Transcript: What does Jesus mean in Revelation 3:16 when he says it’s better to be hot or cold than lukewarm? Revelation 3:16 is a verse many of us have heard: “Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”

So some interpret this to mean—okay, well, let’s just say this: everybody agrees on what hot is. Most people pretty much agree on what lukewarm is. No, they don’t really—okay, whatever, everybody agrees on what hot is. So the question is: what is lukewarm and what is cold? Hot would be like that Christian is on fire for the Lord—this is it by way of analogy, okay? Hot’s kind of like that—like there’s vigor, there’s life, there’s heat coming from your witness of Christ and your obedience to Jesus.

But what’s cold and what’s lukewarm? Is lukewarm a Christian who’s just kind of like sitting on the bench—they’re saved but they’re just not doing much for the Lord? And is cold unsaved? Is God saying, “I’d rather you be a non-Christian going to hell, not covered by the blood of Christ, than being a Christian who’s just kind of sitting on the bench and not really accomplishing much for your life”? I don’t think so, and a lot of people would say, “Yeah, that seems pretty weird; then why does God even save lukewarm Christians?”

In fact, it suggests maybe he doesn’t—he spits them out of his mouth; he’s like, “I’ll make you cold.” Okay, so there’s another interpretation that I think seems better.

And it’s basically saying hot and cold are both good things since the analogy here is about drinking or eating something. Like, let’s say that you take soup—there’s hot soup and cold soup and you drink or eat it—but then there’s also lukewarm, and lukewarm is actually gross. Like here, I have coffee that is quickly approaching the lukewarm stage, and I’d be happy to drink it iced cold or to drink it hot—both of those are positive things; lukewarm is bad. Now the thing about lukewarm is that lukewarm is room temperature, and this could be an analogy of telling them, “You guys are becoming acclimated to the world,” and this church in particular was doing this. He’s like, “Hey, you know, you say, ‘Oh, I’ve prospered, I don’t need anything,’ you don’t realize you’re wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” They’re being ungodly.

They’re being ungodly, and so he wants them to repent and get focused on him so lukewarm doesn’t appear. Okay, here’s a helpful interpretive rule: lukewarm is how God’s describing Laodicea. Laodicea was not a church that was simply on the fence or on the bench—they were a church that had all kinds of sinful things going on and didn’t care. They were a worldly, ungodly church; they had adjusted to the temperature of the world and become lukewarm—they became worldly.

Hot things and cold things pull away from the temperature of the ambient temperature, and they then are useful. So hot and cold might be the same thing—hot and cold in verse 16 could be Christians who were just very different than the world. Hot and cold are effectively the same thing; they’re not trying to give you different things. Others would say, in addition to this, that—and I don’t know if this is true, I haven’t checked into it—but I’ve heard people say that in Laodicea there were hot springs that by the time they got to Laodicea, they were lukewarm. You know, and if you waited further down, they got cold; and further up, they were hot. Laodicea was lukewarm. I don’t know if that’s true; that’s an interesting historical thing if it is true. I can’t remember if I’ve really checked into proving that that’s the case.

So yeah, I think hot and cold are both good, and lukewarm is worldly. And worldly is not a Christian who’s just not as active doing things for God, but rather a worldly person. And they could be—they’re in danger of being spit out. Yeah, that’d be my understanding.

See original video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bIYND1XedY