Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Revelation 3:7-13, Philadelphia and the key of David
To Philadelphia the one who holds the key of David sets before a weak but faithful church an open door no one can shut. Those of the synagogue of Satan will bow at their feet, and the one who conquers will be a pillar in God's temple, bearing the name of the new Jerusalem.
Revelation 3:7-13, in every translation this tool compares.
Jesus, who controls the door to God's kingdom, tells the small, weak church in Philadelphia that he has opened a door for them that no one can close, because they have stayed true to him. He promises that the local opponents who deny them the name of God's people will one day have to admit that he loves this church, and that he will protect them in the coming time of testing. The overcomer will become a permanent pillar in God's temple, marked with the names of God, his city and Jesus himself. Who the church's opponents were, and how large the city's Jewish community was, are debated.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/seven-churches-of-asia\/","n":"The seven cities of Asia","s":"Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, proud cities of the Roman province of Asia, strung along a road a courier could walk. Each letter in Revelation 2 and 3 speaks into its own city's history, trades and temples.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/heavenly-jerusalem\/","n":"The heavenly Jerusalem","s":"Jews looked for a Jerusalem built by God for the age to come, and some spoke of it as already waiting in heaven. Exiles and resident aliens knew what it was to look for a city that would be home.","r":""}
The key of David comes from Isaiah 22:22, the royal steward's control of the palace door, so Jesus, not the synagogue's leaders, decides who belongs (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Heiser, after Beale and Carson, reads this key and the keys of 1:18 as one claim: Jesus alone opens a new Eden without death. Expulsion could expose believers to Roman persecution (Keener), since they might lose the Jewish exemption (the cultural backgrounds article The Imperial Cult). On the city's Jews, Keener cites a third-century synagogue inscription and the ESV Study Bible one from a nearby town; the CSB Study Bible finds little evidence, and the Zondervan dictionary, citing none, pictures a bitterly nationalistic synagogue. Falling at their feet reverses Isaiah 60:14 (the cultural backgrounds notes; Keener; Heiser). After the earthquake of AD 17 the city took new names, for a time Neocaesarea (the ESV Study Bible; the cultural backgrounds notes). Temple pillars often carried inscriptions, as at the temple of Zeus at Euromos (the atlas), but the main background is Isaiah 56:5 (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Heiser reads the hour of trial as final judgment, not freedom from suffering.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Revelation 3:7-13, and on 1:18, 3:7-8, 3:9 and 3:12-13
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 3:7, 3:9 and 3:12, and article The Imperial Cult
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Revelation 3:7-13 and 3:7
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 3:7
- Carl G. Rasmussen, Zondervan Atlas of the Bible, The Seven Churches of Revelation, Philadelphia
- Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Philadelphia
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 3: Letters to the Churches: Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
