Before we move onward to the next post in the introduction to this series, we are actually going to take a step back. What was really not supposed to be a big deal, really, has generated a lot of interest and discussion. Go check the comments on the first one and you can get caught up. There were some great comments, and I think some clarifying remarks are in order.

The first question is: Who were the letters to? I don’t really know of anyone who argues that the letters were anything but seven literal letters to seven literal churches. It seems clear Jesus dispatched them to John the Apostle to address specific issues in specific congregations. Each of them was a real church at the time of the writing, and the letters spoke of things very specific to each of them. So far so good. The problem is…what about…