{7} I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

(7) The proposition of praise is in this verse, and of exhortation joined with a promise, is in Re 2:10.

People's New Testament

2:9 Tribulation. Affliction.

Poverty. Most of those first enlisted for Christ were poor. See 1Co 1:26-29.

But thou art rich. Rich in faith, hope and fruits.

And I know the blasphemy. Reviling of the Jews against the Lord.

Them who say they are Jews. Those who say that they are Jews were of the Jewish race, but were not of the true Israel. He is not a (true) Jes who is one outwardly, etc. (Ro 2:28). John denies the right of these Jewish opposers to use the term Jews in the sense of God's chosen people. Their synagogue was

the synagogue of Satan. Such strong language implies a complete separation of the church and synagogue, an event that occurred at the period of the destruction of Jerusalem. See Ac 21:20-26

Wesley's Notes

2:9 I know thy affliction and poverty - A poor prerogative in the eyes of the world! The angel at Philadelphia likewise had in their sight but a little strength. And yet these two were the most honourable of all in the eyes of the Lord. But thou art rich - In faith and love, of more value than all the kingdoms of the earth. Who say they are Jews - God's own people. And are not - They are not Jews inwardly, not circumcised in heart. But a synagogue of Satan - Who, like them, was a liar and a murderer from the beginning.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

9. thy works, and-omitted in two oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, and Coptic. Supported by one oldest manuscript.

tribulation-owing to persecution.

poverty-owing to "the spoiling of their goods."

but thou art rich-in grace. Contrast Laodicea, rich in the world's eyes and her own, poor before God. "There are both poor rich-men, and rich poor-men in God's sight" [Trench].

blasphemy of them-blasphemous calumny of thee on the part of (or arising from) them.

say they are Jews, and are not-Jews by national descent, but not spiritually of "the true circumcision." The Jews blaspheme Christ as "the hanged one." As elsewhere, so at Smyrna they bitterly opposed Christianity; and at Polycarp's martyrdom they joined the heathens in clamoring for his being cast to the lions; and when there was an obstacle to this, for his being burnt alive; and with their own hands they carried logs for the pile.

synagogue of Satan-Only once is the term "synagogue" in the New Testament used of the Christian assembly, and that by the apostle who longest maintained the union of the Church and Jewish Synagogue. As the Jews more and more opposed Christianity, and it more and more rooted itself in the Gentile world, the term "synagogue" was left altogether to the former, and Christians appropriated exclusively the honorable term "Church"; contrast an earlier time when the Jewish theocracy is called "the Church in the wilderness." Compare Nu 16:3; 20:4, "congregation of the Lord." Even in Jas 2:2 it is "your (not the Lord's) assembly." The Jews, who might have been "the Church of God," had now, by their opposition and unbelief, become the synagogue of Satan. So "the throne of Satan" (Re 2:13) represents the heathens' opposition to Christianity; "the depths of Satan" (Re 2:24), the opposition of heretics.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:8-11 Our Lord Jesus is the First, for by him were all things made; he was before all things, with God, and is God himself. He is the Last, for he will be the Judge of all. As this First and Last, who was dead and is alive, is the believer's Brother and Friend, he must be rich in the deepest poverty, honourable amidst the lowest abasement, and happy under the heaviest tribulation, like the church of Smyrna. Many who are rich as to this world, are poor as to the next; and some who are poor outwardly, are inwardly rich; rich in faith, in good works, rich in privileges, rich in gifts, rich in hope. Where there is spiritual plenty, outward poverty may be well borne; and when God's people are made poor as to this life, for the sake of Christ and a good conscience, he makes all up to them in spiritual riches. Christ arms against coming troubles. Fear none of these things; not only forbid slavish fear, but subdue it, furnishing the soul with strength and courage. It should be to try them, not to destroy them. Observe, the sureness of the reward; I will give thee: they shall have the reward from Christ's own hand. Also, how suitable it is; a crown of life: the life worn out in his service, or laid down in his cause, shall be rewarded with a much better life, which shall be eternal. The second death is unspeakably worse than the first death, both in the agonies of it, and as it is eternal death: it is indeed awful to die, and to be always dying. If a man is kept from the second death and wrath to come, he may patiently endure whatever he meets with in this world.