THE LETTERS TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES
The Letter to Ephesus
1 “Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands: t 2 I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, u and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, v and you have found them to be liars. w 3 I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name,x and have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. y 5 Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. z Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.6 Yet you do have this: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give a the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. b
The Letter to Smyrna
8 “Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: Thus says the First and the Last, c the one who was dead and came to life: 9 I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. d 10 Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil e is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. f Be faithful to the point of death, g and I will give you the crown of life. h
11 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death. i
The Letter to Pergamum
12 “Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Thus says the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword: j 13 I know where you live—where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, ,k even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witnessl who was put to death among you, where Satan lives. 14 But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, m who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols n and to commit sexual immorality. o 15 In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 So repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly p and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. q
17 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna.,r I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name s is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.
The Letter to Thyatira
18 “Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, t the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze: u 19 I know your works—your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. v I know that your last works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, w who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. x 21 I gave her time to repent, y but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. z 22 Look, I will throw her into a sickbed a and those who commit adultery with her b into great affliction. c Unless they repent of her works, 23 I will strike her children dead. ,d Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, e and I will give to each of you according to your works. f 24 I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known “the so-called secrets ,g of Satan” h—as they say—I am not putting any other burden on you. i 25 Only hold on to what you have until I come. j 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations—
27 and he will rule ,k them with an iron scepter;
he will shatter them like pottery ,l—
28 just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. m
29 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.
2:1–4. On the surface, the Ephesian church appears as zealous and productive as the city. In 2:2–3, Christ commends the Ephesian believers for their works, intensive labor, and perseverance. Under fire from several fronts (2:2; cf. 2:6), they have not stumbled or grown weary in their ministry. Yet Christ has one thing against them: they have abandoned “the love [they] had at first” (2:4; cf. Jr 2:2; Ezk 16:8). There is a sense of tragic irony as Christ walks intimately among the churches (2:1) yet is lost in the busyness of the Ephesian congregation.
2:5–7. Three verbs, each in the form of a command, unveil the process by which Christians recapture their first love: remember, repent, and do (2:5a). The first step toward restoration is to remember the starting point where one’s heart began to drift from God. Reconciliation involves remembering correctly how the offender has hurt the offended, since the wrongdoer must confess the offense and seek forgiveness. Second, one must repent and completely turn away from the pattern of behavior that hurt the offended. Last, the forgiven should do the kind of good works that characterized the love he or she first shared with the forgiver.
2:8–9. In contrast to the beauty of Smyrna, its faux resurrection (the city itself had “died” around 600 BC and been refounded about three centuries later), and its crowning summit, Christ appears as the truly beautiful and glorious one, the true resurrection (2:8), and the bestower of an imperishable crown for the faithful (2:10). As the one who orchestrates history from first to last, Christ addresses a church under pressure and reassures them that their faith is not in vain.
2:10–11. Instead of offering immediate relief, Christ actually warns them that their situation will worsen. Many early Christians experienced exclusion from the trade guilds, property loss, and poverty. Some would be thrown into prison, while others would suffer a martyr’s death (2:10a). Christians should not be surprised if their obedience leads to further persecution (cf. 2 Tm 3:12). Yet the residents of Smyrna are actually abundantly rich in their present faith toward God (cf. Lk 12:21; Jms 2:5). A “crown of life” or athlete’s laurel (Gk stephanos), a symbol of endurance and honor, awaits all those who finish the race of life with faithfulness (2:10b; cf. 2 Tm 4:7).
2:12–13. Pergamum was one of the few cities that received from Rome the “right of the sword,” enabling it to execute criminals at its discretion. Christ’s appearance as one “who has the sharp, double-edged sword” (2:12; cf. 1:16) is a direct challenge to the “right of the sword” exercised by Pergamum. No one has the authority to judge God’s people except Christ (2:16).
2:14–17. Next John identifies someone in the church as the false prophet Balaam (2:14; cf. Nm 22:5–24:25). According to Jewish legend, Balaam advised King Balak to send Moabite women into the Israelite camp to seduce them into idolatry (Nm 25:1–5). Similarly, Christians who eat idol food, particularly during the cultic feasts, are guilty of the same spiritual adultery as Israel (cf. Jr 3:6–9; Ezk 23:35–38; Hs 2:1–14). Those who teach idol food’s permissibility are guilty of the same kind of false prophecy as Balaam (cf. Jd 11; 2 Pt 2:15–16). The Balaam sect at Pergamum was probably a local manifestation of the wider Nicolaitan movement (2:15; cf. 2:6). It is possible they justified their participation in the imperial festivals on the theological basis that an idol is nothing (cf. 1 Co 8:4) and thus cultic feasting was harmless (cf. 1 Co 10:19–22).
2:18–24. The Greek word rendered “fine bronze” may refer to a special metal alloy of copper and a silverlike zinc produced only in Thyatira. This metal is used to describe the luminous quality of the divine Son of Man (2:18). The Thyatiran believers face the same temptation to participate in cultic feasts that the Christians in Pergamum faced (cf. 2:14). A false prophetess whom John pejoratively calls Jezebel has deceived the church into idolatrous behavior (2:20). Jezebel in the OT is the infamous wife of King Ahab, who promotes Baal worship, murders God’s prophets, and persecutes Elijah (2 Kg 9:22; 1 Kg 18–21). The Jezebel of Thyatira is a leader (probably a patroness of a house church) who shares “the so-called secrets of Satan” (a wordplay on her claim that she teaches the deep things of God, 2:24; cf. 1 Co 2:10; 8:1, 4) and teaches the permissibility of idol food. To Jezebel and her disciples (2:23; cf. 1 Co 4:7), Christ warns that he will throw her and those who are spiritually united with her onto a sickbed (2:22; cf. Mt 9:2). He will strike them with a deadly disease leading to death unless they repent (2:22–23; cf. 1 Co 11:29–30; Ac 5:3–10).
2:25–29. Thyatira’s landscape and location made the city vulnerable to constant invasion. To a church whose city had a history of reconquest, Christ describes himself as “the Son of God” (2:18; cf. 2 Sm 7:12–16; Ps 110:1–2), the conquering Davidic king who would crush all of Israel’s enemies with an iron rod (2:27; cf. Ps 2:8–9). To those who persevere, the son of David will share the right to rule the nations with him (2:26, 28; cf. Is 14:12).