Lives of Scripture

In His letter to the church at Pergamum, one of the seven churches addressed in Revelation, Christ commends believers there for holding fast to His name and not denying their faith "even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells" (Revelation 2:13). Pergamum was a center of Roman emperor worship and pagan temple life, which likely explains John's description of it as the place "where Satan's throne is." Scripture states nothing else about Antipas's life or the circumstances of his death beyond this single verse -- only that he was killed there for his faithfulness to Christ in a city openly hostile to that confession. Later church tradition holds that Antipas served as Pergamum's bishop and was martyred by being roasted alive inside a bronze bull under the emperor Domitian, but this account comes from writings composed centuries later and should be received as tradition, not as something Revelation itself states. What Scripture does say plainly is Christ's own verdict: Antipas is the only individual member of any of the seven churches singled out by name anywhere in Revelation, named specifically as "My witness, My faithful one."