Revelation 21:8

The reverse side of the picture (cf. Revelation 20:12-15 and below on Revelation 21:27): a black list of those who have not conquered. δειλοῖς = “cowards” or apostates, who deny Christ in the persecution and worship Caesar (Introd. § 6) through fear of suffering; “ δειλία does not of course itself allow that it is timorous, but would shelter its timidity under the more honourable title of εὐλάβεια ” (Trench, Synonyms, § x.). It embraces further all those who draw back under the general strain of ridicule and social pressure (Hebrews 6:4-8; 2 Timothy 4:16, etc.), like Bunyan's Pliable, but unlike his Mr. Fearing (cf. 1MMalachi 3:16). ἀπίστοις not = incredulous (so e.g., Dittenberger's Sylloge, 802 32, 3 cent. B.C.) but, as in Luke 12:46 (cf. Sir. ii. 12 f.), = “faithless,” untrustworthy, those who are not πιστός (Revelation 1:5; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 2:13; 2 Timothy 2:13). All δειλοί are ἄπιστοι (cf. Introd. § 6), but not all ἄπιστοι are δειλοί. There are more reasons for disloyalty to Christ than cowardice, and some of these are hinted at in the following words, which suggest that ἄπιστοι includes the further idea of immorality (as in Titus 1:15-16, where it is grouped with βδελυκτοί). Lack of faith is denounced also in Apoc. Bar. liv. 21, 4Ezr 9:7, etc. ἐβδελυγμένοις for βδελυκτοῖς (as εὐλογημένος for εὐλογητός, etc., cf. Field on Galatians 2:11; Simcox, Lang. N.T. 128, 129), “detestable” because “defiled and fouled” by the impurities of the pagan cults (Revelation 17:4; Revelation 18:3, etc.; cf. Hosea 9:10; Slav. En. x. 4) including unnatural vice. Murder (and fornication, James 2:11) in the popular religions of the ancient world caused ritual impurity and disqualified for access to God, unless atoned for. φαρμακοῖς = “poisoners” or “sorcerers” (Revelation 22:15), cf. Daniel 2:27 LXX, and above on Revelation 9:21, where (as here and in Galatians 5:21) witchcraft or magic is bracketed with idolatry. Idolaters, in Apoc. Pet. 18, have a special place πλείστου πυρὸς γέμων. ψευδέσιν = “liars,” primarily recreant Christians who deny their faith and Lord, or worship false gods (Romans 1:25); but also untruthful Christians who cheat (Acts 5:3) and lie to one another (Colossians 3:9, cf. Revelation 14:5); further perhaps to be taken in its general ethical sense (Slav. En. xlii. 13; cf. Did. Revelation 5:2) = Oriental duplicity. τοῖς δὲ : as in LXX, the subject of the principal clause is thrown forward into the dative (Viteau, ii. 41, 42). The special standpoint of the Apoc. renders the terms of exclusion rather narrower than elsewhere (cf. Volz, 313). Thus there is no allusion to sins of omission, especially as regards justice and kindness between man and man (as Slav. En. x., xlii. 8 9, Matthew 25:41 f. the former apocalypse finely excluding from heaven all guilty of “evil thoughts” and magic, all harsh or callous men, and finally all idolaters). The parallels with the rest of the Apocalypse, as well as the general style, indicate that Revelation 21:1-8 comes from the pen of the prophet himself; there is no evidence sufficient to support the conjecture that Revelation 21:5-8 is a Christian editor's gloss in a Jewish original (Vischer, von Soden, S. Davidson, Rauch = Revelation 21:6-8, Spitta). The catalogue of vices, not unparalleled in ethnic literature (cf. Dieterich, pp. 163 f., 174 f., Heinrici on 2 Corinthians 6:4 f.), diverges from those of Revelation 9:20-21 and Revelation 22:15. The second agrees with Sap. 14:22 28 in making idolatry the fontal vice, and with Did. v in putting theft after πορνεία (cf. Hebrews 13:4-5; Ephesians 5:5, etc.). Paul, again, invariably starts with the blighting touch of πορνεία or ἀκαθαρσία (cf. Seeberg's Catechismus d. Urc. 9 29, and von Dobschütz, pp. 406 f.) as in Revelation 22:15. No special significance attaches to the lists of the Apocalypse beyond the obviously appropriate selection of idolatry (Revelation 9:20) as the outstanding vice of paganism, with cowardice (Revelation 21:8) as the foil to victorious confession (Revelation 21:7; Revelation 2:13; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 15:2); note the division of Revelation 22:15 into the repulsive or filthy (first three) and the wicked (second three), corresponding to Revelation 22:11. The κύνες of Revelation 22:15 roughly answer to the “abominable” of Revelation 21:8; Revelation 21:1-8 are a summary of what follows: Revelation 21:1-2 = Revelation 21:9-21; Revelation 21:3-4 = Revelation 21:22 to Revelation 22:5; Revelation 21:5-8 = Revelation 22:16-21.

Revelation 21:9 to Revelation 22:5 : the new Jerusalem (resuming the thought of Revelation 21:2, cf. Revelation 19:7), corresponding to the new universe (Revelation 21:1). The fall of Jerusalem accentuated the tendency to rise from the expectation of a new or renovated city on earth to the hope of a heavenly, transcendent city (cf. Apoc. Bar. iv. 2 6, etc.), though the passionate desire for a restoration of city and temple in the messianic age was still strong (cf. R. J. 226 f., Volz, 334 f.). John introduces the definitely Christian identification of the heavenly Jerusalem with the bride of the messiah, and combines the various features of a renovated, a heavenly, and a pre-existent city features which occasionally reflect the mythological background of such earlier ideas in Judaism. The whole conception, if not the passage itself, is satirised by Lucian (Vera Hist. ii.) in his account of the golden city with its emerald wall, its river, and the absence of night, to say nothing of vines δωδεκαφόροι καὶ κατὰ μῆνα ἕκαστον καρποφοροῦσιν. Revelation 21:11-21 describe the exterior, Revelation 21:22-27 the interior.