But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
This verse comes from a letter Jesus dictated to a church in the ancient city of Pergamum, located in what is now Turkey. Jesus had already praised this church for holding onto their faith even in a dangerous, hostile city. But now he confronts a serious problem. Balaam was a prophet-for-hire in the Old Testament who, unable to curse Israel directly, advised a foreign king named Balak to lure the Israelites into sin through idol worship and sexual immorality connected to pagan feasting (Numbers 22–25). Centuries later, some people in Pergamum were teaching a similar theology of spiritual compromise — essentially arguing that a little blending of faith with surrounding culture was harmless. Jesus says: it isn't.
Lord, give me the courage to be honest about the places I've quietly made peace with compromise. I don't want a faith that just blends in — I want one that's actually alive and anchored to you. Show me where I've drifted, and help me not flinch when I see it. Amen.
There's a version of faith that's really just a negotiation. Keep the parts that feel meaningful, quietly drop the parts that create friction with the people around you, and call it maturity or nuance. The church at Pergamum hadn't abandoned Jesus — they were still standing under real pressure. But they had made room for teachers who were slowly dismantling the distinction between following God and following everyone else. It probably felt tolerant. Reasonable. Open-minded. The teaching of Balaam is subtle precisely because it doesn't look like betrayal — it looks like flexibility. It looks like not making a big deal out of things. Jesus doesn't commend it. He says the church has something lodged in it like a splinter: small enough to ignore, serious enough to cause real damage over time. The question this verse puts to you isn't whether you've renounced your faith outright. It's quieter than that: where have you quietly made peace with something that deserves more resistance? What has slowly become acceptable that once felt clearly wrong?
Who was Balaam, and why does Jesus use him as a reference point for a church more than a thousand years later? What does that tell you about how Scripture speaks across time?
Where in your own life do you feel the pull to compromise your faith to fit in or avoid conflict — and how do you usually respond to that pressure?
Is there a meaningful difference between healthy cultural engagement and the kind of compromise Jesus is warning against here? How would you draw that line?
How does tolerating false or watered-down teaching in a community affect other people — especially those who are new to faith or more vulnerable? What's the relational cost of looking the other way?
If you did an honest audit of your beliefs and practices this week, is there anything you've slowly drifted on that you need to revisit? What would taking one step back toward conviction actually look like?
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Revelation 2:4
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
Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.
2 Timothy 3:8
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:20
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Acts 15:29
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Matthew 18:7
Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
Jude 1:11
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:6
But I have a few things against you, because you have there some [among you] who are holding to the [corrupt] teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, [enticing them] to eat things that had been sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of sexual] immorality.
AMP
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
ESV
'But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit [acts of] immorality.
NASB
Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
NIV
But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
NKJV
“But I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.
NLT
"But why do you indulge that Balaam crowd? Don't you remember that Balaam was an enemy agent, seducing Balak and sabotaging Israel's holy pilgrimage by throwing unholy parties?
MSG