Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 1:2

ἐμαρτ. (epistol. aor., cf. Philemon 1:19, cf. further Thuc. i. 1 ξυνέγραψε). λόγ. τ. θ., like דבר יהוה (LXX λόγος τοῦ θεοῦ, e.g., Jeremiah 1:2), a collective term for God's disclosures to men (τοὺς λόγους, 3), or as here for some specific revelation more exactly defined in ὅσα εἶδεν, all that was seen or even heard (Amos 1:1) in visions being described by this generic term. The double expression the word of God and the testimony borne by Jesus Christ (Revelation 22:16; Revelation 22:20; cf. Revelation 19:10) is an amplified phrase for the gospel. The subject upon which Jesus assures men of truth is the revelation of God's mind and heart, and the gospel is that utterance of God that expression of His purpose which Jesus unfolds and attests. The book itself is the record of John's evidence; he testifies to Christ, and Christ testifies of the future as a divine plan. For the revelation of God, in the specific form of prophecy, requires a further medium between Jesus and the ordinary Christian; hence the role of the prophets. On the prophetic commission to write, cf. Asc. Isa. i. 4 5 and i. 2, παρέδωκεν αὐτῷ τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας οὓς αὐτὸς εἶδεν, κ. τ. λ. The primitive sense of μαρτ. (= oral confession and proclamation of Jesus by his adherents) thus expands into a literary sense (as here) and into the more sombre meaning of martyrdom (Revelation 2:13; John 18:37-39; John 19:19; cf. Lightfoot on Clem. Rom. v.). It is significant that the λόγος τ. θ. of Judaism was not adequate to the Christian consciousness without the μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 1:2

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