In another conversation, @ely shared this reflection:
I wanted to give this reference its own topic so we could look at it in context and properly study this passage together.
Revelation 2:8-11 is the letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. It reads:
“Write to the angel of the church in Smyrna: Thus says the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life: I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
“Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will never be harmed by the second death.
The scholar Robert Mounce summarizes the letter in this way: “Christ reminds them that he is aware of their suffering, forewarns them of coming persecution, and encourages them to remain faithful even to death” (NICOT, Revelation, 74).
How does Christ encourage this persecuted church to remain faithful to God? I love how Mounce draws out the meaning of the name “the First and the Last, the one who was dead and came to life”:
The church at Smyrna was a persecuted church, so the letter comes from the sovereign One (“the First and the Last”; cf. discussion on 1:17), who died and came to life again. As he was victorious over death, so they, too, can face martyrdom knowing that faithfulness is rewarded with eternal life.
If the absolute God suffered death and rose again, and is personally involved in caring for the disciples in Smyrna, then they can live confidently, even to the point of martyrdom!
So, who are those who claim to be Jews but are not?
Mounce explains:
The Jews who blasphemed, however, were not real Jews. This should be taken in the sense of Rom 2:28–29, where Paul says that “a man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly … [but] … a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly.” Farrer remarks, “Whereas the Ephesian angel is troubled by self-styled apostles, the Smyrnaean is troubled by self-styled Israelites.” Like the Jews of John 8:31–47 who claimed to be descendants of Abraham, they were, instead, of their father the devil. The hostile Jews of Smyrna were, in fact, “a synagogue of Satan” (the latter term is Hebrew and means “adversary”; its Greek equivalent means “slanderer” or “false accuser”). Regardless of their national descent, they had become, by their bitter opposition to the church and its message, a synagogue carrying out the activities of God’s supreme adversary, Satan (NICOT, Revelation, 76-77).
In this case, there is an important play on words. In one sense, of course the ethnic Jews are ethnically Jewish. But, at the same time, the text clarifies that the ethnic Jews who are persecuting the Smyrnan Christians are not, in a spiritual sense, God’s people. Instead, since they are attacking God’s people, they are aligning themselves with God’s enemy, Satan.
We need to emphatically state that this gives us no basis for anti-Semitism. The author of Revelation was both an ethnic Jew and a Christian, worshipping an ethnic Jew who was also The First and the Last (Jesus), writing to a mixed congregation of Jews and Gentiles who placed their trust in Christ.
Once we get through all the complexities of the wordplay, it’s a straightforward point: any group that persecutes Christians because they are faithful to Jesus is acting as God’s enemy or as a group that’s partnering with Satan.
This should humble us to pray for them, to love them (with wisdom and the guidance of the Holy Spirit), and to be willing to suffer for our loyalty to Jesus rather than abandon our faith in any way.
Still, I admit it’s a very intense passage, and I look forward to learning from other insights into what it means!