PERGAMUM: A VERY DIFFICULT ENGAGEMENT

Revelation 2:12—17 (contd)

TO be a Christian in Pergamum was to face what Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, would have called ‘an engagement very difficult’.
We have already seen what a concentration of Greek religion there was in Pergamum. There was the worship of Athene and Zeus, with its magnificent altar dominating the city; there was the worship of Asclepios, bringing sick people from far and near; and above all there were the demands of Caesar-worship, hanging forever like a poised sword above the heads of the Christians.
So the risen Christ says to the Christians of Pergamum: ‘I know where you stay.’ The word for to stay is here katoikein; and it means to have one’s permanent residence in a place. It is a very unusual word to use of Christians in the world. Usually the word used of them is paroikein, which means to be a non-resident or an exile. Peter writes his letter to the exiles throughout the provinces of Asia Minor. But here the matter is being looked at from another point of view. The Christians of Pergamum have their permanent residence, as far as this world is concerned, in Pergamum; and Pergamum is the place where Satan’s rule is strongest.
Here is something very important. The principle of the Christian life is not escape but conquest. We may feel it would be very much easier to be a Christian in some other place and in some other circumstances; but the duty of Christians is to witness for Christ where life has set them. We once heard of a girl who was converted in an evangelistic campaign. She was a reporter on a secular newspaper, and her first step after her conversion was to get a new job on a small Christian newspaper where she was constantly in the company of committed Christians. It was strange that the first thing that her conversion did was to make her run away. The more difficult it is to be a Christian in any set of circumstances, the greater the obligation to remain within those circumstances. If in the early days Christians had run away every time they were confronted with a difficult engagement, there would have been no chance of a world for Christ.
The Christians at Pergamum proved that it was perfectly possible to be a Christian under such circumstances. Even when martyrdom was in the air, they did not flinch. Of Antipas we know nothing; there is a late legend in the writings of Tertullian that he met his death by being slowly roasted to death within a brass bull. But there is a point in the Greek–impossible to reproduce in English–which is extremely significant. The risen Christ calls Antipas my faithful martus. We have translated that as martyr; but martus is the normal Greek word for witness. In the early Church, to be a martyr and to be a witness were one and the same thing. Witness so often meant martyrdom. Here is a rebuke to us. So many are prepared to demonstrate their Christianity in Christian circles but are equally prepared to play it down in circles where Christianity is met with opposition.
We must note another thing. The risen Christ calls Antipas my faithful martus and so gives him nothing less than his own title. In Revelation 1:5 and 3:14, Christ himself is called the faithful martus; to those who are true to him he gives nothing less than his own name.

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 100—102). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

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