Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 14:5

ἄμωμοι, “unblemished” (a ritual term), possibly contains a sacrificial tinge, like ἀπαρχή in some of the inscriptions (= gift to deity), cf. Thieme's Inschriften von Magnesia, 26. These adherents are redeemed. But in another aspect their qualities of purity and guilelessness form a sweet sacrifice to God. A Christian not only may be redeemed but may sacrifice himself in the interests of the Redeemer. ψεῦδος. In view of Revelation 21:8; Revelation 21:27; Revelation 22:15 it is superfluous to think of prophets or teachers specially (Weinel, 146 148) in this connexion, although the gifts of utterance and prophecy were particularly associated with asceticism (En. lxxxiii., cviii., etc.) in the early church of the first century; e.g., “the whole yoke of the Lord” in Did. vi. may refer to celibacy (in which case τέλειος would be equivalent to ἄμωμος here). Cf. the discussion of reasons, in a Babylonian incantation (Zimmern, die Beschwörungstafeln Shurpu, 5, 6), why the sufferer was punished. “Has he for ‘no' said ‘yes', | For ‘yes' said ‘no'?… Was he frank in speaking | but false in heart? | Wasit ‘yes' with his mouth | but ‘no' in his heart?” The Assyrian idiom for loyalty is “true speech in the mouth of the people,” neither rebellious nor seditious talk.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 14:5

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