Verses 5-6
4. Exhortation 2:5-6
The corrective for a cold heart that the Lord prescribed was a three-step process. They needed to remember how they used to feel about Him, to repent (change their attitude), and return to the love that formerly motivated them. The "deeds" they used to do probably refer to the activities that fanned the flame of their love (e.g., the Lord’s Supper perhaps) as well as their service for Him (Revelation 2:2). To rekindle first love there needs to be a return to first works because there is an intimate relationship between love and good works (1 John 5:2).
"Memory can be a powerful force in effecting a return to a more satisfying relationship (cf. the prodigal son in Luke 15:17-18)." [Note: Mounce, p. 88.]
Eventually the Ephesian church passed out of existence, but that did not occur until the eleventh century. [Note: Swete, p. 28.] The recipients of this letter seem to have responded positively to this exhortation. The site of the city has been virtually without inhabitants since the fourteenth century. The present city of Ephesus is farther west.
"The church that loses its love will soon lose its light, no matter how doctrinally sound it may be." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:572.]
We know little of the Nicolaitans who were evidently followers of someone named Nicolas, perhaps the proselyte from Antioch who was one of the Seven (cf. Acts 6:5). Irenaeus, who lived in the late second century, wrote that they were without restraint in their indulgence of the flesh and practiced fornication and the eating of foods sacrificed to idols. [Note: Irenaeus, Against Heresies, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, 1:352.] The word "Nicolaitans" is a transliteration of two Greek words that mean "to conqueror" and "people." Consequently Nicolaitanism has come down through history as typifying any system that seeks to dominate rather than serve people.
"The teaching of the Nicolaitans was an exaggeration of the doctrine of Christian liberty which attempted an ethical compromise with heathenism." [Note: Merrill C. Tenney, Interpreting Revelation, p. 61.]
"Though they had left their first love, they had not left their former hatred for evil." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. 147.]
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