Paul and the “Other” in Revelation's Letters to the Seven Churches Revisited

This chapter revisits the argument that in the letters to the seven churches (Rev 2–3), John issues warnings against Gentile Jesus-followers in Pauline communities. Rather than suggest an antagonistic relationship between John and Pauline Jesus-followers, the parallels between Paul and Revelation 2–3 indicate that John is actually drawing upon Paul’s own polemical rhetoric and redeploying in his warnings against the Nicolaitans, followers of Jezebel, and others he considers to be a threat in his own day. In this way, John’s letters to the seven churches are evidence of the increasing popularity of Paul’s letters in Asia Minor in the late first century CE.