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Revelation 3

Rev. 3:8 KJV (With Strong’s)

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8

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an openx door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

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1 Cor. 16:9• ⁹For a great door is opened to me and an effectual one, and the adversaries many. (1 Cor. 16:9)

Cross References

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Ministry on This Verse

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I know.

Rev. 3:1,15• ¹And to the angel of the assembly in Sardis write: These things saith he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
¹⁵I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot. (Rev. 3:1,15)

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Rev. 2:2• ²I know thy works and thy labour, and thine endurance, and that thou canst not bear evil men; and thou hast tried them who say that themselves are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars; (Rev. 2:2)

an open.

Rev. 3:7• ⁷And to the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: These things saith the holy, the true; he that has the key of David, he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open: (Rev. 3:7)

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1 Cor. 16:9• ⁹For a great door is opened to me and an effectual one, and the adversaries many. (1 Cor. 16:9)

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2 Cor. 2:12• ¹²Now when I came to Troas for the publication of the glad tidings of the Christ, a door also being opened to me in the Lord, (2 Cor. 2:12)

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Col. 4:3• ³praying at the same time for us also, that God may open to us a door of the word to speak the mystery of Christ, on account of which also I am bound, (Col. 4:3)

a little.

Dan. 11:34• ³⁴And when they fall, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. (Dan. 11:34)

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2 Cor. 12:8‑10• ⁸For this I thrice besought the Lord that it might depart from me.
⁹And he said to me, My grace suffices thee; for my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather boast in my weaknesses, that the power of the Christ may dwell upon me.
¹⁰Wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in straits, for Christ: for when I am weak, then I am powerful. (2 Cor. 12:8‑10)

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Phil. 4:13• ¹³I have strength for all things in him that gives me power. (Phil. 4:13)

and hast kept.

Rev. 3:10• ¹⁰Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, *I* also will keep thee out of the hour of trial, which is about to come upon the whole habitable world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Rev. 3:10)

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Rev. 22:7• ⁷And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. (Rev. 22:7)

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John 14:21‑24• ²¹He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; but he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.
²²Judas, not the Iscariote, says to him, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself to us and not to the world?
²³Jesus answered and said to him, If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.
²⁴He that loves me not does not keep my words; and the word which ye hear is not mine, but that of the Father who has sent me. (John 14:21‑24)

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John 15:20• ²⁰Remember the word which I said unto you, The bondman is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my word, they will keep also yours. (John 15:20)

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John 17:6• ⁶I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world. They were thine, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. (John 17:6)

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2 Tim. 4:7• ⁷I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. (2 Tim. 4:7)

and hast not.

Rev. 2:13• ¹³I know where thou dwellest, where the throne of Satan is; and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in the days in which Antipas my faithful witness was, who was slain among you, where Satan dwells. (Rev. 2:13)

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Prov. 30:9• ⁹lest I be full and deny thee, and say, Who is Jehovah? or lest I be poor and steal, and outrage the name of my God. (Prov. 30:9)

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Matt. 26:70‑72• ⁷⁰But he denied before all, saying, I do not know what thou sayest.
⁷¹And when he had gone out into the entrance, another maid saw him, and says to those there, This man also was with Jesus the Nazaraean.
⁷²And again he denied with an oath: I do not know the man. (Matt. 26:70‑72)

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Luke 12:9• ⁹but he that shall have denied me before men shall be denied before the angels of God; (Luke 12:9)

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Acts 3:13‑14• ¹³The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom *ye* delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when *he* had judged that he should be let go.
¹⁴But *ye* denied the holy and righteous one, and asked that a man that was a murderer should be granted to you; (Acts 3:13‑14)

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1 Tim. 5:8• ⁸But if any one does not provide for his own, and specially for those of his house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than the unbeliever. (1 Tim. 5:8)

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1 John 2:22‑23• ²²Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? *He* is the antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
²³Whoever denies the Son has not the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:22‑23)

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Jude 4• ⁴For certain men have got in unnoticed, they who of old were marked out beforehand to this sentence, ungodly persons, turning the grace of our God into dissoluteness, and denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. (Jude 4)

• It is not the way of God to produce great strength at a time of general ruin. At the era of the return from the Babylonish captivity, the Lord wrought in great grace. There was no outward power. (“Lectures on Revelation 3:7-22: Philadelphia” by W. Kelly)

• Consider what it is to keep Christ's word. It is evident there had been a departure from His word. It might have been circulated; but had it been cherished? Had it been loved and sought into, as for hid treasure? Was it for this thing that men met together to pray and read — that they might understand it better? (“Lectures on Revelation 3:7-22: Philadelphia” by W. Kelly)

• See here the personal links — "my word," and "my name." The name of Christ apprehended by the soul is salvation; but it is much more; it is all. When the heart is brought down to submit to God's judgment of its sin, He Himself brings before that soul Christ's name; when it finds that it has no name in which to stand before God, He says, Here is a name, My Son's name. (“Lectures on Revelation 3:7-22: Philadelphia” by W. Kelly)

• There may be much to try our patience; but what we have to do is to wait on the Lord. This is what the Lord seeks — that we should have confidence in what He is and has, taking the place of weakness and dependence in prayer, however much we may be tried. (“Lectures on Revelation 3:7-22: Philadelphia” by W. Kelly)

J. N. Darby Translation

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8

I know thy works: behold, I have setg before thee an opened door, which no one can shut, because thou hast a little power, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

JND Translation Notes

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g

Lit. "give" or "have given" (ver. 8) and "give" (ver. 9).

W. Kelly Translation

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8

I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door which no one can shut: fora thou hast a littleb strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not deniedc my name.

WK Translation Notes

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a

But surely the better rendering in the latter half of the verse gives the reason "because," instead of "that" as the Revisers say, connecting what follows with "I know thy works," and treating the intervening words (the open door) as a parenthesis.

b

Regarding the meaning of "a little strength, is not "little power" more suitable to the context than "a" little, meaning some? Weakness characterized the Philadelphian assembly, but they kept Christ’s word and denied not His name.

c

There seems no change of moment in the RV in vs. 8, though there is a marked literality of rendering, save that they depart from their usual preterite for the aorist at the close.