The Seven Churches of Revelation: Thyatira, 2:18-29

The Church in Thyatira is the 4th church in our series. This church is very similar to the last church in Pergamum. Both churches are praised for several things, but Jesus condemns their acceptance of immoral teaching. Most of the pagan religions in the Roman empire involved prostitution or other immoral activities and the church of Pergamum had people who held to those teachings. Our passage today indicates that the church in Thyatira hadn't adopted this woman's teaching, rather the church was simply tolerating her and not dealing with her sin.
“Tolerance” was a big deal a few years ago, but as we’ve seen, tolerance moves toward acceptance, and acceptance moves toward celebration.
Jesus is very clear that He finds our toleration of sin to be intolerable! God’s people are called to strive for holiness, not tolerate wickedness.
This is the longest of the letters to the churches (written to the smallest church), and in it Jesus reveals a lot about His view of tolerating sin.
The city of Thyatira was about 40 miles SE from Pergamum. It was built in a valley with no natural fortifications, and no high hill (acropolis) to build grand temples.
It was a commercial center known for its purple dye. Lydia (Acts 16, 1st convert in Phillipi) was a seller of purple from Thyatira. Thyatira also had a metalworking industry. There was no major Jewish population there. The main pressure these Christians felt would be from the trade guilds. Each would have a patron god and members were expected to participate in worship in order to work.
Let's look at the passage now and see what Christ has to say about this issue...