Apoc 1:1 pronominal reference
Ilvgrammta at aol.com
Ilvgrammta at aol.com
Sun Jan 6 16:22:50 EST 2002
In a message dated 1/6/2002 12:14:32 PM Pacific Standard Time,
Clwinbery at aol.com writes:
> Clay, I have not read Carrell's defense of the application of the sing.
> AUTOU
> to both God and Jesus, but my work in the Apocalypse would say the
> normative
> way to refer to both the Christ and God for the writer would be as it is in
> 6:16-17 where the one who sits on the throne and the lamb are referred back
> to by the use of AUTWN in the plural.
>
> hHMAS KAI KRUYATE hHMAS APO PROSWPOU TOU KAQHMENOU EPI TOU QRONOU KAI APO
> THS
> ORGHS TOU ARNIOU, OTI HLQEN hH hHMERA hH MEGALH THS ORGHS *AUTWN.
>
> I looked hastely at the occurances of AUTOU and could not find one that
> referred to
> God and the Christ. So I would take some convincing by something other than
> theological arguments.
>
>
I have read Carrell's argument (Jesus and the Angels: Angelology and
Christology of the Apocalypse of John. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1997) and others like it (GRB Murray, G. Caird) and I have not found any
convincing grammatical evidence to support the "unity" idea.
Loren Stuckenbruck (Angel Veneration and Christology. Tubingen: JCB Mohr,
1995) thinks that the same type of "unity" mentioned by Clay is delineated in
Rev 11:15: EGENETO hH BASILEIA TOU KOSMOU TOU KURIOU hHMWN KAI TOU XRISTOU
AUTOU KAI *BASILEUSEI* EIS TOUS AIWNAS TWN AIWNWN.
But the person who "will rule" in this verse could well be hO QEOS hO
PANTOKRATWR (Rev 11:16-17).
Rev 22:3 is another text that employs the singular pronoun AUTOU. This verse
has also caused a certain degree of confusion. To whom does the antecedent
refer here? Again, I submit that the context suggests that one person is in
view, to wit, hO QEOS and not the Lamb.
hOI DOULOI AUTOU will see "his face" (God's), (Rev 22:4) his name is no doubt
on their foreheads (Rev 7:3; 9:4; 14:1), and hO KURIOS hO QEOS is identified
with hOI DOULOI AUTOU in Rev 22:6.
Interestingly, George Buchanan (Mellen Commentary on Revelation) presents
arguments for God OR Christ being the antecedent in Rev 22:3. He does not
argue that John is depicting some type of primal metaphysical unity. Ford
(Anchor Bible Commentary) thinks that TOU ARNIOU is an interpolation in Rev
22:3, while David Aune believes that Jesus Christ is the antecedent of AUTOU
in Rev 1:1 and he also indicates that God is the antecedent of AUTOU in Rev
22:3.
Revelation is not the only work that gives one headaches when it comes to
AUTOS. I once undertook a study of 1 John and found that John's use of AUTOS
in that work is extremely difficult to decipher at some points. See 1 Jn
2:23-29; 3:1-3 for examples of such difficulties.
Regards,
Edgar Foster
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