Meat Offered to Idols in Pergamum and Thyatira. This article was originally published in the Fall 2. Bible and Spade. In 1. Colin Hemer first published his book The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting. He did an outstanding job of placing the letters to the Seven Churches of Asia Minor Rv 13 in their historical geographical setting at the end of the first century AD. When Hemer deals with the phrase meat offered to idols he comments that there are two aspects of the problem. Corinth, the consumption of idol consecrated meat from the public market, and participation in the idolatrous guild feast see 1 Cor 8 11. The latter was the particular issue at Thyatira 2. A year later. Dr. Charles A. Kennedy, who is now professor emeritus at Virginia Tech, in an article in Love and Death in the Ancient Near East, challenged the standard interpretation and set forth another view of the phrasemeat offered to idols 1. Kennedy contends that Paul is addressing himself to one of the most pervasive problems faced by Christians anywhere at any time, the proper rites to be accorded their dead. What was Jesus message to the church in Pergamum in Revelation Why did the church in Pergamum receive a direct message from the Lord Calvary Christian Church in Lynnfield, MA is North of Boston. The Balanced Ministry with a Personal Touch. Spiritual Deception, Revival and Angus Buchan. Prof. Johan Malan, South Africa May 2010 Spiritual deception and apostatising keep on proliferating as we are moving. The Coming Tribulation A History of the Apocalypse. Part 2A The Seven Churches of Revelation The Seven Churches Revelation 21 322 by Dr. Robert D. Luginbill. There are many proofs of a pretribulation rapture of the Church in the Bible. Pergamum+%3D+Mixed+Marriage.jpg' alt='Pergamum The Promise' title='Pergamum The Promise' />Eidolothuton should be translated as memorial meals for the dead 1. The phrase meal offered to idols appears ten times in the New Testament. The first mention is in Acts 1. Jerasalem Council issued the decree to the Gentile believers in the Lord Jesus that they were to abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourself from these, you do well1. NKJV. The second time it is used in the Book of Acts is when Paul appears before James in Jerusalem 2. Paul addresses this issue in his first epistle to the church at Corinth in chapters 81. The Witcher 2 Patch 3.3. Paul begins this section, Now concerning things offered to idols8 1. The phrase appears six times in the context 8 1, 4, 7, 1. The last two references are found in two of the letters addressed to the seven churches of Asia Minor Rv 2 1. Join the ABR team on a once in a lifetime tour of Greece This paper will examine C. A. Kennedys view of the phrase meat offered to idols as it relates to the church at Pergamum 2 1. Thyatira 2 2. 0.  Pergamum. View from the summit of the hill on which the city of Pergamum sat, looking south into the fertile valley of the Caicus River. C. A. Kennedys View. Dr. Kennedy views the phrase meat offered to idols as a memorial meal for the dead. In his article he begins by looking at the etymology of the word eidolothuton, the phrase translated meat offered to idols, and then the archaeological evidence to support his thesis. Kennedy points out 1. The two elements of the word, idol and sacrifice combine to form the compound mealfoodthings offered to idols. The idols are taken to mean the statues of the Greek gods therefore the sacrifices must be the victims slaughtered at their temples. Such meat, so the argument goes, is not to be eaten by Christians 1 Cor 1. Acts 1. 5 2. 9. However, the word eidolon is rarely used in secular Greek in the usual sense of idol i. Kennedy contends tends that the meaning is the representation of a real person 1. He then gives several examples. One example leads him to the second association, that of the shade or shadow of a person who had died 1. The second element of the word thuton is usually translated sacrifice yet this word has a wide range of meanings. Kennedy concludes his study of the etymology of the word by saying, The combination of eidolo and thuton should then be understood to mean meal for the image of the deceased or more simply a funerary mealoffering, a memorial meal for the dead. Death Masks. A Roman patrician carrying the death masks of his deceased relatives. An important element in the funeral rites was the image of the deceased. Wax masks were made and incorporated into effigies that might be displayed in public Kennedy 1. Painted portraits could be displayed, and for the wealthy, a sculptured portrait bust. The best archaeological illustration of the memorial meals for the dead can be found in Pompeii, Italy. The city was covered with dust and ash during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 7. A tomb of Gnaeus Vibrius Saturninus exists outside the Herculaneum Gale on the Street of the Tombs. One entered the tomb complex via a small entrance from the street. Destiny Dixon Tonight. A triclinium was in the center of the courtyard so the family members could recline while they ate the memorial meal in honor of the deceased relative. Elsewhere in the Pompeii necropolis one can see statues of the deceased person as well as memorial chapels with the image of the dead. Clement of Alexandria probably had similar tombs in Egypt in mind when he said Tombs are objects of reverence in just the same way as temples are in fact, pyramids, mausoleums and labyrinths are as it were temples naoi of dead men, just as the temples are tombs of the gods Exhortation to the Greeks 4 LCL 1. Kennedy points out the irony of this statement by saying,In this very nice turn of phrases, Clement manages to criticize the cult of the dead and the pagan gods at the same time. If men set up shrines i. Whenever meat offered to idols is mentioned in the Scriptures, it is always associated with sexual immorality. Apparently, the funerary meals would, at times, degenerate into orgies because the drinking got out of hand. This connection is evident in the two letters to the churches of Asia Minor. A Roman Tomb Triclinium at Pompeii. Roman tombs could be quite elaborate and include a place for memorial meals which would have been eaten at this triclinium, or table. Perhaps it was to one of these memorial meals that Paul alluded to when he wrote about dining in an idols temple 1 Cor 8 1. Funerary Meals in Pergamum Rv 2 1. The Lord Jesus instructs the Apostle John to write to the angel or church representative of the church in Pergamum Rv 2 1. John describes the Risen Lord Jesus as the One with the sharp two edged sword 2 1. This metaphor is used elsewhere in the New Testament for the Word of God Eph 6 1. Heb 4 1. 2 cf. Rv 1 1. He commends them for holding fast to the Name of the Lord Jesus and not denying Him in spite of the persecution in the city where Satan dwells 2 1. However, the Lord had a few things against the church at Pergamum. First, there were some in the church that held to the doctrine of Balaam which included eating things sacrificed to idols, and committing sexual immorality 2 1. Second, there were also some in the church that held to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans 2 1. This error was in the Church at Ephesus, but the leaders of that church took a stand against this heresy 2 6. Dr. Robert Thomas in his commentary on the book of Revelation points out that these are two separate groups within the church, both of which had disobeyed the decision of the Jerusalem council in regard to idolatrous practices and fornication cf. Acts 1. 5 2. 0, 2. The earliest witness to the Nicolaitans is the Church Father. Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyons ca. He was a disciple of Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor. Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John. In his work Against Heresies, chapter 2. Irenaeus wrote The Nicolaitanes are the follower of that Nicolas who was one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles Acts 6 5. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence.