The passage of Rev. places us amid the difficulties besettin" the Thyatiran Christians in the early period of the Church. The population of the city was divided into trade-gmlds, many of Avhich are mentioned in inscriptions. To belong to the guild was a most important matter for every trades- man or artisan ; it aided his business, and brought him many advantages socially. Each guild was a corporate body, possessing considerable powers, directed by elected officers, passing decrees in honour of Roman officials or other persons who had aided it, possessing property or revenues under its own direction, constructing works for the public ; many of them, if not all, were benefit societies for mutual aid, and showed vigorous life, and were on the whole healthy and praiseworthy associations.
The objection to the guilds from the Christian point of view was twofold. In the first place, the bond which held a guild together lay always in the common religion in which all united, and iu the common sacrificial meal of which all partook ; the members ate and drank fellowship and brother- hood in virtue of the pagan deity whom they served. In the existing state of society it was impossible to dissociate membership of a guild from idolatry, and the idolatry was of a kind that by its symbolism and its efficacy exerteil
• From ft single reference it is impossible to determine whether a ChaMiean deity, or a Chalda^an who instituted and regulated the cultus, is meant. M. Clero (d*- Hebiu TUijotir. pp. 23, 79) puts the shrine of the Sibyl near the Chaldwan't precinct; but the inscription defines the position of the grave as bv the Sibyl's shrine in the Chaldsean's precinct.
t in Thtotai. Abhandt. Weizmcker geieidifiei, 1S92, p. 39 S.
t On this see Expotitor, Dec. lOOO, p. 42« a. ; Feb. I9t<l, p 93 0.
THYATIliA
TLBERIAS
great influence on its adherents, makin" them inenihers of a unity wliicU w:is ej^sintially non- Christian and anti-Chri.sti;in. In the second idaue, the common banquets were celebrated amid cir- cumstances of revelry and enjoyment that were far from conducive to strict morality, as is evident from representations of the feasts in such clubs ; see linlktin de Curresp. UelUn. 1900, p. 592 S., and authorities there quoted.
But, considering the many good characteristics in these guilds, it wa-s a serious question whether the Cliristian converts were bound to cut them- selves oli' absolutely from them. In Rev ^""^ we see that the question had not j'et been decisively answered in the Thyatiran Church, but was still under discussion : one iiilluential female member, who was generally believed to be inspired, taught that Christians might continue in their guilds and share in the duties and privileges thereof. On the other hand there was a section of that Church (Rev 2") which ojipo.sed the teaching of the prophetess in this res|»ect ; we should probably gather from the whole passage that this section was the minor- ity in the Church. This minority shares in the general condemnation of 2* for sull'ering the woman Jezebel : they had not condemned her absolutely, but treated her teaching as mistaken in this one point, while otherwise regarding her as worthy of respect. The minority, however, is not threatened with any further penalty, provided they continue to reject the teachmg of the prophetess. Thus the letter to Thyatira reveals to us a very early stage in Christian history. The very lirst problems, which must have faced the (christians in the ^gean cities, connected with their relation to the pagan society and institutions, are still un- settled. Xo final decision had j-et been come to in Thyatira on the subject ; and contrary opinions were maintained by members of the same com- munity. The decision bad indeed been pronounced by St. Paul as regards Corinth,* but in somewhat veiled and general terms, and had not as yet become the current and definite principle of all the Churches. As regards date, it might appear that this points to an earlier period than the reign of Domitian, and favours the earlier date for Rev. which manj' scholars have advocated ; but a single detail is not conclusive, and exceptional circum- stances must be admitted as possible in outlying communities like Thyatira and Pergamuni (Rev 2"). In Ephesus, the jidministrative centre of the Asian Churches, the decision of the Church was already li.\ed (Ilev 2'). Here it is implied that the error of the prophetess had already been denounced, ' and I gave her time that she should repent ' (2"). It is only after that previous formal warning that her punishment is now denounced as immediate : her followers have still an opportunity of escaping the punishment, if they repent, but otherwise it will aile<tt them and her together.
The punishment denounced is illustrated by the nature of such guild-fea.sts, as shown in ancient reliefs. The members and worshippers reclined on couches at the banquet ; and it is probable that the K\ivT) of Rev 2-* should be understood, not as a bed ( A V and RV), but as a couch : ' I set her on a couch, and her associates alongside of her (no longer for the revelry of their idolatrous celebrations, but) for tribulation' (see Expositor, l"eb. I'JUl, u. 9911.).
Apart from this serious fault, the Church of Thyatira is praised highly for its energetic and truly Christian conduct, and for its steady progress : ' thjy last works are more than the first.