Rev. 1.1,2
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Polycarp66 at aol.com
Tue Feb 6 02:14:03 EST 2001
XAIRE,
This could easily degenerate into a theological discussion, but I'll try to
keep it to the Greek. In several of the better commentaries [Swete, Charles,
Aune] the authors maintain that the author does not claim to be the Apostle
John. In looking at vv. 1 & 2 of Cap. 1 I question that.
1. APOKALUYIS IHSOU XRISTOU hHN EDWKEN AUTWi hO QEOS DEICEAI TOIS DOULOIS
AUTWi A DEI GENESQAI EN TAXEI, KAI ESHMANEN APOSTEILAS DIA TOU AGGELOU AUTOU
TWi DOULWi AUTOU IWANNHi
2. hOS EMARTURHSEN TON LOGON TOU QEOU KAI THN MARTURIAN IHSOU XRISTOU hOSA
EIDEN
I would tend to read this [Okay, Carl, I know you'll have questions regarding
the translation of MARTURIAN in v. 2]
1. The revelation of Jesus Christ [note that I'm avoiding specifying the type
of genitive] which God gave him to reveal to his servants what must happen
soon. He sent [it] by his angel to his servant John
2. who witnessed the Word of God [I take this as a reference to Jn. 1.1] and
the martyrdom of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.
I therefore take this as a direct claim that he was, in fact, the Apostle
John.
Aune seems to me to be somewhat inconsistent since, although all the verbs
(EDWKEN, ESHMANEN, EMARTURHSEN) are aorist indicatives translates
1This is a revelation from Jesus Christ which God granted him to show to his
servants events which must quickly come to pass, which he made known by
sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who now bears witness to all the
visions he saw which is the message from God, that is, the witness borne by
Jesus.
He justifies his choice by resorting to the epistolary aorist.
"2.a. EMARTURHSEN is analogous to an epistolary aorist; i.e., what the author
writes in the present will be a past event from the perspective of the
readers and so must be translated as a present tense (Allo, 2). For a similar
use of the aorist in a prologue, see Thucydides 1.1.1: “Thucydides, an
Athenian, is writing [CUNEGRAYE] about the war which the Peloponnesians and
the Athenians fought with one another.” Other examples: in a subscript from
Trajan to the Smyrnaeans written ca. a.d. 100 (SEG 32:1202.5), EGRAYA is used
to mean “I am writing.” For epistolary aorists in early Christian
literature, such as EPEMYA, EGRAYA, EPESTEILA, cf. 2 Cor 8:18, 22; 9:3; Eph
6:22; Phil 2:25, 28; Col 4:8; Philem 11; Heb 13:22; Pol. Phil. 13; Ign. Eph.
9:1; Trall. 12:3."
Comments?
gfsomsel
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