The Compromising Church at Pergamos

This letter is the third in a series of seven letters written to churches in Asia Minor at the end of the first century AD. In these letters, John gave a personal message from Christ to each church. Each message expressed Christ’s up-close perspective on the spiritual condition of each one. Just as we benefit from other New Testament (NT) letters (e.g., Romans, 1 Peter, 1 John, etc.), we should benefit from these. As we read them, we should evaluate our own spiritual condition today, both as individual believers and as a church.

Some Background on the City of Pergamos

Pergamos was about 55 mi. north of Smyrna and 20 mi. inland from the Aegean Sea. It was a large and influential city that dominated the countryside in that region and was the capital city of the province in that area.

Pergamos was an idolatrous city.

Statues, shrines, and altars to pagan gods were situated throughout the city. Zeus, Athena, Dionysos, and Asklepios. Zeus and Athena were Greek gods that reflected the engrained influence of the Greek Empire in that region. They believed Zeus, the god of sky and thunder, to be the chief god and he was also known for an immoral and licentious lifestyle. Athena was a female goddess associated with wisdom and military victory.

Dionysos and Asklepios were local, regional gods. They considered Dionysos the god of the royal family and associated him with a bull. They called Asklepios the god of healing and viewed him as a snake. Sick people traveled the world to visit the Asklepios Temple, where they worshiped by feeding a live snake. Then they would spend the night in the  darkened temple inhabited by nonpoisonous snakes. If a snake touched a worshiper at night, they believed that Asklepios himself had touched them and they would be healed.

The city also housed a historic temple that honored both Caesar Augustus and the goddess Roma. Shortly after this letter was written, they erected a second temple to Emperor Trajan. In other cities of this region, like at Smyrna, citizens were at risk once a year if they refused to burn incense to Caesar. At Pergamos, this risk existed daily.

Pergamos was an educated and innovative city.

Soon after the writing of this letter, this city would become the birthplace of Galen, a most famous ancient physician, second only to the well-known Hippocrates of Greece.

More importantly, this city introduced the production of parchment, which is what the name Pergamos (or Pergamum) means. This city had developed a massive library that rivaled the great library of Alexandria, Egypt. At first this library relied on the export of papyrus from Egypt, but when Ptolemy Epiphanes of Egypt heard about their growing library, a rival to the library in Egypt, he ended the parchment supply to Pergamos. To counter this move, Pergamos innovated parchment instead, a more durable writing material made from animal skins. This development mirrors the way that new technology replaces old technology today.

A Personal Introduction from Christ

To this church, Christ describes himself as “he who has the sharp two-edged sword,” which he refers to again later as “the sword of his mouth” (Rev 1:12, 16). This draws from John’s earlier and magnificent vision of Christ when he said, “Out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword” (Rev 1:16).

This description reminds the readers of the punishing, conquering power of God’s Word. In Pergamos, for instance, believers lived in the shadow of Zeus and Athena, popular Greek gods that represented the conquest and victory of the earthly empire’s enemies. They also lived in the shadow of ardent Caesar worship. Furthermore, as the capital city of that region, the local proconsul exercised the right to use the sword at will, assigning capital punishment for whomever they chose.

Despite these imposing realities, Christ reminded the believers that he wielded ultimate authority, even over so-called Greek gods and the Caesars and officials of the Roman Empire. John will remind us of this fact near the end of this book in a graphic, universal way when he describes Christ’s sweeping triumph over the nations of the world at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev 19:15, 21).

A Positive Assessment of the Church’s Spiritual Condition

Christ says some positive things about the believers at Pergamos.

They lived valiantly at the center of the imperial cult.

He connects his feedback to some special challenges in their local environment when he says, “where you dwell,” which is a reference to the metropolitan region of Pergamos (Rev 2:13). Christ describes this city as the place “where Satan’s throne is” (Rev 2:13) and the place “where Satan dwells” (Rev 2:13).

Imagine this description in a modern setting, as when you drive into a town or city and read the sign, “Welcome to Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love!” or, “Welcome to Spencer, the home of the annual apple butter festival!” How about this? “Welcome to Pergamos, the city where Satan lives.” That’s how Christ described Pergamos, but what does this mean?

This may refer to a magnificent, oversized altar to Zeus that dominated the city skyline, or it may refer to the Asklepios Temple that featured and romanticized snakes and would have easily reminded Christians of Satan, the ancient serpent of Eden (Rev. 12:9; 20:2).

While these are valid options, it seems more likely that Christ is referring to Pergamos as the center for emperor worship. While other cities also worshipped Caesar, this city had housed a full temple to the Roman Caesar as god and the goddess of Rome since 29 B.C. Because of this detail, Pergamos served as the headquarters for the imperial cult, the state religion that required supreme allegiance and worshipped Caesar as a god.

This interpretation seems even more likely due to the positive recognition that Christ associates with this problem. The church had remained faithful and loyal to Christ even in the face of death itself.

They learned from an exemplary martyr.

Some years before, a believer named Antipas stood out as a witness for Christ and was killed as a result. The Roman empire did not execute people for refusing to worship Greek or local gods, but they did execute people for refusing to worship Caesar and swearing allegiance to the state. So, through the Roman empire, Satan enforced his antichrist agenda by challenging Christ’s sovereignty and lordship through the state.

It’s fascinating to note that though historical records name other martyrs from Pergamos (including the famous Polycarp about a half century after this letter was written), Antipas is never mentioned outside of this letter. For this reason, it seems that he may have been brought into this city from a surrounding community to be made an example of by the proconsul at Pergamos.

Despite his death, however, the believers at Pergamos remained loyal to Christ. Polycarp did the same in that city several decades later; he was burned at the stake because he refused to renounce his allegiance to Christ as Lord. From what we can tell, Antipas was not the only martyr in Pergamos, but he may have been the first.

A Negative Assessment of the Church’s Spiritual Condition

Despite the church’s loyalty to Christ in the face of great pressure from the imperial cult, Christ diagnosed a simultaneous spiritual problem (Rev 2:14-15). Though they remained loyal to Christ and resisted Satan’s influence through the imperial cult, they were also tolerating members giving Satan and advantage from another equally subversive angle.

They tolerated Balaamites and Nicolaitans.

This angle included two groups who promoted or accepted two wrong practices. These groups were the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans. The way these groups are mentioned indicates that though they were distinct groups, they embraced a similar perspective. Perhaps the primary distinction was that some were of a Jewish background (the Balaamites) while others were of a Gentile background (the Nicolaitans).

To understand what these people believed, we need to remember what a man named Balaam had taught in the Old Testament. A king of Moab named Balak hired a prophet named Balaam to curse the nation of Israel as a way of protecting his people from military defeat at the hands of Israel (Num 24). Balaam knew that he could not persuade God to curse his chosen people, so he repeatedly declined.

Since he really wanted the money Balaam offered him, though, he came up with a different plan (Num 25; cf. 31:16). He explained to Balak that God would judge his people if they behaved unfaithfully to him. To bring about this outcome, he encouraged Balak to invite the Jewish people to a festival to their gods, an event which would include immodesty and immorality. Sadly, the plan worked as promised. The Jewish people participated in their idol-worshiping festivities believing it to be a show of friendship, but they were tempted by the Amalekite women and enticed into acts of sexual immorality. As a result, God ordered the execution of 24,000 Israelite men who had engaged in immoral acts. In this way, Balaam accomplished for Balak what Balak could not accomplish through military force or supernatural curses.

From what Christ says in this message to the church at Pergamos, Christians living in that city faced a similar threat. They were resisting Satan’s pressure to swear allegiance to Rome over Christ, even when threatened by execution, but they were taking a more lenient stance towards the worship of Greek and local deities and the cultural but pagan views of morality.

Perhaps the believers reasoned, “Since we’re taking such a difficult stand against the imperial cult of Rome, we can afford to be more lenient with other cultural gods and values.” Though not all the church members lived a Balaamite or Nicolaitan perspective, joining with their pagan neighbors for idol festivals and dabbling in sexual immorality, they were tolerating among them as a group those who did.

Christ urged them to repent.

Christ reminded the believers at Pergamos of his hatred for the kind of teaching that these two groups provided. The strategy of participating in idol worship and sexual immorality (or at least tolerating it in group) would have destructive effects. If left unchecked, the nation of Israel would have disappeared before they entered the Promised Land. In a similar way, if left unchecked in the church, such an approach will undermine the mission of the church and make their stand against other outside forces a meaningless exercise.

When Israel fell to this great deception, God through Moses commanded all who had not participated in the idolatrous worship and immoral behavior of the Amalekites to execute by sword those who did. Balaam also died by the sword soon afterwards when the Israelites raided the land of another enemy, the Moabites (Num 31:8; Josh 31:12).

Thankfully, Christ has not taught believers to promote sound doctrine and spiritual health in the church with a sword (through physical violence or execution) because the church, unlike Israel, is not a political nation (John 18:36). Instead, Christ warns that if the church at Pergamos refused to stop tolerating members who promoted idolatrous and immoral cultural appropriation, he would bring swift judgement “by the sword of his mouth,” meaning that he would speak words of judgment that would have the same net effect of a sword. What would happen, we don’t know, but we imagine that people would die somehow because of God’s judgement on this church.

A Promise of Personal Blessing

Following this stern warning to the church at Pergamos, Christ promised a twofold spiritual blessing to true believers who exhibit their genuine faith by overcome such challenges as the influence of Balaamites and Nicolaitans.

To understand the meaning of “hidden manna,” it’s helpful to answer what “a white stone” means first. Some suggest that these stones refer somehow to manna falling from the sky, while others suggest that they refer to the twelve stones on the Old Testament (OT) high priest’s breastplate. Other suggestions don’t rest on much evidence and are highly speculative.

Two other possibilities seem most able to help us understand what this means, with the second being more compelling than the first. The first is that these white stones refer to a common New Testament (NT) practice of casting stones to determine a verdict. According to this practice, juries would reach decisions about the guilt or innocence of a party by casting a stone into a bowl. A black stone represented a guilty verdict and a white stone an innocent one. Paul describes his involvement in this practice when he, as a member of the Sanhedrin, “cast his stone” against the Christians whom he persecuted (Acts 26:10). If this is the correct view, then Christ is promising to give an innocent verdict to those who were loyal to him in this life, even in the face of persecution. This view may be unlikely, though, because Christ alone decides who is righteous and guilty and he doesn’t cast his vote as part of jury. Furthermore, these stones had no names on them.

Another possibility seems quite helpful in understanding the significance of this “white stone.” In first century Rome, the Empire would distribute occasional food and admission to entertainment venues for free. To access special benefits, a person would have to present a special white stone with their name (or an identifying mark) written on it, much like we use tickets today. Such a stone would grant free access to the food or entertainment on offer.

What’s more, people who achieved victory in athletic events, gladiatorial games, etc. would often be awarded a special token like this as well granting them access to a special feast or event that was not open to the public, like an awards banquet today. This explanation makes the most sense because such stones also carried a name and this coincides well with the promise of hidden manna, too, as a reference to the future Messianic feast, the Great Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:6-9; cf. Matt 26:29; Mark 14:25; Luke 22:18).

The name that will be written on your stone, so to speak, will be a new one, one that Christ will give you in the future that will speak of your close relationship to him. It will be unique to you, a name he hasn’t revealed to anyone else. You’ll be the first to see what it is. How special is that? What will your new name be, the one that Christ gives you?

This promise from Christ provides a strong and compelling contrast to the temptations of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans to admit themselves into pagan worship festivals, like the Israelites once did and like believers were doing in Pergamos. The coming feast with Christ our Messiah will be far superior to any other banquet Satan offers us in this world.

Key Takeaways

Sexual sins are the Trojan Horse of Satan in the church.

That’s why we must resist the temptation to minimize sexual sin. In our effort to remain loyal to Christ in a godless, secular world, it’s hard to take a stand, to stand out, to be different. Yet in doing so, it’s easy to let down our guard in the sexual arena. If Satan can’t conquer our church through doctrinal compromise or turning our backs on Christ to gain what this world has to offer, then he’ll attempt to infiltrate us through sexual immorality. Some of the most exemplary professing believers in other ways have fallen to this sin, just as Israel capitulated at Baal-Peor.

Resist the urge to minimize sexual sin in your personal life. Don’t think about it, don’t watch it, and don’t do it. If that means you’ll be unable to converse about most of the latest movies with your unsaved friends, then that’s okay. At the very least, block out those parts of the movie when you watch it. If that means you’ll need to tune out from popular sitcoms or be absent from certain parties, concerts, and other venues where people are, then so be it – and don’t be that church member who encourages people to do otherwise.

Resist the tendency to minimize sexual sin in the world at large. There’s a lot of pressure, at work, in politics, online, at home, at school, and in many other scenarios and venues to minimize sexual immorality. No matter whether we’re living in the OT time of Moses, the NT time of Pergamos, or the modern times of the United States of America, sexual immorality is always wrong.

Adultery, fornication (sex before marriage), free sex, homosexuality, pornography (whether it’s a whole movie who just a brief scene), polyamory, bestiality, prostitution, transgenderism, drag queens, abortion, and so on is all wrong and always wrong. If we tolerate or engage in such things as a church, these views and practices will ultimately undermine the name of Christ to whom we’re loyal. What’s more, we’ll run the risk of Christ’s swift judgment in our midst.

Your future will be worth the wait and struggle.

It’s hard not fitting in. It’s hard resisting false doctrine and secular pressures, not to mention it’s also hard resisting sexual temptation. On top of all these challenges, it often appears that the unbelieving people around us are having all the fun. The parties, the immorality, the “anything goes” philosophy of life that accepts no clear boundaries and finds their identity in the systems and structures of this world.

Yet don’t be dismayed. If you remain loyal and faithful to Christ, you will demonstrate that you are indeed an overcomer, whether that means you missed out on opportunities in this life, lost friends and popularity in this life, or maybe even died for your faith. In the end, you’ll receive special admission to the best banquet ever, the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and you’ll also be granted exclusive access to the brand new, perfect world that God will make forever. And that new name? That’s got my attention, does it have yours? What will it be for me? For you?

Thomas Overmiller serves as pastor for Faith Baptist Church in Corona, NY and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts. This article first appeared at Shepherd Thoughts, used here with permission.