A Church Too Tolerant

                Continuing our look at the seven churches of Asia, we come now to the church of Thyatira in Rev 2.18-29. The letter to Thyatira is the longest of all the seven letters, and yet Thyatira is mentioned only twice in the entire Bible: first in Acts 16.14f, then here in Revelation. Interestingly, in both cases it was a woman who was prominent, but how different these women were! In the first case (Acts 16), the woman was Lydia, a godly woman and the first convert in Europe (Thyatira is in Asia of course, but Lydia was in Philippi at the time of her conversion). In the second case, it was “the woman Jezebel,” every bit the opposite of Lydia. While Lydia led her household to Christ and perhaps brought the gospel back to Thyatira, “Jezebel” led the saints away from Christ and into the “deep things of Satan” (the name “Jezebel” may be figurative, with the intent to parallel this women with the infamous Jezebel of ancient Israel). Thyatira also seems to represent a downward progression into sin and the ways of Satan. Ephesus was a good church, but had merely lost her first love. Smyrna was faithfully enduring the test of Satan through persecution. Pergamum lived where Satan dwells, but had mostly withstood the temptations. But it seems that perhaps a majority, or at least a large segment, of the saints in Thyatira had plunged into the “deep things of Satan.”

                Not that the saints at Thyatira lacked commendable traits. On the contrary, they were commended highly for their love, faith, service, perseverance, and perhaps most notably that they had grown more fervent in their deeds of service (vs.19). The problem was that they were just too tolerant. If Ephesus had lost her first love, Thyatira was just too “loving.” That is, what Christ had against them was that they were too tolerant (vs.20). They tolerated the evil Jezebel, who claimed to be a prophetess while leading the saints into flagrant sexual immorality. Because of their so-called love, the church was being led deep into sin.

                Many churches today have fallen into the same trap, though perhaps not as dramatically as Thyatira. Either through a misguided sense of “love,” or simply the desire to increase their membership, more and more churches today tolerate sin in their midst. A popular contemporary saying goes something like this: “We accept you where you are, but love you enough not to let you stay that way.” It sounds like a nice sentiment, and the loving way to treat people. And perhaps there is a sense in which it is Biblical and right. It suggests kindness, tolerance, grace. But if applied without limits, it goes against the consistent teaching of Jesus and the apostles. The church was not to tolerate unrepentant, flagrant (or even veiled) sin in her midst (cf. Mt 18.15-18; Acts 5.1-11; 1 Cor 5; 1 Tim 1.20). On the one hand we are to display grace, forbearance, patience, longsuffering , and forgiveness—accepting one another (Rom 15.7), “showing tolerance for one another in love” (Eph 4.2). And yet, like the church in Thyatira, we can be overly tolerant. Churches that refuse to hold their members accountable, and who are afraid to confront sin and show tough love (even withdrawing fellowship if necessary)—well, such churches might grow in numbers by their tolerance, but one person they could not tolerate is Jesus Christ. For according to Rev 2.20-23, Jesus would be way too intolerant for them.

© 2008 Randy Hohf