Revelation 3:15

ὄφελον ψυχρὸς ἦς ἢ ζεστός. A 1 omit by homoeotelenton.

15. οὔτε ψυχρὸς … οὔτε ζεστός. Neither untouched by spiritual life, dead and cold, as an unregenerate heathen would be, nor τῷ πνεύματι ζέων (Romans 12:11). We might naturally speak (perhaps the Lord does, Matthew 24:12) of those as “cold” who were such as the Laodiceans were, and of course here something more is meant: but that further meaning can hardly be being actively opposed to the Gospel, but only being utterly unaffected by it.

ὄφελον ψυχρὸς ἦς ἢ ζεστός. For the sentiment that it would be better even to be “cold,” cf. 2 Peter 2:21; though there the apostasy described is no doubt more deadly than here. But according to the Greek proverb (Ar. Eth. VII. ii. 10) of a man who sins against his conscience, ὄταν τὸ ὕδωρ πνίγῃ τί δεῖ ἐπιπίνειν; you can instruct and convince a man who has either low or perverse views of duty, but what can you do to one whom sound views do not make to act rightly? And similarly an unbeliever can be converted and regenerated, but what can be done for him in whom faith does not work by love?