About St. John St. John and The Seven Churches
St. John and The Seven Churches
The persecution that broke out after the murder of Stephen is often
cited as the occasion for John coming to Ephesus. Acts 8:1 says that
the church was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria; however, the
apostles remained in Jerusalem. There is no biblical evidence that
John went to Ephesus in the 30s. A more likely scenario is that
John, heeding Jesus warning to flee Jerusalem when it was
surrounded by Roman armies (Luke 21:2025), moved with a community
of Palestinian Jewish believers to Ephesus after the Jewish revolt
broke out in 66 CE. Both Peter and Paul had recently been martyred
in Rome under Nero, so John would have naturally filled their
leadership vacuum. He ministered for some three decades to
Christians in and around Ephesus, writing the Revelation, the Gospel
and three Epistles.
As the leader of the Asian church John was targeted by Roman
authorities and exiled to Patmos (Rev. 1:9). While on the island
John received his apocalyptic vision about the spiritual situation
of seven Asian churches as well as about the future of the church
and the world (1:1011, 19). The order of the seven
churchesEphesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia,
and Laodiceafollows a route that a messenger would naturally follow
in visiting the cities. During Pauls ministry in Ephesus many
churches were established in Asia. Hence these seven churches seem
to represent many other churches that were in Asia at the time
(e.g., Miletus, Troas, Assos, Cyzicus, Magnesia, Tralles,
Metropolis, etc.). The style of the seven messages is similar, with
the heart of each focused on commendation and correction concluding
with a promise of victory. The historical and spiritual situation of
each church aids in interpreting the details of its message.
The addressees of the book of Revelation were seven churches in the
Roman province of Asia. W. M. Ramsay states that the province
embraced the W. parts of the great peninsula now called Asia Minor,
including the countries Mysia, Lydia, Caria, and great part of
Phrygia, with the Dorian, Ionian, and Aeolian coast-cities, the
Troad, and the islands off the coast (Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Patmos,
Cos, etc.) (Asia, Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, 1.171). Why
these churches were singled out over other churches in the area has
been an ongoing topic of discussion. The result of Pauls 2 1/3 year
residence in Ephesus (a.d. 5254) was that all the Jews and Greeks
who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord (Acts
19:10). Such widespread dissemination of the gospel thus occurred
some two decades (early dating c. 69) or four decades (late dating
c. 95) before Revelation was written.
Six other sites are certain locations of churches in the first
century: Troas (Acts 16:811; 20:512; 2 Cor. 2:12; 2 Tim. 4:13),
Miletus (Acts 20:15, 17; 2 Tim. 4:20), Colossae (Col. 1:2),
Hieropolis (Col. 4:13), Tralles and Magnesia (Ignatius). Richard
Oster has listed 37 Anatolian cities where Christian communities
were established in the first and second centuries. None of the
cities that follow are on his list, although he acknowledges that
because such books as Revelation were designed as circular letters,
this increases the number of Christian sites that can be inferred
from early Christian literature (Christianity in Asia Minor,
Anchor Bible Dictionary, 1.938). Other possible sites include Assos,
which was approximately twenty miles overland from Troas via a Roman
road, Mitylene, Chios, and Samos (Acts 20:1315). Priene was an
important Greek city along the route between Miletus and Ephesus,
and Cyzicus was the most important Asian seaport on the Propontis
(Sea of Marmara). The late E. M. Blaiklock suggested that
Aphrodisias will probably soon be added to the list of Ten Towns of
Asia known to have been first-century centers of Christian witness
(NIDBA [ed. E. M. Blaiklock; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983] 31).
In a personal letter responding to my question regarding the source
of that assertion, Edwin Yamauchi wrote: As I am not aware of any
first-century evidence for Christians at Aphrodisias (and think it
highly unlikely), I suspect that Dr. Blaiklock was probably guessing
when he wrote on Aphrodisias (May 3, 1992). The excavator of
Aphrodisias, the late Kenan T. Erim, wrote: The earliest known name
of an Aphrodisian bishop is that of Ammonius, who participated in
the Council of Nicaea in 325. Two early Christian martyrs,
apparently put to death under Diocletian, were also ascribed to the
city (Aphrodisias: City of Venus Aphrodite [New York: Facts on
File, 1986] 33). Given the prominence of Aphrodisias (re Augustus
statement: Aphrodisias is the one city from all of Asia I have
selected to be my own [ibid., 1]) and its proximity to the three
churches of the Lycus valley, undoubtedly the gospel was preached
there at an early date. No historical evidence has yet been
discovered to verify the existence of a first- century church there,
however.
Several of these cities are more prominent than Thyatira and
Philadelphia. W. M. Ramsay has convincingly suggested that the order
of the churches in Revelation represented a circular postal circuit
that a courier would follow. Thus these churches were primary
communication centers fcontentrom which secondary messengers would
be dispatched so that other churches in their respective districts
could read the correspondence. Revelation, then, was meant for a
larger audience than the designated churches. But I want to return
to two more basic questions: why just seven churches? And of these
seven churches, why begin with Ephesus?.
| 7 Churches Church in Ephesus Church in Smyrna Church in Pergamum Church in Thyatira Church in Sardis Church in Philadelphia Church in Laodicea
|
 |
About St. John
St. John and The Seven Churches
Letters to Seven Churches
Map of Seven Churches
The Book of Revelation
The Early Christians
The Gospel of St. John
For Tour Reservation and Question Biblical Tour Guide