Revelation 3:20

The language recalls Song of Solomon 5:2 (φωνὴ ἀδελφιδοῦ μου κρούει ἐπὶ τὴν θύραν · ἄνοιξον μοι, for contemporary evidence of the allegorical use of Canticles see Gunkel's note on 4 Esdras. 5:20 f. and Bacher's Agada d. Tannaiten, i. 109, 285 f. 425, etc.) interpreted in the eschatological sense (γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐγγύς ἐστιν ἐπὶ θύραις Mark 13:29 = Matthew 24:33) of the logion in Luke 12:35-38 upon the servants watching for their Lord, ἵνα ἐλθόντος καὶ κρούσαντος εὐθέως ἀνοίξωσιν αὐτῷ (whereupon, as here, he grants them intimate fellowship with himself and takes the lead in the matter). To eat with a person meant, for an Oriental, close confidence and affection. Hence future bliss (cf. En. lxii. 14) was regularly conceived to be a feast (cf. Dalman i. § 1, [910]. 4 a and Volz 331), or, as in Luke 22:29-30 and here (cf. Revelation 3:21), feasting and authority. This tells against the otherwise attractive hypothesis that the words merely refer to a present repentance on the part of the church or of some individuals in it (so e.g. de Wette, Alf., Weiss, Simcox, Scott), as if Christ sought to be no longer an outsider but a welcome inmate of the heart (cf. Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, § 95). The context (cf. 18 and 21), a comparison of Revelation 16:15 (which may even have originally lain close to Revelation 3:20), and the words of James 5:9 (ἰδοὺ ὁ κριτὴς πρὸ τῶν θυρῶν ἕστηκεν) corroborate the eschatological interpretation (so e.g. Düsterdieck, Pfleid., Bousset, Forbes, Baljon, Swete, Holtzmann), which makes this the last call of Christ to the church when he arrives on the last day, though here Christ stands at the door not as a judge but as a friend. Hence no reference is made to the fate of those who will not attend to him. In Revelation 2:5; Revelation 2:16, ἔρχομαι σοι need not perhaps be eschatological, since the coming is conditional and special, but ἔρχομαι by itself (Revelation 3:11) and ἥξω (Revelation 2:25) must be, while Revelation 3:3 probably is also, in view of the context and the thief-simile. The imminent threat of Revelation 3:16 is thus balanced by the urgency of Revelation 3:20. For the eschatological ἰδού cf. Revelation 1:7; Revelation 16:15; Revelation 21:3; Revelation 22:7; Revelation 22:12. φωνῆς, implying that the voice is well-known. To pay attention to it, in spite of self-engrossment and distraction, is one proof of the moral alertness (ζήλευε) which means repentance. For the metaphorical contrast (reflecting the eternal paradox of grace) between the enthroned Christ of 21 and the appealing Christ of 20, cf. the remarkable passage in Sap. 9:4; 9:6 f., 10 f., where wisdom shares God's throne and descends to toil among men; also Seneca's Epp. lxi. (quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram, sed ibi sunt unde mittuntur; sic animus magnus et sacer conüersatur quidem nobiscum, sed haeret origini suae [Revelation 5:6]: illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, nostris tanquam melior interest). By self-restraint, moderation, and patience, with regard to possessions, a man will be some day a worthy partner of the divine feast, says Epictetus (Enchir. xv.): “but if you touch none of the dishes set before you and actually scorn them, τότε οὐ μόνον ἔσει συμπότης θεῶν ἀλλὰ καὶ συνάρχων.

[910] Codex Ephraemi (sæc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.