Revelation 3:15

3:15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. ¹  I wish you were either cold or hot!

Revelation 3:17

3:17 Because you say, “I am rich and have acquired great wealth, ²  and need nothing,” but ³  do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, ⁴  poor, blind, and naked,

[3:15]  ¹ sn Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness.

[3:17]  ² tn Grk “and have become rich.” The semantic domains of the two terms for wealth here, πλούσιος (plousios, adjective) and πλουτέω (ploutew, verb) overlap considerably, but are given slightly different English translations for stylistic reasons.

[3:17]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[3:17]  ⁴ tn All the terms in this series are preceded by καί (kai) in the Greek text, but contemporary English generally uses connectives only between the last two items in such a series.