Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

Praise God!! You may have expected me to make some big announcement following “Praise God,” but why? Does He have to do the things we want or ask Him to do for us to praise Him with excitement?

Before we delve into this study, take a moment right now to offer Him up some praise and thanks for things you’ve gotten used to in you world- family, home, friends, health, a wonderful church family, salvation…

= In Brief =

In the two letters to Smyrna and Pergamum, we get to see Jesus addressing a church that had it together pretty well (Smyrna), and a church that had some serious repenting to do (Pergamum). Let’s remember that elements of our own church and our own personal lives are to be found in these letters. Let us open ourselves up to Jesus’ spotlight on our own hearts.

Smyrna - Jesus commends the church at Smyrna for being spiritually rich even though financially poor, and for bearing up under persecution. Jesus tells them that the devil is about to bring them even more suffering, but He promises to limit its extent. He promises these Christians that if they remain faithful - even to the point of death - and He will reward them with the crown of life.

Pergamum - This church was commended for remaining true to Jesus’ name, refusing to renounce their faith even when one of their own people was martyred. However, they also allowed pagan morality and practice to infiltrate their church. They even had teachers who taught that this was OK. These Christians had a godly faith but a devilish lifestyle. If this church did not repent, Jesus promised to come and fight against these false teachers with the double-edged sword, His own word. To the righteous Jesus’ coming is hope; to the unrighteous it is destruction.

= Notes On The Text =

The Letter To Smyrna (2:8-11)
Today in Turkey there is a thriving city called Izmir. With a population of 2.6 Million, it is the country’s 3rd largest city, is a major center of international trade, is the home of the prestigious Aegean University, has an international airport, and is the location of the southern command of NATO. Izmir is considered one of Turkey’s more “liberal” cities in terms of its values, ideology, and lifestyle. However, when we think “liberal” we need to remember that 99.7% of Turkey’s citizens are nominally Muslims and that that it borders countries like Iran and Iraq.

Izmir has been a wealthy, thriving city ever since 3000 years before Christ! However, once was called Smyrna, and Jesus addressed this letter to the church there.

An important thing to know about 1st century Smyrna was that it was a center of Roman emperor worship. In fact, citizens of Smyrna were randomly called upon once a year to go to the temple of Roma to say either “Caesar is Lord” or “Jesus is Lord.” If they refused to acknowledge Caesar’s lordship they would be imprisoned and executed.

The name Smyrna means “myrrh,” which is quite fitting for this church. You see, myrrh is a spice that comes from the bark of a flowering tree. When crushed, it produces a pleasant aroma. Likewise, the church at Smyrna was beautiful in the Lord’s sight and, when crushed by affliction, gave off the beautiful fragrance of Christ.

Jesus acknowledged the afflictions this church endured in v. 9. The Greek word translated “afflictions” here (thlipsis, translated “hard pressed” in 2 Cor. 8:13) comes from a word that means “crush.” They were a poor church is a wealthy city and suffered the slander of the Jews (v. 9). In fact, their suffering was similar to that of the Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s where their travel was restricted, businesses were frequently vandalized, places of worship were defiled or destroyed, and property was seized. They were humiliated, slandered, harassed, physically assaulted, and their lives were taken. Our generation for the most part has no real conception of what it is like to live in extreme poverty, when a majority is homeless, hungry, and out of work

Jesus acknowledged these afflictions but said that even though they were poor, they were rich in His sight.

“Poor yet rich” stands in direct contrast to the church of Laodicea, which we’ll study later on. That church thought it was rich but was actually poor (3:17).

Unquestionably, “those who say they are Jews and are not,” who were slandering this church, were actual Jews by birth and religion. But, Jesus says, they are not truly Jews. As Paul once wrote, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly… No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code” (Rom 2:28-29, see also Php 3:3).

Jesus called these particular Jews a “synagogue of Satan” (v. 9)

So who were these false Jews? We know from second century writings that Jews in Smyrna were given the opportunity to live stable lives if they would be informants to the Roman government, reporting Christians who would refuse allegiance to the emperor. Informant Jews were exempted from pledging allegiance to Caesar. Polycarp, a bishop of Smyrna in the 2nd century, is the most famous martyr of this time. He was turned over to the government by this type of Jew.

Jesus then tells the church at Smyrna that they are going to suffer some more (v. 10). But the most important words in this verse are “you will suffer persecution for ten days.” We have no way to know what the persecution was, but Jesus promised them a sure end to it in 10 days. God limits our suffering. If God says it will last ten days, no power on earth can make it last eleven!

“The coming persecution might even result in your death,” Jesus said. “But remain faithful. If you do, I’ll personally crown you with life.” The crown Jesus had in mind here was not a royal crown but a wreath that was placed on the head of someone who won a race. Life is the reward for death, if that’s what suffering for our faith requires. As Paul reminded us, “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor 4:17, see also Rom 8:18).

Finally, Jesus promised that if they would overcome, they would not be hurt at all by the “second death” (v. 12). The first death, of course, is the death of the body. It is not eternal for Christians. The second death (discussed later in chapters 20 and 21) is eternal death - the lake of fire, the final judgment for everyone who refuses God’s grace. It was never intended for people; it was intended for Satan and his angels. But people who align themselves with Satan by rejecting God’s mercy, love, and grace choose the second death for themselves.

The Letter To Pergamum (2:12-17)
Unlike Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum was not a major commercial area and was not a particularly wealthy city. It was, however, a major center of religion and politics. It was the first city to openly support Roman emperor worship and became the primary seat of such worship in Asia. Refusal to take part in this imperial cult was considered high treason. Other major gods in Pergamum were Athena and Asclepius, the serpent-god of healing.

Side note: As an interesting sidenote, the caduceus - the traditional symbol for medicine, a rod with two intertwined snakes- was actually the symbol for the Greek god Hermes. But because it became confused with Asclepius, which had a rod with a single snake, it became a symbol of the medical profession.

Yet, these Christians remained true to Christ’s name and did not renounce their faith in Him - even when one of their brethren was killed for his faith (v. 13).

Jesus mentions “the teaching of Balaam” (v.14), which refers back to an event recorded in the Book of Numbers. Assuming you don’t have that story fresh in your mind, I’ll summarize it here so we can get the gist of what He’s saying:

The king of Moab (Balak) offered a large sum of money to a prophet (Balaam) to pronounce a curse upon Israel. Balaam accepted. But every time he tried to pronounce a curse, God prevented it and a blessing came out (Numbers 22).

So they tried another strategy. Instead of trying to destroy Israel through the power of God, they did it through the weakness of men. The Moabite women seduced the Israelite men, who engaged in “sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods.” The result of this was that “the Lord’s anger burned against them” (Num 25:1-3). This whole plot was carried out at the advice of Balaam (Num 31:16).

So now we can understand that the “teaching of Balaam” Jesus mentions was teaching that is was acceptable to participate in pagan rituals and sexual immorality. The church at Pergamum had teachers who taught this. They were called “Nicolaitans” (v. 15).

Whew! Did you get all that? The short version is that the Nicolaitans, like Balaam, taught that it was OK to participate with pagans in idol worship and pagan rituals.

Why in the world would they do that, and why would the Christians even entertain such an idea?

Remember that Christians in Pergamum would have been former pagans rather than former Jews. In times of difficulty, there would have been a strong inclination to return to their roots. We also know that trade unions were common in that day and that religious and political groups heavily controlled the unions. [Some things never change :-)] It is likely that in order to remain employed, Christians were expected to go to pagan feasts that were held by their employers and unions.

At those feasts, animals would be sacrificed to idols and then served for dinner along with complementary rituals. What’s a Christian to do? Stay true to their employer and eat the sacrificial meat or stay true to Christ and refuse to eat it?

That’s where the Nicolaitans came in. They said “go ahead, it’s no big deal.” They probably reasoned, “those aren’t real gods anyway, right? And maybe you can make some coverts there!”

But it was a big deal. As Paul concluded in 1 Cor 10:18-22, “you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons” (study 1 Cor 8:7-13 for an interesting contrast).

Jesus calls them to repent of this (v. 16). That is a very interesting statement. What it implies is that some people were participating in idol worship whom Jesus still considered to be Christians! Otherwise, He wouldn’t have called them the church nor called them to repent in this way.

Let’s be careful about judging someone’s relationship with Christ solely by their actions. If all Christians have managed to keep themselves out of , it’s the only other thing than Hell that they’ve kept out of. We are each capable of terrible things. Jesus has an immense amount of patience with us.

If these Christians don’t repent, God will wipe out the Nicolaitans with the word of His mouth along with those who follow them (v. 16). To those who overcome, He will give hidden manna (the bread of life), and a white stone with a new name written on it (v. 17). White stones were given in courts of law to show that someone was found innocent, black stones were given to those found guilty.

Jesus always provides us a way to be innocent!