6  Pergamum: The Worldly Church  (Revelation 2:12–17)

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’” (2:12–17)

For many people in today’s church, the term worldliness has a quaint, old-fashioned ring to it. They associate it with prohibitions against things like dancing, going to the movies, or playing cards. Today’s user-friendly, seeker-oriented, market-driven church doesn’t preach much against worldliness. To do so might make unbelievers (not to mention many believers) uncomfortable, and is therefore avoided as poor marketing strategy.

But unlike much of the contemporary church, the Bible does not hesitate to condemn worldliness for the serious sin that it is. Worldliness is any preoccupation with or interest in the temporal system of life that places anything perishable before that which is eternal. Since believers are not part of the world system (John 15:19), they must not act as though they were. “Do not be conformed to this world,” wrote the apostle Paul,” but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Rom. 12:2). Because they have been redeemed by God’s grace, believers are called to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12). “Pure and undefiled religion,” notes James, consists in keeping “oneself unstained by the world”(James 1:27), because “friendship with the world is hostility toward God [.] Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). First John 2:15–17 makes the believer’s duty to avoid worldliness unmistakably clear:

The church at Pergamum, like much of today’s church, had failed to heed the biblical warnings against worldliness. Consequently, it had drifted into compromise and was in danger of becoming intertwined with the world. That would be the next step in the downward spiral from the Ephesian church’s loss of its first love for Jesus Christ.

Conforming to the general pattern of the seven letters, the letter to Pergamum unfolds in seven stages: the correspondent, the church, the city, the commendation, the concern, the command, and the counsel.

THE CORRESPONDENT

The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: (2:12c)

The holder of the sharp two-edged sword is the risen, glorified Lord Jesus Christ, as indicated in 1:16. He, through the inspired apostle John, is the author of this letter. In this letter, like those to Ephesus and Smyrna, Christ identifies Himself using one of the descriptive phrases from John’s vision in 1:12–17.

The sharp two-edged sword refers to the Word of God. Hebrews 4:12 notes that “the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” The apostle Paul also uses the metaphor of a sword to describe the Word (Eph. 6:17). That the sword is two-edged depicts the Word’s potency and power in exposing and judging the innermost thoughts of the human heart. The Word never wields a dull edge.

This description of the Lord Jesus Christ pictures Him as judge and executioner. Describing His appearance at the Second Coming, John writes that “from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty” (19:15). This is not a positive, promising introduction; it is a threatening one. It is the first negative introduction of Christ because the Pergamum church faced imminent judgment. Disaster loomed on the horizon for this worldly church; it was and is but a short step from compromising with the world to forsaking God altogether and facing His wrath.

The church at Pergamum is symbolic of the many churches throughout history that have compromised with the world. That spirit of compromise was especially evident during the period from the fourth to the seventh centuries. In A. D. 313 the emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, granting religious freedom to the Christians and ending two and a half centuries of savage persecution. He adopted Christianity and made it the favored religion of the empire. That began the process by which Christianity merged with the Roman state. Heathen priests became Christian priests; heathen temples became Christian churches; heathen feasts became Christian festivals. Christianity was no longer a personal matter, but a national identity. The church married the political system, so that worldliness was synonymous with the church.

Today, in some ways, worldliness is still rampant in the church. Churches, even entire denominations, have departed from the true faith and embraced the world philosophically and morally. And in some places, state churches still exist in spiritually impotent forms. Like the church at Pergamum, they fall under judgment by the Lord of the true church.

THE CHURCH

the church in Pergamum (2:12a)

The book of Acts does not record the founding of the church at Pergamum. According to Acts 16:7–8, Paul passed through Mysia (the region in which Pergamum was located) on his second missionary journey, but there is no record that the apostle either preached the gospel or founded a church there at that time. Most likely, the church at Pergamum was founded during Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, when the gospel went out from there to be preached throughout the province of Asia (Acts 19:10). Because the church was surrounded by the pagan culture, it was exposed continually to its allurements, strengthened by familiar sins. It also faced severe animosity from the persecuting emperor worshipers.

THE CITY

Pergamum (2:12b)

Pergamum was about one hundred miles north of Ephesus, with Smyrna located about halfway in between. Unlike Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum was not a port city but was located about fifteen miles inland from the Aegean Sea. Nor was it on any of the major trade routes. Yet, as its ancient capital, Pergamum was considered Asia’s greatest city. The Roman writer Pliny called it “by far the most distinguished city in Asia” (cited in Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 95). By the time John penned Revelation, Pergamum had been Asia’s capital for almost 250 years (since 133 B. C., when its last king bequeathed his kingdom to Rome). Pergamum survives today as the Turkish city of Bergama.

Much of Pergamum was built on a large, conical hill towering some one thousand feet above the plain. So impressive is the site even in modern times that the famed nineteenth-century archaeologist Sir William Ramsay commented, “Beyond all other sites in Asia Minor it gives the traveler the impression of a royal city, the home of authority: the rocky hill on which it stands is so huge, and dominates the broad plain of the Caicus [River valley] so proudly and boldly” (The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (Albany, Oreg.: AGES Software; reprint of the 1904 edition], 226).

Pergamum’s huge library (200,000 handwritten volumes) was second only to that of Alexandria. So impressive was Pergamum’s library that Mark Antony later sent it to his lover, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. According to legend, parchment (or vellum) was invented by the Pergamenes to provide writing material for their library. Seeking to build a library rivaling the one in Alexandria, a third-century B. C. Pergamene king attempted to lure the librarian of the Alexandrian library to his city. Unfortunately, the Egyptian ruler got wind of the plan, refused to allow the librarian to leave, and in retaliation prohibited the further export of papyrus to Pergamum. Out of necessity, the Pergamenes developed parchment, made of treated animal skins, for use as writing material. Though parchment was actually known from a thousand years earlier in Egypt, the Pergamenes were responsible for its widespread use in the ancient world. In fact, the word parchment may derive from a form of the word Pergamum.

Because of its library, Pergamum was an important center of culture and learning. The physician Galen, second only in prominence to Hippocrates, was born and studied in Pergamum. The city saw itself as the defender of Greek culture in Asia Minor. A large frieze around the base of the altar of Zeus commemorates the victory of the Pergamenes over the invading barbarian Gauls.

Pergamum was an important center of worship for four of the main deities of the Greco-Roman world, and temples dedicated to Athena, Asklepios, Dionysos, and Zeus were located there. But overshadowing the worship of all those deities was Pergamum’s devotion to the cult of emperor worship. Pergamum built the first temple devoted to emperor worship in Asia (29 B. C.), in honor of Emperor Augustus. Later, the city would build two more such temples, honoring the emperors Trajan and Septimus Severus. The city thus became the center of emperor worship in the province, and there, more than in any other city in Asia, Christians were in danger of harm from the emperor worship cult. Elsewhere, Christians were primarily in danger on the one day per year they were required to offer sacrifices to the emperor; in Pergamum they were in danger every day. It is likely that the martyr Antipas (2:13) was executed, at least in part, for refusing to worship the emperor.

THE COMMENDATION

I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. (2:13)

Despite the difficult circumstances in which they found themselves, the believers at Pergamum courageously maintained their faith in Jesus Christ. He commended them for continuing to hold fast His name–even though they lived where Satan’s throne is, where Satan dwells. Many suggestions have been offered as to the identification of Satan’s throne. Some identify it with the magnificent altar of Zeus that dominated Pergamum’s acropolis. This was not simply an altar, as Edwin Yamauchi notes:

Such an impressive structure could easily merit the designation Satan’s throne.

Others connect Satan’s throne with the worship of the god Asklepios that was prevalent in Pergamum. Asklepios was the god of healing, and people came from all over the ancient world to Pergamum, seeking to be healed at his shrine. Asklepios was depicted as a snake, and nonpoisonous snakes roamed freely in his temple. Suppliants seeking healing either slept or lay down on the temple’s floor, hoping to be touched by one of the snakes (symbolically representing the god himself) and thereby be healed. Such symbolism would undoubtedly remind Christians of Satan (cf. Rev. 12:9, 14, 15; 20:2). During the reign of Emperor Diocletian, some Christian stonecutters were executed for refusing to carve an image of Asklepios (Mounce, Revelation, 96, n. 36).

Others point out that, as noted above, Pergamum was the leading center of emperor worship in the province of Asia. And the cult of emperor worship certainly posed the gravest threat to the Christians in Pergamum. It was for their refusal to worship the emperor, not the pagan gods, that Christians faced execution. Satan’s throne could easily be understood as a reference to the might of Rome under the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4), blaspheming the true God by the emperor worship cult.

For any or all of those reasons, Pergamum could justifiably be called the city where Satan’s throne is. In the midst of those difficult and trying circumstances, the believers continued to dwell–a word that speaks of permanent residence as opposed to merely passing through–in Pergamum. In modern terms, they “hung in there.” Despite the persecution and suffering they endured, the believers at Pergamum continued to hold fast the name of Christ, and did not deny the faith. They did not deviate from fidelity to Christ or to the central truths of the Christian faith. The faithful believers at Pergamum exemplified the truth of Christ’s words in Matthew 16:18: “I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” No amount of satanic opposition can destroy genuine saving faith such as those believers possessed.

The church at Pergamum maintained its faithfulness even in the days of Antipas, whom Christ described as My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you. Nothing certain is known about Antipas apart from this text. He was probably one of the leaders of the Pergamum church. According to tradition, he was roasted to death inside a brass bull during the persecution instigated by Emperor Domitian. Witness translates martus, a word that eventually became transliterated into English as the word martyr, because so many witnesses for Christ paid with their lives.

Here was a man who paid the ultimate price for his refusal to compromise. Because of his faithfulness, the risen Lord commended Antipas with a title used elsewhere to refer to Himself (Rev. 1:5; 3:14). Antipas’s faithfulness and courage were a rebuke to those at Pergamum who were tempted to compromise with the world.

THE CONCERN

But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (2:14–15)

The church at Pergamum remained loyal to Christ and Christian truth. It faithfully persevered at the very headquarters, as it were, of satanic opposition–even in the face of martyrdom. Yet all was not well at Pergamum. After commending the believers there, Christ informed them, I have a few things against you. His concern was that they had there some who hold to false teaching. While the majority of the believers at Pergamum were faithful and loyal to the truth, there were some associated with the church who came to believe false doctrine. While many in the Christian realm today make light of doctrine, and biblical and theological error are viewed as unimportant, that is not the perspective of the Lord of the church. Our Lord holds it against any in His church who hold to error. Tragically, the rest were tolerating these errorists, instead of confronting them and, if they refused to repent, putting them out of the church (cf. Titus 3:10–11). Like many churches today, the church at Pergamum failed to obey the biblical mandate to practice church discipline (cf. Matt. 18:15–18).

Specifically, Christ was concerned with two heresies being tolerated at Pergamum, one associated with an Old Testament character, the other with a New Testament person. First, some were following the teaching of Balaam. The story of Balaam, a notorious Old Testament prophet for hire, is found in Numbers 22–25. Fearful of the Israelites because of what they had done to the Amorites, Balak, king of Moab, hired Balaam to curse them. After trying unsuccessfully three times to curse Israel, Balaam came up with another plan. Since he was unable to curse the Israelites, he decided to corrupt them by teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. He plotted to use Moabite women to lure the Israelites into the behavior of the godless world around them–sexual immorality and idolatry (Num. 25; 31:16). That blasphemous union with Satan and false gods would debase the Israelites and destroy their spiritual power. Balaam’s plan succeeded, though not to the extent that he had hoped. God intervened and severely chastened Israel, executing twenty-four thousand (Num. 25:9), including many of the leaders (Num. 25:4–5). That drastic action halted the Israelites’ slide into immorality and idolatry.

Like the Israelites who were seduced by Balaam’s false teaching, some in the church at Pergamum were lured to mix with the pagan system (cf. Jude 10–11). Peter rebuked the Balaamites in 2 Peter 2:15–16: “Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness; but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.” But as God severely chastened Israel for such a union, so the Lord Jesus Christ threatens to do the same in this passage. In 2 Corinthians 6:14–17, the apostle Paul points out the sinful absurdity of believers’ seeking to unite with the world:

Despite the graphic example of Israel and the clear teaching of the apostle Paul, with which they were likely familiar, some in Pergamum persisted in following Balaam’s teaching. They believed one could attend pagan feasts, with all their debauchery and sexual immorality, and still join the church to worship Jesus Christ. But that is impossible, since “friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). “I urge you as aliens and strangers,” wrote Peter, “to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul”(1 Pet. 2:11). The issue of whether Christians could participate in idolatrous feasts had been settled decades earlier at the Jerusalem Council, which issued a mandate for believers to “abstain from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication”(Acts 15:29).

Such compromise still goes on today, as people like Balaam appear to speak for God, but motivated by greed and self-aggrandizement they lead the church into sin.

A second heresy tolerated at Pergamum involved a New Testament figure. There were some there who in the same way held the teaching of the Nicolaitans. The phrase in the same way indicates that the teaching of the Nicolaitans led to the same wicked behavior as that of the followers of Balaam. As discussed in chapter 4 of this volume, the Nicolaitans derived their name from Nicholas, one of the seven men chosen to oversee the distribution of food in Acts 6. Whether he became an apostate (as some of the early church fathers believed) or the Nicolaitans, his followers, perverted his teachings is not known. Abusing the biblical teaching on Christian liberty, the Nicolaitans also taught that Christians could participate in pagan orgies. They seduced the church with immorality and idolatry.

The majority of the believers at Pergamum did not participate in the errors of either heretical group. They remained steadfastly loyal to Christ and the Christian faith. But by tolerating the groups and refusing to exercise church discipline, they shared in their guilt, which brought the Lord’s judgment.

THE COMMAND

Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. (2:16)

The only remedy for any sinful behavior is to repent. Repent is from metanoeō, a word used in Scripture to describe a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. While tolerance is lauded in our modern culture, tolerating heretical teaching or sinful behavior in the church is not a virtue but a sin. So serious a matter is it that, should they fail to repent of failure to discipline, Christ warns them I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth (cf. Num. 22:23). The entire church faced the battle sword of Christ’s judgment, the heretics for practicing their heresy and iniquity, and the rest of the church for tolerating it. The change in pronouns from you to them reflects an underlying Hebrew idiom commonly found in the Septuagint; both pronouns refer to the entire church.

The church cannot tolerate evil in any form. To the boastful Corinthians, proudly tolerating a man guilty of incest, Paul wrote, “Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:6–7). Sinning believers should be made to feel miserable in the fellowship and worship of the church by being confronted powerfully with the Word of God. Neither is the goal of the church to provide an environment where unbelievers feel comfortable; it is to be a place where they can hear the truth and be convicted of their sins so as to be saved (Rom. 10:13–17). Gently (cf. 2 Tim. 2:24–26), lovingly, graciously, yet firmly, unbelievers need to be confronted with the reality of their sin and God’s gracious provision through the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Error will never be suppressed by compromising with it. Today’s nonconfrontive church is largely repeating the error of the Pergamum church on a grand scale, and faces the judgment of the Lord of the church.

THE COUNSEL

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. (2:17)

Christ concludes His letter with words of counsel and encouragement. As noted in chapter 4 of this volume, the phrase he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches stresses the vital importance of Christ’s words and believers’ responsibility to hear and heed them. As is the case with the other six letters, the promises are addressed to him who overcomes–a phrase encompassing all believers (1 John 5:4–5). Christ promises three things to the faithful members of the church at Pergamum.

First, He promises to give them some of the hidden manna. Manna was a honey-flavored bread with which God fed the Israelites during their years of wandering in the wilderness (Ex. 16:14ff.). According to Exodus 16:33, the Israelites were to memorialize that divine provision by keeping a jar of manna inside the Ark of the Covenant during their travels. The hidden manna represents Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life who came down from heaven (John 6:48–51). He provides spiritual sustenance for those who put their faith in Him. The hidden manna symbolizes all the blessings and benefits of knowing Christ (Eph. 1:3).

There has been much speculation about what the white stone symbolizes. Some link it with the Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of the high priest (Ex. 28:15, 30; Lev. 8:8; Num. 27:21; Deut. 33:8). Those stones were used to determine God’s will and represented the right of the high priest to request guidance from God for the leader who could not approach God directly, but had to come through the priestly structure. Somehow, God caused those stones to disclose His will in a form beyond just the simple yes and no of casting lots. According to this view, by this white stone God promises the overcomers knowledge of His will. Others identify the white stone as a diamond, the most precious of stones, symbolizing God’s precious gift of eternal life to believers. It seems best, however, to understand the white stone in light of the Roman custom of awarding white stones to the victors in athletic contests. A white stone, inscribed with the athlete’s name, served as his ticket to a special awards banquet. In this view, Christ promises the overcomers entrance to the eternal victory celebration in heaven.

There will be a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it. As is self-evident from that phrase, we cannot know what that new name is until we receive it (cf. Deut. 29:29). Kainos (new) does not mean new in contrast to old in time, but new in the sense of qualitatively different. The new name will serve as each believer’s admission pass into eternal glory. It will uniquely reflect God’s special love for and adoption of every true child of His.

The Pergamum church faced the same choice that every similar church faces. It could repent and receive all the blessedness of eternal life in the glory of heaven. Or it could refuse to repent and face the terrifying reality of having the Lord Jesus Christ declare war on it. Maintaining the path of compromise ultimately leads to judgment.