What is the Synagogue of Satan?

by Mike Ratliff

“‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:9 ESV)

A few days ago, a certain person posted an  “article” on another blog in which he accused Ken Silva and Ingrid Schlueter and their ministries of being the “Synagogue of Satan.” He stated that Ken and Ingrid along with other contributors to their ministries were this “synagogue of Satan” because they were “those Christians who would mock, slander and persecute brothers in the church by insisting on certain beliefs and actions above and beyond those given by Yeshua and his Apostles. Like the Judaizers of old, they insist on works for the purpose of salvation, or they insist on belief in specific man-made doctrines for inclusion in the kingdom. They try to close the door opened by Christ, the open door that no one can shut.”

The “above and beyond” “beliefs and actions” were referring to things such as expositional preaching over purely “topical” Christless preaching that only adds more tares to their churches. The statement that insistence on proper handling of God’s Word and the preaching of the whole Gospel is “above and beyond” that given by Yeshua and his Apostles is simply an act of deliberately ignoring what the Word of God teaches us. When a discerning man of God points out to a pastor that showing a movie of a glassblower and his finished product is not the same thing as preaching the Gospel he is simply being obedient to the Spirit of God as instructed in God’s Word to not allow those who preach error to go unchallenged. The “man-made doctrines” this fellow has a problem with are the doctrines of grace. In this, he is showing his ignorance of church history. The doctrines of grace stand alone above all other forms of Christianity in being completely Biblical.

The last statement is what got most of my attention though. This is a deliberate misuse of scripture. I exposited the passage in question last evening in this post.  The open door was one open by Christ for the members of that church to move through in obedience to Him. This had nothing to do with including or excluding Christians from being part of the Church. However, if you want to see how narrow the gate really is that genuine believers must go through in order to be saved then carefully read the following passage.

“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV)

We are not trying to narrow a gate that Christ has opened. We are simply pointing people to this narrow gate for it is the ONLY way to salvation. No one enters it by works for that is how people take the broad and easy way, which leads to death. No, the only ones who find this gate are called and drawn to it by God and they enter it by faith, which is given to them as that precious gift given to all He calls to be saved (Ephesians 2:1-10). Our Lord also deliberately drove away hundreds of followers with hard preaching because they sought Him for what they could get from Him such as food and healing. However, He would have none of it. In fact, He preached to them a sermon that caused all but His 12 disciples to leave Him (John 6:25-66).

What about this “synagogue of Satan?” Who is this? If you read this post then you know it was non-Christian, religious Jews. They were religious, but they had only man-made faith, not the faith given by God to all who are saved by grace through faith. The Greek word translated as “synagogue” is συναγωγή or sunagōgē. It literally means, “to lead together.” This word is used to describe the assembling of people into a gathering or congregation. It is not used to imply the natural unity of the people, but a community established in a special way and for a special object. When our Lord used the term “Synagogue of Satan” in Revelation 2:9 and Revelation 3:9, he was referring to unbelieving Jews who had not the gift of faith. Only those who have this faith from God are children of Abraham. Those Jews who clung to their works righteousness while rejecting Christ as Lord and Saviour proved they were not of the synagogue of believers, but of Satan because they were in unbelief and hated the truth.

Those in the “synagogue of Satan” were attempting to keep people from entering by the narrow gate. They refused to believe that those who were the true children of Abraham because they had saving faith were justified by that faith alone. We teach that genuine Christians are saved by grace through faith and it is all a gift from God. Our Lord made in clear in John 6 that no one comes to Him unless the Father draws them and the only ones He draws are those chosen by Him (Ephesians 1). The issues for these in the “synagogue of Satan” are that they have rejected grace while insisting on salvation by works of the Law. However, the Law saves no one. The Law is designed only to reveal the lost condition and utter sinfulness of Man. That is all it can do. It can deliver no one. The Law did not justify Abraham. He lived hundreds of years before the Law. He was justified by faith just as we are.

Therefore, when we point out to the emergents and those in the New Evangelism, those in the Church Growth movement, et cetera that all they are doing is filling their local churches with tares because they are neglecting the Word of God and the whole Gospel, we are not saying these things to be mean or disagreeable. No, we point these things out to them because we are told to do this in God’s Word (Jude 1:1-25). We must confront those who preach a false gospel and lead people astray. This is not legalism. This is not an attempt to put others down. This is simply obedience on our part in order that “some” may repent as God opens their eyes to the truth. Unless He does this then no one believes or repents.

Soli Deo Gloria!