I know your works: see the comments at 2.2.

Behold: see 1.7.

The Greek text, as punctuated in the United Bible Societies’ (UBS) Greek New Testament, sets off within dashes the clause “Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut” (New Revised Standard Version; American Standard Version [American Standard Version] and New American Bible, Revised use parentheses), because the sense of the sentence is I know your works … that you have but little power…. In order to make this connection, Revised Standard Version and others repeat “I know” (so Revised English Bible, Translator’s New Testament, New Jerusalem Bible, New International Version); Good News Translation, on the other hand, restructures the sentence, placing the statement about “the door” at the end (also Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Nova Tradução na Linguagem de Hoje), inasmuch as the open door comes as a result of the people’s faithfulness. Translators will decide which model is better for their languages.

I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut: the door is a figure for an opportunity for service or for preaching the gospel (see 1 Cor 16.9; 2 Cor 2.12; Col 4.3), and many see that as its meaning here. But here it can indicate free entrance into the Messianic kingdom, which no one will be able to block. Again the translator is to avoid the temptation to make the meaning of the figure explicit, unless it is likely to be misunderstood. In that case one may say “a door of opportunity.”

Instead of the literal “I have set an open door in front of you,” it may be better to say “I have opened a door in front of you” (Good News Translation, Bible en français courant); Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch has “I have opened a door for you.” The word in Greek translated open is not an adjective as such but the perfect passive participle of the verb “to open”: “an opened door,” “a door that has been opened and remains open” (opened either by God or by the glorified Christ).

I know that you have but little power: here the little power the Christians at Philadelphia have is their influence in the community. The church is small, and few members, if any, have any prestige in their hometown. (In 2.26 Revised Standard Version “power” translates a different Greek word.) So one may render this clause as “I know that you do not have much prestige,” or idiomatically as “… do not have much face.”

And yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name: Revised Standard Version has translated the initial Greek kai and yet (also New International Version, New American Bible, Revised, Bible en français courant), which agrees with the context. This should be included in the translation. Despite their lack of power the Christians in Philadelphia have been faithful to Christ. The verbal phrase have kept my word means “have followed my teaching,” “have obeyed my commands.” Phillips translates “have been faithful to my message,” and Barclay “have been obedient to my instructions.”

And have not denied my name: see the similar “did not deny my faith” in 2.13; for my name see 2.3. This means “you have not disowned me,” “you have not renounced your faith in me,” “you have not said that you do not believe in me,” or “you have not said, ‘I don’t believe in Jesus (Christ),’ ” that is, “you have not apostatized.” For the same verb “deny” see Matt 10.33; Luke 12.9; 2 Peter 2.1; Jude 4.

Alternative translation models for this verse are:

• I know the life you live. I know that you have only a little prestige. You have obeyed (or, followed) my commands and have not said that you do not know me. Look, I have opened a door in front of you which no one is able to shut.

Or:

• I know the things that you do. I know that you do not have much face. You have followed my teaching and have never said, “I don’t know Jesus.” I have opened a door in front of you which no one is able to shut.

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 .