HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  1.17 Fell…as though dead. The fright of the seer is a stock motif of epiphanies narrated in vision reports (see Isa 6.5; Ezek 1.28; Dan 8.17; Lk 24.5). The first and the last, a divine title derived from Second Isaiah (Isa 41.4; 44.6; 48.12); see note on 1.8.

  1.18 Keys of Death and of Hades, i.e., the keys to Death and Hades (as to a door); because Christ was dead but is now alive forever, he controls them. In Anatolia, in Hellenistic and Roman times, there was a widespread belief that the Greek underworld goddess Hekate possessed the keys to Hades.

  1.19 Some have taken this as a three-part general outline of Revelation: what you have seen (1.9–20), what is (2.1–3.22), and what is to take place after this (4.1–22.5). Since 4.1–22.5 refers to the past and the future, however, one should see this as a logical division of the subject (not the book) into past, present, and future.

  1.20 Angels of the seven churches, later referred to individually (2.1, 8, 12, 18; 3.1, 7, 14), are the heavenly counterparts of the earthly Christian communities.

  The seven churches addressed in the book of Revelation were in the cities underlined on the map, all in the Roman province of Asia (Rev 1.4).

  Revelation 2

  The Message to Ephesus

  1“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

  2“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. 3I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. 4But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. 5Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. 6Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.

  The Message to Smyrna

  8“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:

  9“I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death.

  The Message to Pergamum

  12“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:

  13“I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in mea even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. 14But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. 15So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.

  The Message to Thyatira

  18“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:

  19“I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. 20But I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servantsb to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 21I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. 22Beware, I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; 23and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve. 24But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call ‘the deep things of Satan,’ to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden; 25only hold fast to what you have until I come. 26To everyone who conquers and continues to do my works to the end,

  I will give authority over the nations;

  27to rulec them with an iron rod,

  as when clay pots are shattered—

  28even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who conquers I will also give the morning star. 29Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

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  a Or deny my faith

  b Gk slaves

  c Or to shepherd

  2.1–3.22 The messages to the seven churches are not in the form of ancient letters (see 1.4–5a) but rather resemble the edicts and decrees issued by Persian and Greek kings and Roman emperors. Each proclamation consists of eight stereotypical features: (1) destination, (2) the command to write, (3) the archaic “thus says” formula (these are the words of), (4) titles of Christ (largely based on the vision in 1.9–20), (5) the “I know” narrative, (6) admonitions and exhortations, (7) the proclamation formula (let anyone who has an ear listen), and (8) the victory formula (whoever conquers and similar phrases). Moral exhortation, present implicitly if not explicitly in apocalypses, permeates these proclamations.

  2.1 Ephesus, largest city of the Roman province of Asia, seat of the proconsul, and an important early Christian center (Acts 18.19–28; 19.1; 20.16–17; 1 Cor 15.32; 1 Tim 1.3).

  2.2 Tested suggests that visiting missionaries were expected to measure up to certain expectations in teaching and behavior (1 Thess 5.21; 1 Jn 4.1–3; Didache 11). Apostles, a general term for itinerant missionaries (Acts 14.4, 14; Rom 16.7; 2 Cor 8.23; Didache 11.3–6) rather than a technical term for the twelve apostles.

  2.5 I will…remove your lampstand (see 1.12, 20), a threat to obliterate the Ephesian church as a Christian community; i.e., a symbolic action carried out in heaven has earthly consequences.

  2.6 Nicolaitans, an otherwise unknown Christian sect found in Ephesus and Pergamum (see v. 15), possibly identical to the false apostles of v. 2 and with Jezebel and her followers in Thyatira (vv. 20–23), and often thought to be Gnostics (though the evidence is slim).

  2.7 The content of all seven proclamations is attributed to the Spirit, who speaks through Christ to John, suggesting a prophetic model. Eat from the tree of life, a metaphor for salvation or eternal life (Gen 3.22–24; 1 Enoch 25.4–6; Testament of Levi 18.11). Access to the tree was denied to Adam and Eve (Gen 3.24) but will be available to the righteous (Rev 22.2, 14, 19). The Hebrew term for the garden located in Eden, somewhere on earth (Gen 2.8), was translated paradise (an Iranian loanword for “garden” or “park”) in the Septuagint. Later, paradise came to be regarded as the abode of the righteous dead (2 Esd 7.36; Lk 23.43; 1 Enoch 60.8) and was thought to be located in heaven (2 Cor 12.2–4; 2 Enoch 8.1).

  2.8 Smyrna, a harbor city forty miles north of Ephesus (modern Izmir) and a center of the imperial cult (i.e., the worship of the Roman emperor). The first and the last. See 1.17.

  2.9 Despite physical poverty, the Smyrnaean Christians are spiritually rich. Slander by the Jews refer
s to their denunciation of Christians before Roman officials (see Acts 18.12–17; Martyrdom of Polycarp 12.2–3), an indication of sharp conflict between the two communities. These polemical statements were not originally as anti-Semitic as they sound today. Synagogue of Satan, close to “congregation of Belial” in the Dead Sea Scrolls Thanksgiving Hymns (1QH 2.22), may refer to Jews who had abandoned their faith but more likely has in view Jews who (like Satan) were “opponents” of Christians; Jn 8.44 refers to the devil as the “father” of the Jews.

  2.10 The devil (Greek diabolos, “slanderer,” a synonym for Hebrew “Satan”), working through his earthly henchmen, will throw them into prison. Ten days symbolizes a short but indefinite period of time. Crown of life (see 1 Cor 9.25; Jas 1.12), an image based on the wreath awarded to winners in ancient competitions and reminiscent of the wreath design found on many Hellenistic tombstones; a metaphor for the reward of eternal life (3.11).

  2.11 Second death (20.6, 14; 21.8), the eternal punishment of the wicked following physical death.

  2.12 Pergamum, a city of 180,000, was the seat of government in the Roman province of Asia and a major center of the imperial cult (see note on 2.8).

  2.13 Satan’s throne, an enigmatic phrase that may refer to the proconsul’s judgment seat, to Pergamum as a center of the imperial cult, or to the Great Altar of Zeus erected after 230 BCE (ancients often designated altars as thrones). Antipas, an otherwise unknown Christian executed or lynched in Pergamum. Witness, from the Greek martys, a word that soon took on the connotation of “martyr” (Martyrdom of Polycarp 14.2).

  2.14 According to postbiblical Jewish literature, the error of Balaam (see Num 22–24; 31.16; 2 Pet 2.15–16; Jude 11) involved idolatry and sexual immorality. Food sacrificed to idols, sold to the public in pagan temple meat markets, violated the Jewish prohibition of idolatry (Ex 34.15; 4 Macc 5.2) and, because of its connection with pagan worship, was a problem for observant Christians as well (2.20; Acts 15.20, 29; 21.25; 1 Cor 8.1, 4, 7, 10; 10.28).

  2.15 Nicolaitans (see v. 6) repeat the error of Balaam.

  2.17 Manna, from the Hebrew for “What is it?” is also called “bread from heaven” (see Ex 16.4; Neh 9.15; Jn 6.31–34) and “food from heaven” (Ps 105.40); here it is a metaphor for participation in eternal life. According to Jewish expectation, the miraculous feeding would be repeated in the last days. White stone, an amulet on which is inscribed a new name, i.e., the secret name of God or Christ (3.12; 19.12; cf. 7.3), which is a symbol for the permanent protection of the wearer. In the ancient world amulets containing divine names were thought effective in warding off diseases and evil spirits.

  2.18 Thyatira (modern Akhisar), lay thirty-five miles inland, between Pergamum and Ephesus.

  2.20 Jezebel, the Canaanite queen of King Ahab of Israel (1 Kings 18–19; 2 Kings 9), who induced Ahab to worship Canaanite deities. John gives this infamous name to an otherwise unknown Christian prophetess whose teachings were, in his view, leading Christians astray. Since the weapons of ancient slander routinely included charges of immorality, it is difficult to know what the real situation was.

  2.23 Her children, the followers of the prophetess.

  2.24 The deep things of Satan, perhaps a sarcastic revision of the prophetess’s motto, which probably was “the deep things of God.”

  2.28 Morning star (the bright planet Venus), an epithet of Christ (22.16) and a messianic symbol (Num 24.17; Mt 2.2, 10).

  Revelation 3

  The Message to Sardis

  1“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars:

  “I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. 3Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. 6Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

  The Message to Philadelphia

  7“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

  These are the words of the holy one, the true one,

  who has the key of David,

  who opens and no one will shut,

  who shuts and no one opens:

  8“I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. 11I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

  The Message to Laodicea

  14“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origina of God’s creation:

  15“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. 20Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. 21To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

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  a Or beginning

  3.1 Sardis, the ancient capital of the Lydian kingdom, then of the Seleucid kingdom. Seven spirits. See 1.4.

  3.3 I will come like a thief, a frequent metaphor for the unexpected arrival of Christ (16.15; Mt 24.42–44; Lk 12.39–40; 1 Thess 5.2; 2 Pet 3.10).

  3.4 Soiled clothes represent evil deeds, while white garments symbolize righteousness.

  3.5 Book of life, i.e., a heavenly registry of the names of God’s people, a metaphor for salvation and election (13.8; 17.8; 20.12, 15; 21.27; Ex 32.32; Dan 12.1; Lk 10.20; Phil 4.3).

  3.7 Philadelphia, a city thirty miles from Sardis. Key of David, symbol of messianic power and authority (see Isa 22.22).

  3.8 Open door, a widely used Christian metaphor for opportunities to evangelize (Acts 14.27; 1 Cor 16.9; 2 Cor 2.12) and for access to salvation (Lk 13.24).

  3.9 Synagogue of Satan. See 2.9.

  3.10 Hour of trial, the period of distress and suffering, often called “the great tribulation,” prior to God’s eschatological triumph (7.14; 13.5–10; Dan 12.1; Mt 24.21; Mk 13.7–20; 1 Cor 7.26; Hermas Visions 2.2.7), probably referred to in the Lord’s Prayer (Mt 6.13; Didache 8.2).

  3.11 I am coming soon. The imminent return, or Parousia, of Christ is frequently mentioned (1.3; 16.15; 22.12, 20), though its delay was a theol
ogical problem in some phases of early Christianity (2 Pet 3.4; Mt 25.1–13).

  3.12 Pillar in the temple means a permanent place in the heavenly temple, a metaphor for salvation. I will write…my God designates ownership and dedication (see 14.1); the name of God was written on the front of the high priest’s turban (Ex 28.36–38). The name of…the new Jerusalem indicates citizenship in the heavenly Jerusalem, which is a model for the imperfect earthly Jerusalem (Gal 4.26; Phil 3.20; Heb 12.22) and will soon replace it (21.2, 10). My own new name, an allusion to Isa 62.2; 65.15, indicates that the believer benefits from the new status of Christ (2.17; 19.12; 22.4).

  3.14 Laodicea, a major commercial center located one hundred miles east of Ephesus, recently excavated. Amen, not the common liturgical response meaning “Let it be so,” but a transliteration of a Hebrew term meaning “master workman” in Prov 8.30; it is used here as a title of Christ. Origin of God’s creation, a title of Christ (see Jn 1.2–3; Col 1.15).

  3.15–16 Cold, hot, and lukewarm are figures of speech meaning “against me,” “for me,” and “indifferent” lukewarm may be a double entendre alluding to the tepid and nauseous local water supply. Spit, lit. “vomit,” i.e., reject utterly.

  3.17 Rich, materially wealthy, though morally and spiritually poor; cf. 2.9.

  3.18 Gold refined by fire, biblical metaphor for moral purification through testing (see Jer 9.7; Zech 13.9; Mal 3.3; 1 Cor 3.13; 1 Pet 1.7). White robes symbolize moral purity and salvation (4.4; 6.11; 7.9, 13, 14; 19.8, 14). Salve may allude to the famous eye medicine used in the medical school in Laodicea.

  3.21 I…sat down with my Father on his throne, an allusion to Ps 110.1, understood as the heavenly enthronement of the resurrected Christ (see also 22.1, 3; Mk 14.62; Acts 2.34–35; Eph 1.20; Heb 8.1; 12.2), may reflect the ancient bisellium, or two-seated throne.