Etched or Sketched? Inscriptions and Erasures in the Messages to Sardis and Philadelphia (Rev. 3.1-13)

Abstract

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.