NOTES for Rev 2:8-11

The situation in the church of Smyrna differed somewhat from what was characteristic of the church of Ephesus. Here, as we can see, the main problem was a conflict with zealots for the Torah, or, more precisely, for Jewish religious traditions, with whom Paul himself had already had to deal more than once. As we can see, the essence of this conflict was the same regardless of where and when it arose. It apparently began with a call to strict observance of the Torah on the part of those who considered themselves its chief defenders, and it invariably ended in conflict between supporters of observing Jewish religious prescriptions and those for whom Judaism was a matter of indifference (and after AD 70 the number of such people in the Church began to grow rapidly).

As is well known, Paul already did not make following the Torah depend on observance of the norms and rules of Judaism, and now Jesus Himself confirms Paul's rightness through the revelation given to His apostle. It is not accidental that He says of the opponents of the Christians of Smyrna that they only present themselves as Jews, or consider themselves such, while in reality they are opponents of God and His people (v. 9). Apparently, secular authority intervened in this intrachurch conflict, and persecutions began, of which Jesus says that they will not last long (v. 10).

The assessment given by Jesus is, of course, not accidental. In essence, He only confirms what He had already said more than once through the mouths of His other servants: the meaning of the Torah and of the old Covenant as a whole is not reducible to Jewish religiosity, despite the latter's importance for the spiritual and historical preservation of the people of God. It is broader than Judaism, and to narrow its bounds means to resist the fulfillment of God's design for the salvation of humanity. And the witness of confessors and martyrs who defend the universal scope of the Torah in opposition to zealots for Jewish religious traditions turns out to be a witness to the freedom of the Kingdom, the fullness of whose life they will not lose (v. 11).