“Thou Hast Them There”

The Lord Jesus Christ writes the church at Pergamos in Revelation 2:14-15:

14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.  15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which thing I hate.

Verse 14 says, “thou hast there them,” and verse 15, “So hast thou also them.”  Jesus here does not confront “them that hold the doctrine of Balaam” or “them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitines.”  He hates both of those, but He does not address the ones holding those two doctrines.  It’s that those people are allowed to hold those doctrines and stay in the church there.  The leadership of the church and its members are not practicing either church discipline or ecclesiastical separation.

The church at Pergamos is not separating from false doctrine and Jesus is against them for this.  “Thee” and “thou” are singular and refer to the entire church.  The church is allowing “them,” more than one person in the church, to hold both of these false doctrines that Jesus hates.

Not Separating

What is Jesus talking about that He has against them?  They are not separating.  These are not people who are preaching or teaching false doctrine.  They’re just holding it.  He doesn’t want the church to allow people in the church who are merely believing false doctrine.  It’s unacceptable.

As I talk about this subject, some reading, I would surmise, well up in anger or frustration.  They both hate the doctrine of separation itself and when people write about it or propagate it.  Separation is a form of discipline.  It requires people to do something, not just go along and get along.

Secondary Separation

In the title, in particular I mention something in air quotes, “secondary separation.”  What is the church at Pergamos doing wrong?  They are not separating.  This is what Jesus is against.

Secondary separation is being against not separating.  Not separating is in and of itself a problem.  I can concur with this as I have seen it.  I compare this to two criminal violations, both starting with the letter “a.”  One is accomplice and the other is accessory after the fact.  Both of these do not require involvement in the crime but can be charged because someone is there or even just knows about it.

Examples

God commands separation.  When someone does not separate, he disobeys the command to separate.  In Psalm 1, the blessed person is not someone who does not give bad counsel, sins, or scorns.  No, he is the person who does not walk with, sit with, or stand with those people.  Please get this.  The blessed person will separate from these three.

A big story in Genesis involves Lot getting near Sodom.  He’s getting near.  I can hear someone asking, “What were you doing there?”  “Did you say anything?”  God doesn’t want His people being “okay” with things that He hates.  He’s against that.

Very often today evangelicals mock and ridicule people who will separate.  What do they say about Jesus here?  Will they mock Jesus, ridicule Him?  They would, I believe, if He were here.  He’s against not separating.  They’re for it.

What’s kind of interesting about this kind of essay, address, or post is that people will just ignore it.  They’ll go along their sweet way without doing what Jesus said.  At the same time, they’ll say, “I love Jesus.”