This article argues that the image of the ‘pillar in the temple’
in Rev. 3.12 functions as part of the rhetorical contrast (synkrisis) of
Sardis and Philadelphia in Rev. 3.1-13. First, I introduce previously unexamined
data to show that Rev. 3.12 functions as a general reference to inscribed columns,
rather than as a specific literary or archaeological reference. Second, I argue that
the description of the community at Philadelphia as an ‘inscribed
pillar‘ contrasts rhetorically to that of Sardis, whose name could be
blotted out from the book of life (Rev. 3.5). Finally, deconstruction of these
paired tropes undermines the appearance of stability in the messages and reveals the
ideological struggles within these early Christian communities inscribed in the Apocalypse.
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