Pergamos: The Compromising Church

Hook:

The Pergamos church was known for its toleration of sin. One cannot tolerate sin in their life without it affecting their spiritual life. The same is true for churches. A compromising church will lose it influence and power. The person and the church should be characterized by showing mercy for the sinner and having a healthy hatred of sin and its effects.

Recap:

Revelation is a 3 different literary styles: prophetic, epistle, and apocalyptic. Chapter one is comprised of things that were, and chapters 2 and 3 are things that are. Chapter 4 to 22 are things which are to come.

vv. 12-13) The church

Background on Pergamos:

Pergamos: was the political capital of the Roman Province of Asia Minor. Pergamos was located 50 miles north of Smyrna. And around the time that this letter was written Pergamos had been the capital city of the region for more then three hundred years. The city was a noted center for culture and education, having one of the great libraries of the ancient world, with more than 200,000 volumes.

Like Smyrna, Pergamos was an extremely religious city. It had temples to Dionysus, Athena, Demeter, and Zeus. It also had three temples dedicated to the worship of the Romand Emperor. Some 50 years prior Smyrna won the honor of building the first temple to Tiberius , Pergamos won the right to build the first temple to worship Caesar Augustus in this province.

[12] Why is it important for this church to know that Jesus, “who has the sharp two-edged sword?

This is a reference back to:

Revelation 1:16 NKJV

16 He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength.

The Word of God is often described in the Bible as a sword. And this reference should remind us of the passage in Hebrews 4:12.

Hebrews 4:12 NKJV

12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Jesus will confront this church with His Word, and they will feel the sharpness of the edges, as He will judge evildoers in the assembly. He will be using the sword to make some separation among the Christians in Pergamos.

[13] Throughout our time studying the seven churches found in chapter 2-3 we are always reminded that Jesus knows their works. As He knows our works too. The omniscience of God doesn’t stop there it goes some much further. He knows our works, He knows our dwellings (the culture, our family dynamics, name it He knows it), He knows if we are steadfast or have denied Him too.

Jesus praises them because they did not deny His faith. It is alway important to make sure that the faith we hold to is the faith that belongs to Jesus Christ, and not anything else.

What do you suppose “Where Satan dwells,” means?

There are five plausible interpretations:

an allusion to Pergamum as the center of the pagan religion in general.

The acropolis itself, which looked like a great throne when viewed by a traveler approaching from smyrna.

A reference to the throne-like altar of Zeus Soter.

A reference to the Aesculapian occult, particularly because of its identification of Aesculapius as “the savior.” (Snake cult) Aes•cu•la•pi•an

The city’s reputation as a center for emperor worship.

At the end of the day the day generally speaking it wouldn’t be far off to think that all of these features contributed to a general sense of the presence and power of Satan.

Despite the fact that they lived in such a godless and difficult city, the Christians in Pergamos held fast to their faith in Jesus.

Antipas: This one specific man among the Christians of Pergamos received a very precious title (faithful martyr) now the greek word for martyr means witness. And it is the same title that is given to Jesus in Revelation 1:5

Revelation 1:5 NKJV

5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

Why we translate it to martyr is because almost everyone believes that he was killed for his witness. It has the implication of, “this is true, and I know it.” His name even means “against all.” And he stood against the attacks and the evil around him.

vv. 14-15) The complaint

[14] Again it is important that thought these Christians were doing some good things, it didn’t negate the bad things they were apart of.

What was the teaching of Balaam they held to?

According to Numbers 22-24 and 31, Balaam combined the sins of immorality and idolatry to please Balak, King of Moab, because he could not curse Israel directly. This church had tendencies toward both idolatry and immorality. Balaam was a prototype of all corrupt teachers

Sexual immorality marked the whole culture of the ancient Roman Empire. It was simply taken for granted, and the person who lived by Biblical standards of purity were considered strange. To paraphrase the Roman statesman Cicero,

“If there is anyone who thinks that young men should not be allowed the love of many women, he is extremely severe. I am no able to deny the principle he stand on. But he contradicts, not only with the freedom our age allows, but also with the customs and allowances of our ancestors. when indeed was this not done? When did anyone find fault with it? When was such permission denied? When was it that what is now allowed was not allowed?”

The Nicolaitans: We have also about this group in the beginning of this chapter dealing with the church in Ephesus, where they hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans. But the Nicolaitans also had their doctrine, and some among them the Christians here held to that doctrine too. We are not entirely sure what their doctrine was but we had some insight:

Irenaeus (writing in the late second century) described what he knew of them: “The Nicolaitanes are the followers of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is plainly pointed out in Apocalypse of John, as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.”

Why do you suppose this church struggled with immorality and idolatry?

The Christians in Pergamos were like the Christians in Corinth as Paul wrote to them in:

1 Corinthians 5:1–9 NKJV

1 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! 2 And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. 6 Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? 7 Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 9 I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

They were to tolerant and accepting of false doctrines and immoral living, and Jesus had to rebuke them. Satan couldn’t accomplish much by persecution, because many did hold fast, like Antipas. So satan tried to accomplish his goals by using deception. The strategy was first of violence, then of alliance.

A difficult environment never justifies compromise. It is easy for a church in such difficulty to justify this compromise in the name of “we need to all the help we can get”—but no church needs that kind of help.

v. 16) The choice

a. Repent: The simple word repent stands out. Five of the seven churches are commanded to repent. Repent is a command that applies to Christians, not only to those who first come to Jesus.

b. Or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth: Unless they do repent, the Christians of Pergamos would face the Jesus who has the two-edged sword. Judgment will begin at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).

1 Peter 4:17 NKJV

17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

i. The sword of My mouth: When Jesus came against the Christians of Pergamos, He will confront them with His Word.

v. 17) The Compensation

a. To him who overcomes: The one who overcomes this spirit of accommodation to false teaching and living will receive hidden manna. This is God’s perfect provision, the true bread from heaven (John 6:41).

John 6:41 NKJV

41 The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.”

b. And I will give him a white stone: In the ancient world, the use of a white stone had many associations. A white stone could be a ticket to a banquet, a sign of friendship, evidence of having been counted, or as a sign of acquittal in a court of law. Jesus may have any one of these meanings in mind, but at the very least we know that it has the assurance of blessing.

i. Adam Clarke wrote: “Others suppose there is an allusion here to conquerors in the public games, who were not only conducted with great pomp into the city to which they belonged, but had a white stone given to them, with their name inscribed on it; which badge entitled them, during their whole life, to be maintained at the pubic expense… These were called tesserae among the Romans, and of these there were several kinds.” Clarke then gives examples of the different kinds: “Tesserae conviviales, which answered exactly to our cards of invitation, or tickets of admission to a public feast or banquet; when the person invited produced his tessera he was admitted… But the most remarkable of these instruments were the Tesserae hospitales, which were given as badges of friendship and alliance, and on which some device was engraved, as a testimony that a contract of friendship had been made between the parties.”

c. And on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it: What is the meaning of this new, secret name promised to him who overcomes? Is it God’s name, or is it the believer’s name? This is probably the believer’s new name, and the name itself is probably more important than the stone itself.

i. One idea behind this new, secret name is that it shows what an intimate relationship we have with God. When a couple is close, they often have “pet names” for each other. This is probably the same idea.

ii. Another idea associated with the new name is simply the assurance it gives of our heavenly destination. Your name is there, waiting for you. It is as if your “reservation” in heaven is made.