[B-Greek] Rev.1:10

Lira rosangelalira at terra.com.br
Mon Dec 1 07:57:15 EST 2003


What I've found about this was that although  the prevailing interpretation
equates the expression "Lord's day" with Sunday, this equation is based not
on internal evidences of the book of Revelation but on three second-century
patristic testimonies, namely, Didache 14:1, Ignatius' Epistle to the
Magnesians 9:1 and the Gospel of Peter 35 and 50.
In the letter to the Magnesians the Greek text (ch. 9) reads KATA KURIAKHN
ZOHN ZWNTES, "living according to the Lord's life." The extant Latin text (a
thirteenth-century translation) has no word here for "life". Some scholars
translate the Greek "living a life according to the Lord's [day]" on the
assumption that a later usage of KURIAKH as a noun meaning "Lord's day" was
valid already in Ignatius' time, which is disputable.
As to the Didache,  the text enjoins (ch. 14) the doing of something
"according to the Lord's (?) of the Lord" (KATA KURIAKHN DE KURIOU), which
does not make sense. The phrase is a complex and difficult one and
consequently different interpretations have been given to it. No really
convincing explanation of this old phrase has yet been suggested. Notice
that the noun "day" is not found in the text and that has led some to
conclude that the adjective KURIAKH is used here as a technical term for
"Lord's Day." But, again, there is no linguistic evidence to support the
theory that at the beginning of the second century KURIAKH was already used
as a noun meaning "Lord's day".
Only in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter, which is dated in the latter half of
the second century, is Sunday unmistakably designated by the technical term
"Lord's-KURIAKH."
The designation of Sunday as "Lord's day" which unmistakably appears before
the end of the second century cannot necessarily be read back into
Revelation 1:10. A major reason is that if Sunday had already received the
new appellation "Lord's day" by the end of the first century, when both the
Gospel of John and the book of Revelation were written, we would expect this
new name for Sunday to be used consistently in both works, especially since
they were apparently produced by the same author at approximately the same
time and in the same geographical area. Therefore, the fact that the
expression "Lord's day" occurs in John's apocalyptic book but not in his
Gospel-where the first day is explicitly mentioned in conjunction with the
resurrection (John 20:1) and the appearances of Jesus (John 20:19,
26)-suggests that the "Lord's day" of Revelation 1:10 can hardly refer to
Sunday.

Rosangela




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