3:7 Located near to Sardis, Philadelphia was a relatively new city, founded during the second century B.C. by Attalus II Philadelphus. This may be in John’s mind when he writes to the Philadelphian church about the new Jerusalem (3:12). The “new” Philadelphia had been planned as a center for the hellenization program that was encouraged and financed by Attalus. The more conservative voices of the vibrant Jewish community in Philadelphia no doubt tried to thwart such a program and may have resisted Christianity as an element of their efforts in this regard (cf. 3:9).

For the only time in Revelation, Christ is called holy and true—the appellation used for God in 6:10. As an attribute of his lordship, Christ’s ongoing claim upon the church is based on his oneness with God his Father—a critic…