Revelation 1:1-3
Revelation 1:1-3. TITLE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE REVELATION... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 1:1-3. TITLE AND DESCRIPTION OF THE REVELATION... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠΟΚΆΛΥΨΙΣ. English idiom requires the definite article here (as with ἀπόδεξις in Hdt. I. 1). St Jerome (_ad_ Galatians 1:11-12) overstates a little when he calls the word ἀποκάλυψις distinctly scriptural. Both verb and noun are used by Plato and Plutarch of simple disclosure of thought and act; ἀνα... [ Continue Reading ]
ὊΣ ἘΜΑΡΤΎΡΗΣΕΝ, i.e. who bears witness in the piesent work. The past tense is used, as constantly in Greek—e.g. in St John’s own Epistle, I. Revelation 2:14—of the act of a writer which _will_ be past when his work comes to be read. The “witness “John is said to bear is that contained in this book—n... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ�. Plainly the author of the book, or of this endorsement of it, contemplates its being read publicly in the Church. ἀναγινώσκων is the proper word for reading aloud. The apostolic Epistles were thus read, first by the Churches to which they were addressed, then by others in the neighbourhood (Colo... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΩΆΝΝΗΣ. The Apostle, the son of Zebedee, who (probably afterwards) wrote the Gospel: see Introduction, pp. xl, xlix. ΤΑΙ͂Σ ἙΠΤᾺ ἘΚΚΛΗΣΊΑΙΣ. The number of course is symbolical or representative: there were other churches in Asia, e.g. at Colossae and Hierapolis (Colossians 4:13). But the Seven Chur... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠῸ ἸΗΣΟΥ͂ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΥ͂, Ὁ ΜΆΡΤΥΣ. The anacoluthon is probably an intentional parallel to that in the previous verse, though here the threefold title might have been declined if the writer had pleased. There is a tendency throughout the book, where one clause stands in apposition to another, to put the... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ἘΠΟΊΗΣΕΝ. Lit., “And He made”; the construction τῷ� … καὶ λύσαντι is broken off rather strangely, as it is resumed by αὐτῷ; otherwise a finite verb after participles is not strange in Hebrew or Hebraistic Greek. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΊΑΝ ἹΕΡΕΙ͂Σ. A phrase synonymous with βασίλειον ἰεράτευμα of 1 Peter 2:9. That... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse, as indeed may be said of the whole book, is founded chiefly on our Lord’s own prophecy recorded in St Matthew 24, and secondly on the Old Testament prophecies which He there refers to and sums up. ΜΕΤᾺ ΤΩ͂Ν ΝΕΦΕΛΩ͂Ν. “With the clouds of heaven.” The preposition here and in Mark 14:62, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ἌΛΦΑ ΚΑῚ ΤῸ Ὦ. The first and last letters of the _Greek_ alphabet used, as in Rabbinical proverbs the first and last letters of the _Hebrew_ alphabet were, as symbols of “the beginning and the end.” These latter words (ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος) are not here a part of the genuine text; they come from Revela... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΓῺ ἸΩΆΝΝΗΣ Κ.Τ.Λ. “I John, your brother and partaker in the tribulation, and kingdom, and patience in Jesus.” The condescending choice of titles—if the writer is the son of Zebedee—is unique in the New Testament. To the opening part of the salutation there is a parallel in 1 Peter 5:1. The collocat... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΓΕΝΌΜΗΝ ἘΝ ΠΝΕΎΜΑΤΙ. Was caught into a state of spiritual rapture. Song of Solomon 4:2 and (nearly) Revelation 17:3; Revelation 21:10; cf. 1 Kings 18:12; Ezekiel 3:12; Ezekiel 3:14; Ezekiel 37:1; also 2 Corinthians 12:2-3. ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ΚΥΡΙΑΚΗ͂Ι ἩΜΈΡΑΙ. Und [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸΣ ΠΈΡΓΑΜΟΝ. Probably a neuter. The seven cities are enumerated in the order in which a traveller on circuit might visit them, going north from Ephesus to Smyrna and Pergamos, then inland to Thyatira, and southwards to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΛΈΠΕΙΝ ΤῊΝ ΦΩΝΉΝ. The meaning is obvious and the inconsequence of language characteristic. ΛΥΧΝΊΑΣ. These are stands for portable oil-lamps, which stood on the ground and in shape though not in size resembled our candlesticks. The Latin word was _candelabra_ which served to support torches, _funic... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΜΟΙΟΝ ΥἹΩ͂Ι�. It might be better with Tischendorf and Westcott and Hort to read ὅμοιον υἱὸν here and at Revelation 14:14; if so the writer makes juxtaposition do the work of construction, as _sup_. 16, see n. In the title of our Lord in the Gospels (except John 5:27) and in Acts 7:56 both words hav... [ Continue Reading ]
ὩΣ ἜΡΙΟΝ ΛΕΥΚΌΝ, ὩΣ ΧΙΏΝ. Cf. Daniel 7:9 LXX. ὡσεὶ ἔριον λευκὸν καθαρὸν (Theodotion has ὡσεὶ ἔριον καθαρὸν); otherwise we might translate and punctuate “like wool, as white as snow.” Though the Person seen is the Son of Man of Daniel 7:13, the description is more nearly that of the Ancient of Days,... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΑΛΚΟΛΙΒΆΝΩΙ. The ancients were not clear whether this word meant brass (or, strictly speaking, bronze) as clear as a scented gum, or a scented gum that shone like brass; the former sense is decidedly most probable from the context, the various and the parallel passages. Anyway the word seems to be... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΧΩΝ. The present participle of this verb here and in Revelation 6:2; Revelation 6:5; Revelation 10:2; Revelation 19:12; Revelation 21:12 is used as fully equivalent to a present indicative: and here the construction of ἔχων must determine that of ἐκπορευομένη, which by itself would not be difficult... [ Continue Reading ]
ἜΠΕΣΑ … ΝΕΚΡΌΣ. So Daniel 8:17 sq., Daniel 10:8-9; Daniel 10:15 (Ezekiel 1:28; Ezekiel 43:3; Ezekiel 44:4 do not necessarily imply so much): cf. Exodus 3:6; Exodus 20:19; Exodus 33:20;... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΓΕΝΌΜΗΝ is emphatic in intentional contrast to ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ πρῶτος, and still more to ζῶν εἰμί, setting His temporal and temporary death against His eternal life; see on Revelation 1:4. ΤΟΥ͂ ΘΑΝΆΤΟΥ ΚΑῚ ΤΟΥ͂ ἍΔΟΥ. Hades is the receptacle of the dead: usually personified in this book, as indeed is dea... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἅ ΕἾΔΕΣ. If the Revelation be a homogeneous record of a single trance, this must mean the vision just described, otherwise we might think the Seer was bidden to write all his visions. Jeremiah had prophesied more than twenty years (Jeremiah 1:2; Jeremiah 36:1) before he was bidden to write. If so it... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΜΥΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ. The only possible construction of these words is as an accusative in loose apposition to ἃ εἶδες κ.τ.λ.; perhaps the writer left them without any construction. If he had attended to details of style he would have been more likely to begin anew with “This is the mystery …” than to conti... [ Continue Reading ]