Verse 16:[1] Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and (Is. 11:4; 2 Thess. 2:8; Rev. 1:16; 19:15, 21) will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
[Repent] That is, correct the error (Piscator). Be thou not so remiss afterwards: make use of sharper remedies, as thou dost in grave danger (Grotius). The Nicolaitans, therefore, appear openly, with the Bishop indulging, to have had intercourse, and to have performed nefarious rites with a tempting of the faithful (Pareus).
[But if not] That is, If thou doest it not (Grotius).
[I will come to thee] So that I might punish thee on account of thy negligence (Ribera). The same expression as is in Revelation 2:5 (Grotius).
Repent; thou that art guilty of conniving at such things, change thy mind and practice, and let those who have entertained these opinions, and run into those filthy practices, change their hearts and practices; or else I will come unto thee quickly; I will quickly come against thee, and punish thee: see the notes on Revelation 2:5.
[And I will fight with them (that is, thine that follow that doctrine [Ribera]: both with thee, and with them [Tirinus, similarly Pareus]) with the sword of my mouth] By threatening and imposing punishments (Pareus), by speaking a sentence of death against them (Menochius, Tirinus), and by inflicting it (Menochius); by convicting and condemning them (Pareus): even by my word, which all by itself is sufficient to destroy all the impious (Gagnæus). I will rouse Prophets in the Church that will do that which the Bishop neglects, and they will oppose the Nicolaitans and draw the people from them. Christ is said to do what He does through His Prophets, as God is said to fight, when Israel fights, Exodus 14:14, 25; Deuteronomy 1:30; 3:22; Joshua 10:42; 23:3; 2 Chronicles 20:15 (Grotius). It is an allusion to the ancient history. For both Balaam and his counsel were destroyed by the sword of the pursuing Israelite, Numbers 25:5; 31:8 (Grotius, similarly Ribera).
And will fight against them with the sword of my mouth; and fight against them by my word; either convincing them, or pronouncing sentence against them; or, by raising up other teachers, who shall preach my word more faithfully, and whose doctrine shall be like a sword to devour and to destroy them.
[1] Greek: μετανόησον· εἰ δὲ μή, ἔρχομαί σοι ταχύ, καὶ πολεμήσω μετ᾽ αὐτῶν ἐν τῇ ῥομφαίᾳ τοῦ στόματός μου.
Dr. Dilday's Sermon: "A Partaker in Other Men's Sins"
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=62710050533
1) Analysis
a) Context
b) Verse 16
i) A command
ii) A threat
2) Doctrine: When we fail to discipline, it makes us partakers of other men’s sins.
a) Our text
b) Our charge
c) Applications
i) Ecclesiastical
ii) Domestic
Philpot's "The Hidden Manna and the White Stone": 'Another conspicuous feature, which I may name, is His sword. "And out of His mouth went a sharp twoedged sword." This signifies the Word which He speaks with a divine power, for it corresponds with the description given of the Word of God by the apostle, "For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" Hebrews 4:12. By this sword He searches the heart, as He says: "All the churches shall know that I am He which searchet…
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Thomas Boston's Man's Fourfold State: 'There is wrath in the word of God against him. When wrath is in the heart, it seeks a vent by the lips: so God fights against the natural man with the sword of his mouth, Revelation 2:16. The Lord's word never speaks good of him, but always curseth and condemneth him. Hence it is, that when he is awakened, the word read or preached often increases his horror. It condemns all his actions, together with his corrupt nature. There is nothing he does, but the law declares it to be sin. It is a rule of perfect obedience, from which he always, in all things, declines; and so it rejects every thing he doth…
William Tong (for Matthew Henry): 'He calls them to repentance: Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, etc., Revelation 2:16. Observe here, (1.) Repentance is the duty of saints as well as sinners; it is a gospel duty. (2.) It is the duty of churches and communities as well as particular persons; those who sin together should repent together. (3.) It is the duty of Christian societies to repent of other men's sins, as far as they have been accessory to them, though but so much as by connivance. (4.) When God comes to punish the corrupt members of a church, he rebukes that church itself for allowing such to continue in its communion, and some drops o…