7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
hear what the Spirit says to the Churches – the Spirit of Christ repeats this phrase to each of seven Churches, so that we clearly understand this is the Spirit of Christ speaking. In discussing verse 6, we quoted from Irenaeus, who equated the Spirit of Christ with the Word of the Old Testament. This is the correct, and pre-Nicene, understanding of the Spirit of Christ as “the Word,” who was “manifest in the flesh” as the man Christ Jesus.