Grace Notes // Letters to the Churches
To the Church of Pergamum, “He is Enough”
Written by Hannah Cohen
This week we dove back into the letters to the seven churches in Revelation. This book, written in 90 AD, was penned by a man named John on the island of Patmos - a place where the Roman empire would send its “troublemakers”. On the island, John has an encounter with Jesus. John writes his encounter down and distributes the text in a letter. Within this letter, there are seven specific addresses to seven specific churches, one of which is the church in Pergamum.
Pergamum was a notable city. It was home to the largest library in the known world and the people were generally highly educated. It was also a particularly religious city. There were many Roman sacred sites and people could worship as they pleased. However, overriding all the education and acceptance Pergamum prided itself on was Caesar worship - the most powerful and present ideology that existed in Pergamum. Everyone was expected to worship Caesar.
Christians in Pergamum were in a bit of a bind. According to the empire, Christians were allowed to follow Jesus but they were not allowed to do or teach anything that threatened Caesar. Jesus, however, established clear teachings that ran against what Rome expected. So, Christians were under immense pressure.
In the letter to Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17), Jesus says that He sees their struggle. In the letter, John cites the theology of the Nicolaitans. This was a popular 1st century philosophy which stated that people consisted of separate parts: spirit and body. God only cared about our spirits because this is how people connected with God. So, your body was a finite, physical thing that was of no consequence to God. The philosophy implies that what we do with our bodies is also of no consequence to God; we can do whatever we please with our bodies as long as our spirit is dedicated to Jesus. For a group of believers under pressure, the Nicolaitan philosophy led them to believe that it was fine to worship Caesar because that worship was purely bodily, not spiritual.
Jesus reminds the Christians in Pergamum that they are not fragmented. The whole of our being matters to Jesus.
“The truth of the matter is that we are not segmented, fragmented human beings. We are created as holistic image-bearers of God. And everything is intertwined - a full package that God has created”
- Pastor Chris Moerman
Jesus did not just come in the Spirit but He also came in the flesh. He is interested in the redemption of all creation.
As we fragment our lives, we inadvertently make certain parts of our lives off limits to God.
Jesus recognizes that fear keeps us from offering our whole selves. We’re afraid of being left out, we’re afraid of the cost, we’re afraid of the ramifications of submission to God. But Jesus will give us what we need if we trust Him. Jesus will sustain us, satisfy us, and be enough for us if we have the courage to let go and let Him into the wholeness of ourselves.
PROCESSING
What places in my life am I afraid to let God into?
Where does fear reign in my life instead of Jesus?
In what ways have I seen my body as inconsequential?
In what ways would my life change if I rested in the knowledge that my body is a temple for the Holy Spirit?
IN THE WORD
Revelation 2:12-17
1 Corinthians 6:19