Only two of the seven churches receive only praise in their letter. These two churches are the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia. In the letter to the church in Smyrna, Jesus says he knows their “affliction and [their] poverty, even though [they] are rich” (2:9). This seems to be a praise since much of the Bible condemns those who are rich. It is probably a metaphor for their humbleness even though they are wealthy. The church in Philadelphia receives even greater praise because they “kept my word of patient endurance” (3:10).

The churches is Ephasus, Pergamum, and Thyatira receive a sort of constructive criticism that mentions the good things they do, but condemns the bad. The church in Ephasus does good works and endures patiently, but they have abandoned the “love [they] had at first” (2:2-4). The church in Pergamum do not deny their faith, but follow some false teachers (2:13-15). The church in Thyatira does good works and has good faith, but they tolerate a woman named Jezebel who “is teaching and beguiling my servants to practice fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols” (2:19-20)

The churches in Sardis and Laodicea have it the worst. They are given no praise at all, only blame. The church in Sardis is simply said to be dead in need of waking up, but it’s also said to have the “name of being alive” (3:1). This seems to blame the members of this church of practicing the same kind of hypocrisy the Pharisees were condemned of. The church in Laodicea is said to be “lukewarm” (3:16). Jesus condemns them for saying they were rich but not admitting they were once “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (3:17). This is similar to the hypocrisy of the church of Sardis.

John’s apocalyptic mentality is that the world is locked between an epic battle between good and evil, that good will win, and that evil will be destroyed. These letters urge the churches to be good in order to not be destroyed.