4 This condemnation, the prophecies of judgment (vv. 5–19), esp. Enoch’s (vv. 14–15). The opponents pervert the grace of our God by understanding Christian freedom as freedom to do as they like. They deny Christ’s moral authority by practicing and teaching immorality.
5–19 Jude indicates the character and fate of the opponents by citing a series of OT examples of God’s judgment on the wicked (vv. 5–13) and two prophecies regarding the ungodly (vv. 14–19). By identifying the opponents as these ungodly people who are to be judged at the Lord’s coming, Jude shows how dangerous they are to the churches.
5 A whole generation of faithless Israelites died in the wilderness (Num 14.1–35; 26.64–65).
6 The angels who…left their proper dwelling. In the story of the “sons of God” (Gen 6.1–4), as interpreted in 1 Enoch 6–19, the angels left heaven to mate with women.
7 The Sodomites attempted sexual relations with angels (Gen 19.4–11).
8 Dreamers, an unusual term referring to the visions the opponents claimed as authorizing their immoral behavior. Glorious ones, a common term for angels. Because the angels were seen as guardians of the moral order of creation, the opponents who claimed freedom from this order disparaged them.
9 In an apocryphal story about the burial of Moses, Michael and the devil engage in a legal dispute. The devil accuses Moses of murder. Michael knows this charge is slanderous, but he does not presume (dare) to condemn the devil for slander on his own authority. Instead, he refers the matter to the authority of the divine judge (the Lord). The implication of v. 9 is to contrast Michael’s behavior with that of the opponents, who claim to be exempt from all moral authority (see v. 8) and on their own authority reject all moral charges against them.
11 These OT examples are of people responsible for leading others into sin. Cain (see Gen 4.1–16; 1 Jn 3.12), in Jewish tradition, was the first heretic; the prophet Balaam gave the advice that led Israel into apostasy (Num 25.1–4; 31.16); Korah led a rebellion against Moses (Num 16.1–35).
12 Blemishes. Reefs (see text note j) is preferable: the opponents are a hidden danger to the churches, especially at the fellowship meals (love-feasts) where they do their teaching. Feeding themselves. The text note (k on p. 2084) gives the right sense, which echoes Ezek 34.2. Clouds, a metaphor from Prov 25.14.
13 Waves, a metaphor from Isa 57.20. Wandering stars mislead those who are guided by them.
14–15 The prophecy of Enoch (see Gen 5.18–24) is from 1 Enoch 1.9.
19 The charge devoid of the Spirit is probably directed to the opponents’ claim that the Spirit makes them superior to ordinary morality.
20–23 This section explains how the readers are to respond to the appeal made in v. 3, indicating the ways in which they can resist the danger from false teaching (vv. 20–21) and the ways in which they should seek to reclaim the false teachers and their followers (vv. 22–23). The text of these two verses varies considerably in the Greek manuscripts.
23 Fire, of divine judgment (see Am 4.11; Zech 3.2). Hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies implies avoiding the danger of personal contact with those who indulge in sins of the flesh.
24–25 A doxology concludes the Letter (as in Rom 16.25–27; 2 Pet 3.18).
THE REVELATION TO JOHN (APOCALYPSE)
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
THE REVELATION TO JOHN WAS WRITTEN by a person named John (1.1, 4, 9; 22.8), an anglicized version of a common ancient Hebrew name often transliterated Johanan. Early Christian writers assumed that the author of Revelation had also written the Gospel and Letters of John and identified him with John the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles. Both of these assumptions are problematic. The author of Revelation regards the twelve apostles as authoritative figures of the past (21.14) and identifies himself simply as a servant of God (1.1) and a brother who shares the sufferings of those to whom he addresses his book (1.9). On the basis of both literary style and theological emphases it appears unlikely that he wrote either the Gospel or the Letters of John. Although modern critical scholars have generally abandoned the assumption of common authorship for the compositions that make up the Johannine corpus (the Gospel According to John, the three Letters of John, the Revelation to John), the traditional association of these five compositions with the name John has encouraged the view that all five were produced by various members of a “Johannine community” behind which stood the shadowy figure of John the apostle.
Although the specific identity of the author is unknown, Revelation provides some important clues about his general identity. The frequent allusions to the OT (particularly Ezekiel and Daniel) suggest his Jewish origin. The Semitic features of his Greek style indicate that he was a native of Palestine who emigrated to Asia Minor, perhaps in the wake of the first Jewish revolt against Rome (66–73 CE), when many were forced to flee for their lives. By calling his composition a prophetic book (1.3; 22.7, 10, 18, 19), he clearly implies that he is a prophet. His familiarity with the circumstances of the seven Christian communities he addresses further suggests that he was probably a well-known itinerant Christian prophet (22.9).
Date
MANY EARLY CHRISTIAN WRITERS thought that Revelation had been written toward the end of Domitian’s reign (81–96 CE), but a few later writers thought that John had written a generation earlier, during the persecution that occurred in 64 under Nero (54–68 CE). Evidence supporting both dates can be found in the book. In favor of the earlier date, 11.1–3 suggests that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem (destroyed by the Romans in 70) was still standing when the book was written. Further, the code name of the beast in 13.18 is 666, widely thought to symbolize the name Nero Caesar. Other data, however, suggest a date late in the first century. For example, there are several allusions (13.3; 17.9–11) to the legend of Nero’s return, which circulated throughout the eastern Mediterranean during the two decades following his suicide in 68. Further, Revelation frequently uses “Babylon” as a code name for Rome (14.8; 16.19; 17.5, 18; 18.2, 10, 21), but the evidence suggests that Jews used this code name only after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in 70. In the light of conflicting evidence for the early and late date of Revelation, it seems likely that the book was actually composed and assembled in stages over many years and was only completed in its present form toward the end of the first or the early second century CE. Though certainty is not possible, the first edition of the book probably consisted of 1.4–11; 4.1–22.5, to which 1.1–3; 1.12–3.22; 22.6–21 were added in a second edition.
Occasion
THE DATE ASSIGNED TO REVELATION has usually been closely connected by both ancient and modern scholars with the situation of persecution reflected in the book (1.9; 2.10; 12.17). This persecution may have involved the execution of several Christians (2.13; 6.9–11; 13.15; 17.6; 18.24; 20.4; see also 11.7–10). The persecution under Nero in 64 CE, however, only affected Christians in and around Rome. The view that Domitian instigated an official persecution of Christians in Asia Minor has been widely held by ancient and modern scholars, though it has become clear that no historical evidence confirms it. It appears that the persecution of Christians in Asia Minor was not the result of an official Roman policy but rather the result of random outbreaks of hostility between Christians and their pagan and Jewish neighbors. Roman governors were sometimes drawn, though not always willingly, into these conflicts (see Acts 19.23–41). Christian authors such as Eusebius of Caesarea transformed random instances of persecution into an official persecution fomented by Domitian. In the last analysis, it is difficult to determine whether the widespread and apparently systematic persecution reflected in this book represents what actually happened or what the author expected would happen.
Genre
REVELATION BELONGS TO THE LITERARY GENRE given the modern label “apocalypse,” widely attested in early Judaism and early Christianity. The name of this genre is based on 1.1, where the Greek word apokalypsis (�
��revelation”) designates the content of the book as a “revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.” An apocalypse, then, is typically regarded as a first-person narrative in which the author (normally using the pen name of some famous ancient biblical figure such as Adam, Abraham, or Enoch) relates one or more revelatory visions about the future, the heavenly world, or both. Jewish apocalypses often reflect a sharp distinction between the present evil age and the imminent future age of blessing. The conflict between a righteous minority (Israel or a righteous remnant within Israel) and a wicked majority (hostile foreign powers or a hostile group within Israel) is understood as representing a clash between God and Satan. After a period of intense conflict and great suffering, God, sometimes acting through a messianic agent, will decisively intervene in history to vindicate and reward God’s people and punish or eliminate their earthly oppressors. Many Jewish apocalypses use a great deal of symbolism, often quite bizarre (e.g., Dan 7.2–8), and Revelation is no exception. One stock figure of Jewish apocalypses also found in Revelation is the “interpreting angel,” a heavenly being who explains the meaning of visions to the seer (1.1; 17.1–18; 21.9–22.5). The only other book-length apocalypse in the Bible is Daniel. [DAVID E. AUNE]
Revelation 1
Introduction and Salutation
1The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servantsa what must soon take place; he madeb it known by sending his angel to his servantc John, 2who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.
4John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and freedd us from our sins by his blood, 6and madee us to be a kingdom, priests servingf his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7Look! He is coming with the clouds;
every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
A Vision of Christ
9I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.g 10I was in the spirith on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. 14His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
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a Gk slaves
b Gk and he made
c Gk slave
d Other ancient authorities read washed
e Gk and he made
f Gk priests to
g Or testimony to Jesus
h Or in the Spirit
1.1–2 Following ancient literary conventions, the first sentence functions as a title presenting the essential contents of the composition.
1.1 Revelation of Jesus Christ indicates that God himself is the immediate source of John’s revelatory visions. The insistence that the events predicted in John’s visions must soon take place frames the book (1.3; 22.6, 10). The interpreting angel who mediates revelation (a stock figure in early Jewish and early Christian apocalypses) is mentioned again only in 22.6–9, 16, though two other angelic guides appear in 17.1–18; 21.9–22.5.
1.3 Blessed introduces the first of seven beatitudes (14.13; 16.15; 19.9; 20.6; 22.7, 14). The fact that a designated person reads aloud John’s book means that it is intended for use in Christian worship (see Col 4.16; 1 Thess 5.27). On the book as prophecy, see Introduction. Exhortations that the hearers are to keep, or obey (see also 22.7, 9), are largely restricted to the introductory and concluding sections of the book (2.1–3.22; 14.12; 16.15; 22.6–21), providing a hint that those sections are part of the final edition of the book. The time is near, i.e., the time when Christ will return to save and to judge.
1.4–5a After the introductory three verses Revelation takes on the features of a typical early Christian letter, designating the sender and receiver and including a salutation (see also 22.21); the formal features of this epistolary introduction seem to reflect Pauline influence (see, e.g., 1 Thess 1.1).
1.4 The seven churches (listed in v. 11) were located in seven prominent cities in western Anatolia (modern Turkey) in the Roman province of Asia; all were within one hundred miles of Ephesus. Seven (used fifty-seven times in Revelation) symbolizes the divine pattern evident in both the universe and history. Him who is and who was and who is to come, a threefold divine name that alludes to a widespread Hellenistic Jewish name for God based on Ex 3.14, “the one who is.” It differs slightly from a popular Greek formula describing God as “the one who is and who was and who will be” by emphasizing the future visitation of God. See also 1.8; 11.17; 16.5. Seven spirits, the seven archangels who stand before God (3.1; 4.5; 5.6; 8.2; see also Tob 12.15; Lk 1.19; 1 Enoch 20.1–7), not a metaphor for the Holy Spirit based on Isa 11.2–3 (Septuagint, Latin Vulgate).
1.5a Faithful witness, (1.2, 9; 2.13; 6.9; 12.11; 17.6), firstborn of the dead (see Col 1.18), ruler of the kings of the earth (17.14; 19.16), three titles of Jesus (corresponding to the threefold title for God; see note on 1.4) that describe three essential aspects of his role: the faithful proclamation of the message of God, which led to his execution; the victory signaled by his resurrection; and his future role as universal sovereign, thus combining a theology of glory with a theology of the cross.
1.5b–8 The opening doxology (see Gal 1.5) is unusual in the NT since it is addressed to Christ (the doxology in 5.13 is addressed to both God and Christ) and is followed by two brief oracles, the first emphasizing the imminent return of Christ and the second emphasizing the sovereignty of God.
1.6 Made us to be a kingdom, priests. See Ex 19.6.
1.7 Coming with the clouds, an allusion to Dan 7.13 applied to Jesus as the coming Son of Man (see 14.14; Mk 8.38; 13.26). People wail because they fear the impending eschatological judgment (see Zech 12.10).
1.8 Alpha, Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The title expresses the idea of totality and symbolizes God’s sovereignty (21.6; 22.13); it is similar in meaning to the first and the last (1.17; 2.8; 22.13) and the beginning and the end (21.6; 22.13); see note on 1.17.
1.9–20 John’s terrifying vision of the exalted Christ provides an introduction to the seve
n proclamations that follow.
1.9 On the problem of persecution as the situation motivating John to write, see Introduction. Patmos, a populated island thirty-seven miles southwest of Ephesus. There is no evidence that it was ever a Roman penal colony, but John may have been banished from his home territory and forced to go there during the reign of the emperor who banished him.
1.10 I was in the spirit means that John experienced a vision trance (4.2; 17.3; 21.10; see also Acts 10.10; 11.5; 22.6–7). Lord’s day, a term used later, and probably also here, for Sunday, the main weekly Christian day of worship (Didache 14.1; Gospel of Peter 12.50). This usage may derive from the celebration of the Lord’s Supper on that day (1 Cor 11.20), the day commemorating Christ’s resurrection (Ignatius, Magnesians 9.1).
1.12–16 The description of the exalted Christ resembles other epiphanies of divine figures (19.11–16; Dan 10.5–9).
1.12 The seven golden lampstands, representing the seven churches (1.20), are menorahs, lights that burn continually before God in the sanctuary (Ex 27.20–21; Lev 24.2–4); in ancient Judaism the menorah was a symbol of Judaism.
1.13 One like the Son of Man, an allusion to Dan 7.13 (see also Rev 1.7; 14.14); the Greek text has “one like a son of man,” lacking the definite article characteristic of the title “the Son of Man” in the Gospels.
1.14 Hair…white as white wool characterizes the Ancient of Days (i.e., God) in Dan 7.9 but here is strikingly part of a description of Christ, implicitly equating him with God.
1.16 The sword proceeding from Christ’s mouth (see also 2.16; 19.15, 21; cf. 2.12) is a metaphor for both the word of God and judgment (see Isa 49.2; Wis 18.15–16; 2 Thess 2.8; Heb 4.12).
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