At that time, there was no ice to cool the water to be mixed with wine.

May God bless us all and keep us on the path of righteousness.

Where is the best explanation of the letter to the church in Laodicea?

For the most part a good commentary. I do believe, however that you have cherry picked verses to prove your point while ignoring other verses which disprove it. A good example here is saved by faith. While this is in the Bible, it also says you are saved by your works. It’s not an either/or but a both/and. See James 2:6, Matt 5:43-45, Matt 19:16-23, Matt 5:48, Rev
3:1-5. Jesus clearly states over and over that faith alone isn’t enough. In the example of the young man who has faithfully followed everything…Jesus tells him to perform a work, go and sell all that you own. Is it your position that this isn’t a work? If the Lord Himself tells us that we must work toward our salvation, then I think we should take Him at His word. It’s not that you “earn” salvation for we could never earn that gift that was freely given, but we must cooperate with the Lord towards our salvation which includes both faith AND works.

As far as the idea that a lukewarm Christian isn’t as bad as one who doesn’t know or outright rejects the Lord. I couldn’t disagree with you more. To know Jesus and then to fall flat, to only go half in is WAY worse than not knowing or rejecting Him. After all, if you know Jesus is God and you profess this and you still are only half in…what does that say about you? It’s not that Christians become perfect, it’s that we come before Him as sinners and strive with our whole heart to follow Him. If you’re only in it for the paycheck, then you are the worst kind of Christian and this is what Jesus is talking about.

I wish you blessings on your faith journey. Keep studying, keep praying. Read the church fathers.

God bless !

Thanks!

Wonderful commentary full of power.Am born again but in need of more spiritual food.