D. To The Church Of Thyatira (2:18-29)
D. TO THE CHURCH OF THYATIRA (2:18-29)
The longest of the seven letters is written to the church in the smallest and least important town! The values of God are not the values of men. Thyatira was situated between the Caicus and Hermus valleys. This was a good position for trading and the city appears to have been quite a commercial centre. There appear to have been a large number of trade guilds in Thyatira. In fact Sir William Ramsay says ‘more trade-guilds are known in Thyatira than in any other Asian city. The inscriptions, though not specially numerous, mention the following: wool-workers, linen-workers, makers of outer garments, dyers, leather-workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave-dealers and bronze-smiths.’ 78 Over in Philippi we read of Lydia that she came from this city and was a ‘dealer in purple cloth’ (Acts 16:14). The town was famous for its wool dyeing, which may well explain this lady’s occupation.
Unfortunately not very much is known about Thyatira, not nearly as much, for example, as is known about the other cities. This makes it difficult to be certain on some points and we must interpret this letter with due caution. The Christian church may have been small. At any rate no great record of achievement appears to be attributed to it.
18. This is the one letter to use the title the Son of God, indeed the one place where it occurs in Revelation. The description emphasizes the majesty of his Person (cf. Ps. 2:6-9, cited in V.27).
His eyes and feet are as described in 1:14-15. The eyes indicate that he sees all and the feet that he will certainly and swiftly pursue all that is evil, possibly also that he will tread it down.
19. Your deeds are explained as a series of praiseworthy Christian qualities: love, than which nothing is greater; faith, for continuing trustful reliance on Christ is basic; service, for this is what the Master expects to find his servants doing; and perseverance, for steady progress is more important than a bright beginning. This list ends as it began with deeds and it is good to read you are now doing more than you did at first. There is progress in the life of this church, which forms a contrast to Ephesus where the church has just been blamed for having slipped back (v.4). There is much to commend at Thyatira.
20. But there is a Nevertheless; defects offset the virtues. Some relate to a woman called Jezebel, which we may assume to be a symbolic name. Certainly no Jew would have borne it in view of the evils done by Ahab’s wife. ‘Jezebel’ had become proverbial for wickedness. Some MSS prefix ’your’ to woman, which gives the meaning ‘your wife’. This leads to the suggestion that Jezebel was the wife of the bishop of the church. If the reading is correct the translation is in order. But it is difficult to see a bishop as early as the writing of this letter (see on 1:20), and in any case the reading should probably be rejected. Another suggestion is the oracle Sambethe, a female fortune-teller located at Thyatira. A strong objection to any such view is that Jezebel clearly professes the Christian faith.
She calls herself a prophetess, but her teaching is false. Specifically she seduces the servants of God to immoral conduct and to the eating of idol meats (cf. v.14). It seems that we have here the same kind of problem as that with which Paul deals in 1 Corinthians 8, though the pressure on the Thyatiran Christians to conform would have been greater. The powerful trade guilds in this city would have made it very difficult for any Christian to earn a living without belonging to a guild. But membership involved attendance at guild banquets, and this in turn meant eating meat which had first been sacrificed to an idol. What was the Christian to do? If he did not conform he was out of a job. Jezebel apparently reasoned that an idol was of no consequence (cf. 1 Cor. 8:4), and advised Christians to eat such meals. That these meals all too readily degenerated into sexual looseness made matters worse. But we can understand that some Christians would welcome a heresy of this kind. It enabled them to maintain a Christian profession while countenancing and even engaging in immoral heathen revels. That Jezebel was a prophetess gave their course some standing.
We should not minimize the importance of the question at issue, nor the difficulty some first-century Christians must have had in seeing the right course. Nor should we dismiss the problem as only of academic interest since it does not concern us. Every generation of Christians must face the question, ‘How far should I accept and adopt contemporary standards and practices?’ On the one hand, Christians must not deny the faith. On the other, they must not deny their membership of society. The cause of Christ is not served if Christians appear as a group of old-fashioned people always trying to retreat from the real world. Christians live in the same world as their neighbours and face the same problems. They must find Christian solutions. The prophetess and her followers had been so ready to conform to the practices of their heathen neighbours that they had lost sight of the essential Christian position. They had exalted expediency over principle. Had Christianity taken this way it must surely have become just another of the eastern cults which had their little day and perished. The risen Lord points to the very essence of Christian living when he urges high standards of moral conduct.
21. The Lord’s judgments are not hasty. He gives time for repentance. But she is unwilling. She persisted in her wrongdoing and ignored the invitation to repent.
22. The punishment scene is vivid, with its ‘Behold’ (RSV), and its present tense ’I cast’ (so, rather than 1 will cast). The bed (klin
) may be a ‘sickbed’ (RSV) or one of suffering (NIV). Farrer comments, ’The punishment fits the crime - she who profaned the bed of love is pinned to the bed of sickness.’ This is probably the way to take it, though some have thought that the klin was the couch on which she reclined at a meal (she would be smitten as she engaged in idol-worship), and others that it is a funeral bier. Those who commit adultery with her will refer primarily to those who accepted her teaching, though since this involved sexual looseness the literal meaning is not far away. Unless they repent still holds out the prospect of mercy. This is to be noted throughout this book. It is full of severe judgments, but always there is the prospect of deliverance for those who repent. Here they are called to repent of her (not their) ways. More literally this is ’her works’ and the same word occurs in verse 26 (translated ‘will’). They should do Christ’s works, not Jezebel’s works.
) may be a ‘sickbed’ (RSV) or one of suffering (NIV). Farrer comments, ’The punishment fits the crime - she who profaned the bed of love is pinned to the bed of sickness.’ This is probably the way to take it, though some have thought that the klin was the couch on which she reclined at a meal (she would be smitten as she engaged in idol-worship), and others that it is a funeral bier. Those who commit adultery with her will refer primarily to those who accepted her teaching, though since this involved sexual looseness the literal meaning is not far away. Unless they repent still holds out the prospect of mercy. This is to be noted throughout this book. It is full of severe judgments, but always there is the prospect of deliverance for those who repent. Here they are called to repent of her (not their) ways. More literally this is ’her works’ and the same word occurs in verse 26 (translated ‘will’). They should do Christ’s works, not Jezebel’s works.23. We would naturally take her children to mean ‘her followers’ (GNB), except that they seem to have been dealt with already. Perhaps it means her most intimate disciples as against those whose adherence is not firm (Sweet, ’the totally converted’; he sees those who ’commit adultery with her’ as those who ‘flirt with her teaching’). Hoeksema and others see a reference to her literal children, but this seems less likely. They will be ‘killed with death’ which probably means ’with pestilence’ (as often in LXX). This will have its effect on all the churches. They will know that Christ searches hearts and minds (lit. ‘kidneys and hearts’; cf. Je. 11:20). The implication of searches is that nothing can be hidden from him. With an understanding of the function of the organs different from ours, the kidneys are seen as the seat of the emotions and the heart as the intellect. Each of you (where we might have expected the singular ‘you’ in conformity with the address to ’the angel of the church’, v.18) makes it very personal; each will receive a recompense proportionate to his deeds.
24. There is a message for true believers, those who have not been led astray by this teaching. These have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets. So-called is ‘what some call’ (RSV), but it is not certain who are doing the calling. It may be true believers who see the claim of the heretics to knowledge of the deep things of God (which makes them superior to others) as false. Their ’deep’ teaching is satanic, not heavenly; the deep things they really know are the depths of Satan.
But it is more likely that the false teachers themselves made this claim. They may have meant something like Paul’s ‘we are not unaware of his schemes’ (2 Cor. 2:11), and have claimed superior power to overcome temptation. They seem to have held that to triumph over Satan it is necessary to know Satan’s works. Curious as it seems to us, there were some (so far known to us at a rather later time than this) who held that the important thing is to keep the soul pure whatever the body may do. They did not hesitate to engage in grossly sensual practices, maintaining that these concerned only their bodies but that their souls were pure. It could well be that we have here an early representative of this kind of teaching.
For those who have repudiated the false teaching there is a promise, I will not impose any other burden on you. This raises the question, ‘Other than what?’ The answer may be, ‘Other than the burden of Christian service already assumed’; nothing is to be added to the revelation given in Scripture. The words remind us of Acts 15:28-29, and Alford says, ‘To my mind the allusion to the apostolic decree is too clear and prominent to allow of any other meaning coming into question.’
25. This does not mean that life is easy. There is a necessary task to be done. They are to hold on to (‘take a firm grip on’) the thing (singular) that they already have, i.e. ‘the sum total of Christian doctrine and hope and privilege’ (Alford). Until I come turns their gaze to the glorious day when their Lord will appear.
26-27. To the usual him who overcomes there is linked and does my will to the end. My will is really ‘my works’ and contrasts with ’her works’ (V.22, where see note). It is a different quality of life that is demanded from the Christian. To the end, for the Christian life is not a battle but a campaign. Perseverance is important.
The reward for the overcomer is authority over the nations (cf. Ps. 2:8-9), a dazzling prospect but one that demanded great faith from a tiny church. With it is linked He will rule them with an iron sceptre (presumably a staff tipped with iron). The verb rendered rule literally means ‘shepherd’. We usually think of the shepherd in terms of kindness and tender care. But the shepherd was an autocrat. His power over his flock was absolute, and it is this aspect of the shepherd’s life that is in view. Shepherding with an iron rod might denote no more than strength or firmness were it not linked with breaking to pieces like clay vessels (cf. Ps. 2:9; Je. 51:20). Further, it is likened to the gift the Father gave the Son. This seems to show that the overcomer will have a place in the final decisive victory of Christ over the world forces opposed to God.
28. The gift of the morning star might be a further token of triumph (so Beasley-Murray). Or it may be a symbol of the Christian’s resurrection. But as Christ is himself referred to as ‘the bright Morning Star’ (22:16) it is likely that it is the presence of the Lord that is meant. Even though this is an unusual way for Christ to refer to himself this seems the best way of taking the words. The ultimate reward of the Christian is to be with his Lord.
29.
For He who has an ear . . . , see note on verse 7.