[b-greek] Re: Jewish Idiom in N.T.: Response to Queries

From: Ed Siefert (sieferted@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue May 22 2001 - 11:39:00 EDT


To Juan Stam:
 The seven letters that open Revelation addressed actual conditions within their respective churches. But their language, filled with symbols, shows that the seven were meant to be read as one; that the praises, admonishments and warnings pertain to all mankind (he that has an ear).
Thus Christ’s wish was that the letters, as well as the entire prophetic book, go out to everyone. But like all the prophetic writers who delivered God’s message, John was free to chose his own writing style; and more.
   Above all else, John was a Jew’s Jew. And although he escaped Israel with his life, his heart never left. He watched Christianity flourish in the gentile world, but news from his homeland was grim. So in addition to conveying the Visions he had witnessed while in Patmos, the writing style
he chose for Revelation was meant to bolster the Christian movement in Canaan: initially, nothing more.
   This viewpoint is supported by another affect his book delivered. Each Christian community strove to gather followers by saying that the peace and security of heaven was imminent. But Revelation told a different story. It said that Christians had not yet seen the full measure of
persecution on Earth; that an escalation of torture and death still awaited them. Had John been concerned about the impact his writing would have on the gentile world, I believe he would have toned down the language and not generated so much aggravation among those who saw his book as a hindrance to expanding the church. This reaction from all around the world then became the impetus that forced John to write a Gospel; almost a way of retracting the grim picture of the future he previously predicted. Thus the reason the Olivet discourse (Revelation) was omitted from the fourth Gospel.
Ed Siefert


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