church for their deeds (2:2, 19; 3:1, 8, 15), further defined as (1) labor or hard work, and (2) perseverance or endurance. Their hard work includes maintaining doctrinal purity (2:2). This church does not tolerate wicked or evil people but critically examines these false apostles (see also v. 6). In this context, the term “apostle” refers to representatives or messengers from a sending church (e.g., 1 Cor. 12:28; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). The church at Ephesus had tested some of these traveling