Being lukewarm in the biblical context refers to a lack of passion, commitment, or wholehearted devotion towards one’s faith or relationship with God. It signifies a sense of complacency or being content with a
Lukewarm means neither hot nor cold. In the context of faith, the lukewarm meaning in the Bible describes someone who hasn’t blatantly denied Jesus but isn’t blatantly living for Him either. They have lukewarm faith; faith in name, but not in action.
You can find what the Bible has to say about being hot or cold in Revelation chapter 5:14-22. We’ll be examining those verses more in this article as well.
To sum it up in a simple sentence: lukewarm faith is faith that doesn’t affect the way you live.
It’s interesting that the term lukewarm Christian even exists, because what makes Christian a Christian is their belief in Jesus, their love for Him. and their commitment to the will of God.
Affections shape our actions. There are several ways to identify a lukewarm Christian but all of them point to an even greater concern.
You become a lukewarm Christian when you allow your love of God to fade.
What Does It Mean to Be Lukewarm?
The church in Laodicea knew this truth well as their deeds were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. God’s consequence, according to the author John, is grotesque: “I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:16).
Lukewarmness is an indifference to God and “a dying of conviction,” says John Bloom. John Piper says this about these verses in Revelation:
Better to be totally outside the church and clearly, blatantly, un-hypocritically unbelieving than to be a compromised believer who puts on all the pretenses…but inside there is no true commitment to Christ and no sense of need for Jesus at all….The picture of the lukewarm person is a person in church who is self-satisfied…and not desperate….They think they’re just fine.
Self-Satisfied, Wretched, and Poor
Sin’s presence means that all of us are prone to drifting. It’s easy to coast in faith like a car stuck in neutral. This caution should be heeded more so by those who have grown up in the church. We go through the motions, and the intensity lessens. The embers turn to ash. A hot faith can become a lukewarm faith if we do not plead with God for a continuous desperation and passion for him.
In the words of Josh Etter, “The essence of lukewarmness is the statement, ‘I need nothing.’ The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied.” Jesus affirms this about the Laodicean church: “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (v. 17). Our natural spiritual state is one of sinful self-reliance. So what can be done to change this?
Hope for the Lukewarm
Though the Laodiceans were singled out for their lukewarm faith, Jesus approached them from a standpoint of love and hope: “Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (v. 19). Like a child who is greeted with the consequences of his or her misbehavior, discipline isn’t pleasant in the moment—no, it is painful. But with time, it yields “a harvest of righteousness and peace” (Hebrews 12:11). It is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), which is a turning away from sin and self-satisfaction and a walking toward our forgiving God.
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (v. 20). Jesus calls us to be dependent on him, to leave our self-satisfied, independent spirits. He invites us to abide in his presence, to take up his yoke that is gentle, humble, and full of rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-30). He beckons us to be satisfied in him.
Thinking we need nothing — lukewarmness — surely precedes a harsh fall (Proverbs 16:18), and we can’t fix a lukewarm heart on our own. But Christ intervenes and delights to change us from the inside out.