But I have this against you: this is a word of censure. The phrase “to have against” reflects quite faithfully the Greek idiom, which is carried over also into Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Otherwise something like “But there is something in you I disapprove of” can be used, or “But I have this criticism to make of you,” or “But I must scold you about something.”

You have abandoned the love you had at first: this love may be their love for one another as Christians, or their love for Christ. Some commentators point out that the praise lavished on them in verses 2-3 assumes that they had continued to love Christ with the same fervor they had had at the first. Some translations (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje) explicitly have Christ as the object of that love; most commentators, however, favor the fellow believers as the object of their love (so Moffatt). This kind of love expresses itself in helping one another in the Christian life, in being loyal to one another, and acting always in the best interests of the whole body of believers. Traduction œcuménique de la Bible has “the fervor,” that is, the enthusiasm they had shown when they first became Christians. On the translation of love see 1.5b.

At first: this means “when you became Christians,” “at the beginning of your Christian life,” or even “when you first believed in me.”

In translating this passage, if a noun for “love” is used, no object is usually required; for example, “your love” or “the love you had.” But if an event word is used (which is generally preferable), it is recommended that something like the following be said: “you no longer love one another as you did when you became Christians” or “your hearts (or, livers) are no longer warm towards one another….”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• But I must scold (or, criticize) you about this: you no longer love your fellow Christians as you did when you first believed in me.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Revelation to John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .