Revelation 2:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Do you think that the church in Pergamos was so bad that the letter is introduced in these words – ‘These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges’, and you quake? No, the church at Pergamos was bitterly persecuted too. As there was persecution in Smyrna, so too here, but in Pergamos the authorities made much of this. The proconsul, the Roman proconsul in Pergamos had what was called ‘the right of the sword’. The Roman power had especially delegated to him the right to put people to death. He could instigate the death sentence; he could wield the sword in that city alone, and that did not happen in every city. So Pergamos was another city under the Roman authority that had the power for capital punishment. The letter is introduced in this way so that people would not fear the Roman sword. It is for the pagans that this is mentioned. ‘These things saith he that hath the sharp sword,’ sharper than that of the Roman authority, ‘with two edges.’ It is the sword which searches the heart and punishes the unrighteous, according to God’s perfect judgement. So that is a comfort, not a threat. This is another letter introduced by a word of comfort. You are in a place of persecution, a place of hostility. But I am the judge of those people.