Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 3

The speaker identifies himself as “him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars” (cf. comments on 1:4, 16, 20; 2:1). Christ is the one who controls the seven spirits of God. If the Sardian church is strong, it is because Christ has sent his Spirit to encourage and quicken the Sardian believers; if they are dead like Sardis, it is because in judgment he has withdrawn his Spirit from them. Yet the faithful minority at Sardis (v.4) can count on the divine power of Christ to sustain them, give life, and mobilize them to do his will even though the majority are dead. The speaker’s knowledge of the church in Sardis reveals their true condition. He knows their “deeds.” This may allude to their past accomplishments, which gave them their reputation of being alive, but more likely it refers to their present deeds, which were not those Christ sought from them (cf. v.2). He also knows that though they claim to be a healthy Christian church, in reality they are “dead.” How does a church die? Why does Christ use this expression for Sardis, even though the churches in Thyatira and Laodicea also had serious problems? Sardis had had significant fame as a royal city, but now it was nothing. The citizens were living off past fame. Apparently the same spirit had affected the church. Their loyalty and service to Christ were in the past; now they were nothing. Perhaps they had so made peace with the surrounding society that the offense of the Cross had ceased, and they were no longer in jeopardy of life or vulnerable to suffering. Further facts emerge when we consider the series of commands in vv.2–3. Death was a special preoccupation of the Sardians, as witnessed by the impressive necropolis. What had been a part of the pagan rites had also crept into the church, but through deception. The Sardian church was for the most part a duped church.

The command “Wake up!” (lit., “Be watchful”; GK 1213) is a call to reverse their attitudes radically. The congregation must be alerted to the seriousness of the situation. Their complacency led them to give up their identification with Christ and their mission for him. The situation is dire but not totally hopeless. Immediate steps must be taken to “strengthen [GK 5114] what remains.” Some persons and things are salvageable if quick and decisive action is taken. Otherwise, death will follow. The Sardians’ deeds are in danger of judgment because Christ has not found them “complete [GK 4444] in the sight of my God.” Though this could refer to incompleteness in the number of their deeds, more likely it describes the quality of their deeds—they do not measure up to the standard Christ sets. In the other letters, works acceptable to Christ are love, faithfulness, perseverance, keeping Christ’s words, and not denying his name.

Like those in Ephesus, the Sardians must remember what they “have received and heard.” What they “received” was the apostolic tradition of the gospel; what they “heard” probably were the teachings of the apostles and prophets who brought the gospel to them. Unlike the church at Philadelphia (v.8), the Sardians were not holding to the word of Christ. For them repentance was the only way out of certain and final death. So they were to repent by restoring the gospel and the apostolic doctrine to its authority over their lives. This would mean they would once more start to “obey” (lit., “keep”; GK 5498) the truth of Christ’s word. Today’s church needs to hear this challenge to take the word of Christ seriously. If the church at Sardis does not repent, Christ will come to them in judgment “as a thief”—i.e., by surprise. This phrase should probably not be taken as referring to the Second Coming but to Christ’s opposing them in judgment (cf. his threat to the church in Ephesus in 2:5).

While the majority had departed from faithful obedience to Christ, a few at Sardis remained true. Here an allusion to the woolen industry at Sardis intensifies the image of soiled and defiled garments. Those with soiled garments were removed from the public lists of citizens in Sardis. In the pagan religions it was forbidden to approach the gods in garments that were soiled or stained. Soiling seems to be a symbol for mingling with pagan life and thus defiling the purity of one’s relation to Christ (14:4; 1 Corinthians 8:7; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 2 Corinthians 11:2;Jude 23). To “walk with Christ” symbolizes salvation and fellowship with him—something the others at Sardis had forfeited through their sin . “White” garments are symbolic of the righteousness, victory, and glory of God (Revelation 3:18; Revelation 6:11; 7:9, 13–14; Revelation 19:14). This passage shows that not all faithful Christians were martyrs, nor can we make emperor worship the sole source of the problems of the early Christians. Ironically, the Sardians were occupied with their outward appearance, but they were not concerned with inner purity toward Christ and their outward moral life in a pagan society.

The overcomer’s promise is threefold and grows out of the reference to white clothing. (1) “Like” the faithful Sardian Christians who will receive white clothes from Christ, the others who overcome the stains of pagan society will similarly be dressed in white. (2) The pure relationship to Christ is permanently guaranteed: “I will never erase his name from the book of life.” In ancient cities the names of citizens were recorded in a register till their death; then their names were marked out of that book. This same idea appears in the OT (Exodus 32:32–33; Psalms 69:28; Isaiah 4:3). From the idea of being recorded in God’s book of the living (or the righteous) comes the sense of belonging to God’s eternal kingdom or possessing eternal life (Daniel 12:1; Hebrews 12:23; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:15; et al.). For Christ to say that he will never “blot out [the overcomer’s] name from the book of life” is the strongest affirmation that death can never separate us from Christ and the life he offers (Romans 8:38–39). A person enrolled in the book of life by faith remains in it by faithfulness and can be erased only by disloyalty. There is some evidence that one’s name could be removed from the city register before death if one were convicted of a crime. In the first century, Christians who were loyal to Christ were under constant threat of being branded political and social rebels and then stripped of their citizenship. But Christ offers them an eternal, safe citizenship in his everlasting kingdom if they remain loyal to him. (3) Finally, to the overcomer Christ promises to “acknowledge his name before [the] Father and his angels.” “Acknowledge” (GK 3933) is a strong word for confession before the courts. It is Christ’s confession of our name before the Father and his angels (implying our fellowship with him) that assures our heavenly citizenship (Matthew 10:32). What ultimately counts, then, is not our acceptance by this world’s societies but that our relationship to Christ is genuine and hence will merit his approbation in the coming kingdom.