The Seven Churches of Revelation

The Church at Pergamos

Revelation 2:12-17 (KJV) · The religious and political capital of Asia, thick with pagan altars · 3 of 7

The church at Pergamos held fast to the name of Christ and did not deny the faith even in a city Christ calls the place where Satan's seat is, where one of its members, Antipas, had already been killed. Yet it tolerated teachers who drew believers into idolatry and immorality. Christ commends its courage, rebukes its compromise, calls it to repent, and promises hidden manna and a white stone with a new name to the one who overcomes.

The letter of Christ to Pergamos

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.Revelation 2:12-17 (KJV)

How Jesus describes himself to Pergamos

To the church in the hostile city, Christ presents himself as he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. This is the sword that proceeds from his mouth, the piercing word of his judgment and his truth. In a city where the Roman governor held the power of the sword, the right to put to death, Christ reminds his people who truly holds the sword that matters.

It is a fitting image for a letter about compromise. The two-edged sword cuts both ways, separating truth from error even inside the church, dividing what is faithful from what has been allowed to creep in. Later in the letter he will warn that he will fight against the false teachers with the sword of my mouth. The word that comforts the faithful is the same word that opposes the compromise they have tolerated. Christ comes to Pergamos armed with the truth, and the truth is a mercy, for only a word sharp enough to divide will spare the church from the error slowly dividing it from him.

What Christ commends

I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is. Christ takes full account of how hard their situation is. Pergamos was a stronghold of pagan worship and emperor worship, a place he calls the very seat, the throne, of Satan. To hold any faith there was to live under constant pressure.

And they held. Thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. When one of their own, Antipas, was killed for the faith, the church did not crumble or renounce Christ. They kept confessing his name in the shadow of an altar to another lord. Christ honors this openly. He knows the cost of their confession, remembers their martyr by name, and does not take their courage for granted.

What Christ rebukes

But I have a few things against thee, he says, and the problem is not outward pressure but inward tolerance. They allowed among them those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. Balaam, the prophet who could not curse Israel from the outside, taught Israel's enemies to corrupt them from within, by drawing them into idolatry and immorality.

The same pattern had entered Pergamos. Teachers were leading believers to blur the line between the worship of Christ and the surrounding culture of idol feasts and sexual license. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate. The church that would not deny Christ under threat of death was quietly making peace with sin in its midst. Courage in the face of persecution had not protected it from compromise in the pew. Christ names both, and hates the corruption they had learned to live with.

His call, and his promise to the one who overcomes

The command is direct and urgent: Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. The compromise must be renounced, not managed. And there is a solemn note here: the whole church is called to repent for tolerating what only some were teaching. Christ holds the congregation responsible for what it allows.

Yet the promise to the overcomer is full of tender reward. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Against the defiling feasts of the idols, Christ offers the hidden manna, secret nourishment from himself, the true bread from heaven. Against a city that prized its honors and public names, he offers a white stone and a new name, an intimate token of acceptance and a personal name of love known only between Christ and the one he receives. To the church tempted to feed at the world's table, he offers himself.

Pergamos, the real city

Pergamos, also called Pergamum, was the ancient capital of the province of Asia, a city of learning and religion crowned by a great acropolis. It boasted one of the finest libraries of the ancient world, a famous healing shrine to the god Asclepius, whose symbol was the serpent, and a massive altar to Zeus that some think Christ has in view when he calls the city the seat of Satan. Above all it was a leading center of the imperial cult, one of the first cities permitted to build a temple to a living emperor.

To live as a Christian in Pergamos was to live surrounded by altars, in a city organized around the worship of gods and emperors, where refusing to honor them could cost a person their livelihood or their life. That a church survived and confessed Christ there is remarkable. That it also began to tolerate teachers who eased the tension by mixing a little idolatry back in is a warning as old as Balaam and as current as today.

What this letter says to the church, and to us

Pergamos is the letter for the faithful church in a hostile culture that resists open persecution but slowly gives ground to quiet compromise. It is possible to be brave under threat and still soft toward sin, to refuse to deny Christ's name while blurring what his name requires. The danger of Pergamos is not the sword outside but the stumblingblock inside, the teaching that makes friendship with idolatry and immorality feel reasonable.

Christ's answer is the same as always: repent, and turn back to him. He does not ask his people to leave their hostile city, only to stop making peace with what corrupts them there. And he draws them with the promise of himself, the hidden manna that satisfies better than any idol's feast, and the new name that means they are wholly, personally, and forever his. The Lord with the two-edged sword tells the truth in love, so that his church may be both courageous and clean.

Notice how tenderly the promise answers the temptation. The idol feasts of Pergamos offered belonging, pleasure, and a place at the table of the city. Christ does not merely forbid those tables; he sets a better one. He offers hidden manna, the secret feeding of the soul on Christ himself, and a belonging deeper than any guild or shrine could give, sealed in a name known only between him and the one he receives. The compromise the false teachers urged was really a bargain to trade Christ for acceptance. The overcomer discovers that in Christ he already has a fuller acceptance, a truer feast, and a more intimate name than the world was offering to sell him. To leave the idol's table is not loss but exchange, giving up a poisoned feast for the bread of heaven.

These were seven real churches in real cities of Asia Minor, near the end of the first century, and the letters were addressed to them by name. The church has always read them also as a word of the risen Christ to his whole church in every age, and to each believer who has an ear to hear. They are not a coded calendar of the end of the world, and no date is set here. They are the searching, loving words of the Lord who still walks among his churches.

The other churches: Ephesus · Smyrna · Thyatira · Sardis · Philadelphia · Laodicea · All seven