Introduction to the New Testament –
Part Two
The
Gospel of Truth (180-200 AD)
The
Apocryphon of John (before 185 AD)
Martyrdom
of Isaiah (0-100 AD)
Testament
of Abraham (0-100 AD)
Life
of Adam and Eve (65-70 AD)
Apocalypse
of Abraham 9-32 (70-100 AD)
New
Testament Morality and Ethics
I
would now like to turn my attention to the next great tradition within the New
Testament; that which represents the production of the Johannine community. The
difference of the Gospel of John with the first three gospels gives rise to
much discussion. Every gospel includes an historical element, noting in
particular the introduction to Luke. However, the primary purpose of a gospel
is theological, in that it seeks to persuade the reading to believe in a follow
Jesus as the Christ. Comparison of John with the first three gospels
predisposes the scholar to view John as an outsider. Since the first three
gospels agree with each other so much, it gives the impression that John is
another world. When it comes to historical material, most modern scholars leave
out John as providing reliable historical data concerning Jesus. Assuming that
John has reliable historical data, the impression is that the Gospel wants to
provide a profounder theological vision than the other gospels.
The orientation of John shares a
common story with the Synoptic Gospels and with Paul, but also moves into
different territory theologically. There
are enough connections with the synoptic tradition to make one wonder if John
is not aware of at least some form
of their tradition. However, if the tradition of the church is right, that the
apostle John is behind in the text, written in
Thus:
2:13-22,
cleansing of the temple.
3:1, with Luke 18:18, a leader of Jews coming to JEBUS with a question.
5:8-9 with Mark 2:11-12, healed person to pick up their
mat.
6:1-15, the miracle of the feeding of the 5000. 6:16-21,
Jesus waLukeing of the sea of Galilee to the
disciples.
10:1-3a, a parable on sheepgate.
10:3b-5, a parable on shepherd.
12:1-11, anointing at
12:27-30, agony of
13:21-30 with Matthew 26:21-25, 50,
betrayal by Judas foretold.
13:36-38 with Luke 14:13 with Matthew 15:1-6, parable of
10:24-25, servant not greater than
master. 10:18-20, disciples to be witnesses.
16:1 with Matthew 24:10, disciples
intended to not fall away. 16:2 with Matthew 10:17 on expelled from
synagogues. 16:2 with Matthew 24:9,
persecution of disciples done in God's name.
18:1-11, Arrest of Jesus. 18:12-27, Jesus before Annas
and Caiaphas and Peter denies him, Luke 22 :54-62.
20:11-18, appearance to Mary,
see Matthew 28:9-10.
20:19-29, appearance to
disciples, Bee Luke 24:36-49.
All
of this suggests that behind the Gospel of John is a pre-synoptic tradition
that shares much in common with Luke. The tradition is independent of the
synoptic tradition. The author presumes knowledge of more sayings and miracles,
but this does not mean specifically synoptic material. However, the use of
common material suggests that the theological purpose of the author
predominates. He wants to delineate the eschatological bringer of revelation
and salvation. He wants to display the radiant glory of the Logos as he lives
on earth and dwells among us. He wants to disclose the ever-present
significance of the saving events that lie in the past. The words once spoken
by the Son of God when he came into the world, are to become audible as his unremitting
and ever urgent interpellation. The earthly Jesus is understood as the Christ
who continues to be present in his community, in its preaching, worship, and
sacraments he is the present Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, he wanted to link
up the time of Jesus, the bearer of the Spirit, with the time of the Spirit.
The Spirit is imparted to the faithful in the words of Christ, in the
sacraments that realize and render fruitful the saving events, through the
mediation of the church, which takes over with the mission of Jesus his
preaching and his authority.
In
John, Jesus speaks in long, involved discourses in which no parables appear and
with only a rare saying can be isolated.
In the synoptic gospels Jesus speaks primarily in short sayings or parables,
of which seem to be the preferred method of teaching. Jesus seems to become a philosopher, a
lecturer, and a mystic. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus speaks much about the
poor and outcasts of society, while in John he speaks primarily about
himself. Such self-revelation of Jesus
in John stems from a theological interpretation of the evangelist. Jesus speaks
in full consciousness of his unity with the Father, which continues on earth as
the Incarnate Word. The author wishes the reader to hear Jesus, and not himself
as the author. Thus, most scholars leave John behind when considering what
Jesus said, while they often use it for mature reflection upon the nature of
Jesus and Christology. At this point, I
must accept that assumption until more scholars can demonstrate to the
satisfaction of others that John may represent the more intimate instructions
of Jesus. Though some have argued for
this, it has not gained acceptance. The task is not view the gospel as an historical
document and as a preaching document, giving an account of the word and deed of
Jesus. With the Gospel of John, we find it particularly important to discover
its theological language and assertions. In its temporal dress, we must
perceive the eternal message that the Gospel wishes to bring to us.
The connections with I John are interesting as well. People took phrases from the gospel and used
them for moving toward Gnosticism. We can see this in the prologue to the gospel, which appears to be a hymn from
1:la with I John 1:la
1:lb with I John 2:de
1:4a with I John 1:lf
1:4b with I John 1:5d
1:5a with I John 1:5e
1:10c
with I John 2:3
1:14a
with I John 1:2a
1:14b
with I John 1:2f
1:14c
with I John 1:ld
1:16a
with I John 1:3de
1:17b
with I John 1:3de
1:18b
with I John 1:3de
The opinion is now common that the Gospel is the
aggregate result of a long process of literary formation, comprising strata of
diverse age and origin. It is subject to the same laws of growth as that of the
synoptic gospels, and calls for the same methods of research. For example, a
sign source has a high degree of probability, given seven signs recounted more
or less fully. One is the marriage feast at
John stands close to Hellenistic Judaism. The allegorical
use of the Old Testament has some similarity with Philo. Further, the
development of the Logos concept provides a link to the Hellenistic world of
Judaism, Gnosticism, and Stoicism. The text also has some connection with
rabbinic forms of argument. Some texts in
H.
Richard Niebuhr used the epistle of I John as a prime example of the Christ
against culture theme of the relationship between Christianity and culture. The
isolationist tendency in the Gospel and epistles shows itself in that the
dominant theme of loving each other has a limit of members of the community.
These writings appear to command love for each other, but not for the enemy.
Believers have no duties or obligations toward the world, but rather only
toward each other. Believing and abiding in Christ are what matters.
John
has a basic Christological interest. Every question about the central
theological interest of John must start with the what the author asserts is the
purpose of his book in
John
31 But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
The focus of the author is on faith in the person of Jesus, and the
saving power of Christ. The reference to believing may refer to missionary aim,
but it may also refer to confirming the faith of those who already believe. The
author wants believers to have a more profound and stable faith. This faith has
the power to impart life. In this sense, Christology orients itself toward
soteriology.
John poses the
question of the salvation of humanity and the world. Jesus is the savior of the
world, a universalist view deeply rooted in the basic structure of the
Johannine concept of the world. Rather than focusing upon Jew and Gentile, he
views humanity as living in darkness until God sends the revealer. John
overcomes the dualistic view of the world through Christ. Christ unites the
divine world and the human world, descending from the divine world into the
human world, and then returning to the Father. By the loving act of sending the
Son, the light penetrates as the unconquerable power of love. The emphasis is
on the whole way of redemption from the Incarnation to the lifting up in the
cross as a redemptive happening, as the fetching home of humanity to the divine
world. However, John integrates the redemption through the expiatory sacrifice
of the cross, as in I John 2:2,
John also proposes a
realized eschatology, for one who believes “has” eternal life. The blessings of
salvation are already present, as the essence of the salvation already attained
in faith in Christ. The question is, what has led to this realization and
actualization? The strongest motive is the Christology, which sows the glory of
the Logos still dwelling in the earthly Jesus, and the power of the exalted and
glorified Lord already present in his word and work of salvation. In John,
Christ is really the eschatological present.
The sacraments become
the presence of Christ. The sacraments would then be means of importing into
the present time the work of our salvation accomplished by Jesus that they
recall as they bring his power into play. The mysticism of John refers to being
in and abiding in Christ. The living and fruitful union in grace between the
believer and Christ is the full realization of the fellowship of Jesus with his
disciples. The series of profound religious utterances that have been termed,
somewhat misleadingly, the Johannine mysticism of union with Christ and God,
remains intrinsically linked to the Johannine picture of Jesus, the Christ, to
the self-revelation of the earthly Jesus as well as to the glorification of the
Christ. The Johannine mysticism of fellowship with Christ is inseparable from
ethics. The concentration of ethics on love is due to his concept of Christ as
an expression of the love God has for the world.
The church is present in the theology of John. The church is the responsible agent for the sacraments and the liturgy, one can see that the church is still more deeply rooted in the thought of John. The same is true in the teaching on the Paraclete. In the person of Christ, the theological principle that enable him to re-think the revelation of Christ proclaimed by the primitive church and to disclose its depths. The church as the flock and the vine suggest unity of the church with Christ.
Light is the illumination of one's existence by God, a genuine self-understanding of one's self as the creature of God. Darkness does not seize this possibility. One shuts oneself off from the God shown in the light of creation. Darkness turns away from the source of one's existence. Truth means living in the reality of God. Falsehood or the lie is falling away from the reality of God. One exists from one's origin, and must therefore live one's life from God or from the world. Creation is perverted into world by the delusion that humanity is the source of its own existence.
The sending of the Son is as from a foreign power. The
sending is the deed of the love of God. The coming of Jesus is the
eschatological event, signaled in titles like Messiah, Son of Man, and Son of
God. His appearance means judgment upon the world. This historicizing of
eschatology had already begun in Paul and represents part of the common story
of the New Testament. As the Word, Jesus does not communicate information but
offers himself. This revelation from God brings offense to the world. The death
of Jesus becomes the exaltation of Jesus, rather than atonement. When John uses
terms like bread, light, door, way, shepherd, vine, he refers to something that
humanity must have in order to have genuine life. Jesus is the one who
satisfies the longing humanity has. As the revealer of God, Jesus reveals
nothing other than that he is the revealer.
Faith is the demand to leave the security of the world in
its separation from God or autonomy from God and a turn toward the invisible
and uncontrollable realm of God. Faith overcomes the offense given by Jesus in
terms of the world. As an entry into eschatological life, it is joy and peace.
It is life in Christ. It is life abiding in him, and therefore faithful. It is
a life of prayer. It is a possession of the Spirit. Note that John has little
interest in the church as an organization.
Believe in Jesus as the Son. Love one another. Behind
these two key statements is a pre-understanding of the world living in a
darkness of which it is unaware. The Logos has come into the world as the light
of the world in order to show the world the darkness in which it exists. He is
the way, truth and life; he is the Good Shepherd; he is the Bread of Life; the
source of life-giving water; the resurrection and the life. Ethics becomes
Christology in the sense that passing from light to darkness depends on
believing in Jesus. The primary beneficiaries of the love of which John writes
are other members of the community. As he notes in I John, those who disagree
with the author are anti-Christ, a term that would not appear very loving to
those to whom the author directs the charge. Discipleship means abiding in
Jesus.
John would appear to have some anti-Jewish tendency,
occasioned by the contemporary situation. Yet, this does not exclude a
missionary intention with regard to Jews of the Diaspora who were people of
good will.
John would also appear to have an anti-Gnostic tendency
in his emphasis upon the Incarnation. Yet, the imagery in John led some authors
in the second century to suggest that the text arose out of Gnostic sources.
The hymn in 1:1-18 contains an original hymn, originating
in Hellenistic Judaism and its reflection upon Wisdom, but now adapted by the
community of John for its theological purpose. This text, rooted in early
Christian reflection upon who Jesus was, reflects upon the Word intimately
united with God and with humanity, shown both in Jesus and in the light and
life given to humanity. The text also reminds us of the separation between God
and humanity through the rejection of the Word. He is also the unique Son.
Importantly, all of these themes connect well with themes the Gospel develops
throughout.
John 1:1-5, 9, 10-12, 14, 16 (NRSV)
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things came into being through him,
and without him not one thing came into being.
What has come into being 4 in him was life,
and the life was the light of all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not overcome it.
9 The true light, which enlightens everyone,
was coming into the world.
10 He was in the world,
and the
world came into being through him;
yet the
world did not know him.
11 He came to what was his own,
and his
own people did not accept him.
12 But to all who received him,
who
believed in his name,
he gave
power to become children of God,
14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us,
and we
have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,
full of
grace and truth.
16 From his fullness we have all received,
grace
upon grace.
John
describes the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus in
John
Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!
John
And I myself have seen and have testified that this is
the Son of God.
John
Look,
here is the Lamb of God.
The disciples also provide
further insight into Jesus through the titles they give him.
John
He (Andrew) first found his brother Simon and said to
him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed).
John
Nathanael
replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
The disciples believe after
the miracle at the wedding in
John
… many believed in his name because they saw the signs
that he was doing.
Chapter 3 gives the response
of another Jewish leader, an example of partial or tentative belief. Such a nocturnal encounter with a religious
leader may well reflect an accurate historical memory of incident in the life
of Jesus. There is also a Trinitarian theme throughout. It becomes an occasion for the writer to
reflect upon new birth. This also becomes the occasion of the first discourse
in John, around the baptismal theme of rebirth.
John 3:3 (NRSV)
Jesus
answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the
John 3:5 (NRSV)
Jesus
answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the
John 3:8 (NRSV)
The wind
blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where
it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the
Spirit.”
This passage also offers the self-revelation of Jesus.
John
The
Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.
John
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever
disobeys the Son will not see life, but must endure God’s wrath.
John
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
John
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Chapter 4 gives the response
of the Samaritans, which symbolizes their receiving of Jesus. It follows the theme of baptism again, this
time using the image of living water.
There is a further progression of awareness in the woman, moving from
"a greater man than Jacob" to a prophet, to the Messiah. The end of chapter 4 includes the last
response to Jesus, this time Roman, who, along with the disciples and the
Samaritans, is said to have believed. The writer takes a special interest in
this incident in
John
The water that I will give will become in them a
spring of water gushing up to eternal life.”
The text also shows the need to worship genuinely.
John
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true
worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks
such as these to worship him.
The text gives a self-revelation by Jesus.
John
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him
who sent me and to complete his work.
The text also shows the missionary impulse of the Johannine community.
John
Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the
harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for
harvesting.
John
They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what
you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that
this is truly the Savior of the world.”
In chapters 5-12, the writer transfers Jesus’ words and
signs to the public domain. The revelatory discourses began in chapters 3 &
4, though only with individuals Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman. Now, the
revelatory discourses take place among the Jews. They become disputes about
belief and unbelief. These eight chapters contain four great signs, expanding
to five if one includes walking on the lake. Revelatory discourses reveal their
Christological meaning. The character of the signs as a revelation of Christ by
means of actions is made clear. The healing of the blind man and the raising of
the dead are the culmination of this revelation through signs: Jesus is the
light and life. The framework of the religious calendar is not accidental. From
Chapter 7, the feasts appear in an invariable order: the feast of Tabernacles
in 7:2, the Dedication of the
The conflict between belief and unbelief takes place in
the capital of the Jewish world. It is there that the question as to whether
Jesus is Messiah is passionately debated. It is there too that the Jewish
theocracy had its seat of government and its greatest influence. The opposition
between Jesus and the Jews reaches its pitch of greatest intensity at
The healing of the cripple at the Pool of Bethesda leads
to Jesus’ bearing witness to himself as the Son who works with the Father and
who has power to give life and to raise to life. The context in which Jesus’
discourse is placed in Chapter 5, however, is much more strongly polemical and
this brings the other side of Jesus’ saving mission clearly to light, namely
that whoever does not believe in the Son is condemned. Just as the Son has full
power to pass on life, so too has he authority to judge. Closely connected with
this idea of judgment is that of Jesus’ bearing witness to God.
Chapter 5 follows the pattern of an event, a
healing on the Sabbath, followed by a discourse by Jesus. The continued response of the Jewish
leadership is to reject and desire to kill him.
John 5:19-24 (NRSV)
19 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell
you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing;
for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. 20 The Father
loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him
greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21 Indeed,
just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives
life to whomever he wishes. 22 The Father judges no one but has given
all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all may honor the Son just as
they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the
Father who sent him. 24 Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my
word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under
judgment, but has passed from death to life.
John
26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has
granted the Son also to have life in himself;
John
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I
judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the
will of him who sent me.
This chapter also has concern
for testimony: John the Baptist, the works, the scriptures, and Moses.
Chapter 6 is the miracle of the loaves, followed by a
discourse by Jesus that Jesus is
the bread of life. This seems to be
John's account of the Last Supper, as he offers his own body to the people to
eat. It also appears to by a message
based upon Exodus 16:15d, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” The
bread may well become wisdom. We find a key statement as to the significance of
this bread:
John
27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the
food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it
is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”
The bread is discussed on v.
35-43, from heaven in v. 44-48, and to eat in v. 48-58. Jesus reveals who he is, based upon the sign
offered earlier:
John
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever
comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be
thirsty.
John
48 I am the bread of life.
John
51 I am the living bread that came down from
heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will
give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Eating sustains life. In
John, it overcomes death. The writer focuses on the need for faith,
highlighting the contemporary issue of belief and unbelief. We might also note
that John develops a specifically Son Christology. He emphasizes the functional
character of this Christology, the theme of revelation and salvation that it
articulates, and its anthropological and existential point of departure. If
John addressed himself to the yearning by his contemporaries for salvation and
even took account of the Gnostic redeemer-myth, we need to consider the meaning
of human existence and human history in light of this Son Christology. Jesus
Christ is our access to the Father, the revelation in this world of the remote,
invisible God. Jesus is the disclosure of the love of God for the world, which
otherwise remains hidden and incomprehensible to us. Jesus is the light that
makes sense of our existence and the way that we can attain to its goal. The
Son Christology of John is concerned with these matters.
John
40 This is indeed the will of my Father, that
all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise
them up on the last day.”
John
47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal
life.
The emphasis on Eucharist
attacks a Gnostic or docetic group within his community that rejected the
reception of the Eucharist. That audience has now changed from unbelieving
Judaism in the metaphorical discourse to a heretical group within the church.
The emphasis upon eating the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus is a graphic
way of making real in the Eucharist the general spiritual them of the believer
dwelling in Christ and of Christ dwelling in the believer. The focus of the
sacrament, as well as the special grace received in it, is to move us away from
ourselves and from the elements of bread and wine, and toward our union with
Christ. In the Eucharist, the believer identifies with Christ, and Christ
identifies with the believer. John paints the picture graphically.
John 6:53-58 (NRSV)
53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in
you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life,
and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true
food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink
my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father
sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because
of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like
that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread
will live forever.”
The Galilean ministry of
Jesus ends in Peter's profession of faith and a reference to Judas, who would
betray him. That ministry ends in
rejection.
John 6:63-64 (NRSV)
63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is
useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But
among you there are some who do not believe.”
John 6:66-69 (NRSV)
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and
no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you
also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom
can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to
believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Chapter 7 deals with the right of Jesus to teach, with an
emphasis on Jesus as wisdom coming from heaven. This swift succession of
scenes, with no long discourse by Jesus and several discussions about him in
various circles, is unique in John, and striking. If we are right in thinking
that he has set out to give a dramatically heightened account of the course of the
activity of Jesus, we have now reached the stage when the forces of belief and
unbelief are locked in struggle. We read of opposition from the brothers of Jesus, who
remain externally related to Jesus, but have concerns about the dishonor Jesus
brings to the family. The section reaches its climax. Externally, this is
marked by the great feast day at the end of the festal week, when the ceremony
of drawing water was performed with special solemnity. Internally, the climax
is reached in the word of revelation for which the ceremony provided the
occasion: it is a powerfully expressed word, one of the most beautiful images
used by Jesus as John portrays him. The invitation to come to him, the source
of life, echoes on through time to later generations of believers.
John 7:37-39 (NRSV)
37 Jesus cried out, “Let anyone who is
thirsty come to me, 38 and let the one who believes in me drink. As
the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of
living water.’ ” 39 Now he said this about the Spirit, which
believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus
was not yet glorified.
Chapter 8 is a combination of discourses
around the theme that Jesus is the light of the world and a
discussion of the relationship between himself and Abraham.
The story of the adulteress affirms the central theme of
the message of Jesus: God desires to exercise mercy and to accomplish it in the
person of Jesus. From this point of view, the story is closely related to that
of the penitent sinner in Luke. The question raised in this text is one that
was subject of lively debate in the Judaism of the time of Jesus. Jesus decides
unambiguously against the Torah and its representatives. Jesus forgives
unconditionally and on his own authority.
The section from
John
12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am
the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will
have the light of life.”
John
23 He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above;
you are of this world, I am not of this world.
John 8:28-29 (NRSV)
28 So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of
Man, then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I
speak these things as the Father instructed me. 29 And the one who
sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing
to him.”
John 8:31-32 (NRSV)
31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had
believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32
and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:34-36 (NRSV)
34 Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone
who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not have a
permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36 So
if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
John
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you
would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own,
but he sent me.
John
51 Very truly, I tell you, whoever keeps my word will
never see death.”
John
58 Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, before
Abraham was, I am.”
Chapter
9 becomes the example of one born blind encountering Jesus and receiving his sight, while the Jewish leadership,
who claim to see, are in fact blind. This chapter forms an
independent unit, but is also skillfully fitted into its context. V. 1 connects
directly with the departure of Jesus from the
John 9:5 (NRSV)
5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world.”
John
25 He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner.
One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.”
John
39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so
that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.”
Predestination suggests a company of believers chosen by
God was influenced by the historical situation of the community of John. In the
middle of an unbelieving environment and laboring under attacks and
disadvantages, it will have drawn closer together and developed its sense of
identity. The community knows that it has been sent into the world to all
people without distinction, but the people who in fact listen to their
missionary preaching, a minority only, are, to their mind, the people brought
to the community by God, the children of God scattered in the world, who show
themselves to be such by their faith. From this point of view too the
opposition remains, and the mystery of how God’s predestination and the human
decision to believe interrelate to made no easier. At the level of the
community, there is a continuation of what we have observed in the Gospel with
the preaching of Jesus: a vigorous appeal for a decision to believe alongside
statements that God gives and brings believers to Jesus. These are two lines that
run side by side, and cannot be combined, even to the eye of faith. The
question arises whether and how far in these antithetical statements John is
influenced by ideas that antedate him. Judaism tends to stress human free will
because of the obligation to observe the Law. The idea of God’s fore-ordinance
is not, indeed, unknown to the rabbis, but it does not abolish human freedom.
It was not until a later period that the idea of divine predestination was
further developed in rabbinic teaching and the relation between free will and
predestination became a problem. The idea of predestination was familiar to
rabbinic Judaism, but hardly influential. In the apocalyptic literature the
term “the elect” often occurs with reference to the members of the saved community.
It denoted, down to the period of later apocalyptic, the members of the peope of
Chapter 10 is reflection on the two parables told at the
beginning, one on the sheepgate and the other on the
good shepherd. The gate leads to
salvation. The shepherd lays down his
life for the sheep and knows the sheep. Viewed
from the thematic standpoint as a unity, chapter 10 gives rise to questions as
to its meaning and its function within the perspective of John. The parables
about the shepherd and the sheep that belong to Jesus and follow him, refusing,
however, to listen to strangers, are not without significance.
John 10:1-5 (NRSV)
“Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. 2 The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
What is likewise seen to fit
well into the picture is Jesus’ renewed clash with the disbelieving Jews and
their first attempt to stone him at the Feast of the Dedication. The withdrawal
of Jesus into the territory east of the
John 10:7, 9-10, 11a (NRSV)
7 So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you,
I am the gate for the sheep.
9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and
will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to
steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it
abundantly.
I am the
good shepherd.
It suggests the solidarity of
Jesus with his own as well as the consolidation of the faithful into a
community that, once it included the other sheep, the Gentiles, would become
the one flock under the one shepherd. This ecclesial aspect now crops up in the
wake of the allusions in the preceding Chapter to the expulsion from the
synagogue of one of the followers of Jesus. The ministry in Jerusalem at the
end of chapter 10 ends with the direct challenge as to who Jesus is from the
Jewish leadership, and who reject his
claim to messiahship and his claim to be one with
God.
John
10:30
I
and the Father are one.
John
10:38b
…
the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
They seek to arrest him. However, Jesus goes to
Chapter 11-12 is an insertion, evidenced by the fact that
"the Jews" refers here to the people rather than to the leadership,
the sequence of the travels of Jesus, and it offers a specific and dramatic
reason for the crucifixion. As Jesus
gives the gift of life to Lazarus, his friend, he sets in motion events that
lead to his own death. The text becomes
an example of the realized eschatology of the book, as present belief Jesus is
resurrection and life. The bitter confrontation with Jewish unbelief is
followed by another act of self-revelation from Jesus, in a sign that forms the
climax of all the signs by Jesus, the raising of Lazarus. A word of revelation
in the center of the chapter gives it its literal interpretation. Its
Christological and soteriological significance are
also briefly mentioned in the introduction and at the climax of the narrative.
Together with the healing of the man born blind, the raising of Lazarus
expresses the central Christological idea of the fourth gospel, that Jesus is
the light and life of the world, as said in 1:4. Eternal life is present in
John because of the ever-present Christ.
John 11:23-26 (NRSV)
23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24
Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection
on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and
the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, 26 and
everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Wherever he found the story,
the writer has placed this greatest of signs of Jesus as bringer of life quite
deliberately at this point in his gospel. The starting-point is Christ, the
life-giver sent by God who has come down from heaven and gives life to the
world. This life of God is given to all who accept his revelation and believe
in him. The gift and promise of life is the answer to the human search for
meaning. And salvation. The life humanity receives through Christ is a divine
reality, a share in the life of God, the living Father and source of all life.
This divine life carries the moral obligation of love for others. This view has
some kinship with Gnostic concepts of life, even though they have different
views of salvation. People cannot break out of the imprisonment of darkness and
death. People will always try to gain the eternal through clinging to the
transitory. Faith in the divine life-giver opens the possibility of fullness of
life. One can understand and proclaim this vision of life where people still
search for the meaning of human life. The context is of the individual human
being. It has no direct connection with life in society or the future of the
human race. Nevertheless, the danger of a narrow preoccupation with individual
salvation is avoided because the individual striving for eternal life is
directed towards the community of the brothers and sisters and the practice of
love as a condition for reaching the goal. As the drama of the battle between
belief and unbelief reaches its height, it is a final powerful stimulus for
faith, which makes many more people come to believe in Jesus, so that the
Jewish leaders view the swelling flood with extreme anxiety. This drives them
to prepare a counter-attack, and take an official decision in the council to
kill Jesus. In the writer’s deeper vision, it is no accident that at the moment
that the Son of God gives the supreme demonstration of his power over life, the
unbelievers resolve to destroy him and take all the steps necessary to that
end. The path to the cross is marked out in advance, but it is marked in the plan
of God. The raising up on the cross will become the glorification of God in the
Son. The sign of the raising of the dead is already pointing towards this final
glorification, and the high priests involuntary prophecy shows how human
purposes inevitably serve the plan of God.
Chapter 12 becomes a reflection upon the meaning of the
death of Jesus, with the anointing being a symbolic embalming, with the hour
approaching, and with the unbelief of the Jews expressed in clear fashion.
John 12:23-26 (NRSV)
23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single
grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their
life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for
eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am,
there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
John
28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from
heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
John 12:31-32 (NRSV)
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of
this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from
the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
v. 44-50 is a summary of the
mission of Jesus being to bring light to the world.
John
37 Although he had performed so many signs in their
presence, they did not believe in him.
John 12:44-50 (NRSV)
44 Then Jesus cried aloud: “Whoever believes
in me believes not in me but in him who sent me. 45 And whoever sees
me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as light into the world, so
that everyone who believes in me should not remain in the darkness. 47 I
do not judge anyone who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not
to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 The one who rejects me
and does not receive my word has a judge; on the last day the word that I have
spoken will serve as judge, 49 for I have not spoken on my own, but
the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment about what to say and
what to speak. 50 And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
The balance of the work of revelation is a negative one.
It prompts the gloomy question why people did not believe. The final word to
the reader is an appeal to join with the faithful witnesses of the work of
faith in him by Jesus, the Messiah and Son of God. On both occasions, the
writer refers to the great signs of Jesus. In spite of the number of the signs,
most people did not believe, but the readers are to believe because of the
signs recorded in the gospel, to which the author could have added many more.
The end of chapter 12 is not an assessment of the success of the life of Jesus,
in the sense of historical survey, but a theological analysis that tries to
understand Jewish unbelief in scriptural terms and looks at the situation in
the writer’s own time.
Chapters 13-20 express the theme that the hour is come,
the signs of the death of Jesus are over and the glorification of Jesus
begins. The washing of the feat of the
disciples replaces the Lord's Supper, which had been given its own discourse in
chapter 6. It is an example of the love Jesus has for them, and that they are
to have for each other.
John 13:1-20 (NRSV)
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that
his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved
his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 The devil
had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him.
And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all
things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, 4
got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around
himself. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the
disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. 6
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my
feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but
later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You will never
wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” 9
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my
head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to
wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not
all of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason
he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ 19 I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he. 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives me; and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.”
The farewell discourses are
in 13:31-17:26, with 13:31-38 being the introduction, 14:1-31 being duplicated
in 16:4b-33, and with reflections on the true vine in 15 and the final prayer
of Jesus in 17. In 14: 1-14, Jesus is
the way; in v. 15-24 there is reference to the Spirit, Jesus, and the Father.
v. 25-31 refers to the departure of Jesus and the coming of the Holy
Spirit.
John 14:1-7 (NRSV)
“Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my
Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have
told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that
where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the
place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know
where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now
on you do know him and have seen him.”
John 14:9-14 (NRSV)
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you
all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has
seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you
not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I
say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his
works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in
me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works
that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to
the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for
anything, I will do it.
John 14:15-17 (NRSV)
15 “If you love me, you will keep my
commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you
another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows
him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
John 14:20-21 (NRSV)
20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and
you in me, and I in you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep
them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father,
and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
John 14:23-24 (NRSV)
23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me
will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and
make our home with them. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep
my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who
sent me.
John 14:25-27 (NRSV)
25 “I have said these things to you while I am still with
you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send
in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said
to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not
give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not
let them be afraid.
As Jesus concludes the
chapter by saying, "Come now, let us go," it is likely this was the
original ending of the discourse, which would have gone directly to 18:1.
An editor has edited this
reflection on the true vine and a duplicate and the prayer of Jesus.
Chapter 15 has a Eucharistic meaning in the setting of
the Last Supper. 15:18-27 is John's version of the eschatological discourse
contained in the synoptic tradition, with the theme of the world hating Jesus
and the disciples.
John 15:1-17 (NRSV)
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that
bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more
fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed by the word that I have
spoken to you. 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch
cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you
unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do
nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch
and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish,
and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this, that
you bear much fruit and become my disciples. 9 As the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my
commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commandments and abide in his love. 11 I have said these things to
you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if
you do what I command you. 15 I do not call you servants any longer,
because the servantdoes not know what the master is
doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you
everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose
me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will
last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17
I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
John 15:26-27 (NRSV)
26 “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send
to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will
testify on my behalf. 27 You also are to testify because you have
been with me from the beginning.
John 16:12-15 (NRSV)
12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
The prayer of Jesus in chapter 17 is similar to the
prologue. v. 1-8 is a prayer for glory, v. 9-19 is prayer for disciples and all
believers, v. 20-26 is a prayer for future believers.
John 17:1-5 (NRSV)
After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to
heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son
may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all
people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And
this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth by finishing
the work that you gave me to do. 5 So now, Father, glorify me in
your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world
existed.
John 17:17-26 (NRSV)
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is
truth. 18 As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them
into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that
they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I ask not only on behalf of these, but
also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that
they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also
be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The
glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we
are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely
one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even
as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you
have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given
me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 “Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”
The passion story is recounted above, with its
connections with the synoptics and some of its basic themes. One interesting
development is that John seems to have a theme for the crucifixion scene. Jesus is king in v. 17-22; Jesus is
priest in v. 23-24. Jesus provides for
the future in v. 25-27 as Mary represents the church and is given to the care
of the Beloved Disciple who represents the church. The thirst of Jesus for God and the
completion of God's work and the giving of the Spirit are all symbolized in v.
28-30. Baptism and Eucharist as centered
in Jesus are symbolized in v. 31-33.
John 18:36-38 (NRSV)
36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from
this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting
to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not
from here.” 37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus
answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came
into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth
listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate asked him, “What is truth?”
John 19:25-35 (NRSV)
25 And that is what the soldiers did.
Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his
mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple
whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your
son.” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” And
from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was
now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), “I am thirsty.” 29
A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of
the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. 30 When
Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head
and gave up his spirit.
31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the
Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath,
especially because that sabbath was a day of great
solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken
and the bodies removed. 32 Then the soldiers came and broke the legs
of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. 33 But
when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break
his legs. 34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a
spear, and at once blood and water came out. 35 (He who saw this has
testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows
that he tells the truth.)
John has a distinctive approach to the discovery of the
empty tomb and to the resurrection appearances.
John 20:1-2 (NRSV)
Early on the first day of the week, while it was still
dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed
from the tomb. 2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other
disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord
out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
John
11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;
John 20:15-18 (NRSV)
15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said
to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him,
and I will take him away.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned
and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni!” (which means
Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, “Do not hold on to me, because I
have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I
am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary
Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she
told them that he had said these things to her.
John 20:19-29 (NRSV)
19 When it was evening on that day, the first
day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were
locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace
be with you.” 20 After he said this, he showed them his hands and
his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus
said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send
you.” 22 When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to
them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any,
they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
24 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one
of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other
disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see
the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails
and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”
26 A week later his disciples were again in
the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came
and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said
to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put
it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him,
“My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come
to believe.”
In the resurrection
appearances, one of the interesting developments is the appearance to Peter
contained in the Epilogue, 21:1, 3-9a, 10-11, 14-17. Peter had denied Jesus three times. Now, three times, Jesus asks Peter, "Do
you love me?" He also is given the commission, "Feed my sheep."
The forgiveness of Peter symbolizes the editor's hopes for the churches to be
brought together, the Jewish Christian, Gentile, and Johannine churches all
have a place.
John 21:1 (NRSV)
After these things Jesus showed himself again to the
disciples by the
John 21:3-9 (NRSV)
3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going
fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into
the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the
beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus
said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” 6
He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you
will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in
because there were so many fish. 7 That disciple whom Jesus loved
said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,
he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. 8 But
the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they
were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off.
9 When they had gone ashore, they saw a
charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread.
John 21:10-11 (NRSV)
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you
have just caught.” 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net
ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there
were so many, the net was not torn.
John 21:14-17 (NRSV)
14 This was now the third time that Jesus
appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Jesus and Peter
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus
said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He
said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my
lambs.” 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you
love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to
him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son
of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third
time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you
know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
The belief that Jesus would
return before the death of the Beloved Disciple is dismissed here as a
misinterpretation.
John is aware of the existence of the synoptic tradition
described above, though he probably did not have the written sources in front
of him. Similarities with them at various points, especially with Luke, suggest
this possibility. Though it is not his
purpose to displace the synoptic gospels, he wishes to differ from the
tradition that underlies them. This can
be seen the way in which John treats similar events also in the synoptic
gospels. John is especially concerned
with the Christ present in the church that he experienced. Thus, each individual event of the life of
Jesus is shown to be at the same time the Christ present in the church. This gospel is nothing other than theological
reflections upon the historical Jesus.
It is as if he wants to show that the historical Jesus is at the same
time the Christ alive in their midst.
Behind this, of course, is the conviction that the revelation of God in
Jesus as the Christ is the climax of all divine revelation. Thus, as we look at this purpose of the
gospel, one of the concerns of John is to show that the Johannine church is
just as legitimate as the other apostolic churches. After all, it can also trace its history back
to Jesus, as this gospel attempts to do.
The author allows himself to believe that, inspired by the Spirit, he is
able to express the deeper meanings of the events of life of Jesus, as understood
from his perspective long after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
The style of John has come under some attack, claiming it
is rather monotonous. It is possible,
however, that this was intentional. It
does not follow a logical order. Rather,
he seems to consider the same truth from more than one perspective. He is especially concerned to demonstrate the direct links between the Christ
experienced in the Johannine churches with the historical Jesus.
John would appear to be influenced by a Judaism that would not be considered orthodox by any means. Thus, there are connections with
John would appear to be based upon
some traditional material. It began
among Palestinian Jews around John the apostle.
The Beloved Disciple likely became part of the community at this
time. He continued in the tradition of
John after the apostle's death by 50 AD.
They accepted Jesus as the Davidic messiah. Jews with an anti-Temple bias and Samaritans
and some with
The I and II Epistles are written
around 100 AD, and III John around 110 AD.
These letters seem pessimistic, speaking about the "last
hour." However, the purpose is to reinforce belief and morality of the
readers against a group that has seceded and is doing the work of what he views
to be anti-Christ. The approach appears
to be a commenting upon the gospel, which the author's opponents used to
advance their own ideas. We can
substantiate this by the historical fact that there were many commentaries on
the gospel by Gnostic authors. John designed the Gospel to promote a high
Christology. People now used it to deny
the humanity of Jesus. This led to a
moral indifference, giving no salvific importance to
ethics. They also believed in
perfectionism and freedom from sin. They
also had no love for the community of faith.
It is clear that the author and those who follow him will join the rest
of the apostolic churches, and eventually they will accept the high Christology
of John. However, it is also clear that
most of the Johannine community leave and join the Gnostic community. It is possible that Ignatius of Antioch continues
the Johannine tradition into the second century.
The Johannine
community may have drawn from the less orthodox aspects of Judaism. This would have been in contrast to the
Jewish Christians, represented by James, Peter, and the other disciples. It
would appear that this community drew its strength from what is described in
Acts as the difference between Hebraic and Hellenistic. The latter were interested in the theological
considerations of worship being freed from the confines of the temple and with
the development of Christology, they were interested in a mission to
John makes a serious call to costly discipleship and
love. The death of Jesus is out of the love God has for the world. Although
John emphasizes love within the community, the community can hardly remain
indifferent to the darkness in which the world lives.
1 John
11 For this is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1 John 3:16-18 (NRSV)
16 We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 17 How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
18 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.
1 John 4:20-21 (NRSV)
20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. 21 The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Talk of love has practical implication in action toward each other. Under the difficult circumstances of internal and external battle, the Johannine community defined itself sharply from the Jews and the world. It was an oppressed minority. These texts encourage love and unity in the midst of a hostile world. The appeal for love becomes an appeal for solidarity in the midst of many challenges to their life together.
Further, these writings also make the extraordinary appeal that we do not have to wait for judgment or eternal life in the future. We experience it now, through our relationship to Christ. Our response to Christ constitutes life or judgment now. Death and life become an orientation to life that we experience now. The community already lives in the fullness of life now, through its believing and abiding in Jesus. Love within the community becomes the sign of liberation from darkness and death. He emphasizes the present eternal life of believers, although he does not supplant the future hope of the Christian community.
The Paraclete comes to teach the community the things that Jesus did not teach them. They have communal guidance through the presence of the Spirit to face new circumstances and challenges.
This community rejects sin formally, even though it does
not get into extended discussion of it. The one who abides in Christ does not
sin. Yet, we also find a better summary in these words:
1 John 2:1 (NRSV)
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous …
I
now turn my attention to one of the more debated, confusing, and ignored books
of the New Testament. The book of
Revelation has been a challenge to
interpreters for centuries. My most
recent study included Ford’s commentary in the Anchor Bible.
What
I have found most helpful is to understand this text as a poetic insight into
the spiritual battles that the writer and believers faced at the end of the
first century. Consequently, believers of every age need to be aware that the
world situation can reach the critical spiritual crisis of which the writer
speaks. The world is not always in this crisis. Paul could write of cooperating
with the
My
approach denies that we can easily discern “the beast” or “666,” as if the
events portrayed here are like the TV Guide, showing us the next scenes in
world history. For Revelation, consistent with the rest of the New Testament,
the end-time event has already occurred. Everything that needs to occur in
order for the “Bride” and “New Jerusalem” to fill the earth has already
occurred. Of course, the event of which I write is the appearance of Jesus of
Nazareth, who is also “King of kings, Lord of Lords,” the Son of God, and the
Word of God. To be specific, when we replace Jesus with the creation of the
political state of
It
is interesting that the book contains very little Christology outside of
Chapters 1-3 and 22. The only references
to the historical Jesus are in Chapters 5, 11, and 12. There is no teaching concerning the Holy
Spirit, and little reference to the church.
This evidence suggests that the book was written in stages. Chapters 4-11 may have been from John the
Baptist or one of his followers around 30 AD.
Chapters 12 through
The symbols of the book are where the difficulty arises
in interpretation. I take the position that
those who first read the book must have understood it. This seems obvious, but it is not. People continually want to apply the
symbolism of the book to their own day.
This may well be natural. After
all, all of us have a curiosity about the future. However, to force the book into such a mode
is to ignore what the book meant to those who first read it.
We need two keys to understand this
book
One key consists in reflecting upon
certain Old Testament texts. The author utilizes these texts to express the
crisis of the present and the hope for the future.
One such text is the plagues of
Exodus 7-12 (NRSV)
7 The Lord
said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother
Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command
you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of
his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and I will multiply
my signs and wonders in the
Aaron’s Miraculous
Rod
(Ex 4.1—5)
8 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 9 “When
Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take
your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a snake.’ ” 10
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the Lord had commanded; Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh
and his officials, and it became a snake. 11 Then Pharaoh summoned
the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of
The First Plague: Water Turned to Blood
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is
hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the
morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet
him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. 16 Say
to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the
Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me
in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened. 17 Thus
says the Lord, “By this you shall
know that I am the Lord.” See,
with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the
20 Moses and Aaron did just
as the Lord commanded. In the
sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the
water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, 21
and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians
could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole
25 Seven days passed after
the Lord had struck the
The Second Plague: Frogs
8 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they
may worship me. 2 If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your
whole country with frogs. 3 The river shall swarm with frogs; they
shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the
houses of your officials and of your people, and into your ovens and your
kneading bowls. 4 The frogs shall come up on you and on your people
and on all your officials.’ ” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand
with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come
up on the
8 Then Pharaoh called Moses
and Aaron, and said, “Pray to the Lord
to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to
sacrifice to the Lord.” 9 Moses
said to Pharaoh, “Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your
officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your
houses and be left only in the
The Third Plague: Gnats
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron,
‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become
gnats throughout the whole
The Fourth Plague: Flies
20 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early in the
morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, as he goes out to the water, and
say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord:
Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 21 For if you will
not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your officials, and
your people, and into your houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be
filled with swarms of flies; so also the land where they live. 22 But
on that day I will set apart the
25 Then Pharaoh summoned
Moses and Aaron, and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26
But Moses said, “It would not be right to do so; for the sacrifices that
we offer to the Lord our God are
offensive to the Egyptians. If we offer in the sight of the Egyptians
sacrifices that are offensive to them, will they not stone us? 27 We
must go a three days’ journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as he commands us.” 28
So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness,
provided you do not go very far away. Pray for me.” 29 Then Moses
said, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord that the swarms of flies may depart tomorrow from
Pharaoh, from his officials, and from his people; only do not let Pharaoh again
deal falsely by not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.”
30 So Moses went out from
Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord. 31
And the Lord did as Moses
asked: he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his officials, and
from his people; not one remained. 32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart
this time also, and would not let the people go.
The Fifth Plague: Livestock Diseased
9 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my
people go, so that they may worship me. 2 For if you refuse to let
them go and still hold them, 3 the hand of the Lord will strike with a deadly
pestilence your livestock in the field: the horses, the donkeys, the camels,
the herds, and the flocks. 4 But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of
The Sixth Plague:
Boils
(Deut 28.27)
8 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Take
handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw it in the air in the sight
of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine dust all over the
The Seventh Plague: Thunder and Hail
13 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Rise up early in
the morning and present yourself before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the
Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let
my people go, so that they may worship me. 14 For this time I will
send all my plagues upon you yourself, and upon your officials, and upon your
people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. 15
For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your
people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16
But this is why I have let you live: to show you my power, and to make my
name resound through all the earth. 17 You are still exalting
yourself against my people, and will not let them go. 18 Tomorrow at
this time I will cause the heaviest hail to fall that has ever fallen in Egypt
from the day it was founded until now. 19 Send, therefore, and have
your livestock and everything that you have in the open field brought to a
secure place; every human or animal that is in the open field and is not
brought under shelter will die when the hail comes down upon them.’ ” 20 Those
officials of Pharaoh who feared the word of the Lord hurried their slaves and livestock off to a secure
place. 21 Those who did not regard the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in
the open field.
22 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your
hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole
27 Then Pharaoh summoned
Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “This time I have sinned; the Lord is in the right, and I and my
people are in the wrong. 28 Pray to the Lord! Enough of God’s thunder and hail! I will let you go;
you need stay no longer.” 29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I have
gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease, and there
will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord’s. 30 But as for you
and your officials, I know that you do not yet fear the Lord God.” 31 (Now the flax and the barley were
ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud. 32 But
the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.) 33
So Moses left Pharaoh, went out of the city, and stretched out his hands
to the Lord; then the thunder and
the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the earth. 34 But
when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he
sinned once more and hardened his heart, he and his officials. 35 So
the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just
as the Lord had spoken through
Moses.
The Eighth Plague:
Locusts
(Joel 1.2—4)
10 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of
his officials, in order that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and
that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I have made fools of the
Egyptians and what signs I have done among them—so that you may know that I am
the Lord.”
3 So Moses and Aaron went
to Pharaoh, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord,
the God of the Hebrews, ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?
Let my people go, so that they may worship me. 4 For if you refuse
to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country. 5 They
shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land.
They shall devour the last remnant left you after the hail, and they shall
devour every tree of yours that grows in the field. 6 They shall
fill your houses, and the houses of all your officials and of all the
Egyptians—something that neither your parents nor your grandparents have seen,
from the day they came on earth to this day.’ ” Then he turned and went out
from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said
to him, “How long shall this fellow be a snare to us? Let the people go, so
that they may worship the Lord
their God; do you not yet understand that
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your
hand over the
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your
hand toward heaven so that there may be darkness over the
Warning of the
Final Plague
(Ex 3.21—22; 12.35—36)
11 The Lord
said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon
4 Moses said, “Thus says
the Lord: About
9 The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not
listen to you, in order that my wonders may be multiplied in the
12
The Tenth Plague:
Death of the Firstborn
(Ex 11.1—10)
29 At
Another
type of text considers the curses that will come to
Leviticus 26 (NRSV)
You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no carved images or pillars, and you shall not place figured stones in your land, to worship at them; for I am the Lord your God. 2 You shall keep my sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
3 If you follow my statutes and keep my commandments and observe them faithfully, 4 I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. 5 Your threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the vintage shall overtake the sowing; you shall eat your bread to the full, and live securely in your land. 6 And I will grant peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid; I will remove dangerous animals from the land, and no sword shall go through your land. 7 You shall give chase to your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. 8 Five of you shall give chase to a hundred, and a hundred of you shall give chase to ten thousand; your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. 9 I will look with favor upon you and make you fruitful and multiply you; and I will maintain my covenant with you. 10 You shall eat old grain long stored, and you shall have to clear out the old to make way for the new. 11 I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
14 But if you will not obey me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 if you spurn my statutes, and abhor my ordinances, so that you will not observe all my commandments, and you break my covenant, 16 I in turn will do this to you: I will bring terror on you; consumption and fever that waste the eyes and cause life to pine away. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down by your enemies; your foes shall rule over you, and you shall flee though no one pursues you. 18 And if in spite of this you will not obey me, I will continue to punish you sevenfold for your sins. 19 I will break your proud glory, and I will make your sky like iron and your earth like copper. 20 Your strength shall be spent to no purpose: your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.
21 If you continue hostile to me, and will not obey me, I will continue to plague you sevenfold for your sins. 22 I will let loose wild animals against you, and they shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock; they shall make you few in number, and your roads shall be deserted.
23 If in spite of these punishments you have not turned back to me, but continue hostile to me, 24 then I too will continue hostile to you: I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. 25 I will bring the sword against you, executing vengeance for the covenant; and if you withdraw within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into enemy hands. 26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven, and they shall dole out your bread by weight; and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied.
27 But if, despite this, you disobey me, and continue hostile to me, 28 I will continue hostile to you in fury; I in turn will punish you myself sevenfold for your sins. 29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. 30 I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars; I will heap your carcasses on the carcasses of your idols. I will abhor you. 31 I will lay your cities waste, will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing odors. 32 I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to settle in it shall be appalled at it. 33 And you I will scatter among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be a desolation, and your cities a waste.
34 Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and enjoyits sabbath years. 35 As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it. 36 And as for those of you who survive, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall though no one pursues. 37 They shall stumble over one another, as if to escape a sword, though no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand against your enemies. 38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall devour you. 39 And those of you who survive shall languish in the land of your enemies because of their iniquities; also they shall languish because of the iniquities of their ancestors.
40 But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors, in that they committed treachery against me and, moreover, that they continued hostile to me— 41 so that I, in turn, continued hostile to them and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity, 42 then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. 43 For the land shall be deserted by them, and enjoy its sabbath years by lying desolate without them, while they shall make amends for their iniquity, because they dared to spurn my ordinances, and they abhorred my statutes. 44 Yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not spurn them, or abhor them so as to destroy them utterly and break my covenant with them; for I am the Lord their God; 45 but I will remember in their favor the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God: I am the Lord.
46 These are the statutes
and ordinances and laws that the Lord
established between himself and the people of
Deuteronomy 28 (NRSV)
If you will only obey the Lord your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth; 2 all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the Lord your God:
3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
7 The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways. 10 All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. 11 The Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 The Lord will make you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the bottom—if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today, by diligently observing them, 14 and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right or to the left, following other gods to serve them.
15 But if you will not obey the Lord your God by diligently observing all his commandments and decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:
16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
20 The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. 21 The Lord will make the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will afflict you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. 23 The sky over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you iron. 24 The Lord will change the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from the sky until you are destroyed.
25 The Lord will cause you to be defeated
before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way and flee before them
seven ways. You shall become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the
earth. 26 Your corpses shall be food for every bird of the air and
animal of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away. 27 The
Lord will afflict you with the
boils of
38 You shall carry much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. 39 You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them. 40 You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. 41 You shall have sons and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall go into captivity. 42 All your trees and the fruit of your ground the cicada shall take over. 43 Aliens residing among you shall ascend above you higher and higher, while you shall descend lower and lower. 44 They shall lend to you but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head and you shall be the tail.
45 All these curses shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord your God, by observing the commandments and the decrees that he commanded you. 46 They shall be among you and your descendants as a sign and a portent forever.
47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, 48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you. 49 The Lord will bring a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, to swoop down on you like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, 50 a grim-faced nation showing no respect to the old or favor to the young. 51 It shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, leaving you neither grain, wine, and oil, nor the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock, until it has made you perish. 52 It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all your towns throughout the land that the Lord your God has given you. 53 In the desperate straits to which the enemy siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own sons and daughters whom the Lord your God has given you. 54 Even the most refined and gentle of men among you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to the last of his remaining children, 55 giving to none of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your towns. 56 She who is the most refined and gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter, 57 begrudging even the afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.
58 If you do not diligently
observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this
glorious and awesome name, the Lord
your God, 59 then the Lord
will overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions
and grievous and lasting maladies. 60 He will bring back upon you
all the diseases of
Another
text considers the beasts of Daniel. This reflection begins in Chapter 13 and
continues to the end of the book. This text largely updates this vision
contained in Daniel.
Daniel 7 (NRSV)
In the first year
of King Belshazzar of
9 As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne,
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
11 I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. 16 I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: 17 “As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. 18 But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”
19 Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped what was left with its feet; 20 and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and concerning the other horn, which came up and to make room for which three of them fell out—the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke arrogantly, and that seemed greater than the others. 21 As I looked, this horn made war with the holy ones and was prevailing over them, 22 until the Ancient One came; then judgment was given for the holy ones of the Most High, and the time arrived when the holy ones gained possession of the kingdom.
23 This is what he said: “As for the fourth beast,
there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth
that shall be different from all the other kingdoms;
it shall devour the whole earth,
and trample it down, and break it to pieces.
24 As for the ten horns,
out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,
and another shall arise after them.
This one shall be different from the former ones,
and shall put down three kings.
25 He shall speak words against the Most High,
shall wear out the holy ones of the Most High,
and shall attempt to change the sacred seasons and the law;
and they shall be given into his power
for a time, two times, and half a time.
26 Then the court shall sit in judgment,
and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be consumed and totally destroyed.
27 The kingship and dominion
and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High;
their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey them.”
28 Here the account ends. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly terrified me, and my face turned pale; but I kept the matter in my mind.
The
final set of Old Texts considers the final war and the hope of a
Ezekiel 38-39 (NRSV)
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal,
set your face toward Gog, of the
7 Be ready and keep ready, you and all the companies that are assembled around you, and hold yourselves in reserve for them. 8 After many days you shall be mustered; in the latter years you shall go against a land restored from war, a land where people were gathered from many nations on the mountains of Israel, which had long lain waste; its people were brought out from the nations and now are living in safety, all of them. 9 You shall advance, coming on like a storm; you shall be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.
10 Thus says the Lord God: On that day thoughts will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will go up against the land of unwalled villages; I will fall upon the quiet people who live in safety, all of them living without walls, and having no bars or gates”; 12 to seize spoil and carry off plunder; to assail the waste places that are now inhabited, and the people who were gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center of the earth. 13 Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all its young warriors will say to you, “Have you come to seize spoil? Have you assembled your horde to carry off plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to seize a great amount of booty?”
14 Therefore, mortal, prophesy, and say to Gog: Thus says the Lord God: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will rouse yourself 15 and come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army; 16 you will come up against my people Israel, like a cloud covering the earth. In the latter days I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me, when through you, O Gog, I display my holiness before their eyes.
17 Thus says the Lord God: Are you he of whom I spoke in
former days by my servants the prophets of
And you, mortal,
prophesy against Gog, and say: Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal! 2 I will turn you around and drive you
forward, and bring you up from the remotest parts of the north, and lead you
against the mountains of
7 My holy name I will make known among my people Israel; and I will not let my holy name be profaned any more; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. 8 It has come! It has happened, says the Lord God. This is the day of which I have spoken.
9 Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and make fires of the weapons and burn them—bucklers and shields, bows and arrows, handpikes and spears—and they will make fires of them for seven years. 10 They will not need to take wood out of the field or cut down any trees in the forests, for they will make their fires of the weapons; they will despoil those who despoiled them, and plunder those who plundered them, says the Lord God.
11 On that day I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers east of the sea; it shall block the path of the travelers, for there Gog and all his horde will be buried; it shall be called the Valley of Hamon-gog. 12 Seven months the house of Israel shall spend burying them, in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land shall bury them; and it will bring them honor on the day that I show my glory, says the Lord God. 14 They will set apart men to pass through the land regularly and bury any invaders who remain on the face of the land, so as to cleanse it; for seven months they shall make their search. 15 As the searchers pass through the land, anyone who sees a human bone shall set up a sign by it, until the buriers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon-gog. 16 (A city Hamonah is there also.) Thus they shall cleanse the land.
17 As for you, mortal, thus
says the Lord God: Speak to the
birds of every kind and to all the wild animals: Assemble and come, gather from
all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great
sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink
blood. 18 You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood
of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bulls, all of
them fatlings of
21 I will display my glory
among the nations; and all the nations shall see my judgment that I have
executed, and my hand that I have laid on them. 22 The house of
25 Therefore thus says the
Lord God: Now I will restore the
fortunes of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of
Zechariah 12-14 (NRSV)
12 An Oracle.
The word of the Lord concerning
6 On that day I will make
the clans of
7 And the Lord will give victory to the tents of
10 And I will pour out a
spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants
of
13 On that
day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of
2 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more; and also I will remove from the land the prophets and the unclean spirit. 3 And if any prophets appear again, their fathers and mothers who bore them will say to them, “You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord”; and their fathers and their mothers who bore them shall pierce them through when they prophesy. 4 On that day the prophets will be ashamed, every one, of their visions when they prophesy; they will not put on a hairy mantle in order to deceive, 5 but each of them will say, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil; for the land has been my possession since my youth.” 6 And if anyone asks them, “What are these wounds on your chest?” the answer will be “The wounds I received in the house of my friends.”
7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is my associate,”
says the Lord of hosts.
Strike the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered;
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land, says the Lord,
two-thirds shall be cut off and perish,
and one-third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire,
refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, “They are my people”;
and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
14 See, a
day is coming for the Lord, when
the plunder taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For I
will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be
taken and the houses looted and the women raped; half the city shall go into
exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then
the Lord will go forth and fight
against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. 4 On
that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before
Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east
to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw
northward, and the other half southward. 5 And you shall flee by the
valley of the Lord’s mountain,
for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal;and
you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of
6 On that day there shall not be either cold or frost. 7 And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.
8 On that day living waters
shall flow out from
9 And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.
10 The whole land shall be
turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon
south of
12 This shall be the plague
with which the Lord will strike
all the peoples that wage war against
16 Then all who survive of
the nations that have come against
20 On that day there shall
be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the Lord.” And the cooking pots in the house of the Lord shall be as holy as the bowls in
front of the altar; 21 and every cooking pot in
Another key we need to interpret the
symbolism in the Book of Revelation is in its use of numbers. The number seven refers to being complete or
whole. As such, it is neither good nor
evil, but symbolizes totality of anything. Some other numbers derive their
significance from their connection to seven.
The number six is one short of completion, and thus in symbols, looks
like perfection, but it is not. Three
and one half is simply half of whatever the total or whole would refer to. To go further, the number three seems to be
based upon the Christian concept of the Trinity. The number twelve is connected to the
historical people of God, whether the tribes of
The seven letters that are contained
in chapters 1-3 make it clear that the author intends the book for the whole
church. Indeed, the author intends the
message to be a whole or complete message to the whole church. He writes to churches that, in general, the
The vision of the throne of God and of the Lamb in
Chapters 4-5 is a challenging one.
Chapter 4 has the theme of the majesty of God. The 24 elders represent
the unity of true of
Revelation 4:8 (NRSV)
8 “Holy, holy, holy,
the Lord God the Almighty,
who was and is and is to come.”
Note the Christology of this
segment. 4:8 is a song sung to the Father,
Revelation
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they existed and were created.”
9-10 is sung to Christ,
and 5:13-14 is sung to the Father and to Christ, signifying their unity. Chapter
5 has the theme of the Lamb being worthy of worship. Seven horns suggest
perfect strength and seven eyes suggest perfect knowledge. A scroll with seven
seals appears. The scroll refers to the plan of God. The seals signify the
legality of the plan. The living creatures wonder if anyone is worthy to break
the seals. Yet, one of the elders describes the one worthy as the Lion of the
tribe of Judah, the Root of David, who has already triumphed. What appears is a
martyred Lamb. As the Lamb takes the scroll from the Father, the 24 elders sing
a new song:
Revelation 5:9-10 (NRSV)
9 “You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slaughtered and by your blood you ransomed for God
saints from every tribe and language and people and nation;
10 you have made them to be a kingdom and priests serving our God,
and they will reign on earth.”
This song refers to the
Gentiles who believe in the Lamb. After that, an immense number of persons sing
another song:
Revelation
12 “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
Note here the seven
adjectives. Everything alive in creation then sings another song.
Revelation
13 “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might
forever and ever!”
The seven seals in chapters 6-7, seven trumpets in 8-11,
and the seven bowls in 15-16 refer to the whole or complete judgment of God
upon sin and evil in the world. In doing
so, it utilizes several Old Testament texts. One is the Holiness code of
Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, for which see the beginning of this essay.
These texts in Revelation also have a close connection with the plagues of
Egypt in Exodus 7:8-11:10, and with Deuteronomy 28:60-61. All of this would make sense to the Jewish Christian. When wanting to imagine
the end of time, the author would naturally go back to what is known as a
dramatic act of God in the past. For the
Jewish people, this could only be the deliverance from
Chapter 6 has the theme of wrath. The background for this
depiction of the wrath of God may come from these texts.
Ezekiel
17 I will send famine and wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children; pestilence and bloodshed shall pass through you; and I will bring the sword upon you. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Ezekiel 14:13-21 (NRSV)
13 Mortal, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it, and break its staff of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it human beings and animals, 14 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job, these three, were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, says the Lord God. 15 If I send wild animals through the land to ravage it, so that it is made desolate, and no one may pass through because of the animals; 16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would be desolate. 17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword pass through the land,” and I cut off human beings and animals from it; 18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. 19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it; 20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.
21 For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon
Habakkuk 3:4-15 (NRSV)
4 The brightness was like the sun;
rays came forth from his hand,
where his power lay hidden.
5 Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed close behind.
6 He stopped and shook the earth;
he looked and made the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains were shattered;
along his ancient pathways
the everlasting hills sank low.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;
the tent-curtains of the
8 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
Or your anger against the rivers,
or your rage against the sea,
when you drove your horses,
your chariots to victory?
9 You brandished your naked bow,
sated were the arrows at your command. Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and writhed;
a torrent of water swept by;
the deep gave forth its voice.
The sun raised high its hands;
11 the moon stood still in its exalted place,
at the light of your arrows speeding by,
at the gleam of your flashing spear.
12 In fury you trod the earth,
in anger you trampled nations.
13 You came forth to save your people,
to save your anointed.
You crushed the head of the wicked house,
laying it bare from foundation to roof. Selah
14 You pierced with their own arrows the head of his warriors,
who came like a whirlwind to scatter us,
gloating as if ready to devour the poor who were in hiding.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses,
churning the mighty waters.
With the breaking of the
first seal, the rider on a white horse, holding a bow and given a crown of
victory suggests victory in war. With the breaking of the second seal, a rider
on a red horse is to take peace from the earth so that people kill each other.
The presence of the huge sword may suggest civil service as the extension of
the political arm of government. Ezekiel may provide the background of this
image.
Ezekiel 21:14-16 (NRSV)
14 And you, mortal, prophesy;
strike hand to hand.
Let the sword fall twice, thrice;
it is a sword for killing.
A sword for great slaughter—
it surrounds them;
15 therefore hearts melt
and many stumble.
At all their gates I have set
the point of the sword.
Ah! It is made for flashing,
it is polished for slaughter.
16 Attack to the right!
Engage to the left!
—wherever your edge is directed.
With the breaking of the
third seal a black horse appears. The scales suggest death. The reference to a
day’s wages for small amounts of food suggests famine. Ezekiel may provide the
background for this image.
Ezekiel
16 Then he said to me, Mortal, I am going to break the
staff of bread in
With the breaking of the
fourth seal, a horse appears one like a corpse, called Death, followed by
Hades. This image refers to both to physical death and spiritual death. The
fact that they have power over one-fourth of the earth is an act of mercy.
Ezekiel may provide a background for this image.
Ezekiel
21 For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon
With the breaking of the
fifth seal, we have martyred saints who desire judgment for their deaths.
Someone in heaven tells them to have patience, for the roll of saints will need
to find completion before judgment upon earth comes. This suggest more martyrs
will come before the end. With the sixth seal, various physical phenomena occur
to a point where all social classes come together in fear of what has happened.
They desire protection.
Revelation 6:16-17 (NRSV)
16 … “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Chapter 7 is an interlude. It responds to the question of
Zechariah 6:5 (NRSV)
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of
heaven going out, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.
The answer to the question is
those with the seal upon their foreheads, 144,000 of them, will be able stand
in the day of wrath. In fact, the angels hold back judgment until an angel can
place this seal upon their foreheads. This seal is similar to the blood placed
on the doorposts of Hebrews so that the angel of death would pass over their
homes and kill the first born of Egyptian homes, as recorded in Exodus 12:7-14.
The mention of the 144,000 in chapter 14 refers to Christian martyrs, or
possibly the remnant of
Revelation
12“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
This large number of people
have been through “the great ordeal,” or martyrdom. We find an image of their
life drawn from the exodus of the Hebrews from
Revelation 7:15-17 (NRSV)
15 For this reason they are before the throne of God,
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They will hunger no more, and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat;
17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
We also find background for
this image from Isaiah.
Isaiah 49:10 (NRSV)
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,
for he who has pity on them will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
With the breaking of the
seventh seal in 8:1, we have silence for half an hour. Often, silence precedes
and proclaims the coming of the Lord.
Habakkuk
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him!
Zephaniah 1:7 (NRSV)
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is at hand;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice,
he has consecrated his guests.
Zechariah
13 Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
The seven trumpets begin in chapter 8. Their introduction
is in 8:2-5. It represents a reversal in four areas. The angel of presence who
has the censer normally dispenses mercy. Today, the censer dispenses wrath.
Incense symbolizes the prayers of the people of God, but today it will bring
wrath. The worship in the temple included trumpets, but now they announce war.
The liturgy around the altar focuses upon life. Today, it will bring death.
When the angel takes the prayers of the people, puts them in the censer, and
flings them to the earth, the earth shakes, along with thunder and lightening.
The first trumpet, with the reference to one-third of the
earth experiencing destruction, suggests partial destruction of the earth, a
limit to the destructive forces unleashed upon the earth. The image is that of
a new exodus, only this time the church is the one needing liberation from a
new
Exodus
24 there was hail with fire flashing continually in the
midst of it, such heavy hail as had never fallen in all the
The second trumpet brings a
volcano hurled into the sea, with the sea turning to blood, partially killing
sea animals and destroying ships. We see a parallel with the first plague.
Exodus
20 Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded. In the sight of Pharaoh
and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the water in the river,
and all the water in the river was turned into blood,
The third trumpet brings a
meteor to the earth that destroys much of the water. The name of the star was
Wormwood, or something that brings bitterness to water of the earth. This
effect was similar to the first plague.
Exodus
21 and the fish in the river died. The river stank so
that the Egyptians could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout
the whole
The fourth trumpet brings
darkness to the earth, eliminating light from sun, moon, and stars. We find
this similar to the ninth plague against
Exodus 10:21-23 (NRSV)
21 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be
darkness over the
The author hears an eagle
shout, announcing the next three trumpets in the following way.
Revelation
13 “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
The reference to the eagle
also comes from exodus period of
Exodus 19:4 (NRSV)
4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I
bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
In 9:1-12, the fifth trumpet
is the first “woe” announced by the eagle. It refers to a messenger from the
Abyss. A star falls from heaven to the earth. In v. 11, this star or angle has
the name Abaddon in Hebrew and in Greek Apollyon. One might also connect this reference to a saying
of Jesus.
Luke
18 He said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven
like a flash of lightning.
The angel unlocks the Abyss
and smoke arises like a furnace, an image reminiscent of exodus again.
Exodus
18 Now
Out of the smoke came locusts
with the power of scorpions. Joel appears to provide the background for this
image.
Joel 1-2 (NRSV)
2 Hear this, O elders,
give ear, all inhabitants of the land!
Has such a thing happened in your days,
or in the days of your ancestors?
3 Tell your children of it,
and let your children tell their children,
and their children another generation.
4 What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten.
5 Wake up, you drunkards, and weep;
and wail, all you wine-drinkers,
over the sweet wine,
for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation has invaded my land,
powerful and innumerable;
its teeth are lions’ teeth,
and it has the fangs of a lioness.
7 It has laid waste my vines,
and splintered my fig trees;
it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down;
their branches have turned white.
8 Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth
for the husband of her youth.
9 The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off
from the house of the Lord.
The priests mourn,
the ministers of the Lord.
10 The fields are devastated,
the ground mourns;
for the grain is destroyed,
the wine dries up,
the oil fails.
11 Be dismayed, you farmers,
wail, you vinedressers,
over the wheat and the barley;
for the crops of the field are ruined.
12 The vine withers,
the fig tree droops.
Pomegranate, palm, and apple—
all the trees of the field are dried up;
surely, joy withers away
among the people.
A Call to Repentance and Prayer
13 Put on sackcloth and lament, you priests;
wail, you ministers of the altar.
Come, pass the night in sackcloth,
you ministers of my God!
Grain offering and drink offering
are withheld from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify a fast,
call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
and cry out to the Lord.
15 Alas for the day!
For the day of the Lord is near,
and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.
16 Is not the food cut off
before our eyes,
joy and gladness
from the house of our God?
17 The seed shrivels under the clods,
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
because the grain has failed.
18 How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle wander about
because there is no pasture for them;
even the flocks of sheep are dazed.
19 To you, O Lord, I cry.
For fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness,
and flames have burned
all the trees of the field.
20 Even the wild animals cry to you
because the watercourses are dried up,
and fire has devoured
the pastures of the wilderness.
2 Blow the
trumpet in
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick darkness!
Like blackness spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful army comes;
their like has never been from of old,
nor will be again after them
in ages to come.
3 Fire devours in front of them,
and behind them a flame burns.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
but after them a desolate wilderness,
and nothing escapes them.
4 They have the appearance of horses,
and like war-horses they charge.
5 As with the rumbling of chariots,
they leap on the tops of the mountains,
like the crackling of a flame of fire
devouring the stubble,
like a powerful army
drawn up for battle.
6 Before them peoples are in anguish,
all faces grow pale.
7 Like warriors they charge,
like soldiers they scale the wall.
Each keeps to its own course,
they do not swerve from their paths.
8 They do not jostle one another,
each keeps to its own track;
they burst through the weapons
and are not halted.
9 They leap upon the city,
they run upon the walls;
they climb up into the houses,
they enter through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes before them,
the heavens tremble.
The sun and the moon are darkened,
and the stars withdraw their shining.
11 The Lord utters his voice
at the head of his army;
how vast is his host!
Numberless are those who obey his command.
Truly the day of the Lord is great;
terrible indeed—who can endure it?
12 Yet even now, says the Lord,
return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 rend your hearts and not your clothing.
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and relents from punishing.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord, your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in
sanctify a fast;
call a solemn assembly;
16 gather the people.
Sanctify the congregation;
assemble the aged;
gather the children,
even infants at the breast.
Let the bridegroom leave his room,
and the bride her canopy.
17 Between the vestibule and the altar
let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
and do not make your heritage a mockery,
a byword among the nations.
Why should it be said among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’ ”
18 Then the Lord became jealous for his land,
and had pity on his people.
19 In response to his people the Lord said:
I am sending you
grain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a mockery among the nations.
20 I will remove the northern army far from you,
and drive it into a parched and desolate land,
its front into the eastern sea,
and its rear into the western sea;
its stench and foul smell will rise up.
Surely he has done great things!
21 Do not fear, O soil;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has done great things!
22 Do not fear, you animals of the field,
for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 O children of
and rejoice in the Lord your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.
24 The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent against you.
26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of
and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.
And my people shall never again
be put to shame.
28 Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;
your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.
30 I will show portents in the heavens and on
the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 The sun shall be
turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of
the Lord comes. 32 Then
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved; for in
This could refer to a demonic
army. It has no power over crops, although much of this has already been
destroyed in the vision. They have power only over those who do not have the
seal of God upon their foreheads. The anguish is that of the sting of a
scorpion, and lasts five months, both limits provided by God. Yet, people will
want to die, even though death will not come. We then discover that the locusts
look like armored horses ready for battle, with riders upon them. The riders
are clearly human, indicating that evil still has a human face. The torture for
five months they inflict upon people is a limit God provides.
In
Revelation 9:20-21 (NRSV)
20 The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
The background for this
battle may come from Ezekiel 38-39, for which see the beginning of this essay.
Chapter 10 has the theme of a messenger from heaven. The
fact that a cloud and rainbow wrap this angel suggests both the covenant with
Noah after the flood and the covenant with Moses and the Hebrews at Sinai. The
angel is powerful, a description also found in 5:2. He has a small scroll in
his hand. In 5:1, the scroll has seven seals. Note that the contents of this
scroll are the prophecies concerning the measuring rod in 11:1-3, the two witnesses
in 11:4-14, and the seventh trumpet in
Amos 1:2 (NRSV)
2 And he said:
The Lord
roars from
and utters his voice from
the pastures of the shepherds wither,
and the top of
Amos 3:8 (NRSV)
8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?
Psalm 29:3-9 (NRSV)
3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over mighty waters.
4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, “Glory!”
With the voice of the angel
come the seven claps of thunder, referring to the Lord. The writer is not to
write down what he heard at this point. The angel stands on sea and land,
raises his right hand to heaven, and announces that the time of waiting is over.
With the seventh angle, we will see the fulfillment of the mystery of God. This
mystery could refer to the overthrow of Satan, the birth of the Messiah, or to
the purpose of God for the world. The background for the description of this
angel and the command for silence by the writer may come from Daniel.
Daniel 12:7-9 (NRSV)
7 The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, raised his
right hand and his left hand toward heaven. And I heard him swear by the one
who lives forever that it would be for a time, two times, and half a time, and
that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all
these things would be accomplished. 8 I heard but could not
understand; so I said, “My lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9
He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are to remain secret and
sealed until the time of the end.
The writer receives the
command by a voice from heaven to take the scroll from the angle and eat it. It
will taste sweet going down, but will turn sour in his stomach. The background
for this image may come from the adultery ordeal described in Numbers.
Numbers 5:12-31 (NRSV)
12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act; 14 if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; 17 the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, “If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,” 21 —let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—“the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge; 22 now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23 Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain. 25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.
29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.
Chapter 11 expresses the content of the scroll eaten by
the prophet.
The first revelation in the scroll is in 11:1-2 and
concerns the measuring rod. Someone tells the prophet to measure the sanctuary
of God, the altar, and the people who worship there. These people could be the
remnant of the Jews. It could also be a reference to the church. The temple,
the center of the holy city
Ezekiel 40:1-6 (NRSV)
In the
twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day
of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that
very day, the hand of the Lord
was upon me, and he brought me there. 2 He brought me, in visions of
God, to the
5 Now there was a wall all around the outside of the temple area. The length of the measuring reed in the man’s hand was six long cubits, each being a cubit and a handbreadth in length; so he measured the thickness of the wall, one reed; and the height, one reed. 6 Then he went into the gateway facing east, going up its steps, and measured the threshold of the gate, one reed deep.
Zechariah 2:5-9 (NRSV)
5 For I will be a wall of fire all around it,
says the Lord, and I will be the
glory within it.”
6 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,
says the Lord; for I have spread
you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. 7 Up! Escape to
Jeremiah 31:39 (NRSV)
39 And the measuring line shall go out farther, straight
to the hill Gareb, and shall then turn to Goah.
Unbelievers surround the
city. He is to exclude the outer court, because gentles have it. They will
trample the holy city for 3 ½ years. The number of years comes from Daniel.
Daniel
25 He shall speak words against the Most
High,
shall wear out the holy ones of the Most High,
and shall attempt to change the sacred seasons and the
law;
and they shall be given into his power
for a time, two times, and half a time.
Daniel 12:7 (NRSV)
7 The man clothed in linen, who was upstream, raised his
right hand and his left hand toward heaven. And I heard him swear by the one
who lives forever that it would be for a time, two times, and half a time, and
that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all
these things would be accomplished.
In addition, the Zealots held
Luke
25 But the truth is, there were many widows in
James
17 Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed
fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not
rain on the earth.
The second revelation from the scroll eaten by the
prophet concerns the two witnesses in 11:3-14. We will note in advance the
contrast of these two faithful witnesses to God with the second beast from the
land or false prophet in
Zechariah 4:3-13 (NRSV)
3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’ ”
8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” 11 Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil through the two golden pipes?” 13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
They could then refer to the
collective body of people of faithful priests and government leaders, or even
of laity and clergy. Religious and civil leaders unite in witness. Joshua and Zerubbabel helped rebuild the temple after the exile. These
two witnesses will help rebuild New Jerusalem, the new holy city, the church.
They would then suffer for giving their witness. Another possible background
for the image is that of Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Another
Jewish background for this image could be that of the Davidic Messiah and the
Priestly Messiah. Fire comes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. They
also have the power to cause draught and to turn the water into blood. In both
cases, the background for these images may be from Moses and Elijah.
Deuteronomy 9:16-21 (NRSV)
16 Then I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God, by casting for yourselves an image of a calf; you had been quick to turn from the way that the Lord had commanded you. 17 So I took hold of the two tablets and flung them from my two hands, smashing them before your eyes. 18 Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed, provoking the Lord by doing what was evil in his sight. 19 For I was afraid that the anger that the Lord bore against you was so fierce that he would destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. 20 The Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him, but I interceded also on behalf of Aaron at that same time. 21 Then I took the sinful thing you had made, the calf, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it thoroughly, until it was reduced to dust; and I threw the dust of it into the stream that runs down the mountain.
2 Kings
10 But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.
Exodus
17 Thus says the Lord,
“By this you shall know that I am the Lord.”
See, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the
1 Kings 17:1 (NRSV)
Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in
The author could be thinking
of a religious and political figure working together for God. When they
complete their witness, the Beast from the Abyss will wage war and kill them.
Their corpses will hang for 3 ½ days in the “great city,” known also
symbolically as
Ezekiel 37:5, 10 (NRSV)
5 Thus says the Lord God
to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
10 I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast
multitude.
God brings them to heaven in
a cloud, with their enemies watching them. An earthquake collapses one-tenth of
the city, killing seven thousand persons, symbolizing many people from all
social classes. The result of this act of judgment by God appears to be
repentance by those who witness it: “and the rest were terrified and gave glory
to the God of heaven.”
The seventh trumpet, the third woe from the eagle, and
the third revelation from the scroll eaten by the writer concern the end. Here
is the answer to the prayer of the saints in 8:2-5, “Thy kingdom come.” Here is
how the voices of heaven proclaim the end:
Revelation
15 “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of his Messiah,
and he will reign forever and ever.”
The twenty-four elders offer
worship to God with their own hymn.
Revelation 11:17-18 (NRSV)
17 “We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were,
for you have taken your great power
and begun to reign.
18 The nations raged,
but your wrath has come,
and the time for judging the dead,
for rewarding your servants, the prophets
and saints and all who fear your name,
both small and great,
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
This hymn is a reminder of
Psalm 2, also quoted in Acts 4:23-31.
Psalm 2:1, 5 (NRSV)
1 Why do the nations conspire,
and the peoples plot in vain?
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury,
Note the reference to
destroying those who destroy the earth. We might note the harshness of reality
here. In order to come to the world God intends, judgment will come to those
who rebel. The end means judgment for those who resist the purpose of God.
Further, “those who destroy the earth” describes the revelation of the next
chapters. The terrible power represented by the dragon, the beast from the sea,
the beast from the land, and the prostitute, represent powers that destroy the
earth. The purpose of God is to preserve the earth. Even with all the
destruction described in this Book, the love of God for the world remains a
central theme. Then the writer sees the opening of the sanctuary of God. He saw
the Ark of the Covenant inside, symbolizing war. We might note a parallel with
the account in II Maccabees.
2 Maccabees 2:5-8 (NRSV)
5 Jeremiah came and found a cave-dwelling, and he brought there the tent and the ark and the altar of incense; then he sealed up the entrance. 6 Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the way, but could not find it. 7 When Jeremiah learned of it, he rebuked them and declared: “The place shall remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows his mercy. 8 Then the Lord will disclose these things, and the glory of the Lord and the cloud will appear, as they were shown in the case of Moses, and as Solomon asked that the place should be specially consecrated.”
2 Maccabees 8:5 (NRSV)
5 As soon as Maccabeus got his
army organized, the Gentiles could not withstand him, for the wrath of the Lord
had turned to mercy.
Chapters 12 and 13 relate an unholy Trinity in the Dragon
in 12-13, the Beast in 13:1-10, and the False Prophet in
The Dragon is identified as Satan.
The Beast is clearly a political figure that demands
worship, and there is no reason to identify it any further. The beat reigns for three and one half years,
and yet the seven heads represent seven emperors in successive reigns. This
puts the lie to any literal interpretation of the number of years. The end of the reign of the Beast would be
soon, in the mind of the author. He is
specific enough to say this in
The False Prophet is
simply a religious figure who does the work of the political power, but with
religious institutions and language behind him.
The horns that look like those of the Lamb’s suggest this is a deceptive
character. It may only be a coincidence
that Josephus gained in standing with both Jews and Romans. Many viewed him as a collaborator with
There are also three women in Revelation. One is a sign
in Chapter 12. She would appear to symbolize faithful
Another woman is the prostitute,
The third woman was the Bride of chapter 21, also in
Ezekiel 40-48, and most likely restored
Chapter 12 relates the community faithful to God as
suffering persecution. Her description as robed with the sun and standing on
the moon, with a crown of 12 stars, suggests a priestly image. The fact that
she is in labor suggests the sufferings predicted before the coming of the
Messiah. She gives birth to a son who will rule all nations. The description of
the son has a background familiar to the Old Testament.
Psalm 2:9 (NRSV)
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron,
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
God immediately takes the
child to heaven. This would appear to reference the resurrection and ascension
of Jesus. After giving birth, the woman must hide in the desert from the threat
of the dragon. The background for this image appears to be that of the exodus
of the Hebrew people out of
Exodus
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to
kill Moses.
But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the
1 Kings 17:2-6 (NRSV)
2 The word
of the Lord came to him, saying, 3
“Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Wadi Cherith, which is east of
the
1 Kings 19:3-8 (NRSV)
3 Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for
his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to
4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” 5 Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” 6 He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7 The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” 8 He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.
1 Maccabees 2:29-30 (NRSV)
29 At that
time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the
wilderness to live there, 30 they, their sons, their wives, and
their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon them.
God has prepared this safe
place. God has placed a limit upon what evil can do. The dragon, which is
Satan, leads a battle in heaven. He and his angels experience defeat. God has
brought down the “accuser” of the brothers and sisters in Christ. They triumph
through the death of the Lamb and through the word proclaimed. Their
willingness to experience martyrdom becomes their sign of success. Here is how
the text puts it.
Revelation 12:10-12 (NRSV)
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,
for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.
12 Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short!”
The fact that God cast the
dragon to the earth is hardly a pleasant thought. We legitimately wonder why.
The text gives no answer. What is significant is that the occasion for this
battle in heaven is the coming of the birth of the Messiah. The dragon now
takes out after the woman who gave birth to the Messiah. This woman represents
the faithful Jewish community out of which the Messiah came, as well as the
continuing faithfulness of those who witness to Christ. This battle between the
woman and the dragon has a background provided by the Old Testament.
Genesis
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
When the woman receives the
wings of an eagle, we have a reference to Yahweh. The attempt of the dragon to
kill the woman has a background in the Old Testament.
Numbers 16:30-34 (NRSV)
30 But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31 As soon as he finished
speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart. 32 The
earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone
who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So
they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth
closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 All
When the earth protects the woman, the dragon persecutes her children, “those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.”
In chapter 13, the writer stands on the seashore. In
verses 1-10, we have the emergence of a beast from the sea. It appears to be a midrash or paraphrase of Daniel 7, for which see the
beginning of the essay. This beast comes from the sea, as do the four beasts of
Daniel. The fourth beast has ten horns, as does the beast in this text. With
the blasphemous titles on his head, he is in direct contrast to the vision of
Christ in
Exodus
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, majestic in holiness,
awesome in splendor, doing wonders?
Psalm 35:10 (NRSV)
10 All my bones shall say,
“O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak
from those too strong for them,
the weak and needy from those who despoil them.”
It is also a parody of the
question of Michael in 12:7. God allows the beast to boat, blaspheme, and be
active for three and one half years. People of the world will worship the
Beast. A strong statement of predestination occurs at this point.
Revelation 13:8 (NRSV)
8 and all the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slaughtered.
Along with this statement is
a strong warning to the church.
Revelation 13:9-10 (NRSV)
9 Let anyone who has an ear listen:
10 If you are to be taken captive,
into captivity you go;
if you kill with the sword,
with the sword you must be killed.
Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.
The text describes the beast from the ground, or the
false prophet, in
Revelation
18 This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.
In the Talmud, Midrashim, and the Cabala, a system of numerology called gematria developed. Gematria attempted to discover hidden
meaning for words based on the numerical values of the letters. The Hebrew
letters of the name Eliezer, Abraham’s servant, have
a numerical value of 318. Gen. 14:14 says that Abraham took 318 trained men to
pursue the kings from the east. The Midrash notes
that Abraham had but one helper, Eliezer, since Eliezer has the numerical value of 318. In a similar
pattern, bible scholars often take the number 666 in Revelation as a gematria for the emperor Nero. We
might note that speculation concerning this number has been part of the
Christian tradition. Here is one example.
Ireneaus
(140-202 AD), Against Heresies, Book V, Chapter 29-30
CHAP.XXIX.--ALL
THINGS HAVE BEEN CREATED FOR THE SERVICE OF MAN. THE DECEITS, WICKEDNESS, AND
APOSTATE POWER OF ANTICHRIST. THIS WAS PREFIGURED AT THE DELUGE, AS AFTERWARDS
BY THE PERSECUTION OF SHADRACH, MESHACH, AND ABEDNEGO.
1. In the previous books I have set forth
the causes for which God permitted these things to be made, and have pointed
out that all such have been created for the benefit of that human nature which
is saved, ripening for immortality that which is [possessed] of its own free
will and its own power, and preparing and rendering it more adapted for eternal
subjection to God. And therefore the creation is suited to [the wants of] man;
for man was not made for its sake, but creation for the sake of man. Those
nations however, who did not of themselves raise up their eyes unto heaven, nor
returned thanks to their Maker, nor wished to behold the light of truth, but who
were like blind mice concealed in the depths of ignorance, the word justly
reckons "as waste water from a sink, and as the turning-weight of a
balance--in fact, as nothing;"(1) so far useful and serviceable to the
just, as stubble conduces towards the growth of the wheat, and its straw, by
means of combustion, serves for working gold. And therefore, when in the end
the Church shall be suddenly caught up from this, it is said, "There shall
be tribulation such as has not been since the beginning, neither shall
be."(2) For this is the last contest of the righteous, in which, when they
overcome they are crowned with incorruption.
2. And there is therefore in this beast,
when he comes, a recapitulation made of all sorts of iniquity and of every
deceit, in order that all apostate power, flowing into and being shut up in
him, may be sent into the furnace of fire. Fittingly, therefore, shall his name
possess the number six hundred and sixty-six, since he sums up in his own
person all the commixture of wickedness which took place previous to the
deluge, due to the apostasy of the angels. For Noah was six hundred years old
when the deluge came upon the earth, sweeping away the rebellious world, for
the sake of that most infamous generation which lived in the times of Noah. And
[Antichrist] also sums up every error of devised idols since the flood,
together with the slaying of the prophets and the cutting off of the just. For
that image which was set up by Nebuchadnezzar had indeed a height of sixty
cubits, while the breadth was six cubits; on account of which Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, when they did not worship it, were cast into a
furnace of fire, pointing out prophetically, by what happened to them, the
wrath against the righteous which shall arise towards the [time of the] end.
For that image, taken as a whole, was a prefiguring of this man's coming,
decreeing that he should undoubtedly himself alone be worshipped by all men.
Thus, then, the six hundred years of Noah, in whose time the deluge occurred
because of the apostasy, and the number of the cubits of the image for which
these just men were sent into the fiery furnace, do indicate the number of the
name of that man in whom is concentrated the whole apostasy of six thousand
years, and unrighteousness, and wickedness, and false prophecy, and deception;
for which things' sake a cataclysm of fire shall also come [upon the earth].
CHAP.
XXX.--ALTHOUGH CERTAIN AS TO THE NUMBER OF THE NAME OF ANTICHRIST, YET WE
SHOULD COME TO NO RASH CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NAME ITSELF, BECAUSE THIS NUMBER
IS CAPABLE OF BEING FITTED TO MANY NAMES. REASONS FOR THIS POINT BEING RESERVED
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT. ANTICHRIST'S REIGN AND DEATH.
1. Such, then, being the state of the case,
and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies(3) [of
the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their
testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of
the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation
by the [value of] the letters contained
in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six; that is, the number of
tens shall be equal to that of the hundreds, and the number of hundreds equal
to that of the units (for that number which [expresses] the digit six being
adhered to throughout, indicates the recapitulations of that apostasy, taken in
its full extent, which occurred at the beginning, during the intermediate
periods, and which shall take place at the end),--I do not know how it is that
some have erred following the ordinary mode of speech, and have vitiated the
middle number in the name, deducting the amount of fifty from it, so that
instead of six decades they will have it that there is but one. [I am inclined
to think that this occurred through the fault of the copyists, as is wont to
happen, since numbers also are expressed by letters; so that the Greek letter
which expresses the number sixty was easily expanded into the letter Iota of
the Greeks.](4) Others then received this reading without examination; some in
their simplicity, and upon their own responsibility, making use of this number
expressing one decad; while some, in their
inexperience, have ventured to seek out a name which should contain the
erroneous and spurious number. Now, as regards those who have done this in
simplicity, and without evil intent, we are at liberty to assume that pardon
will be granted them by God. But as for those who, for the sake of vainglory,
lay it down for certain that names containing the spurious number are to be
accepted, and affirm that this name, hit upon by themselves, is that of him who
is to come; such persons shall not come forth without loss, because they have
led into error both themselves and those who confided in them. Now, in the
first place, it is loss to wander from the truth, and to imagine that as being
the case which is not; then again, as there shall be no light punishment
[inflicted] upon him who either adds or subtracts anything from the
Scripture,(1) under that such a person must necessarily fall. Moreover, another
danger, by no means trifling, shall overtake those who falsely presume that
they know the name of Antichrist. For if these men assume one [number], when
this [Antichrist] shall come having another, they will be easily led away by
him, as supposing him not to be the expected one, who must be guarded against.
2. These men, therefore, ought to learn
[what really is the state of the case], and go back to the true number of the
name, that they be not reckoned among false prophets. But, knowing the sure
number declared by Scripture, that is, six hundred sixty and six, let them
await, in the first place, the division of the kingdom into ten; then, in the
next place, when these kings are reigning, and beginning to set their affairs in
order, and advance their kingdom, [let them learn] to acknowledge that he who
shall come claiming the kingdom for himself, and shall terrify those men of
whom we have been speaking, having a name containing the aforesaid number, is
truly the abomination of desolation. This, too, the apostle affirms: "When
they shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction shall come upon
them."(2) And Jeremiah does not merely point out his sudden coming, but he
even indicates the tribe from which he shall come, where he says, "We
shall hear the voice of his swift horses from Dan; the whole earth shall be
moved by the voice of the neighing of his galloping horses: he shall also come
and devour the earth, and the fulness thereof, the
city also, and they that dwell therein."(3) This, too, is the reason that
this tribe is not reckoned in the Apocalypse along with those which are
saved.(4)
3. It is therefore more certain, and less
hazardous, to await the fulfillment of the prophecy, than to be making
surmises, and casting about for any names that may present themselves, inasmuch
as many names can be found possessing the number mentioned; and the same
question will, after all, remain unsolved. For if there are many names found
possessing this number, it will be asked which among them shall the coming man
bear. It is not through a want of names containing the number of that name that
I say this, but on account of the fear of God, and zeal for the truth: for the
name Evanthas contains the required number, but I
make no allegation regarding it. Then also Lateinos
has the number six hundred and sixty-six; and it is a very probable [solution],
this being the name of the last kingdom [of the four seen by Daniel]. For the Latins are they who at present bear rule:(5) I will not, however,
make any boast over this [coincidence]. Teitan too,
(TEITAN, the first syllable being written with the two Greek vowels among all
the names which are found among us, is rather worthy of credit. For it has in
itself the predicted number, and is composed of six letters, each syllable
containing three letters; and [the word itself] is ancient, and removed from
ordinary use; for among our kings we find none bearing this name Titan, nor
have any of the idols which are worshipped in public among the Greeks and
barbarians this appellation. Among many persons, too, this name is accounted
divine, so that even the sun is termed "Titan" by those who do now
possess [the rule]. This word, too, contains a certain outward appearance of
vengeance, and of one inflicting merited punishment because he (Antichrist)
pretends that he vindicates the oppressed.(6) And besides this, it is an
ancient name, one worthy of credit, of royal dignity, and still further, a name
belonging to a tyrant. Inasmuch, then, as this name "Titan" has so
much to recommend it, there is a strong degree of probability, that from among
the many [names suggested], we infer, that perchance he who is to come shall be
called "Titan." We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for
if it were necessary that his name
should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been
announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very
long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian's
reign.
4. But he indicates the number of the name
now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is: the
name, however, is suppressed, because it is not worthy of being proclaimed by
the Holy Spirit. For if it had been declared by Him, he (Antichrist) might
perhaps continue for a long period. But now as "he was, and is not, and
shall ascend out of the abyss, and goes into perdition,"(1) as one who has
no existence; so neither has his name been declared, for the name of that which
does not exist is not proclaimed. But when this Antichrist shall have
devastated all things in this world, he will reign for three years and six
months, and sit in the temple at Jerusalem; and then the Lord will come from
heaven in the clouds, in the glory of the Father, sending this man and those
who follow him into the lake of fire; but bringing in for the righteous the
times of the kingdom, that is, the rest, the hallowed seventh day; and
restoring to Abraham the promised inheritance, in which kingdom the Lord
declared, that "many coming from the east and from the west should sit
down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."(2)
Chapter 14 is a prelude to victory. The chapter also
begins the theme of the contrast between old
Isaiah 21:9 (NRSV)
9 Look, there they come, riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
Then he responded,
“Fallen, fallen is
and all the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground.”
Jeremiah 51:7-8 (NRSV)
7
making all the earth drunken;
the nations drank of her wine,
and so the nations went mad.
8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered;
wail for her!
Bring balm for her wound;
perhaps she may be healed.
The third angel announces
judgment upon those who follow or worship the beast from the sea. The fact that
the angel promises God will torture them in the presence of God and the Lamb is
an embarrassment to many readers today. The fact that this judgment is coming
suggests a certain course of action for believers.
Revelation 14:12-13 (NRSV)
12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”
The chapter continues with
the image of harvesting gentiles in
Matthew 13:37-43 (NRSV)
37 “The one who sows the good seed is the Son
of Man; 38 the field is the world, and the good seed are the
children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, 39 and
the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and
the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are collected and
burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son
of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all
causes of sin and all evildoers, 42 and they will throw them into
the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
Another angel, carrying a
sharp sickle, came from the heavenly temple. An angel in charge of the fire at
the altar tells the angel with the sickle to harvest the grapes of the vine,
for the harvest is ready. The angel collects the grapes from the earth and
place them in a huge winepress of the anger of God. This occurred “outside the
city,” to the point where blood rose as high as the bridles of horses, for 200
miles. The destruction of gentiles outside
Chapters 15 and 16 bring the plagues of
Psalm 92:5 (NRSV)
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your thoughts are very deep!
Deuteronomy 32:4 (NRSV)
4 The Rock, his work is perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God, without deceit,
just and upright is he;
Psalm 145:17 (NRSV)
17 The Lord is just in all his ways,
and kind in all his doings.
Jeremiah 10:7 (NRSV)
7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?
For that is your due;
among all the wise ones of the nations
and in all their kingdoms
there is no one like you.
Psalm 86:9 (NRSV)
9 All the nations you have made shall come
and bow down before you, O Lord,
and shall glorify your name.
Revelation 15:3-4 (NRSV)
3 “Great and amazing are your deeds,
Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
King of the nations!
4 Lord, who will not fear
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your judgments have been revealed.”
The seven bowls of the angels
represent the Day of Atonement in reverse. The wine brings retribution rather
than reconciliation, wrath rather than wine. The seven angels dressed in white
emerge from the heavenly temple and are priestly figures. The smoke that fills
the heavenly temple also has an Old Testament background.
1 Kings
10 And
when the priests came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord,
The loud voice in 16:1 is the
voice of God commanding the judgments represented by these angels deliver upon
the earth. The first angel brings the sixth plague of
Exodus 9:8-11 (NRSV)
8 Then the Lord
said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses
throw it in the air in the sight of Pharaoh. 9 It shall become fine
dust all over the
The second angel brings the
first plague of
But now,
when the vessels were gotten ready, Vespasian put
upon ship-board as many of his forces as he thought sufficient to be too hard
for those that were upon the lake, and set sail after them. Now these which
were driven into the lake could neither fly to the land, where all was in their
enemies' hand, and in war against them; nor could they fight upon the level by
sea, for their ships were small and fitted only for piracy; they were too weak
to fight with Vespasian's vessels, and the mariners
that were in them were so few, that they were afraid to come near the Romans,
who attacked them in great numbers. However, as they sailed round about the
vessels, and sometimes as they came near them, they threw stones at the Romans
when they were a good way off, or came closer and fought them; yet did they
receive the greatest harm themselves in both cases. As for the stones they threw
at the Romans, they only made a sound one after another, for they threw them
against such as were in their armor, while the Roman darts could reach the Jews
themselves; and when they ventured to come near the Romans, they became
sufferers themselves before they could do any harm to the ether, and were
drowned, they and their ships together. As for those that endeavored to come to
an actual fight, the Romans ran many of them through with their long poles.
Sometimes the Romans leaped into their ships, with swords in their hands, and
slew them; but when some of them met the vessels, the Romans caught them by the
middle, and destroyed at once their ships and themselves who were taken in
them. And for such as were drowning in the sea, if they lifted their heads up
above the water, they were either killed by darts, or caught by the vessels;
but if, in the desperate case they were in, they attempted to swim to their
enemies, the Romans cut off either their heads or their hands; and indeed they
were destroyed after various manners every where, till the rest being put to
flight, were forced to get upon the land, while the vessels encompassed them
about [on the sea]: but as many of these were repulsed when they were getting
ashore, they were killed by the darts upon the lake; and the Romans leaped out
of their vessels, and destroyed a great many more upon the land: one might then
see the lake all bloody, and full of dead bodies, for not one of them escaped.
And a terrible stink, and a very sad sight there was on the following days over
that country; for as for the shores, they were full of shipwrecks, and of dead
bodies all swelled; and as the dead bodies were inflamed by the sun, and
putrefied, they corrupted the air, insomuch that the misery was not only the
object of commiseration to the Jews, but to those that hated them, and had been
the authors of that misery. This was the upshot of the sea-fight. The number of
the slain, including those that were killed in the city before, was six
thousand and five hundred.
The third angel also brings
the first plague. Since they have lived by spilling blood, God will force them
to drink blood, and judgment viewed as true and just.
Exodus 7:14-24 (NRSV)
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is
hardened; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the
morning, as he is going out to the water; stand by at the river bank to meet
him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a snake. 16 Say
to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the
Hebrews, sent me to you to say, “Let my people go, so that they may worship me
in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened. 17 Thus
says the Lord, “By this you shall
know that I am the Lord.” See,
with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the
20 Moses and Aaron did just
as the Lord commanded. In the
sight of Pharaoh and of his officials he lifted up the staff and struck the
water in the river, and all the water in the river was turned into blood, 21
and the fish in the river died. The river stank so that the Egyptians
could not drink its water, and there was blood throughout the whole
The fourth angel brings a
drought, a plague not visited upon
Revelation 16:9 (NRSV)
9 but they cursed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory.
The fifth angel brings the
ninth plague to the throne of the beast from the sea and his empire, thereby
bringing darkness.
Exodus 10:21-23 (NRSV)
21 Then the Lord
said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven so that there may be
darkness over the
Again, people have a chance
to repent, but refuse to do so.
Revelation
11 and (they) cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.
The sixth angel brings the
second plague of
Exodus 8:2-3 (NRSV)
2 If you
refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. 3 The
river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your
bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your
people, and into your ovens and your kneading bowls.
At this point, we hear the
third beatitude in this book.
Revelation 16:15-16 (NRSV)
15 (“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed
is the one who stays awake and is clothed, not going about naked and exposed to
shame.”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is
called Harmagedon.
The seventh angel pours out
the seventh plague of
Exodus 9:22-26 (NRSV)
22 The Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your
hand toward heaven so that hail may fall on the whole
“The
Chapters 17:1-19:10 deal with the punishment of
Ezekiel 16 (NRSV)
God’s Faithless Bride
16 The word
of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal,
make known to
6 I passed by you, and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, “Live! 7 and grow up like a plant of the field.” You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood;your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8 I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you, and anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric. 11 I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck, 12 a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. 13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen. 14 Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.
15 But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by. 16 You took some of your garments, and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be. 17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore; 18 and you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey—you set it before them as a pleasing odor; and so it was, says the Lord God. 20 You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough! 21 You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them. 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.
23 After all your
wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord God),
24 you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in
every square; 25 at the head of every street you built your lofty
place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to every passer-by, and
multiplying your whoring. 26 You played the whore with the
Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to
anger. 27 Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced
your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the
Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 You played
the whore with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; you played the whore
with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your
whoring with
30 How sick is your heart, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore; 31 building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings: no one solicited you to play the whore; and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different.
35 Therefore, O whore, hear the word of the Lord: 36 Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whoring with your lovers, and because of all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated; I will gather them against you from all around, and will uncover your nakedness to them, so that they may see all your nakedness. 38 I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring blood upon you in wrath and jealousy. 39 I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall throw down your platform and break down your lofty places; they shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful objects and leave you naked and bare. 40 They shall bring up a mob against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 They shall burn your houses and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; I will stop you from playing the whore, and you shall also make no more payments. 42 So I will satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall turn away from you; I will be calm, and will be angry no longer. 43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things; therefore, I have returned your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God.
Have you not committed lewdness beyond
all your abominations? 44 See, everyone who uses proverbs will use
this proverb about you, “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are the
daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are
the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your
mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your elder
sister is
53 I will restore their
fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria
and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs, 54
in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you
have done, becoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters,
An Everlasting Covenant
59 Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant; 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. 61 Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of mycovenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God.
The punishment comes upon
“the great prostitute” (17:1), “drunk with the blood of the saints, and the
blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” The name of this prostitute was “
Hosea 2:5 (NRSV)
5 For their mother has played the whore;
she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, “I will go after my lovers;
they give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.”
Hosea 3:3 (NRSV)
3 And I said to her, “You must remain as mine for many
days; you shall not play the whore, you shall not have intercourse with a man,
nor I with you.”
Hosea
15 Though you play the whore, O Israel,
do not let
Do not enter into Gilgal,
or go up to Beth-aven,
and do not swear, “As the Lord lives.”
Isaiah 1:4 (NRSV)
4 Ah, sinful nation,
people laden with iniquity,
offspring who do evil,
children who deal corruptly,
who have forsaken the Lord,
who have despised the Holy One of Israel,
who are utterly estranged!
Isaiah 1:9 (NRSV)
9 If the Lord
of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we would have been like
and become like
Isaiah
21 How the faithful city
has become a whore!
She that was full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her—
but now murderers!
Isaiah 8:7-8 (NRSV)
7 therefore, the Lord is bringing up against
it the mighty flood waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory;
it will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks; 8 it
will sweep on into Judah as a flood, and, pouring over, it will reach up to the
neck; and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.
Jeremiah
20 For long ago you broke your yoke
and burst your bonds,
and you said, “I will not serve!”
On every high hill
and under every green tree
you sprawled and played the whore.
Jeremiah 3:1 (NRSV)
If a man divorces
his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
You have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?
says the Lord.
Jeremiah 3:6 (NRSV)
6 The Lord
said to me in the days of King Josiah: Have you seen what she did, that
faithless one,
Jeremiah 3:8 (NRSV)
8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless
one,
Jeremiah
10 Yet for all this her false sister Judah
did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense, says the Lord.
Jeremiah 5:9 (NRSV)
9 Shall I not punish them for these things?
says the Lord;
and shall I not bring retribution
on a nation such as this?
This prostitute rides on a
scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns. The angel, one of those with the
bowls of wrath, said that he will explain to the writer the meaning of the
beast and the prostitute. The beast was once alive, and is alive no long, and
yet is to come up from the Abyss. This description is precisely the opposite of
the divine description of one who was, is, and is to come. 17:8 is another
strong statement of predestination.
Revelation 17:8 (NRSV)
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the inhabitants of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will be amazed when they see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
The description of the beast
begins with saying that the seven heads are seven hills, clearly a reference to
Caesar,
49-44BC
Augustus,
31 BC-14 AD
Tiberius,
AD14-37
Caligula,
37-41, an emperor who deified himself and placed an image of himself in the
temple in
Claudius,
41-54
Nero,
54-68, an emperor who, after his death, arose the myth of his return.
68-69,
Galba, Otho, Vitellius
Vespasian,
69-79, an emperor who was the favorite of Nero, then fell out of favor, and
then rose to power after the death of Nero.
Titus,
79-81
Domitian,
81-96
Nerva,
96-98
Trajan,
98-117
Hasrian,
117-138
The ten horns are kings, most
likely referring to governors of
Deuteronomy
17 For the Lord
your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,
who is not partial and takes no bribe,
The governors of
In Chapter 18, we have a description
Amos 5:2 (NRSV)
2 Fallen, no more to rise,
is maiden
forsaken on her land,
with no one to raise her up.
Ezekiel 14:8 (NRSV)
8 I will set my face against them; I will make them a sign and a byword and cut them off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am the Lord.
Isaiah 21:9 (NRSV)
9 Look, there they come, riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
Then he responded,
“Fallen, fallen is
and all the images of her gods
lie shattered on the ground.”
Another angel declares that
Leviticus 21:9 (NRSV)
9 When the daughter of a priest profanes herself through prostitution, she profanes her father; she shall be burned to death.
Kings of the earth have
prostituted themselves with this city. They mourn over the downfall of the city
in
3. Thus
were the miserable people persuaded by these deceivers, and such as belied God
himself; while they did not attend nor give credit to the signs that were so
evident, and did so plainly foretell their future desolation, but, like men
infatuated, without either eyes to see or minds to consider, did not regard the
denunciations that God made to them. Thus there was a star (20) resembling a
sword, which stood over the city, and a comet, that continued a whole year.
Thus also before the Jews' rebellion, and before those commotions which
preceded the war, when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of
unleavened bread, on the eighth day of the month Xanthicus,
(21) [Nisan,] and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round
the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright day time; which
lasted for half an hour. This light seemed to be a good sign to the unskillful,
but was so interpreted by the sacred scribes, as to portend those events that
followed immediately upon it. At the same festival also, a heifer, as she was
led by the high priest to be sacrificed, brought forth a lamb in the midst of
the temple. Moreover, the eastern gate of the inner (22) [court of the] temple,
which was of brass, and vastly heavy, and had been with difficulty shut by
twenty men, and rested upon a basis armed with iron, and had bolts fastened
very deep into the firm floor, which was there made of one entire stone, was
seen to be opened of its own accord about the sixth hour of the night. Now
those that kept watch in the temple came hereupon running to the captain of the
temple, and told him of it; who then came up thither, and not without great
difficulty was able to shut the gate again. This also appeared to the vulgar to
be a very happy prodigy, as if God did thereby open them the gate of happiness.
But the men of learning understood it, that the security of their holy house
was dissolved of its own accord, and that the gate was opened for the advantage
of their enemies. So these publicly declared that the signal foreshowed the
desolation that was coming upon them. Besides these, a few days after that
feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius,
[Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible
phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were
it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it
of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before
sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running
about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast
which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner
[court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations,
they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great
noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying,
"Let us remove hence." But, what is still more terrible, there was
one Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a
husbandman, who, four years before the war began, and at a time when the city
was in very great peace and prosperity, came to that feast whereon it is our
custom for every one to make tabernacles to God in the temple, (23) began on a
sudden to cry aloud, "A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a
voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a
voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, and a voice against this whole
people!" This was his cry, as he went about by day and by night, in all
the lanes of the city. However, certain of the most eminent among the populace
had great indignation at this dire cry of his, and took up the man, and gave
him a great number of severe stripes; yet did not he either say any thing for
himself, or any thing peculiar to those that chastised him, but still went on
with the same words which he cried before. Hereupon our rulers, supposing, as
the case proved to be, that this was a sort of divine fury in the man, brought
him to the Roman procurator, where he was whipped till his bones were laid
bare; yet he did not make any supplication for himself, nor shed any tears, but
turning his voice to the most lamentable tone possible, at every stroke of the
whip his answer was, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" And when Albinus (for he was then our procurator) asked him, Who he
was? and whence he came? and why he uttered such words? he made no manner of
reply to what he said, but still did not leave off his melancholy ditty, till Albinus took him to be a madman, and dismissed him. Now,
during all the time that passed before the war began, this man did not go near
any of the citizens, nor was seen by them while he said so; but he every day
uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow, "Woe,
woe to Jerusalem!" Nor did he give ill words to any of those that beat him
every day, nor good words to those that gave him food; but this was his reply
to all men, and indeed no other than a melancholy presage of what was to come.
This cry of his was the loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty
for seven years and five months, without growing hoarse, or being tired
therewith, until the very time that he saw his presage in earnest fulfilled in
our siege, when it ceased; for as he was going round upon the wall, he cried
out with his utmost force, "Woe, woe to the city again, and to the people,
and to the holy house!" And just as he added at the last, "Woe, woe
to myself also!" there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote
him, and killed him immediately; and as he was uttering the very same presages
he gave up the ghost.
4. Now
if any one consider these things, he will find that God takes care of mankind,
and by all ways possible foreshows to our race what is for their preservation;
but that men perish by those miseries which they madly and voluntarily bring
upon themselves; for the Jews, by demolishing the tower of Antonia, had made
their temple four-square, while at the same time they had it written in their
sacred oracles, "That then should their city be taken, as well as their
holy house, when once their temple should become four-square." But now,
what did the most elevate them in undertaking this war, was an ambiguous oracle
that was also found in their sacred writings, how," about that time, one
from their country should become governor of the habitable earth." The
Jews took this prediction to belong to themselves in particular, and many of
the wise men were thereby deceived in their determination. Now this oracle certainly
denoted the government of Vespasian, who was
appointed emperor in
Those engaged in business
life also mourn over the fall of the city in
Ezekiel 26-28 (NRSV)
Proclamation against
26 In the
eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal,
because
“Aha, broken is the gateway of the peoples;
it has swung open to me;
I shall be replenished,
now that it is wasted,”
3 therefore, thus says the Lord God:
See, I am against you, O Tyre!
I will hurl many nations against you,
as the sea hurls its waves.
4 They shall destroy the walls of
and break down its towers.
I will scrape its soil from it
and make it a bare rock.
5 It shall become, in the midst of the sea,
a place for spreading nets.
I have spoken, says the Lord God.
It shall become plunder for the nations,
6 and its daughter-towns in the country
shall be killed by the sword.
Then they shall know that I am the Lord.
7 For thus says the Lord God: I will bring against
8 Your daughter-towns in the country
he shall put to the sword.
He shall set up a siege wall against you,
cast up a ramp against you,
and raise a roof of shields against you.
9 He shall direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls
and break down your towers with his axes.
10 His horses shall be so many
that their dust shall cover you.
At the noise of cavalry, wheels, and chariots
your very walls shall shake,
when he enters your gates
like those entering a breached city.
11 With the hoofs of his horses
he shall trample all your streets.
He shall put your people to the sword,
and your strong pillars shall fall to the ground.
12 They will plunder your riches
and loot your merchandise;
they shall break down your walls
and destroy your fine houses.
Your stones and timber and soil
they shall cast into the water.
13 I will silence the music of your songs;
the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
14 I will make you a bare rock;
you shall be a place for spreading nets.
You shall never again be rebuilt,
for I the Lord have spoken,
says the Lord God.
15 Thus says the Lord God to
How you have vanished from the seas,
O city renowned,
once mighty on the sea,
you and your inhabitants,
who imposed your terror
on all the mainland!
18 Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall;
the coastlands by the sea
are dismayed at your passing.
19 For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20 then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of long ago, and I will make you live in the world below, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living. 21 I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord God.
Lamentation over
27 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Now you, mortal, raise a lamentation over Tyre, 3 and say to Tyre, which sits at the entrance to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, Thus says the Lord God:
O Tyre, you have said,
“I am perfect in beauty.”
4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders made perfect your beauty.
5 They made all your planks
of fir trees from Senir;
they took a cedar from
to make a mast for you.
6 From oaks of
they made your oars;
they made your deck of pines
from the coasts of
inlaid with ivory.
7 Of fine embroidered linen from
was your sail,
serving as your ensign;
blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
was your awning.
8 The inhabitants of
were your rowers;
skilled men of Zemer were within you,
they were your pilots.
9 The elders of Gebal and its artisans were within you,
caulking your seams;
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were within you,
to barter for your wares.
10 Paras and Lud and Put
were in your army,
your mighty warriors;
they hung shield and helmet in you;
they gave you splendor.
11 Men of Arvad and Helech
were on your walls all around;
men of Gamad were at your towers.
They hung their quivers all around your walls;
they made perfect your beauty.
12 Tarshish did
business with you out of the abundance of your great wealth; silver, iron, tin,
and lead they exchanged for your wares. 13 Javan,
Tubal, and Meshech traded
with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your
merchandise. 14 Beth-togarmah exchanged
for your wares horses, war horses, and mules. 15 The Rhodians traded with you; many coastlands were your own
special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. 16
So you were filled and heavily laden
in the heart of the seas.
26 Your rowers have brought you
into the high seas.
The east wind has wrecked you
in the heart of the seas.
27 Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
your mariners and your pilots,
your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
and all your warriors within you,
with all the company
that is with you,
sink into the heart of the seas
on the day of your ruin.
28 At the sound of the cry of your pilots
the countryside shakes,
29 and down from their ships
come all that handle the oar.
The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
stand on the shore
30 and wail aloud over you,
and cry bitterly.
They throw dust on their heads
and wallow in ashes;
31 they make themselves bald for you,
and put on sackcloth,
and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
with bitter mourning.
32 In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you,
and lament over you:
“Who was ever destroyed like
in the midst of the sea?
33 When your wares came from the seas,
you satisfied many peoples;
with your abundant wealth and merchandise
you enriched the kings of the earth.
34 Now you are wrecked by the seas,
in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your crew
have sunk with you.
35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands
are appalled at you;
and their kings are horribly afraid,
their faces are convulsed.
36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.”
Proclamation against the King of
28 The word
of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal,
say to the prince of
Because your heart is proud
and you have said, “I am a god;
I sit in the seat of the gods,
in the heart of the seas,”
yet you are but a mortal, and no god,
though you compare your mind
with the mind of a god.
3 You are indeed wiser than Daniel;
no secret is hidden from you;
4 by your wisdom and your understanding
you have amassed wealth for yourself,
and have gathered gold and silver
into your treasuries.
5 By your great wisdom in trade
you have increased your wealth,
and your heart has become proud in your wealth.
6 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
Because you compare your mind
with the mind of a god,
7 therefore, I will bring strangers against you,
the most terrible of the nations;
they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom
and defile your splendor.
8 They shall thrust you down to the Pit,
and you shall die a violent death
in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you still say, “I am a god,”
in the presence of those who kill you,
though you are but a mortal, and no god,
in the hands of those who wound you?
10 You shall die the death of the uncircumcised
by the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, says the Lord God.
Lamentation over the King of
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me: 12 Mortal,
raise a lamentation over the king of
You were the signet of perfection,
full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in
every precious stone was your covering,
carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,
beryl, onyx, and jasper,
sapphire, turquoise, and emerald;
and worked in gold were your settings
and your engravings.
On the day that you were created
they were prepared.
14 With an anointed cherub as guardian I placed you;
you were on the holy
you walked among the stones of fire.
15 You were blameless in your ways
from the day that you were created,
until iniquity was found in you.
16 In the abundance of your trade
you were filled with violence, and you sinned;
so I cast you as a profane thing from the
and the guardian cherub drove you out
from among the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.
I cast you to the ground;
I exposed you before kings,
to feast their eyes on you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities,
in the unrighteousness of your trade,
you profaned your sanctuaries.
So I brought out fire from within you;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
in the sight of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples
are appalled at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.
Proclamation against
20 The word of the Lord came to me: 21 Mortal, set your face toward
I am against you, O Sidon,
and I will gain glory in your midst.
They shall know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments in it,
and manifest my holiness in it;
23 for I will send pestilence into it,
and bloodshed into its streets;
and the dead shall fall in its midst,
by the sword that is against it on every side.
And they shall know that I am the Lord.
24 The house of
Future Blessing for
25 Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of
In
Revelation 19:1-2 (NRSV)
“Hallelujah!
Salvation and glory and power to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just;
he has judged the great whore
who corrupted the earth with her fornication,
and he has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”
Revelation 19:3 (NRSV)
3 “Hallelujah!
The smoke goes up from her forever and ever.”
As aside, note this text: Isaiah 34:10 (NRSV)
10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
no one shall pass through it forever and ever.
Revelation 19:4 (NRSV)
4 “Amen. Hallelujah!”
Revelation 19:5 (NRSV)
5 “Praise our God,
all you his servants,
and all who fear him,
small and great.”
Revelation 19:7-8 (NRSV)
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready;
8 to her it has been granted to be clothed
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
Involved in this praise in
heaven is a huge crowd, the 24 elders, the 4 living creatures, and a voice from
the throne. We also hear the fifth beatitude.
Revelation 19:9 (NRSV)
9 Blessed
are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
The destruction of the forces that are destroying the
earth occurs in
Isaiah 63:1 (NRSV)
“Who is
this that comes from
from Bozrah in garments stained crimson?
Who is this so splendidly robed,
marching in his great might?”
“It is I, announcing vindication,
mighty to save.”
The rider has a name known
only to himself, as well as one by which others know him, “Word of God.” The
armies of heaven may be the martyrs. The sharp sword may be the Word of God.
This is the child referred to in chapter 12. The name he has on his thigh is
King of kings and Lord of lords, which, when put into numbers, is 777. We also
find this name previously in
Chapter 20 continues with an account of the reign of 1000
years. An angel overpowers Satan and chains him up in the Abyss for 1000 years.
The martyrs for the faith and those who refused the mark of the beast come back
to life and reign with Christ for 1000 years. For some, this even already
occurred in the first century. The martyrs, apostles, and the faithful of the
first century already reign with Christ through the church in history. For
others, the resurrection began the 1000-year reign of Christ. We might call
both of these interpretations as spiritual ones. The literal interpretation has
never gained great ascendancy in the church.The rest
of the dead will not come to new life and bodies until the end of the 1000
years. We have the fifth beatitude in this context.
Revelation 20:6 (NRSV)
6 Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.
When the thousand years are
over, God will release Satan. He will again lead people astray. The reference
to Gog and Magog, from
Ezekiel 38, 2, 9, 15, symbolizes the gentile nations in league against the
church at the end of time. The armies of Satan will swarm the new Promised Land,
with
Ezekiel 38:2 (NRSV)
2 Mortal,
set your face toward Gog, of the
Ezekiel 38:9 (NRSV)
9 You shall advance, coming on like a storm; you shall be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.
Ezekiel 38:15 (NRSV)
15 and
come from your place out of the remotest parts of the north, you and many
peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army;
Ezekiel 38:22 (NRSV)
22 With
pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him; and I will pour
down torrential rains and hailstones, fire and sulfur, upon him and his troops
and the many peoples that are with him.
After this final judgment of
those who destroyed the earth, namely, Satan, beast, and false prophet, one
appears on a great white throne. This bears resemblance with an Old Testament
image.
Daniel 7:9-14 (NRSV)
9 As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne,
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
11 I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
Earth and sky vanish. The
dead stand before the throne, and the books of their lives lay open before the
one on the throne. God judged the dead, according to their deeds. The sea, Death,
and Hades were emptied of the dead in them. Everyone experienced judgment as
their deeds deserved. Then God hurled Death and Hades into the burning lake, a
lake that symbolizes the second death. Anyone not found in the book of life God
hurls into the burning lake.
Chapter 21-22 give an account of the
Revelation 21:3-7 (NRSV)
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”
5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
We find a similarity in these
words with the Old Testament.
Isaiah 44:6 (NRSV)
6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Isaiah 40:1 (NRSV)
Comfort, O comfort my people,
says your God.
One of the angels with the
bowls of wrath invites the writer to see the bride the Lamb has married. The
angel shows him
Revelation 21:22-22:5 (NRSV)
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
The final words of this text are assurances of the soon
coming of the Lord and that the testimony of this text trustworthy. We find two
more beatitudes, bringing the total to seven:
Revelation 22:7 (NRSV)
7 “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the
words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelation
14 Blessed
are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of
life and may enter the city by the gates.
We find an invitation to come
to Christ.
Revelation 21:6b (NRSV)
6 To the
thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Revelation
17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
And let everyone who hears say, “Come.”
And let everyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.
We find several references to
the soon return of the Lord at the conclusion of this text.
Revelation 22:7 (NRSV)
7 “See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the
words of the prophecy of this book.”
Revelation
10 And he
said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the
time is near.
Revelation 22:12-13 (NRSV)
12 “See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay
according to everyone’s work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Revelation
20 The one who testifies to these things
says, “Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The text ends with these
words.
Revelation
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.
In his vision of history, the turning point is the birth,
death, and resurrection of Jesus. The
way the writer portrays God has a direct contrast to the way the writer
portrays the Dragon. His celebration of the unity of God with the Lamb in
Chapters 4-5 is astounding. However,
most stunning is the celebration of victory in
What happens to the church in the midst of this
persecution and suffering? The main
point the writer wants to drive home is that believers must remain faithful. Be aware of the power of Satan and political
authority doing Satan's bidding, and even beware of a church leader who will
lead you astray. Beware of false
teachings and immorality. Just keep
faithful. For the writer, persecution
has brought a situation in which believers must make clear choices. Now is the time to make them.
Is it possible that we are still in the three and one
half-year reign of the Beast? In one
sense, we are. That time began with the
birth of Christ and the first emperor.
There is no reason to limit the beast to the first century, although the
author of this book would be shocked that history has gone on for another 1900
years beyond his own time. American Christians may find it very difficult to
relate to living during the reign of the Beast.
I wager that Christians who are today dying for their faith all over the
world would have little difficulty seeing the Beast as being alive and well.
God still protects true
Before
the writer can pass from the past and present to the future, he must fit the
fall of
Having removed historical
Revelation contains a rather clear portrayal of the
history of
Of course, the reality that the world has continued to
exist for such a long time would surprise the author of the book of
Revelation. However, it would have
surprised Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the first century Christians. The community out of which came the Gospel of
John may not have shared that surprise, since they focused on resurrection life
available today. Revelation differs in
that it does believe the fall of
Apocalyptic
expectations have not stopped. Many have
writers and groups have speculated that the end might happen soon, just as the
author of Revelation has done. All have
been wrong. It is time admit that the
basic apocalyptic hope, that God will put an end to the suffering and evil of
this world through direct intervention, will not occur. It is the only honest thing to do.
There is, however, a great loss in giving up
apocalyptic. One could easily conclude
that we have about two billion years, so what is the hurry! We could also conclude that if a random act
of the universe could bring about our end, there is little reason to care. There is too much left to chance. Whatever we build now could be so easily
destroyed. At least apocalyptic has the
hope for a new world, the strength in the midst of suffering and persecution, and
especially the sense of urgency to act in a way that makes one ready for that
end. The solution may be a rather simple
one. An increased awareness of our own
finitude could help at this point. God
gives us such a brief time on this planet.
We need to use that time to make a positive contribution to the lives of
others, to our communities, and to our world.
Another development in the Roman world that had a
profound effect upon the development of Christianity is Gnosticism. The sources involved can be found in the
Corpus Hermeticum, Mandaean
writings, and the Nag Hammadi texts. There are extensive quotes in the early
church writings of the second and third centuries that, to a large degree,
appear to be accurate accounts of Gnostic beliefs. Gnosticism believed that special knowledge
was available to an elite group. The
questions with which they deal are expressed well in a quote from Clement of
Alexandria:
... the
knowledge: who were we? what have we become? where were we? into what place
have we been cast? whither are we hastening? from what are we freed? what is
birth? what is rebirth?
Answers to questions like
these come in a mythological worldview.
They viewed the cosmos as interconnecting spheres, the earth as a globe
because this was viewed as a perfect form.
In philosophy, this meant keeping everything in balance and
harmony. Gnosticism viewed the earth as
under the control of hostile powers. The
earth itself is evil, intent upon the destruction of humanity. The stars symbolize the desire of humanity to
escape to the world beyond this darkness toward the light. While philosophy
viewed fate as a positive force, Gnosticism viewed it as a hostile, imprisoning
force. God is in the world of light and
does not participate in the earth at all.
Gnosticism also agreed with philosophy that humanity could be
distinguished between body and soul.
However, it believed that both body and soul were prisoners to the
world, with its evil laws. The soul is
evil because it deceives itself with the false beauty of the world. Liberation can come in this system only as
individuality is destroyed. This led to
an extreme form of asceticism, a retreat from the world into subjectivity, as
the predominate ethic of Gnostic. Yet,
they also established communities in which they could encourage one another
toward knowledge on a higher plane. They
came to understand that humanity seeks liberation because there is a divine
spark or seen within us which years to be free.
This spark either ascended from below or descended from the world of
light above, depending upon the brand of Gnosticism one believed in. In either case, the noise of the world numbs
this spark. The light within recognizes
the light without, and this is liberation.
Liberation is becoming one’s true self.
This text is from Nag Hammadi. It is surely a Gnostic text and possibly Valentinian. It contains influences from the Gospel of
John.
The
gospel of truth is a joy for those who have received from the Father of truth
the gift of knowing him, through the power of the Word that came forth from the
pleroma – the one who is in the though and the mind
of the Father, that is, the one who is addressed as the Savior.
While
the name of the gospel is the proclamation of hope, being discovery for those
who search for him.
The text criticizes the God
of Israel as reflected in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Indeed
the all went about searching for the one from whom it had come forth, and the
all was inside of him, the incomprehensible, inconceivable one who is superior
to every thought. Ignorance of the Father brought about anguish and terror. And
the anguish grew soid like a fog so that on one was
able to see. For this reason error became powerful; it fashioned its own matter
foolishly, not having known the truth. It set about making a creature, with all
its might preparing, in beauty, the substitute for the truth.
Since
oblivion came into existence because the Father was not known, then if the
Father comes to be known, oblivion will not exist from that moment on.
The text reflects devotion
for Christ.
This is
the gospel of the one who is searched for, which was revealed to those who are
perfect through the mercies of the Father – the hidden mystery, Jesus, the
Christ. Through it he enlightened those who were in darkness. Out of oblivion
he enlightened them, he showed them a way. And the way is the truth which he
taught them.
For this reason error grew angry at
him, persecuted him, was distressed at him, and was brought to naught. He was
nailed to a tree; he became a fruit of the knowledge of the Father.
As in
the case of one of whom some are ignorant, who wishes to have them know him and
love him, so he became a guide, restful and leisurely. He went into the midst
of the schools and he spoke the word as a teacher. There came the wise men – in
their own estimation – putting him to the test.
After
all these, there came the little children also, those to whom the knowledge of
the Father belongs. … there was revealed in their heart the living book of the
living – the one written in the thought and the mind of the Father. … For this
reason the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in accepting
sufferings until he took that book, since he knows that his death in life for
many.
Just as
there lies hidden in awill, before it is opened, the
fortune of the deceased master of the house, so it is with the all,which lay hidden while the Father of the all was
invisible, the onewho is from himself, from whom all
spaces come forth. For this reason Jesus appeared; he put on that book; he was
nailed to a tree; he published the edict of the Father on the Cross. O such
great teaching! He draws himself down to death though life eternal clothes him.
Having stripped himself of the perishable rags, he put on imperishability,
which no one can possibly take away from him. … being knowledge and perfection,
proclaiming the things that are in the heart of the Father in order to [?]
teach these who will receive teaching.
His wisdom
contemplates the Word, his teaching utters it, his knowledge has revealed it,
his forbearance is a crown upon it, his gladness is in harmony with it, his
glory has exalted it, his image has revealed it, his repose has received it
into itself, his love has made a body over it, his fidelity has embraced it. In
this way the Word of the Father goes forth in the all, at the fruit of his
heart and an impression of his will.
The
Father reveals his bosom – now his bosom is the Holy Spirit. He reveals what is
hidden of him – what is hidden of him is his Son – so that through the mercies
of the Father the aeons may know him and cease
laboring in search of the Father…
The Word
came into the midst …
He is
the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep which were not lost. He went
searching for the one which was lost.
The text discusses the
relationship between Father and Son.
Now the
name of the Father is the Son. It is he who first gave a name to the one who
came forth from him, who was himself, and he begot him as a son. He gave him
his name which belonged to him; he is the one to whom belongs all that exists around him, the
Father. His is the name; his is the Son.
This text offers that the
possibility of perfection to those who unite to Christ. This union sometimes
contains Eucharistic language.
In time
Unity will perfect the spaces. It is within Unity that each one will attain
himself; within knowledge he will purify himself from multiplicity into Unity,
consuming matter without himself like fire, and darkness by light, death by
life.
Truth
came into the midst; all its emanations knew it. They greeted the Father in
truth with a perfect power that joins them with the Father.
He who
is joined to the truth is joined to the Father’s mouth by his tongue, whenever
he is to receive the Holy Spirit. This is the manifestation of the Father and
his revelation to his aeons: he manifested what was
hidden of him; he explained it.
The
knowledge of the Father they value as the dawn. This is the way each one has
acted, as though asleep at the time when he was ignorant. And this is the way
he has come to knowledge, as if he had awakened. And Good for the man who will
come to and awaken. And blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind.
For when
they had seen him and had heard him, he granted them to taste him and to smell
him and to touch the beloved Son. When he had appeared instructing them about
the Father … For he came by means of fleshly appearance while nothing blocked
his course because it was incorruptibility and irresistibility. Again, speaking
new things, still speaking about what is in the heart of the Father, he brought
forth the flawless word. Light spoke through his moth and his voice gave birth
to life. He gave them thought and understanding and mercy and salvation and the
powerful spirit from the infiniteness and the gentleness of the Father. … he
became a way for those who were lost and knowledge for those who were ignorant,
a discover for those who were searching, and a support for those who were
wavering, immaculateness for those who were defiled.
The text encourages
discipleship.
Speak of
the truth with those who search for it … Make firm the foot of those who have
stumbled … Feed those who are hungry and give repose to those who are weary,
and raise up those who wish to rise, and awaken those who sleep.
For the
Father is gentle and in his will there are good things. He took cognizance of
the things that are yours that you might fend rest in them.
The Word
which was first to come forth revealed them along with a mind that speaks the
one Word in silent grace.
The text contains the
teaching of predestination.
And the
will is what the Father rests in and is pleased with. Nothing happens without
him, nor does anything happen without the will of the Father, but his will is
incomprehensible.
This text is another Gnostic
text that shows influence from the Gospel of John. The text shows an
interpretation of the historical Jesus.
This
Nazarene deceived you with deception and filled your ears with lies and close
your hearts and turned you from the traditions of your fathers.
How then
was the savior chosen, and why was he sent into the world by this Father, and
who is his Father who sent him, and of what sort is that aeon
to which we shall go? For what did he mean when he said to us, This aeon to which you will go is of the type of the
imperishable aeon, but he did not search us
concerning that one of what sort it is.
The text also offers some
reflections upon the nature of the relationships within divinity.
I am the
Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son, I am the unpolluted and incorruptible
one.
The
Monad is a monarchy with nothing above it. It is he who exists as God and
Father of everything, the invisible one who is above everything, who is
imperishability, existing as pure light which no eye can behold.
He has
no need of anyone. For he is completely perfect. He is illimitable because
there exists no one prior to him to examine him. He is immeasurable because
there was no one prior to him to measure him. He is invisible because no one saw him. He is eternal who exists
eternally. He is ineffable because no one could comprehend him to speak about
him. He is unmeasurable because there is no one prior
to him to name him.
He is an
aeon-giving Aeon,
life-giving Life, a blessedness-giving Blessed One, knowledge-giving Knowledge,
goodness-giving Goodness, mercy and redemption-giving Mercy, grace-giving
Grace.
The text offers criticism of
the God of Israel as know through the Hebrew Scriptures.
And he
is impious in his madness which is in him. For he said, I am God and there is
no other God beside me, for he is ignorant of his strength. … Therefore he
called himself God. And he did not put his trust in the place from which he
came. … he said to them, I M a jealous God and there is no other God beside me.
but by announcing this he indicated to the angels who attended to him that
there exists another God, for if there were no other one, of whom would he would
be jealous? Then the mother began to move an fro.
The text speculates about the
creation of the first human beings.
And they
said to Yaltabaoth, Blow into his face something of
your spirit and his body will arise. … And in that moment the rest of the powers
became jealous. … And he sent, through is beneficent Spirit and his great
mercy, a helper to Adam, luminous Epipois which comes
out of him, who was called Life. And she assists the whole creature, by toiling
with him and by resotiring him to his fullness and by
teaching him about the descent of his seed and by teaching him about the way of
ascent, which is the way he came down. … and the man came forth because of the
shadow of the light which is in him. And his thinking was superior to all those
who had made him. … And they brought Adam into the shadow of death in order
that they might form him again from earth and water and fire and the spirit
which originates in matter. … And the Archons took him and placed him in
paradise. And they said to him, Eat, that is, at leisure, for their luxury is
bitter and their beauty is depraved. And their luxury is deception and their
trees are godlessness and their fruit is deadly poison and their promise is
death. And the tree of their life they had placed in the middle of paradise. …
Ad I said to the savior, “Lord, was it not the serpent that taught Adam to
eat?” The savior smiled and said, “The serpent taught them, to eat from
wickedness, begetting, lust, and the destruction, that he might be useful to
him. … and he brought a forgetfulness over Adam. … And I said to the savior,
“What is the forgetfulness?” And he said, “It is not the way Moses wrote and
you heard. … And he recognized his counter-image, and he said, ‘This is indeed
home from my bones, and flesh from my flesh. Therefore the man will leave his
father and his mother and he will cleave to his wife and they will both be one
flesh, for the will send him his consort, and he will leave his father and his
mother … And our sister Sophia is she who came down in innocence in order to
rectify her deficiency. Therefore she was called Life which is the mother of
the living.
The text shows concern for
the salvation of others.
And I
said to the savior, “Lord, will all the souls then be brought safely into the
pure light? … Those on whom the Spirit of life will descend and with whom he
will be with the power, they will be saved and become perfect and be worthy of
the greatnesses and be purified in that place from all wickedness and the
involvements in evil. Then they have no other care than the incorruption alone,
to which they direct their attention from here on, without anger or envy or
jealousy of desire and greed of everything. They are not affected by anything
except the state of being in the flesh alone, which they bear while looking
expectantly for the time when they will be met by the receivers.
The text describes the way
Jesus showed the way to the Light.
I …
changed myself into my seed. For I am the richness of the light, I am the
remembrance of the pleroma. And I went into the realm
of darkness and I endured till I entered the middle of the prison. And the
foundations of chaos shook. And I hid myself rom them
because eof their wickedness, and they did not
recognize me. … Again I returned fro the second time and I went about. I came
forth from those who belong to the light. I entered into the middle of darkenss and the inside of Hades. … Still for a third time
I went – I am the light which exists in the light. I am the remembrance of the Pronia, that I might enter into the middle of darkness and
the inside of Hades. … And I entered into the middle of their prison which is
the prison of the body. … Bitter tears he wiped from himself and he said, ‘Who
is it that calls my name, and from where has this hope come to me, while I am
in the chains of the prison?’
Many scholars consider this text an example of
Gnosticism. It may be product of Jewish Christianity between
These texts express personal piety.
The Lord
is on my head like a crown,
And I
shall never be without him.
Your
fruits are full and complete;
They are
full of your salvation. (Ode 1)
For I
should not have known how to love the Lord,
If he
had not continuously loved me.
Who is
able to distinguish love,
Except
him who is loved?
I have
been united to him, because the lover has found the Beloved,
Because
I love him that is the Son, I shall become a son.
And he
who delights in the Life
Will
become living.(Ode 3)
You have
given to us your fellowship,
Not that
you were in need of us,
But that
we are always in need of you. (Ode 4)
As the
wind moves through the harp
And the
strings speak,
So the
Spirit of the Lord speaks through my membe3rs,
And I
speak through his love.
For he
destroys whatever is foreign,
And
everything is of the Lord.
So that
nothing will be contrary,
And
nothing will rise up against him. (Ode 6)
My joy
is the Lord and my course is toward him,
This way
of mine is beautiful.
He has
generously shown himself to me in his simplicity,
Because
his kindness has diminished his grandeur. (Ode 7)
And let
your serenity, O Lord, abide with me,
and the
fruits of your love. (Ode 14)
My art
and my service are in his praises,
because
his love has nourished my heart,
and his
fruits he poured unto my lips.
For my
love is the Lord;
hence I
shall sing unto him.
I shall
open my mouth,
And his
spirit will speak through me
the
praise of the Lord and his beauty. (Ode 16)
fill for
yourselves water from the living spring of the Lord,
because
it has been opened for you.
And come
all you thirsty and take a drink,
And rest
beside the spring of the Lord.
Because
it is pleasing and sparkling,
And
perpetually pleases the self. (Ode 30)
We live
in the Lord by his grace,
And life
we receive by his Messiah.
And let
our faces shine in his light,
And let
our hearts meditate in his love,
By night
and by day. (Ode 41)
The
text expresses the wonder of the Incarnation.
He
became like me, that I might receive him.
In form
he was considered like me, that I might put him on.
And I
trembled not when I saw him,
Because
he was gracious to me.
Like my
nature he became, that I might understand him,
And like
my form, that I might not turn away from him. (Ode 7)
For the
subtlety of the Word is inexpressible,
And like
his expression so also is his swiftness and his acuteness,
For
limitless is his path.
And from
him came love and harmony,
And they
spoke one to another whatever was theirs.
For the
dwelling place of the Word is humanity,
And his
truth is love. (Ode 12)
The
text expresses the crucifixion in an interesting way.
And they
condemned me when I stood up,
Me who
had not been condemned.
Then
they divided my spoil,
Thoiugh
nothing was owed them.
But I
endured and held my peace and was silent,
a\that I
might not be disturbed by them.
But I
stood undisturbed like a solid rock,
Which is
continuously pounded by columns of waves and endures.
And I
bore their bitterness because of humility;
That I
might save my nation and instruct it.
And that
I might not nullify the promises to the patriarchs,
To whom
I was promised for the salvation of their offspring. (Ode 31)
The
text emphasizes the universality of the message of Christ.
And the
gentiles who had been scattered were gathered together,
But I
was not defiled by my love for them,
Because
they had praised me in high places. (Ode 10)
The
text has an interesting expression of the Trinity.
The Son
is the cup,
and the
Father is he who was milked;
and the
Holy Spirit is she who milked him… (Ode 19)
The
text also has a reference to the Virgin Mary.
The womb
of the Virgin took it,
And she
received conception and gave birth.
So the
Virgin became a mother with great mercies.
And she
labored and bore the Son but without pain,
Because
it did not occur without purpose. (Ode 19)
However
the perfect Virgin stood,
Who was
preaching and summoning and saying:
O you
sons of men, return,
And you
their daughters, come.
And
abandon the ways of that Corruptor,
And
approach me.
And I
will enter into you,
And
bring you forth from destruction,
And make
you wise in the ways of truth. (Ode 33)
This
author shows many affinities with the Gospel of John. Ignatius wrote between 100
and 120, from the area of
To the
Ephesians. Jesus Christ our God....being
perfectly joined together in one submission, submitting yourselves to your
bishop and presbyters, you may be sanctified in all things....Therefore in your
concord and harmonious love Jesus Christ is sung....Jesus is Son of Mary and
Son of God....And pray also without ceasing for the rest of humanity (for there
is in them a hope of repentance), that they may find God. Therefore permit them to take lessons at
least from your works. Against their
outbursts of wrath you be meek; against their proud words you be humble;
against their railings set yourself on prayer; against their errors be
steadfast in the faith; against their fierceness you be gentle....For either
let us fear the wrath which is to come or let us love the grace which now
is--the one or the other; provided only that we be found in Christ Jesus unto
true life....None of these things is hidden from you, if you be perfect in your
faith and love toward Jesus Christ...faith is the beginning and love is the
end....It is better to keep silence and to be, than to talk and not to
be...Those that truly possesses the word of Jesus are able also to listen unto
God's silence, that they may be perfect....For our God, Jesus the Christ, was
conceived in the womb by Mary according to a dispensation, of the seed of David
but also of the Holy Spirit; and he was born and was baptized that by his
passion he might cleanse water....Assemble yourselves together in common, every
one of you severally, person by person, in grace, in one faith and one Jesus
Christ, who after the flesh was of David's race, who is Son of Man and Son of
God, to the end that you may obey the bishop and the presbyters without
distraction of min; breaking one bread, which is the medicine of immortality
and the antidote that we should not die but live for ever in Jesus Christ...
To the Magnesians. I advise
you, be zealous to do all things in godly concord, the bishop presiding after
the likeness of God and the presbyters after the likeness of the council of the
apostles, with the deacons also who are most dear to me, having been entrusted
with the diaconate of Jesus Christ...Let there be
nothing among you which shall have power to divide you, but be united with the
bishop and with them that preside over you as an example and a lesson of
incorruptibility....Jesus Christ God's Son, who is God's Word that proceeded
from silence....Therefore let us not be insensible to God's goodness. For if God should imitate us according to our
deeds, we are lost. For this cause,
seeing that we are become disciples of Jesus, let us learn to live as
Christians. For whosoever is called by
another name besides this, is not of God.
To the Trallians. Do
therefore arm yourselves with gentleness and recover yourselves in faith which
is the flesh of the Lord, and in love which is the blood of Jesus Christ....But
if it were as certain persons who are godless, that is unbelievers, say, that
Jesus suffered only in appearance, being themselves mere appearance, why am I
in bonds?
To the
Romans. "unto her that has the
presidency in the country of the region of the Romans, being worthy of God,
worthy of honor, worthy of felicitation, worthy of praise, worthy of success,
worthy in purity, and having the presidency of love, walking in the law of
Christ and bearing the Father's name...Forming yourselves into a chorus in love
you may sing to the Father in Jesus Christ...
To the
Philadelphians. Be careful therefore to
observe one eucharist (for there is one flesh of our
Lord Jesus Christ and one cup unto union in his blood; there is one altar, as
there is one bishop, together with the presbyters and the deacons my
fellow-servants, that whatsoever you do, you may do it after God.
To the Smyrnaeans. I give
glory to Jesus Christ the God who bestowed such wisdom upon you; for I have
perceived that you are established in faith immovable, being as it were nailed
on the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, in flesh and in spirit, and firmly
grounded in love in the blood of Christ, fully persuaded as touching our Lord
that he is truly of the race of David according to the flesh, but Son of God by
the divine will and power, truly born of a virgin and baptized by John that all
righteousness might be fulfilled by him, truly nailed up in the flesh for our
sakes under Pontius Pilate and Herod the tetrarch...that he might set up a sign
unto all the ages through his resurrection, for his saints and faithful people,
whether among Jews or among Gentiles, in one body of his church....Let not
office puff up any one; for faith and love are all in all, and nothing is
preferred before them....It is not lawful apart from the bishop either to
baptize or to hold a love feast.
To Polycarp. Tell my
sisters to love the Lord and to be content with their husbands in flesh and in
spirit. In like manner also charge my
brothers in the name of Jesus Christ to love their wives. If any one is able to abide in chastity to
the honor of the flesh of the Lord, let him or her so abide without boasting.
This text offers its purpose as the following.
The words of the righteous .. and the words concerning the eternal judgments, and the torments of Gehenna, and the prince of this world, and his angels, and his authorites, and his powers, and the words concerning faith in the Beloved which he himself had seen … concerning the judgment of the angels, and concerning the destruction of this world, and concerning the robes of the saints and their going out, and concerning their transformation and the persecution and ascension of the Beloved. 1:3-5
The author speaks under divine inspiration.
As the Lord lives whose name has both been transmitted to this world, and as the Beloved of my Lord lives, and as the Spirit which speaks in me lives … 1:7-9
In the sixth heaven everyone sings praises.
And there they all named the primal Father and his Beloved, Christ, and the Holy Spirit, all with one voice. … 8:18
The text refers to the Incarnation.
Christ, who is to be called in the world Jesus … 9:5
The Lord will indeed descend into the world in the last days, he who is to be called Christ after he has descended and become like you in form, and they will think that he is flesh and a man. And the god of that world will stretch out his hand against the Son, and they will lay their hands upon him and hang him upon a tree, not knowing who he is. … And when he has plundered the angel of death, he will rise on the third day and will remain in that world for five hundred and forty-five days. 9:13-14
And I saw a woman of the family of
David the prophet whose name was Mary, and she was a virgin and was betrothed
to a man whose name was Joseph, a carpenter, and he also was of the seed and
family of the righteous David of Bethlehem in
The text refers to those people in the seventh heaven. They receive robes.
As for these robes, there are many from that world who will receive them through believing in the words of that one who will be named as I have told you and they will keep them, and believe in them, and believe in his cross … 9:26
The text encourages piety.
Do not turn away from God.
Walk before his face,
And keep his commandments.
Do not abhor the prayers of your salvation …
And do not be ungenerous with the Lord’s gifts …
And bless the Lord with the firstborn of your herds …
And do not turn away from the Lord … 2:2
And may God make your hearts true in reverence for him. 2:3
The text emphasizes the role of ethics.
This place, Enough, has become prepared for the righteous,
Who suffer every kind of calamity in their life
And who afflict their souls,
And who avert their eyes from injustice,
And who carry out righteous judgment,
And who give bread to the hungry,
And who cover the naked with clothing, and who lift up the fallen.
And who help the injured and the orphans,
And who walk without a defect before the face of the Lord,
And who worship him only. 9:2
They showed me there a very frightful lace; and all kinds of torture and torment are in that place. … This place, Enough, has been prepared for those who do not glorify God, who practice on the earth the sin which is against nature, which is child corruption in the anus in the manner of Sodom, of witchcraft, enchantments, divinations, trafficking with demons, who boast about their evil deeds – stealing, lying insulting, coveting, resentment, fornication, murder – and who steal the souls of people secretly, securing the poor by the throat, taking away their possessions, enriching themselves from the possessions of others, defrauding them; who, when they are able to provide sustenance, bring about the death of the hungry by starvation; and when they are able to provide clothing, take away the last garment of the naked, who do not acknowledge their Creator, but how down to idols which have no souls, which can neither see nor hear, vain gods; constructing images, and bowing down to vile things made by hands – for all these this place has been prepared as an eternal reward. (selections from Chapter 10)
Happy is the person who reverences the name of the Lord. …
Happy is he who carries out righteous judgment.
Happy is he who clothes the naked with his garment. Happy is he who judges righteous judgment for orphans and widow.
Happy is he who turns aside from the secular path of this vain world.
Happy is the he who sows right sdded.
Happy is he in whom is the truth.
Happy ishe who has compassion on his lips and gentleness in his heart!
Happy is he who understands all the works of the Lord. 42:6-14
There is no one better than he who fears God. He will be the most glorious in that age. 43:3
And whoever insults a person’s face, insults the face of a king, and treates the face of the Lord with repugnance.
He who treats with contempt the face of any person treats the face of the Lord with contempt.
Happy is the person who does not direct his heart with malice toward any person, but who helps the offended and the condemned, and lifts up those who have been crushed, and shows compassion on the needy. 44:2-4
Stretch out your hands to the needy in accordance with your strength … Help a believer in affliction, and then affliction will not find you, in your treasures and in the time of your work. 51:1-2
Happy is the person who opens his lips for praise of the God of Sabaoth, and praises the Lord with his whole heart.
Happy is he who opens his lips, both blessing and praising God.
Hearts – who blesses all the works of the Lord.
Happy who looks carefully to the raising up of the works of his own hand.
Happy who preserves the foundations of his most ancient fathers, made firm from the beginning.
Happy who cultivates the love of peace.
Happy is he who even though he does not speak peace with hiss tongue nevertheless in his heart there is peace toward all. 52:1-7
He who does harm to a human soul creates harm for his own soul, and there is for him no healing of his flesh, nor any forgiveness for enemy. 60:1
A person, when he clothes the naked or gives his bread to the hungry, then he will obtain a reward from God. 63:1
Walk, my children,
In long-suffering
In meekness honesty,
In affliction,
In gluttony
In faithlessness
In truth,
In hope,
In weakness
In derision
In assaults,
In temptation
In deprivation,
In nakedness.
Having love for one another, until you go out from this age of suffering, to that you may become inheritors of the never-ending age. 66:6
The text offers this song in prayer:
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord Sabaoth,
Heaven and earth are full of his glory. 21:2
The text protects the mystery of God in a vision of the 10th heaven.
Thus even I saw the face of the Lord. But the face of the Lord is not be talked about, it is so very marvelous and supremely awesome and supremely frightening. 22:2
The text offers this reflection upon death.
And just as every person has as nature the darkness of the present life, so also he has his conception and birth and departure from this life. In the hour in which he was conceived, in that hour also he is born and in that also he departs. 68:4
The text interprets the presence of Eve in this way.
And I created for him a wife, so that death might come to him by for his wife. 30:17
The text suggests the person does not have intercessor in heaven.
So now, my children do not say, Our
father is with God, and to he will stand as from of God for us, and he will
pray for us concerning our sins,” for there is no helper there – not even for
any one person who has sinned. See how I have written down all the deeds of
every person before the creation, ad I am wring down what is done among all
persons forever. And on no one can contradict my handwriting: because the Lord
sees all the evil thoughts of humanity, how vain they are, where they lie in
the treasuries of the heart. 53
The text describes the Abraham in terms of Jewish piety.
Abraham … lived in quietness, gentleness, and righteousness, and the righteous was very hospitable. For he pitched his tent at the crossroads of the oak of Mamre and welcomed everyone – rich and poor, kings, and rulers, the crippled and the helpless, friends and strangers, neighbors and passerby – all on equal terms did the pious, entirely holy, righteous, and hospitable Abraham welcome. (1:1-3)
I have not seen upon earth a man like him – merciful, hospitable, righteous, truthful, God-fearing, refraining from every evil deed. (4:6)
Yet, the text also finds Abraham proclaiming his unworthiness.
You have thought it altogether worthy yourself to come to me, a sinner and your completely worthless servant. (9:3)
Abraham wants to know the future.
While I am yet in this body I wish to see all the inhabited world and all the created things which you established, master, through one world, and when I have seen these things, then, if I depart from life, I shall have no sorrow. (9:6)
The text expresses the nature of the path toward salvation.
The first way was strait and narrow and the other broad and spacios. … And they saw many souls from being driven by angels and being led through the broad gate, and they saw a few other souls and they were being brought by angels through the narrow gate. (11:2, 5)
And interesting dialogue occurs in Chapter 14, in which Abraham inquires about the judgment of a soul. The soul had an equal balance of righteous and sinful deeds. Abraham discovers that to be saved, one needed to find a righteous deed. Abraham prays. God listens to the prayer and delivers the soul. In chapter 15, Abraham refuses to follow an angle that intends to lead him to his death.
This text begins with the repentance of Adam and Eve. Eve takes full responsibility for what has happened. She also accuses Satan of attacking “the image of God,” referring to Adam.
Adam: Let us repent with a great penitence, perhaps the Lord God will be forbearing and pity us and provide for us that we might live.
Eve: My Lord, how much did you intend to repent, since I have brought toil and tribulation on you.
Adam: You are not able to do so much as I; but do as much as you have strength for. I will spend forty days fasting. 4-6
And do not let three words come out of your mouth, for we are unworthy and our lips are not clean. but cry silently in God saying, “O God, be gracious to me.” … and all the angels and all the creatures of God surrounded Adam as a wall around him, weeping and praying to God on behalf of Adam, so that God gave ear to them. Apocalyptic 29:12, 14
Satan: Because of you (Adam) I am expelled and deprived of my glory which I had in the heaven in the midst of angels, and because of you I was cast out onto the earth. 12:1
Adam: “O Lord, my God, my life is in your hands. Remove far from me this my opponent, who seeks to destroy my soul, and give me his glory which he himself has forfeited.” 17
Eve: “My lord, give me a portion of your pain, for this guilt has come to you from me.” 35 “My lord Adam, rise, give me half of your illness and let me bear it, because this has happened to you through me; because of me you suffer troubles and pain.” Apocalyptic 9
Eve: “Cursed beast! How is it that you were not afraid to throw yourself at the image of God, but have dared to attack it? 37 “Woe is me! for when I come to the day of resurrection, all who have sinned will curse me, saying that Eve did not keep the command of God.” Apocalyptic 10
Seth: “Shut your mouth and be silent, and keep away from the image of God until the day of judgment.” Apocalyptic 12
The text defines covetousness as the origin of every sin (Apocalyptic 19:3). Adam describes the Fall.
I knew that I was naked of the righteousness with which I had been clothed. (20:1) And I took the leaves of the fig tree and made for myself skirts; they were from the same plants of which I ate. (20:5) You (Eve) have estranged me from the glory of God. (21:6) All Apocalyptic texts.
They receive the promise of resurrection.
But when you come out of
God called Adam and said … “Now I promise to you the resurrection; I shall raise you on the last day in the resurrection with every person of your seed.” (Apocalyptic 41:3)
Adam warns his children.
I have shown you the way in which we were deceived. But you watch yourselves so that you do not forsake the good. (Apocalyptic 30
Eve offers her final words.
God of all, receive my spirit. And immediately she gave up her spirit to God. (Apocalyptic 42:8)
I will announce to you guarded things and you will see great things which you have not seen, because you desired to search for me, and I called you my beloved. … And there I will show you the things which were made by the ages and by my word, and affirmed, created, and renewed. And I will announce to you in them what will come upon those who have done evil and just things in the race of humanity. (9:6, 9-10)
Know from this that the Eternal One whom you have loved has chosen you. (14:2)
And I saw there the earth and its fruit, and its moving things and its things that had souls, and its host of people and the impiety of their souls and their justification, and their pursuit of their works and the abyss and its torments, and its lower depths and the prediction in it. … And I saw there the garden of Eden and its fruits. (21:3)
The text addresses the matter of theodicy.
And I said, “Eternal, Mighty One, why then did you adjudge him such dominion that through his works he could ruin humankind on earth? … And I answered and said, “Eternal, Mighty One! Why did it please you to bring it about that evil should be desired in the heart of people, because you are angered at what was chosen by you … him who does useless things in your light. (23:12, 14)
The text describes the destruction of the
And I looked and I saw, and behold the
picture swayed. And from its left side a crowd of heathens ran out and they
captured the men, women, and children who were on its right side. And some
slaughtered and others they kept with them. Behold, I saw them runner to them
by way of four ascents and they burned the
II Esdras = IV Ezra 3-14 (90 AD) was composed originally in
Hebrew or Aramaic. It stresses God as creator, and especially that God was
alone. It also emphasizes that God has one people. It is a book of lamentation,
in which the author complains about the oppressions, sufferings, and torments
of the people of God. Written in the last decade of the first century, it
received its main thrust from events in the Vespasian
and Domitian period, 69-96. Christianity claimed to
be a new
The author wrestles with the reality of sin and the fact of corruption, and endeavors to comprehend the will of God for the world and the people of God. Esdras realizes that the misfortunes suffered by the people of God were due to the evil heart in humanity. That is why the wants to know why the evil heart was allowed to remain in humanity so that the law had no apparent effect on the transformation of humanity. That was the besetting problem of the rabbis in the first century AD. A good example is the following set of reflections from the first vision.
2 Esdras
13
And when they were committing
iniquity in your sight, you chose for yourself one of them, whose name was
Abraham;
2 Esdras 3:20-22 (NRSV)
20
“Yet you did not take away their
evil heart from them, so that your law might produce fruit in them. 21 For
the first Adam, burdened with an evil heart, transgressed and was overcome, as
were also all who were descended from him. 22 Thus the disease
became permanent; the law was in the hearts of the people along with the evil
root; but what was good departed, and the evil remained.
2 Esdras 3:30-31 (NRSV)
30
because I have seen how you endure
those who sin, and have spared those who act wickedly, and have destroyed your
people, and protected your enemies, 31 and have not shown to anyone
how your way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of
2 Esdras 3:34-36 (NRSV)
34 Now therefore weigh in a balance our iniquities and those of the inhabitants of the world; and it will be found which way the turn of the scale will incline. 35 When have the inhabitants of the earth not sinned in your sight? Or what nation has kept your commandments so well? 36 You may indeed find individuals who have kept your commandments, but nations you will not find.”
2 Esdras
12 and said to him, “It would have been better for us not to be here than to come here and live in ungodliness, and to suffer and not understand why.”
2 Esdras 4:22-25 (NRSV)
22 Then I answered and said, “I implore you, my lord, why have I been endowed with the power of understanding? 23 For I did not wish to inquire about the ways above, but about those things that we daily experience: why Israel has been given over to the Gentiles in disgrace; why the people whom you loved has been given over to godless tribes, and the law of our ancestors has been brought to destruction and the written covenants no longer exist. 24 We pass from the world like locusts, and our life is like a mist, and we are not worthy to obtain mercy. 25 But what will he do for his name that is invoked over us? It is about these things that I have asked.”
We find the same kind of challenging questions in the second vision.
2 Esdras 5:29-30 (NRSV)
29 And those who opposed your promises have trampled on those who believed your covenants. 30 If you really hate your people, they should be punished at your own hands.”
2 Esdras 5:33-34 (NRSV)
33 Then I said, “Speak, my lord.” And he said
to me, “Are you greatly disturbed in mind over
34 I said, “No, my lord, but because of my grief I have spoken; for every hour I suffer agonies of heart, while I strive to understand the way of the Most High and to search out some part of his judgment.”
2 Esdras
38
I said, “O sovereign Lord, who is
able to know these things except him whose dwelling is not with mortals?
2 Esdras
43 Then I answered and said, “Could you not have created at one time those who have been and those who are and those who will be, so that you might show your judgment the sooner?”
2 Esdras 5:48-49 (NRSV)
48 He said to me, “Even so I have given the womb of the earth to those who from time to time are sown in it. 49 For as an infant does not bring forth, and a woman who has become old does not bring forth any longer, so I have made the same rule for the world that I created.”
The third vision also puzzles about the power of sin.
2 Esdras 7:116-117 (NRSV)
46 116 I answered and said, “This is my first and last comment: it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced him, had restrained him from sinning. 47 117 For what good is it to all that they live in sorrow now and expect punishment after death? 48
The eagle vision concerns the
Morality names a dimension of life, a pervasive and only
partly conscious set of value-laden dispositions, inclinations, attitudes, and
habits. We understand the process of the formation of morals when we see them
as part of the web of relationships that shape distinctive communities.
Therefore, morality is not a private affair. In contrast, ethics is a
reflective, second-order activity that reflects upon morality that a community
already practices. It asks about the logic of moral discourse and action, about
the grounds for judgment, about the anatomy of duty or the roots and structure
of virtue.
Moral dilemmas arise as people have different starting
points in their reasoning. Their vision of what is moral differs. The
differences connect with their differing personal histories, the differing
traditions in which they stand, and the differing circumstances that shape
their lives.
The influential perspective of Aristotle may help. He did
not think one could persuade people to be good by rational argument. A person
becomes virtuous by training, by forming good habits. One phrase that had
become cliché in Greek philosophy was that habit makes character. He was among
the first to analyze the educative function of communal practice in the
formation of virtue. To develop a virtuous character, a child had to grow up
within a moral and educative community. Individuals become moral agents in
relationships, in transactions, in the habits and reinforcements, in the special
uses of language and gesture that together constitute life in community.
Morality is an integral part of the culture of a community. I want to explore
the moral dimension of the subculture expressed in the texts of the New
Testament seen within the larger context of the
First, we need to consider the moral dimension of
conversion in the early church. Becoming a Christian means something like the
experience of an immigrant who leaves his or her native land and then
assimilates to the culture of a new, adopted homeland. They thought of
themselves as those who had turned their lives around, from one state to
another profoundly better. Such a transfer of allegiances and transformation of
mores requires re-socialization. We must take seriously the fact that they
depict themselves a movement of converts. Reminders of the boundaries between
the old world and the new are a constant element in early Christian moral
exhortation. We need to consider the extent to which this language of conversion
corresponds to realities of social experience. Converts create retrospective
stories of their own conversions that help them become at home in the new group
or movement. Their identity and relation to the new group and to former groups
are transformed by making the story follow a pattern accepted by the group.
Each new story by a convert reinforces the group model, and may enlarge or
modify that model. One type of conversion is from deviance to becoming a model
citizen. This involves the rescue and restoration of the deviant. We find
certain metaphorical contrasts in early Christian literature: slave and free;
asleep and wakened; drunk and sobered, blind and seeing; stupid and
understanding, captive and released. One can even think of this as a turning to
oneself, as if to one’s natural state. This type of conversion restores the
individual. Another type of conversion is one in which one turns from the norms
of society and become part of a committed sect. We find both types of
conversion in the New Testament. We can note the tension between abhorrence of
the perversion of the world and the longing for the wholeness of the world. In
the first century, conversion was the business of philosophy. It sought this
turning through its teaching and persuasion. In fact, we find little evidence
that adherence to the pagan religious sects of the day involved moral
transformation. Normally, the conversion story, partially because it needed to
be brief, emphasizes the instantaneous nature of the turn. However, significant
change rarely occurs so easily or suddenly. In I Thessalonians, Paul stresses
the pressure the converts have experienced from their neighbors, he stresses
the strong ties they have with the apostle and with each other, and he draws a
clear line between insiders and outsiders. Given the teaching of virtue by the
philosophers, we know Paul exaggerates here, but it stresses the Jewish
connection with belief in one God, one humanity, and the social boundaries
determined by their turning in life. Baptism became the ritual of this turn in
life. When we focus upon this dimension of conversion, it begins to have more
the character of detachment from the norms of pagan culture and adhering to the
norms approved by the new movement. Moral scrutiny of candidates for baptism
serves to anchor the process of moral re-education. Paul continually reminded
his readers of the implications of their baptism.
Second, we need to consider the moral dimension of the
city and households in which early Christians lived their lives. The city was
the primary frame of reference for intellectuals of the day. Diaspora Judaism
created distinctive communities that faced assimilation and identity in a
different way than the Christian communities of the New Testament. The
neighborhoods, streets, and households of the city provided the context for the
rapid growth of Christianity. They rubbed shoulders and did business with
citizens and fellow residents in these cities. Christians felt at home and
alien in these cities. In Aristotle, the household was the primary school of
morality, and the city was secondary. One learned friendship, power,
protection, submission, honor, and duty. Honor and shame were in the context of
elaborate praise by other citizens of the city. Jews established largely separate
communities and developed their own culture of honor and shame, one that
Gentiles looked upon with some admiration and much suspicion. Paul refers to
the collection of converts as an assembly or ekklesia. The social ambiguity of
this situation is that Paul depended upon an already established social system
of households and voluntary associations, while at the same time forming
assemblies throughout the city that must continually resist honor and shame
perspectives of the city. They became immigrants by their conversion,
separating from the larger city. Conversion implies a change of reference
groups and reference individuals. These groups and persons are the ones to whom
we look for standards, approval, and measures of how ell we are doing. Christians
continued to honor public officials and led lives that sought acceptability
among the citizens of the city. If Christian behavior is to persuade by good
works ( I Peter
Third, we need to consider the moral dimension of early
Christian love of the world and hatred of the world. This small group believes
that the actions of its members take their meaning from a cosmic process. Paul
could speak of the god of this world, the elements of the cosmos, and rulers of
this age. Yet, his experience of the world is broader and more complex than
that of John. The term “world” refers to human world, society, culture. The
antithesis he asserts is between cultural values and the values implicit in the
action of God in the world. The Pastoral Epistles maintain this ambiguity of
worldly and unworldly position, but emphasize adopting the commonsense universe
of popular morality. John could speak of the Logos coming to the world, and the
world rejecting the Logos. This meant the experience of rejection and
alienation from the world and solidarity with each other in faith and love. The
vision of loving the world that God loves did not come into their practice of
Christian life. Groups of Gnostic Christians viewed salvation as disconnection
from the world. The tension is whether the Christian will do battle against the
world or participate in its transformation.
Fourth, we need to consider the moral dimension of the
language of obligation. Lists of vices and virtues were common in the Greek and
Roman culture, and the Christian list is not distinctive in this regard. The
lists of Paul are not typically in a specific theological context.
Here is a list of individual vices found in eighteen
lists in various parts of the New Testament listed by Wayne Meeks:
Abusive language
Adulteries
Anger
Boastful
Carousing
Cowardly
Craftiness
Dissensions
Drunkenness
Enmities
Envy
Evil
Factions
Faithless
False witness
Foolish
Fornication
God haters
Gossips
Greed
Guile
Haughty
Heartless
Idolatry
Impurity
Insecurity
Insolent
Inventors of evil
Jealousy
Liars
Licentiousness
Male prostitutes (malakoi)
Malice
Mischief maker
Murder
Polluted
Quarrels
Rebellious toward parents
Revels
Revilers
Robbers
Ruthless
Silly talk
Slander
Sodomites arsenokoitai
Sorcery
Strife
Thieves
Vulgar talk
Wickedness
In the development of such
lists, the danger already exists for branding outsiders as evil and insiders as
holy. It was easy for Christians in the second century to develop the notion of
the two paths, one of vice and the other virtue. Generally, the New Testament
frames these lists in simple rule language, a direct imperative expressing
actions one should imitate or avoid. However, the theological context of the
offensive crucifixion of the Son of God and the resurrection of Jesus by God
became a metaphor of patient transformation. It became a pattern by which a way
of life, a claim of authority, an assertion of value. The honor that counts is
that received at the end of age from God, rather than the honor that comes from
the present age that passes away. As a result, the virtue of humility
experienced transformation in Christian hands. The offense of the cross brought
humility in the context of the world. The pervasive norms of honor and shame,
norms determinative of a well-lived life, undergo some transformation in
Christian community.
Fifth, we need to consider the grammar of Christian
practice. We need to explore whether a peculiar social practice or set of
social practices characterize the Christian movement. Social practice provides
the arena in which people exhibit the virtues and in terms of which virtues
receive their primary definition. Virtues are embedded in social practices and
point toward ways of achieving goods internal to those practices. I want to
discuss the kinds of social practice that shaped, reinforced, and gave meaning
to the moral sensibilities of the early Christians. This means we pay attention
to ritual as paradigmatic practice. Baptismal instruction suggests Christians
are unique persons in society and yet are to submit to every human institution.
New Testament reminders of baptism connect to personal behavior and communal
behavior. Conversion means turning from idolatry and toward the true God and
behavior worthy of God. The New Testament makes the same type of connection
with the Eucharist, hymns, speech, fasting, healing, ecstatic speech, and so
on. This connection between ritual and morality was not common in the first
century, for moral instruction was the property of philosophical schools. In a
time when itinerant preaching was important, hospitality was an important
virtue to cultivate in the Christian community. Christian life is participation
in the world passing away and in the new world coming. Christian practice
habituates itself and communicates its sense of life. Christian living is
essentially communal. Christian practices are not confined to sacred occasions
and sacred locations, but were integral to the formation of communities with a
distinctive self-awareness.
Sixth, we need to consider the enemies of morality or
virtue under the concept of evil. What are the things that stand against being
good? Early Christians lived in a world filled with demons, power and magic,
and a choice to make between the
Seventh, we need to consider the moral dimension of the
body as the place where the moral contest of life must take place. One
experienced many joys through the body, but the body also seems to have a mind
of its own. In the first century, life was harsh enough without moving toward
asceticism. By raising Jesus from the dead, God promised renewal of the body in
eternity. The human predicament is the result of sin, not simply its physical
nature. Gnostic Christians turned the body into an enemy of the spiritual life.
Eighth, we need to consider a life worthy of God. The
intersection of theology and ethics in early Christian texts is different from
those made by pagan moralists. Talk about God interacts with talk about
behavior. Early Christians desired sought to discern the will of God. The
desire to do the will of God suggests certain things about the character of
God. Early Christians also appealed to revealing the action of God.
Ninth, we need to consider the moral dimension of the
sense of the world ending had for the early Christians. Christian life moves
toward a final act, a summing up and judgment, that lies entirely in the hands
of God and in the time God determines. Contemplation of that end will make good
persons better and will restrain those inclined toward evil. Such expectations
undermine the cultural system that exists in the realm of common sense. Relativizing the cultural world was an important step in
the Christian relationship with culture.
Tenth, we need to consider the moral life as a story with
a plot that has implications for humanity and the universe. Christianity calls
each individual to be a character in a story, a story from which virtue and
individual receive their meaning. Narrative is essential to proper moral
reasoning. In order for moral discourse to be coherent and successful, it must
be narrative. Human life itself has a narrative quality. We tell stories. The
Christian story begins with creation, and continues with the promises of God to
The cultural setting of the New Testament did not give
its writers and leaders an opportunity to work out a Christian social ethic.
For that, we should be grateful. The probability is that they would have laid
down rules for social institutions that would not work in different cultures or
other historical periods. However, I would like to suggest some reflections
that are only suggestive of Christian social ethic, for that is all that New
Testament ethical discourse can ever be.
The New Testament presents a communal ethic (against
Niebuhr). We understand the bible out of the cultural context we live and out
of the specific religious community that influences us. The saints of the
church, the office holders of the church, the ritual and worship of the church,
and eventually the traditions of the church, shape how we approach the biblical
text. In that sense, the question of how one uses the bible for ethical and
moral reflection is out of place. We already have an approach when we engage in
such reflection. The bible is public text, and thus someone not formed a
Christian community can read it with profit. However, apart from a community,
many dimensions of the bible close themselves off to the reader.
By community, I mean that individualism as understood by
some modern Enlightenment thinkers was not an option in the first century. The
Sermon on the Mount becomes an impossible ethical ideal only for those who
isolate themselves from a community that seeks to live by it. Jesus intended
his commitment to love of enemies and non-violence for the real world in which
he lived and for the real people to whom he preached and with whom he lived. In
the context of the
Anyone who denies that the ethic of the New Testament did
not have the intention of shaping human
life runs the risk of a docetic Christology, for one wonders then if Jesus
lived a human life, or somehow lived a transcendent or divine life, God walking
on earth, so to speak.
This suggests (against Barth) that the role of the bible
in the formation of Christian life must consider the specific and narrative
character of the text. As the canon of the church, the bible relates a story of
the saving, healing, reconciling, history of the dealings of God with humanity.
Even the Ten Commandments are part of the story of the people of God. The
specificity of this narrative to its context always needs consideration as we
seek faithfulness to God in our specific and narrative situation today.
Christians today do not have the luxury of pointing to rule in the bible and
automatically applying the rule to a situation today. Rather, such rules and
stories provide opportunity for reflection, combining dialogue with tradition
and with one’s own cultural setting. I grant that this approach runs the risk
of substituting personal whims and wishes for the will of God. However, if one
listens carefully to the text, such a result is not necessary. This position
also avoids the attempt to define beforehand what one ought to do in certain
situations. To re-emphasize, ethical and moral reflection arise out of specific
situations and relationships, and within a cultural context, in which a rule in
the bible does not determine beforehand the result of ethical decision-making.
I suspect that some form of consequentialism
(consistent with Niebuhr) in ethical reflection is important for Christians
living in a human world. Christians
need to consider the practical implications of their behavior in the context of
the social world in which they live. Christian ethics will look quite
differently in 21st century
One example of ethical reflection in the context of
community is that of the practical use of violence. The sixth commandment, “You
shall not kill,” appears absolute. The value of human life as made in the image
of God, and as having its source in the life-giving Spirit of God, is a clear
biblical principle. Yet, God also commands killing in particular circumstances
in the Old Testament. The example of Ananias and Saphira is a puzzling New Testament example. Soldiers in
the New Testament who respond to the gospel do not receive the command to get
out of the military. Yet, this command did become necessary in the second
century. Romans 13:4 says that government has the right to wield sword. The
circumstantial fact that the New Testament does not recommend violence results
from the fact that no Christian in this period had the responsibility of
governing. I see no reason to suggest that Paul would take the sword out of the
hand of the Christian who did accept the responsibility of governing. His
counsel, based upon other passages, would be that such a Christian not abuse
the power of sword. Sadly, history is full of Christians who have abused that
power.
Based upon what I have suggested, in a cultural setting
different from that of the New Testament, a popular uprising against
dictatorship may be a reasonable and just response in that setting. Further, if
a Christian lives in a society that allows the church to exist and witness
freely to what God has done in Christ, and therefore allows other freedoms
economically and politically, a responsible participant in such a social order
will also recognize the need to defend institutional life. In other words, our
sense of justice on behalf of others, our love for neighbors, and so on, may lead
us as Christians to make the choice of temporary violence in order to achieve
advancement in justice and humanitarian principles. In saying this, I recognize
that most wars and revolutions arise from the desire for power, empire, and
wealth. The primary role of the church in these matters is to stress the
horrendous nature of all violence. Violence is contrary to the future God
desires for humanity. Anyone who approaches war with optimistic illusions has
not seriously considered the depravity and ambiguity of human life together. Every war and every revolution is an
affirmation of the New Testament reminder of the structural nature of sin
embedded in the human condition. I also recognize that, on occasion, war and
revolution are reasonable decisions for the sake of better future for humanity,
and not just the nations involved. The difficulty that many Christians have is
that living historically and meaningfully means getting our hands dirty with
the ambiguities of human decision-making.
Christians often need to make choices between the lesser
of two or more evils. Introducing absolute moral ideals into a human world is a luxury for ascetics,
hermits, and those who drop out of human culture. It may also be a luxury for
those who live in academia in
We find the ambiguous nature of such choices in the
expression of our sexuality. Paul makes it clear that the body is temple of the
Holy Spirit. Christians have a calling to glorify God in the body. For the
Christian community, the choice of sexual partners is not a matter solely of
private whim. The deification of sexual expression is not something that the
Christian community can accept. The body of Christ is to leave any form of
sexual immorality behind. The concern Paul is for the witness of the church. A
post-Christian society could move in another direction based on the right of
privacy. This is not an option for the body of Christ.
Marriage takes place in the context of Christian
community and is part of Christian witness. Christian couples are accountable
to the community in which they worship for the quality of their marriage. The
same is true when difficulty arises. The norm for the Christian witness of
marriage is life-long partnership.
Homosexuality is not a topic of much discussion in the
bible. Where it does so, it is always a matter of prohibition. In particular,
homosexuality moves against what God ordained at creation as the proper sexual
expression, namely, between male and female.
Another center for ethical reflection rooted in the New
Testament is the ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. The
Christian teaching of Incarnation suggests that in Christ we find the
fulfillment of what God intended for humanity. In particular, the New Testament
takes seriously the cross and its implications both for who Christ is and for
whom Christians ought to be. The sense in which he is a norm for Christian
behavior and community today is important for us to consider.
The ministry of Jesus takes place in the context of the
offense he gave to Jewish leaders, zealots, and Roman officials. He rejected
purity laws, he made the specific rules of the Torah relative to love toward
God and neighbor, he rejected the abiding significance of the
The goal of Christian living or the church is not to
imitate Jesus or the apostolic life. Neither Jesus nor the apostles are the
“norm” of Christian ethic. Such a view would seek an absolute foundation in a human world, a position questionable
from the beginning. This view is another form of moral reasoning that attempts
to pre-empt the process of discernment in specific situations. It is an attempt
to deny the role of practical reason in ethical reflection. Such an appeal to
absolute foundation that one accepts as revelatory in some way will find
adherents. However, it also closes off discussion. The reason is simple. Later
generations face a different set of options than were open to Jesus and the
early church. An act of love for God and for others led Stephen and James to
accept martyrdom. Most of the martyrs of the early centuries of the church
share that distinction. I would also suggest that act of love for God and
others that led many Christians to abandon their pacifism in order to remove
slavery from
I think it is important to emphasize that both Jesus and
the apostolic community represent a relatively peaceful attempt to form human
community. They formed a visible and structured fellowship, a sober decision
guaranteeing that the costs of commitment to the fellowship have been
consciously accepted, and a clearly defined life-style distinct from that of
the crowd. This life-style is different because of the exceptionally normal
quality of humanness to which the community is committed. The distinctness is a
non-conformed quality of involvement in the life of the world. Such a
fellowship will always present a challenge to the social world in which it is
embedded, as well as find places of cooperation and encouragement. It envisions
a new possibility of human, social, and political relationships. Yet, neither
Jesus nor the apostolic community has the role of being a foundation for the
church throughout the ages. The reason is the contingency of human life. Facing
new situations, in a different social world, one may actually move against
Jesus by doing what Jesus in a legalistic way.
Among the norms of our ethical reflection as modern
persons who also seek to be Christian, I would think we would consider the
worth and dignity of individuals and the importance of social institutions
honoring individuality. Freedom in pursuit of economic, moral, and intellectual
well-being would be significant. Respect for the opinions of others in the form
of tolerance and pluralism is another important norm. The freedom of science to
explore and implement would be another important norm. All of this suggests
that the social order is provisional. We do yet know the end of such a process.
I do not find it persuasive that all forms of social and
cultural organizations represent principalities and powers dominated by evil
forces. Those who want to overthrow present social institutions, through either
violence or pacifism, have their own idolatry of social institutions. I am not
that pessimistic about human nature or the human attempt to create a social
world that is increasingly humane, peaceful, just, and improves the daily life
of most of its citizens. I would suggest that the human struggle social life
results in some forms of social institution that have some respect for the
worth and dignity of individuals. Christianity has a role in reminding every
culture of the value of every individual, even when individuals misuse their
freedom in self-destructive ways. If one lives in such a culture, it is an act
of love for God, for oneself, for neighbor, and for future generations, to
defend such a country. I suggest that Christians living in places like
Sadly, some people have used the cross and the
responsibility of Christians to take up their cross in discipleship as a way of
declaring to the world the divinity (?) of suffering itself. The cross does not
make suffering divine. The cross does not mean the renunciation of benevolent
uses of power. During World War II, over 300 American died every day. After the
war, the remnant of Nazi Germany continued shooting at and killing American
soldiers for four years. This war was costly to
The church, as representing the body of Christ in the
world, does not have the tools to become an alternative community or culture.
It does not have the institutional structure to provide the kind of model that
a nation needs to embed humanitarian principles like intellectual freedom,
pluralism, economic vitality, political freedom, and so on. Rather, church
continues to wrestle within its various cultural contexts to live out the life
it finds in Christ, in his ministry, death, and resurrection. The answers at
which Christians arrive in one cultural setting may be quite different in
another.
Christian discipleship takes the form of service to
others in the form of the cross. We cannot avoid the costly nature of
discipleship.
One example of this cost the difficulties most couples
experience at some point in their life together. From the perspective of the
cross, these difficulties and challenges may represent genuine bearing of the
cross of discipleship for the sake of Christian witness. Unfortunately, some
partners in a marriage understand this in a way that makes them martyrs in a
less drastic sense than losing their lives. They experience whatever tragedy
their marriage presents them in the spirit of bearing the cross, and in the
process deny to themselves the possibility of the life-giving power of the
Spirit. Nothing can remove the weight of proper discernment in the specific
situation of the marriage that the couple experiences. However, the support and
accountability of the worshipping community can provide the opportunity for the
marriage to become the life-fulfilling intention that God has for the marriage.
When Christian couples isolate themselves from the community as they go through
difficulties is to cut themselves off from the source of important strength
beyond themselves.
Homosexuality is an expression of rebellion against the
natural sexual order, as Paul makes clear in Romans 1. He also makes it clear
in Romans 2 that anyone who judges homosexuality (and many other sins) already
stands under judgment. Both are the object of the love God shown in the cross.
Both have the possibility of receiving the life-giving power of the Spirit. The
structure of sin embedded in humanity that Paul makes clear suggests that sin
is never purely voluntary. At the same time, the cross and resurrection make it
unthinkable that the past binds one to previous sins, whether those sins be
homosexuality or the prideful judgment of homosexuality. Grace and hope always
have a place in Christian ethical reflection in such matters.
A third image that might help the church to reflect on
ethical matters is that of the new creation. This image involves a transfer of
lordship to Christ. It suggests a new orientation of one’s life to what God
intends. This means that individually and corporately, the church embodies the
future that God has shown in Christ. Christians are responsible today for the
story they make of their lives, and will need to give an account of that story
to God. The same is true for humanity. The church is a sign of the future
toward which God leads humanity. In light of the connection to this hope,
individuals and church can act in courageous in principled ways.
At the same time, the provisional nature of this new
creation as embodied in the church and individual reality is a reality. The new
creation shows itself in Christian discipleship and communal life; it also has
a fractured embodiment in the present.
In one sense, this new creation does not distinguish
itself much from non-Christians. The use of household rules and the lists of
vices and virtues reflect cultural patterns of the day. In the same way, I
suspect many Christians over-reach in thinking that Christian politics should
distinguish itself from non-Christian politics. That option was not open to
either Jesus or Paul. The church did not have the option until the fourth
century. The politically active church did not develop new economic or
political structures. It accepted the Roman and the feudal system, although
through its influence it sought to curb the abuses of the power inherent in the
system. My suspicion is that this is the best the church can do on a political
scale. Rather than a Christian political or economic program, the best the
church can hope for is to help humanize the social system that is open to such
influence from the church. The harsh modern reality is that Marxist-Leninist
and Muslim fundamentalist political organization is simply not open to that
influence. The reality is that democratic institutions have remained
continually open to that influence.
Among the ways the church and individuals live out this
new life in the light of the future is as a community of peace. I say this,
knowing that the church is a fractured body of people, often taking up arms against
each other, as well as against non-Christians. This tragic history reminds us
of the failure of Christians to use power in a benevolent way. Christians abuse
the power of the sword, taking up arms against legitimate governments in wars
of liberation, and oppressing people on the margins of society. However, the
fact that human beings use power in an abusive way does not omit the
possibility that one can also use it in a legitimate way. This interpretation
is the only way one can make sense of the counsels of Paul to live peaceably
with all, as well as his reminder that the government has the right to use the
sword.
The church is a community called to embody the love of
God. One of the ways the community does this is through celebrating Christian
marriage. Marriage is difficult. A man and a woman building their life together
is a great challenge. A successful marriage brings great joy and peace. It
requires patience, mutual support, and disciplined fidelity. Even the most
successful marriages often go through periods when they have experienced the
fragility of the promise of marriage. Marriage for the Christian is not simply
a private matter, based upon romantic feeling. Rather, marriage is a dimension
of Christian discipleship. Permanent monogamous marriage is the norm. Yet, the
New Testament seems to accept allowances of this norm, in spite of the
probability that Jesus issued an absolute prohibition on divorce and allowed no
re-marriage. Pastoral considerations led the church to an exception clause, that
of porneia
that involves some form of sexual immorality. Paul provides an exception in the
case of an unbelieving spouse leaving the believer. Pastoral considerations
such as these could legitimately extend to abusive relationships. The point,
however, is that in a post-Christian culture, Christians and the church have a
unique calling to embody a love that moves beyond merely private considerations
and considers the witness of the church in a world hungering for loving
relationships.
Those who struggle with homosexuality do so in the
Christian community in light of the new creation and the transformation it
promises. The struggle is to live faithfully in the present, awaiting the
redemption of the body. To demand liberation in the present is a childish
response to the promise of God. Rather, live faithfully in the midst of
struggle and temptation recognizes the costly nature of this form of
discipleship.
The question we need to face ethically is whether the
pattern of suffering at the hands of others is an ethical norm that God has
established for the church and for individual Christians. Does accepting the
cross as an act of discipleship mean that in all situations, Christians must
accept suffering violence at the hands of those in power? In one sense, the
martyrdom of Stephen, James, and many others in later centuries might suggest
this conclusion. We do not find in the early period of the church any basis for
the church or individual Christians to react violently to violence. The
conclusion appears inescapable that when the situation confronts the Christian
with violent self-defense or suffering and death, the Christian must always
accept the second option. In this case, one views the world ruled by
principalities and powers in rebellion against God. These powers seek to rule
individual and corporate life as an oppressive force. The ministry and death of
Jesus are his refusal to submit to those powers. Jesus fought these powers by
submitting to suffering and death and showing a peaceful course of life. The
responsibility of the church and individual Christians becomes living out this
peaceful life, unmasking all governmental authority for what they are –
oppressive forces of evil. The church becomes an alternative community to the
prevailing pattern of culture, providing a peaceful option, a bubble of peace,
if you will, in the midst of a world ruled by violence, evil, and the coercive
use of power. The life of the church demonstrates this peaceful way to others.
Jesus becomes a definitive norm for Christians in all cultures and all
historical periods, removing the ambiguity of decision-making with the
non-violent rule of the life of Jesus.
Albert Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, 1931.
Luke T. Johnson, The Writings of the New Testament: An Interpretation, 1986.
Russell Pregeant, Engaging the New Testament: An Interdisciplinary Introduction, 1995.
Wayne A. Meeks, The First Urban Christians: The Social World of the Apostle Paul, 1983; The Origins of Christian Morality, 1993.
Nicholas Thomas Wright, Christian Origins and the Question of God: Vol I: The New Testament and the People of God, 1992.
Bultmann, Rudolf, Theology of the New Testament, 1951.
Oscar Cullmann, The
John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant, 1991.
W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism, 1948.
Herman Ridderbos, Paul: An Outline of his Theology, 1966.
J. Christiaan Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought, 1980.
E. P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion, 1977.
Commentaries: Mark - Vincent Taylor (1950, 1966) and C. S. Mann. Matthew - David Hill, 1972,
Eduard Schweizer,
1975, Ulrich Luz, 1985, 1989. John P. Meier, 1979, Jack Dean Kingsbury, Matthew as Story, 1986. Luke – Hans Conzelman, Theology of St. Luke, 1957. John -
Raymond Brown, Gospel of John, 1966
and Epistles of John 1988 in Anchor
Bible; and Community of the Beloved
Disciple, 1979. Acts Johannus Munck
in the Anchor Bible, 1967, F. F. Bruce, Ernst Haenchen,
1971.
Gerd Luedemann, The Resurrection of Jesus, 1994 and Early Christianity According to the Traditions in Acts, 1988.
Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 1994.
E. P. Sanders, Jesus and Judaism, 1985.
Richard B. Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics, 1996.
Frank J. Matera, New Testament Ethics: The Legacies of Jesus and Paul, 1996.
Hans Conzelmann, The Theology of St. Luke, 1953, 1957.
C. H. Dodd, The Apostolic Preaching and its Developments, 1935, 1964.
Nils Alstrup Dahl, Studies in Paul: Theology for the Early Christian Mission, 1977, but containing essays from 1947-1972.
The Nicean Creed (325 AD) states that we believe “in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, G from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.” Such statements form the basis of the doctrinal affirmations within the traditional denominations. In its Book of Discipline, The United Methodist Church says that at the heart of the gospel of salvation is God's incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth. Scripture witnesses to the redeeming love of God in Jesus' life and teachings, his atoning death, his resurrection, his sovereign presence in history, his triumph over the powers of evil and death, and his promised return.
Nietzsche
made some significant remarks about Jesus. That Hebrew died too early who the
preachers of slow death honor. For many
it has become a calamity that he died too early. Yet he knew only tears and the melancholy of
the Hebrew, and hatred of the good and the just, this Hebrew Jesus. Then the longing for death overcame him. Would that he had remained in the wilderness
and far from the good and the just! Perhaps
he would have learned to live and to love the earth, and laughter too. Believe me, he died too early. He himself would have recanted his teaching,
had he reached my age. Noble enough was
he to recant. He was not yet
mature. Immature is the love of the
youth, and immature his hatred of humanity and earth. His mind and the wings of his spirit are
still tied down and heavy. This Jesus of
Nazareth, the incarnate gospel of love, this redeemer who brought blessedness
and victory to the poor, the sick, and the sinners. Was he not a seduction? Why are you talking about nobler ideals?
There was only one Christian, and he died on the cross. It is false to the point of nonsense to find
the mark of the Christian in a faith, for instance, in the faith in redemption
through Christ. Only Christian practice,
a life such as he lived who died on the cross, is Christian. In the Christian world of ideas there is
nothing that has the least contact with reality. It is the instinctive hatred of reality that
we have recognized the only motivating force at the root of Christianity. The catastrophe of the evangel was decided
with the death that was attached to the cross.
Only the death, this unexpected, disgraceful death, only the cross which
was generally reserved for the rabble, only this horrible paradox confronted
the disciples with the real riddle. Who was this? What was this? Why in this manner? Who killed him? Who was his natural enemy? Evidently, the small community did not
understand the main point, the exemplary character of this kind of death, the
freedom, the superiority over any feeling of resentment. After all, Jesus could not intend anything
with his death except to give publicly the strongest exhibition, the proof of
his teaching. His disciples were far
from forgiving this death, or even from offering themselves for a like death in
gentle and lovely repose of the heart.
Revenge and judgment became their theme.
The popular view of the Messiah and the