And I have against you that you permit the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet, to teach and deceive My servants to commit fornication and eat food offered to idols. Rev. 2:20.
As we have seen, Roman civil religion had two major elements in it that would involve a compromise with Christian faith: the issue of food offered to idols and the matter of "fornication." Why was food offered to idols a problem for John's churches? Doesn't Paul say that an idol is nothing and that offering food to it does not really matter, because idols cannot speak, hear, or feel (1 Cor. 8:4, 7-9)? If something is offered to an idol, nothing has really happened, so in principle we have no big problem here. But by the time Revelation was written, the situation seems to have changed. When people regarded the idol feast as a way of putting the state before God, it would create a serious conflict of conscience for the Christian.
That was not all. A part of the ancient religious scene was ritualized prostitution. People believed that if sexual intercourse took place in the temple between the men of the city and the cultic priestesses, rain would fall in abundance, the crops would grow, and the community would be prosperous. As strange as this sounds to us, it made sense to the ancients. People who held aloof from these "civic traditions" might be thought of as hostile to the welfare of the community.
In the Western world today wealth and security represent the highest goals of life. But the world of Revelation had an even higher goal: status. People reveled in the honor and esteem of others, and poured shame on those who did not conform. In such a world, to be a Cristian virtually guaranteed exclusion from honor and status in one's own neighborhood.
Many Christians, however, were loath to give up the quest for a high place in the esteem of others. Thy wanted political and social opportunities and longed to accumulate some wealth and have some influence. But that was not going to happen unless they, occasionally at least, participated in the cultic feasts and in temple prostitution. The letters to the churches indicate that there were some Christians who weighed the options and asked, "Why not? After all, how can we reach the upper class for Christ if we do not meet them where they are?"
So early Christians seem to have felt a tension between outreach to society, on the one hand, and faithfulness to the full counsel of God, on the other. God wants us to meet people where they are. But Revelation exposes the dangers of compromise even in the pursuit of souls. We must be prepared to leave our comfort zone for the sake of the gospel. But we must never betray our conscience. An empty vessel cannot fill others.
Lord, help Your church today to strike the balance between outreach and faithfulness. Help us to be faithful as we call others to faithfulness.
As we have seen, Roman civil religion had two major elements in it that would involve a compromise with Christian faith: the issue of food offered to idols and the matter of "fornication." Why was food offered to idols a problem for John's churches? Doesn't Paul say that an idol is nothing and that offering food to it does not really matter, because idols cannot speak, hear, or feel (1 Cor. 8:4, 7-9)? If something is offered to an idol, nothing has really happened, so in principle we have no big problem here. But by the time Revelation was written, the situation seems to have changed. When people regarded the idol feast as a way of putting the state before God, it would create a serious conflict of conscience for the Christian.
That was not all. A part of the ancient religious scene was ritualized prostitution. People believed that if sexual intercourse took place in the temple between the men of the city and the cultic priestesses, rain would fall in abundance, the crops would grow, and the community would be prosperous. As strange as this sounds to us, it made sense to the ancients. People who held aloof from these "civic traditions" might be thought of as hostile to the welfare of the community.
In the Western world today wealth and security represent the highest goals of life. But the world of Revelation had an even higher goal: status. People reveled in the honor and esteem of others, and poured shame on those who did not conform. In such a world, to be a Cristian virtually guaranteed exclusion from honor and status in one's own neighborhood.
Many Christians, however, were loath to give up the quest for a high place in the esteem of others. Thy wanted political and social opportunities and longed to accumulate some wealth and have some influence. But that was not going to happen unless they, occasionally at least, participated in the cultic feasts and in temple prostitution. The letters to the churches indicate that there were some Christians who weighed the options and asked, "Why not? After all, how can we reach the upper class for Christ if we do not meet them where they are?"
So early Christians seem to have felt a tension between outreach to society, on the one hand, and faithfulness to the full counsel of God, on the other. God wants us to meet people where they are. But Revelation exposes the dangers of compromise even in the pursuit of souls. We must be prepared to leave our comfort zone for the sake of the gospel. But we must never betray our conscience. An empty vessel cannot fill others.
Lord, help Your church today to strike the balance between outreach and faithfulness. Help us to be faithful as we call others to faithfulness.
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