“I know thy workes, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not beare them which are euil, and thou hast tried them which say they are Apostles, and are not, and hast found them lyers:”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
2:2 I know - Jesus knows all the good and all the evil, which his servants and his enemies suffer and do. Weighty word, I know, how dreadful will it one day sound to the wicked, how sweet to the righteous! The churches and their angels must have been astonished, to find their several states so exactly described, even in the absence of the apostle, and could not but acknowledge the all - seeing eye of Christ and of his Spirit. With regard to us, to every one of us also he saith, I know thy works. Happy is he that conceives less good of himself, than Christ knows concerning him. And thy labour - After the general, three particulars are named, and then more largely described in an inverted order, Thy labour Thy patience: Thou canst not bear evil men: Thou hast patience: Thou hast tried those who say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars. Thou hast borne for my name's sake and hast not fainted. And thy patience - Notwithstanding which thou canst not bear that incorrigibly wicked men should remain in the flock of Christ. And thou hast tried those who say they are apostles, and are not - For the Lord hath not sent them.
Re 2:2 I know thy works. The manner of life of the church. There was much to commend. And thy patience. Rather, endurance. Perseverance in the face of difficulties. Thou hast tried them which say they are apostles. False teachers, who made false claims. Every age of revolution throws up such false teachers. We often find traces of them in the epistles. 1Jo 4:1,2 shows how to test them. The Ephesian church had put them to the test and rejected them.