Corporate Repentance - Robert J. Wieland

The problem with Laodicea is not with its
identity or with its name. Laodicea is not a dirty
word—it simply means "judging, vindicating, or
justifying, the people." It is a name appropriate to
the realities of the investigative judgment that
precedes the second coming. It connotes victory,
not defeat.
The name Philadelphia is also significant. It is
compounded from phileo, meaning affection, and
adelphos, brother. The word phileo denotes a lower
level of love than agape. But "speaking the truth in
agape" and growing "up into Him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ" is the experience
that will characterize God's people as they grow in
maturity in preparation for Christ's coming. "The
whole body" of the church, the corporate whole of
God's people of all ages, will at last make "increase
of the body unto the edifying [building up] of itself
in agape" (compare Ephesians 3:14-19; 4:13-16;
Early Writings, pages 55, 56; Christ's Object
Lessons, pages 415, 416).
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