“The city of Laodicea was among the very wealthiest of the Roman Empire, and the place was renowned as a banking centre, and a place where medicine was not just practiced but researched, Laodicean eye-salve being sought after the world over. The citizens were so wealthy that when, in ad 60, a massive earthquake destroyed the place, they were able to decline an offer of financial help from the Roman Senate to rebuild. That is wealth indeed.”
William Cooper, Old Light on the Roman Church, Pt. 2, “Paul’s ‘Lost’ Letter to the Laodicean Church.”
“Towards the end of the Roman Republic and under the first emperors, Laodicea, benefiting from its advantageous position on a trade route, became one of the most important and flourishing commercial cities of Asia Minor, in which large money transactions and an extensive trade in black wool were carried on. The area often suffered from earthquakes, especially from the great shock that occurred in the reign of Nero (60 AD) in which the town was completely destroyed. But the inhabitants declined imperial assistance to rebuild the city and restored it from their own means. … Its wealthy citizens embellished Laodicea with beautiful monuments. … The city minted its own coins, the inscriptions of which show evidence of the worship of Zeus, Æsculapius, Apollo, and the emperors.”
“Laodicea on the Lycus,” Wikipedia.
The Synagogue of Satan
I am not sure anyone knows what Jesus was referring to when He condemned those who say they are Jews but are not, instead being of the synagogue of Satan. (The Letters to the Seven Churches, pg. 12).
“Say they are Jews, and are not—Jews by national descent, but not spiritually of ‘the true circumcision.’”
Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown’s Commentary on Revelation 2:9.
I am constantly on guard for anti-Semitism, especially in the old histories and commentaries, in the discussion of this verse. Any member of any group, no matter what they profess with their mouths, can be in ‘the service of Satan,’ to quote Barnes. That does not mean that all members of that group are so.
“The reference to tribulation and to the false Jews brings to the modern reader the picture of the later martyrdom of Polycarp at Smyrna, in which the Jews played such a zealous part as to break the Sabbath by bringing fagots into the stadium to light his fire.”
LeRoy Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, Vol. 1, p. 92.
“‘But are the synagogue of Satan.’ Deserve rather to be called the synagogue of Satan. The synagogue was a Jewish place of worship … but the word originally denoted the assembly or congregation. The meaning here is plain, that though they worshipped in a synagogue, and professed to be the worshippers of God, yet they were not worthy of the name, and deserved rather to be regarded as in the service of Satan.”
Albert Barnes, Notes on … Revelation, p. 71.
“The authority of Emperors, Kings, and Princes, is human. The authority of Councils, Synods, Bishops, and Presbyters, is human. The authority of the Prophets is divine, and comprehends the sum of religion, reckoning Moses and the Apostles among the Prophets; and if an Angel from Heaven preach any other gospel, than what they have delivered, let him be accursed. Their writings contain the covenant between God and his people, with instructions for keeping this covenant; instances of God’s judgments upon them that break it: and predictions of things to come. While the people of God keep the covenant, they continue to be his people: when they break it they cease to be his people or church, and become the Synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not. And no power on earth is authorized to alter this covenant.”
Isaac Newton, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John, Chapter 1, published 1733 (bold emphasis only added).
I must here mention that there is also a theory I have encountered which equates the synagogue of Satan with synagogues of the Samaritans, and while I searched for a reference presenting this idea that I could mention here, the ones I found did not meet a basic standard of scholarship. That does not mean it may not be a meritorious idea, just that referencing it as such will have to wait.
The Doctrine of Balaam
Why did Israel get suckered into the idolatry of Peor, at the instigation of Balaam (Num 25:1-3, Num 31)? Perhaps Balaam convinced them that they were already chosen; they had already been delivered from death by the blood of the Passover lamb and had gone through the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:1-2). They were already in covenant with the Lord God, cut at Mt. Sinai. Did not God just bless them and prophesy awesome and wonderful things about them (Num 23-24)?
Therefore, their identity as His people, he may have argued to them, negated the necessity of “works befitting repentance” (Act 26:20), a doctrine which the Lord declared heretical by killing those who indulged in the doctrine of Balaam with a plague from His hand (Num 25:1-9). If this is a correct understanding of the doctrine of Balaam, then this heresy is closely related to that of the Nicolaitans.
“[The doctrine of Balaam] is stated in the subsequent part of the verse: ‘Who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel.’ … The meaning here is, that it was through the instructions of Balaam that Balak learned the way by which the Israelites might be led into sin, and might thus bring upon themselves the divine malediction. … The attitude of Balaam’s mind in the matter was this: i. He had a strong desire to do that which he knew was wrong, and was forbidden expressly by God. ii. He was restrained by internal checks and remonstrances, and prevented from doing what he wished to do. iii. He cast about for some way in which he might do it, notwithstanding these internal checks and remonstrances, and finally accomplished the same thing in fact, though in form different from that which he had first prepared. This is not an unfair description in what often occurs in the plans and purposes of a wicked man.”
Albert Barnes, Notes on … Revelation, pp. 75-76.
Christine’s note: Barnes makes a cogent case that Balaam’s sin was in obeying the letter of the law while violating the spirit of it.
“Compare Re 2:14, 15, which shows the true sense of Nicolaitanes; they are not a sect, but professing Christians who, like Balaam of old, tried to introduce into the Church a false freedom, that is, licentiousness; …”
Jamieson, Faussett, and Brown, Commentary, Revelation 2:6.
The Antinomian Heresy
The Nicolaitans embraced the antinomian heresy, or, that since salvation is by grace through faith, obedience to the Law is of no value.
Antinomian : one who holds that under the gospel dispensation of grace the moral law is of no use or obligation because faith alone is necessary to salvation.
Webster’s Dictionary.
Neander (History of the Christian Religion, as translated by Torrey, i. pp. 452, 453) numbers [the Nicolaitans] with Antinomians … [and] that the name … is used … to denote corrupters or seducers of the people, like Balaam.
Albert Barnes, Notes on … Revelation, p. 67.
On Pergamos
“To the angel of the assembly in Pergamum write:” Rev 2:12.
“The early people of the town were descendants of Greek colonists, and as early as 420 bc they struck coins of their own. … Attalus I (241-197 BC) … adorn[ed] the city with beautiful buildings until it became the most wonderful city of the East … Art and literature were encouraged, and in the city was a library of 200,000 volumes which later Antony gave to Cleopatra. The books were of parchment which was here first used; hence, the word ‘parchment,’ which is derived from the name of the town Pergamos. … When in 133 BC … the last king … died, he gave his kingdom to the Roman government. … and the Roman province of Asia was formed, and Pergamos was made its capital. … Of the structures which adorned the city, the most renowned was the altar of Zeus, which was 40 ft. in height, and also one of the wonders of the ancient world. … A title which it bore was ‘Thrice Neokoros,’ meaning that in the city three temples had been built to the Roman emperors, in which the emperors were worshipped as gods. Smyrna, a rival city, was a commercial center, and as it increased in wealth, it gradually became the political center. Later, when it became the capital, Pergamos remained the religious center. As in many of the towns of Asia Minor, there were at Pergamos many Jews, and in 130 BC the people of the city passed a decree in their favor. Many of the Jews were more or less assimilated with the Greeks, even to the extent of bearing Greek names.”
“Pergamos; Pergamum,” International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
“Pergamum continued to rank for two centuries as the capital, and subsequently, with Ephesus and Smyrna, as one of the three great cities of the province; and the devotion of its former kings to the Roman cause was continued by its citizens; who erected on the Acropolis a magnificent temple to Augustus. … Pergamum was the chief centre of the imperial cult under the early empire, and, in W. M. Ramsay’s opinion, was for that reason referred to in Rev. ii. 13 as the place of ‘Satan’s throne.’ It was also an early seat of Christianity, and one of the seven churches.”
“Pergamum,” The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 21, p. 143.