Revelation 2 Footnotes

2:1–3:22 Some have held that the seven churches chosen to receive mini-letters represent seven stages in church history. But given the different interpretations of these stages, it is unlikely the view has validity. More likely, the churches were chosen because of the lessons they provide for “all the churches” (2:23). In general, each letter includes the following elements: (1) a description of the risen Christ drawn from the vision in 1:12-18; (2) commendation of the church; (3) rebuke of the church’s shortcomings (although there is no criticism of the churches at Smyrna and Philadelphia) and instruction about how to correct them; (4) a command to “listen to what the Spirit says to the churches”; and (5) promises to the persevering spiritual “one who conquers” (Gk nikao, “to win, conquer”).

2:1-7 A timeless concern facing the church at Ephesus was dead orthodoxy. Though commended for persevering in zeal for proper belief (vv. 2-3), these church members had left the “love” they had “at first” (v. 4). This probably means love for God, since the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all one’s being (Dt 6:5; Mt 22:36-38). Having “fallen” (Rv 2:5) does not mean losing one’s salvation, though ceasing to love God is a serious spiritual matter requiring soul-searching repentance. The significance of the Nicolaitans (v. 6) is clarified in the letters to the churches at Pergamum (vv. 14-15) and Thyatira (vv. 20-21,24).

2:8-11 The church at Smyrna, against whom Christ voiced no criticism, was facing suffering related to spiritual warfare and imprisonment for their faith. A local Jewish synagogue was making blasphemous charges (v. 9) that would result in church members being thrown in jail for a short time (“ten days”) and causing some to die (v. 10). They “say they are Jews and are not” does not deny the Jewish lineage of the persecutors but instead mirrors Paul’s assertion that, ultimately, Jewishness is not just outward but inward, related to the circumcision of the heart by faith (Rm 2:28-29).

2:12-17 In the church at Pergamum, things were worse than at Smyrna. Though the church members seem to have been facing similar spiritual warfare from Satan (v. 13), a faithful one named Antipas had already died (v. 13). Also, a viewpoint called the teaching of Balaam (v. 14; see Nm 22–25), which is equated with the teaching of the Nicolaitans (Rv 2:15), had a strong foothold in the church. Those involved were to repent of their sinful behavior of eating things sacrificed to idols and engaging in immorality (v. 14).

2:18-29 In the church at Thyatira, things had reached a crisis point. A false prophetess, called Jezebel (v. 20), had involved her followers in the same sins as those infecting the church at Pergamum (vv. 14,20). Here this view/lifestyle is unmasked as the “so-called secrets of Satan” (v. 24). This false belief and behavior originated with the devil. As discipline for this waywardness, there would be maximized suffering (the Gk is thlipsis megale, “great affliction,” which refers to the end of the age in 7:14), which serves as a dire warning to “all the churches” (v. 23). The strong parallels between Jezebel and Babylon, the great harlot, in chaps. 17–18, as well as the startling usage of “great tribulation” (v. 22), suggests Jezebel was a first-century preview of Babylon the Great.