Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. (Revelation 2:20)
Textual evidence favors (cf. p. 10) the omission of this phrase.
However, some ancient manuscripts read “much” or “many things.” The simple reading, “I have [it] against thee” (cf. v. 4), is to be preferred.
Sufferest.
Gr. aphiēmi, “to permit,”“to allow to operate.” The church was at fault not only because many openly submitted to apostasy but also because no earnest effort was being made to check the course of evil.
Jezebel.
For the account of the historical Jezebel see 1 Kings 16:31; 18:13; 19:1, 2; 21:5-16, 23-25; 2 Kings 9:30-37. It would appear that, as Jezebel sponsored the worship of Baal in Israel (1 Kings 21:25), so in John’s day some false prophetess was attempting to lead astray the church at Thyatira. The message indicates that here, even more than at Pergamum (Rev. 2:14), apostasy was openly and defiantly rampant. As applied to the Thyatira period of Christian history, the figure of Jezebel represents the power that produced the great apostasy of the medieval centuries (see Additional Note on Dan. 7; see on Rev. 2:18; cf. Rev. 17).
Commit fornication … eat things sacrificed.
See on Rev. 2:14; cf. 2 Kings 9:22. This doubtless had, first, a local application to the church at Thyatira. Applied to the Thyatira period of church history, this would represent an admixture of paganism with Christianity (see on Eze. 16:15; Rev. 17:1). This process was accelerated greatly under Constantine and his successors. Medieval Christianity absorbed, to a great extent, pagan forms and practices.