The letter to the church in Pergamon
This church is on the verge of failing, and although it looks like Balaam is to blame, he isn’t really the problem.
The church in Pergamon
The historical background
Pergamon was already an important city four centuries before Revelation was written. It was built on a rock outcropping about 25 km from the sea.
For a long time, the city was the seat of the Attalid dynasty, a leading power in the region. When the last Attalid ruler, Attalus III, died in 133 BC, he willed his kingdom to the Roman Republic. In 29 BC, a temple was built there in the emperor’s honor — the first temple to the emperor anywhere in the province of Asia. That single temple was enough to make Pergamon the leading center of emperor worship in the province for the rest of the first century. Pergamon was, in other words, solidly in the emperors’ good graces — and had no intention of losing that privileged position.
The city was also home to many other temples, dedicated to Zeus, Athena, Dionysus, and Asclepius — the last a famous healing cult whose symbol was a serpent.
Jesus’ view
Jesus knows this church has a hard life, and he approaches them wielding a very sharp sword — the instrument for separating godly teaching from falsehood.
He calls Pergamon the place “where Satan dwells and has his throne,” almost certainly tied above all to Pergamon’s status as the province’s leading center of emperor worship — the very temple just mentioned — reinforced perhaps by the looming Great Altar of Zeus and the serpent-cult of Asclepius, both landmarks of the city. And by that measure, the church has been doing well: they endured and did not renounce Jesus’ name, even to the point of martyrdom — a fact that shows just how hard it was to live there as a Christian. Their situation is comparable to Smyrna’s, if not worse.
Yet one thing is breaking them from within: Balaam and the Nicolaitans. Or is the real problem something else?
The problem
The story of Balaam shows the failure of inconsistent leadership, and the Nicolaitans likely represent a similar failure. In both cases, the church’s leadership has shown no strong commitment against false doctrine.
A close look at the situation suggests why: this is a congregation that has tolerated known false teaching rather than confronting it. Since every doctrine shapes behavior, this loose teaching has consequences for how they live and what they witness to. It may well be what has encouraged the very thing at issue here: joint dinners dedicated to idols.
The solution
The faithful are promised hidden manna — a reminder that God provides the supernatural, and that we must trust him even when circumstances look hopeless.
They are also promised a white stone bearing a new name. A white stone carried two possible meanings in that world: it was used in court, where a vote could be cast by pebble — white for acquittal, black for condemnation — fitting, since these believers would need to be cleared of the charge of joining idol feasts before they could take part in the marriage supper of the Lamb — and it could also serve as a pass granting entry, perhaps to that same wedding supper.
A new name, in Scripture, is usually tied to a new identity, and knowing that name signals an intimate relationship between the person and God.
God is offering this church a genuine new beginning, if they want it. But if they refuse it, Jesus will fight against them.