Shalom,

Avi

The strictly literal explanation of this phrase suggests that these angels are actual angels. However, if this were true this would mean that these letter and then the whole book also were not written to us but to angelic beings. This simply can not be the case as it contradicts what we are told in the first chapter of Revelation: that the churches are Jewish. Another way to look at this phrase (and probably the most common view) is to re-translate the word angel. In Greek and Hebrew the word “angel” means “messenger”. Using the word “messenger” in place of the word “angel” would then infer that these letters are addressed to the seven Pastor’s/Elder’s/Bishop’s of the seven churches/synagogues. Although this is a much better interpretation of the phrase, it still limits the entire book of Revelation to only for seven people who lived in the first century CE. This makes the letters inapplicable to us today which is a contradiction of what we are told in 2 Timothy 3:16.

Remember that I said these were Jewish synagogues. Thus they would not really have been very similar to our churches today (unless you happen to go to a messianic synagogues which is very unlikely). From the book of Acts we even know that some of early churches even met in Jewish synagogues. In fact, if we look closely at Scripture we can find that Paul even told Timothy and Titus to set up churches in an extremely similar way to that of how a Jewish synagogue was set up. This is important to realize because in the Jewish synagogue there was a person called the “angel of the church”. This character was in charge of picking people to read from the Torah every Shabbat and “overseeing” them as they read to make sure they did not mess up (thus the word “overseer” in 1 Tim. 3). If there was a need the “angel of the church” would fill in for the Bishop/Rabbi so that there was always someone to preach, thus he also acted like an assistant Pastor. However, beside all these duties, his primary job was to pray for the church/synagogue both publicly in the services and privately throughout the week.

When Paul addressed the issue of leadership positions in the church/synagogue in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, he included only Bishops (also called Elders, Overseers, or Rabbis) and Deacons; both of which were positions which could be found in a Jewish synagogue. In fact, Bishops, Deacons, and “angels of the church” were the three major leadership positions in the Jewish synagogue. Paul required the first two to be set up in his Jewish churches/synagogues but failed to mention the role of the “angel of the church”. I believe the reason for this is because the “angel of the churches’” duties were to be done by all the members of the church/synagogue, not just by one specific person.

Of the three main duties that the “angel of the church” was supposed to have (prayer, making sure that the Scriptures were read, and being able to preach if called upon), all of these are aspects that all Christians are told they are to have. In 1 Timothy 2:8, Paul tells us that everyone is to be involved in public prayer. In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul tells us to devote ourselves to public reading of Scripture. And in 1 Peter 3:15, Peter tells us to always be ready to preach the Gospel of Christ. In the end, the Bible basically sets up the role of the “angel of the church” but does not give it a name so that it would be a duty of all believers. For this reason, since the churches/synagogues of the day would have know what the phrase “angel of the church” meant, John used it in Revelation to address the book to all believers. So, again we see that, just like the meaning of the candlesticks, this phrase too enforces the Jewishness of the book.

I would like to know about the 7 churches in Revelations. Since it was written to the Jewish people, where are those 7 synagogues in the world today? I have always been fascinated by Revelations. Thanks.