They shall walk... worthy"? And it is told how not seldom these baptized ones would ever afterwards carefully preserve their white robe as a perpetual reminder of their vow of consecration to Christ, and at the last, when they lay down to die, they would have it put on once more, and in it they would be buried. But whilst it is interesting to note how the mind of the ancient Church expressed by such symbolism its understanding of this word before us, it is more important to us to get beneath the metaphor, and to ascertain its meaning for ourselves today. And that meaning is surely this that the consecrated Christian life is a blessed life. The white robe of the baptized told them, no doubt, of the character and responsibilities of that life; that its character was to be holy, and that their responsibility and obligation were to strive after holiness, and to he content with nothing less. But in our text it is not so much responsibility and obligation that are meant, but the blessedness of the Christian life. Let us speak, therefore

I OF THE WORTHINESS WHICH WINS THE WHITE ROBE. The few in Sardis who are to be counted worthy are they who, unlike the rest, "have not defiled their garments;" that is, the character, which is the vestment of the soul, and which they had received, they had kept undefiled. For a new character is given to him who truly comes to Christ; he is a new creature, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth him from all sin. This is no mere doctrine of theology, but a fact in Christian experience. For the mind in which we come to Christ is in nature, though not in degree, Christ"s own mind that mind of which his atoning death was the expression; the mind that condemns sin, that trusts in the forgiving love of God, and desires above all else the love of God. Such was the mind in which Christ died, and which was the real atonement. For the mangled flesh of the Lord and the bleeding body had no atoning power save as they declared the mind which was in him. And it was a mind that could not but be infinitely acceptable to the Father, could not but have been a full, true, sufficient atonement, ablation, and satisfaction to his heart, the Father-heart of God. And because, whenever we come really to God in Christ, the movements of our minds are in this same direction, and we come clothed in this mind, though it may be but imperfectly, yet because our mind is like in nature, though not in degree, to the perfect mind of Christ when he died for us, therefore are we accepted in him, and for his sake pardoned, and made possessors of a new character his mind which is the garment we are to keep undefiled, and which those who are counted worthy do keep undefiled.

II OF THE WHITE ROSE ITSELF. It tells:

1. Of purity. "Blessed are the pure in heart." Oh, the joy of this! It is good, when temptation comes, to be able to grip and grapple with it, and to gain victory over it, though after a hard struggle. Oh, how far better this than to miserably yield, and to be "led captive by Satan at his will"! But even this falls far below the blessedness which the white robe signifies. For it tells of an inward purity, like to his who said, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me." There was nothing in him on which the tempter"s power could fasten, and to rise up to this heart-purity is the glory and joy promised by the white robe.

2. Of victory. White was the symbol of this also, as well as of purity. He who went forth "conquering and to conquer" rode upon a white horse so the vision declared. They who had come out of the great tribulation were clothed in "white robes," and elsewhere we are told they had "overcome by the blood of the Lamb." And this blessedness of victory the consecrated soul enjoys. "Sin shall not have dominion over" him. "In all things" he is "more than conqueror." One of the very chiefest blessings of the Christian faith is that it makes the weak strong, and to them that have no might the faith of Christ increaseth strength. Facts of everyday Christian experience prove that it is so.

3. Of joy. White garments are the symbol of this also. And the truly consecrated heart shall know "the joy of the Lord." The saints of God in all ages have found that "he giveth songs in the night." Who should have joy if not the true-hearted Christian man?

III HOW WE MAY WIN AND WEAR THESE WHITE ROBES. Through entire surrender to Christ. There is no other way. If we retain our own will and keep urging its claims, these white robes are not for us. The consecrated life is clothed thus, and that life alone. S.C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Yet thou hast a few names - That is, persons. But though few, they had not separated themselves from the rest; otherwise, the angel of Sardis would not have had them. Yet it was no virtue of his, that they were unspotted; whereas it was his fault that they were but few. Who have not defiled their garments - Either by spotting themselves, or by partaking of other men's sins. They shall walk with me in white - in joy; in perfect holiness; in glory. They are worthy - A few good among many bad are doubly acceptable to God. O how much happier is this worthiness than that mentioned, chap. xvi, 6.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Note here, That though the greater part in Sardis were dead or dying, that is, declining or decaying, yet there were some that kept their innocency, and preserved themselves from error and false worship, from erroneous principles and debauched practices.

Note farther, That these few which keep themselves pure above the rest, are not commanded to separate from the rest. Doctrines crying up purity to the prejudice of unity reject, for the gospel calls for unity as well as for purity.

Note also, The reward promised to such as kept themselves in Sardis pure both from error and vice: They shall walk with Christ in white, like persons of dignity and honour, like kings and conquerors, who of old wore white garments; they shall have the reward of their innocency and uprightness, for they are worthy of it, according to the law of grace, which promiseth it to them: they have walked worthily, with a worthiness of meetness, not with a worthiness of merit; they are therefore meet receivers, though not meritorious purchasers, of this reward.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4. But thou hast a few names. Though the church as a whole is condemned, there were true saints who were commended. Names. Persons. Not defiled their garments. Not been defiled by sin. Shall walk with me in white. In the robes of purity and triumph.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

4. ὀλίγα ὀνόματα. Some understand, from the similar use of the word “names” in Act 1:15, that at this time it was usual for every Church to keep a register of all its members. 1Ti 5:9 seems certainly to imply such a register of office-bearers at least. It is possible indeed that the “names” are spoken of as entered in the heavenly Book of Life (cf. the next verse): but the use of that image would be far more forcible, if the readers of the Revelation were familiar with an approximate counterpart to that Book on earth. It is however perhaps better to understand ὀνόματα both here and in Act 1:15 as simply a Hebraistic expression for “persons”: cf. Num 1:20; Num 1:28.

ἐν λευκοῖς. Son 6:11; Son 7:9. It is idle to ask whether these are the same garments which they kept undefiled during their probation: but no doubt it is meant that their keeping these undefiled proves them “worthy” of those.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou hast a few names. The best texts insert ajlla but between these words and the close of the preceding verse. So Rev. But, notwithstanding the general apathy of the Church, thou hast a few, etc. Compare verse 1, thou hast a name, and see on chapter Rev 11:13. Names is equivalent to persons, a few who may be rightly named as exceptions to the general conception.

Even in Sardis. Omit kai even.

Defiled [εμολυναν] . See on 1Pe 1:4.

Garments. See the same figure, Jude 1:23. The meaning is, have not sullied the purity of their Christian life.

In white [εν λευκοις] . With iJmatioiv garments understood. See on chapter Rev 2:17, and compare Zec 3:3, 5. "White colors are suitable to the gods" (Plato, "Laws," 12, 956). So Virgil, of the tenants of Elysium :

"Lo, priests of holy life and chaste while they in life had part; Lo, God - loved poets, men who spake things worthy Phoebus' heart : And they who bettered life on earth by new - found mastery; And they whose good deeds left a tale for men to name them by : And all they had their brows about with snowy fillets bound." " Aeneid, " 6, 661 - 665

The same shall be clothed [ουτος περιβαλειται] . For ou=tov this, or the same, read outwv thus : "shall thus be arrayed." so Rev. The verb denotes a solemn investiture, and means literally to throw or put around.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.