Apocalypse 2:27
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and as the vessel of a potter they shall be broken,
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- et reget eas in virga ferrea, et tamquam vas figuli confringentur,
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- καὶ ποιμανεῖ αὐτοὺς ἐν ῥάβδῳ σιδηρᾷ ὡς τὰ σκεύη τὰ κεραμικὰ συντρίβεται,
Haydock's commentary
On verses 18 to 29
To the Angel of the church of Thyatira. Here is first a commendation of their constancy in the faith, in good works, charity, patience, and ministry, which chiefly regards their bishop, whoever he was at that time. The heretics, called Alogians, who rejected the Apocalypse, (chiefly because of the clear proofs of the divinity of the Word, or Son of God) pretended that there was not church at Thyatira, when St. John is supposed to have written his Apocalypse. They have no proof of this. This same church was afterwards perverted by the Montanists. See St. Epiphanius, hær. li. p. 455. Here follows a reprehension that they permitted the woman, (here called by the name of Jezabel,2 as was called the wife of Achaz, who persecuted the true prophets, and protected the false ones, 3 Kings xviii.) to seduce the servants of God, to commit fornication, and eat of things offered to idols. There is no probability that this Jezabel was wife to the bishop of that church. Had this been true, the bishop would have deserved a reprehension much more severe than is here given him. Alcazar thinks that by this woman was meant some heretical sect, or the corrupt synagogue of the Jews; but interpreters commonly understand some powerful woman thereabout among the infamous Nicolaites, who by her authority and artifices, brought many to embrace that sect.
I give her time to do penance; and she will not, or would not repent. It is Christ who speaks as God, for who but God gives sinners time to repent?
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, &c. Some understand a bed of sickness, others of corporal death, others eternal torments in hell, where she, and they that sin with her, shall be in very great tribulation, unless first they do penance.
Read on
All the churches shall know that I am he, who searcheth the reins and hearts, which God alone can do. See Psalm vii. 10.; Jeremias xvii. 10.; &c. It is God also who will give to every one....according to his works. See Psalm lxi. 13.; Proverbs xxiv. 12.; Romans ii. 6. and in divers other places.
I will not put upon you any other weight, &c. That is, not the insupportable burden of the Jewish ceremonies, to which teachers of false doctrines would have you subject. (Witham)
Whoever does not give in to this new doctrine of the Nicolaites and Gnostics, and does not approve the deep and abstruse doctrines of Satan, which they teach, shall have no new weight or punishment. Let them keep the doctrine once delivered. (Calmet)
Yet in the faith which you have already learnt, remain steadfast, till I come.
To them who shall overcome, &c. I will give power over or above all nations. This shews that the saints, who are with Christ our Lord in heaven, receive power from him to preside over nations, and provinces, as patrons; and shall come with him at the end of the world to execute his will against those who have not kept his commandments. (Challoner)
End. This alludes to the day of judgment, when the faithful shall sit on thrones with Christ. And he shall inherit the morning star of perpetual bliss, that shall never set.
They shall triumph over all the wicked world, and under me shall rule them, as it were, with a rod of iron, being so much exalted above them.
As the vessel of a potter, shall all their present greatness be broken. To every such faithful servant, I will give the morning star, another expression to signify eternal light, or eternal happiness. (Witham)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Tertullian On Repentance, Repentance Applicable to All the Kinds of Sin. To Be Practised Not Only, Nor Chiefly, for the Good It Brings, But Because God Commands It
To all sins, then, committed whether by flesh or spirit, whether by deed or will, the same God who has destined penalty by means of judgment, has withal engaged to grant pardon by means of repentance, saying to the people, “Repent thee, and I will save thee;” and again, “I live, saith the Lord, and I will (have) repentance rather than death.” Repentance, then, is “life,” since it is preferred to “death.” That repentance, O sinner, like myself (nay, rather, less than myself, for pre-eminence in sins I acknowledge to be mine), do you so hasten to, so embrace, as a shipwrecked man the protection of some plank. This will draw you forth when sunk in the waves of sins, and will bear you forward into the port of the divine clemency. …
St Jerome The Letters of St. Jerome, To Pope Damasus
1. Since the East, shattered as it is by the long-standing feuds, subsisting between its peoples, is bit by bit tearing into shreds the seamless vest of the Lord, “woven from the top throughout,” since the foxes are destroying the vineyard of Christ, and since among the broken cisterns that hold no water it is hard to discover “the sealed fountain” and “the garden inclosed,” I think it my duty to consult the chair of Peter, and to turn to a church whose faith has been praised by Paul. I appeal for spiritual food to the church whence I have received the garb of Christ. The wide space of sea and land that lies between us cannot deter me from searching for “the pearl of great price.” “Wheresoever the body is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” Evil children have squandered their patrimony; you alone keep your heritage intact. …