The Letter to the Church in Sardis

Grace & Peace PGH

Travis' comments on the Letter to the Church of Sardis: "Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy." - Revelation 3:4 Sardis is one of two churches in Revelation 2-3 that receives only a rebuke and no commendation. Some folks wonder if that is correct? Isn't 3:4 a commendation of this church? That is obviously a valid question, but I think the answer is no. Without going too far into the weeds here, I think what we find in 3:4 is more of an acknowledgement than a commendation. That is, while the church in Sardis overall is receiving no commendation, Jesus is acknowledging that there are a few people in the church who are walking in faithful allegiance to him. There a few reasons why I say this. First, the overall tone of this letter should guide how we interpret verse 4. Second, when compared to the other letters that receive both commendation and rebuke, the letter to Sardis is more negative in its tone. Third, even though there is commendable behavior mention in 3:4 (they are worthy), the emphasis in this verse seems to fall on the small number of people this represents (only a few names). Thus, the idea seems to be that though there are a small number of people who are faithful in Sardis, the church overall is dead and needs to wake up (3:1-3). So, while a few people receive an encouraging word of commendation, the church as a whole doesn't. That's different from most of the other letters.