In a previous post I examined how Scripture is described in the doxology of Romans chapter 16, in relation to the sovereign plan of the eternal God to make himself known in the gospel of Jesus Christ to all nations, for his glory.
In today's post, we go to the very end of the Bible to see what the final chapters of the book of Revelation have to say about revelation... and the Bible.
We might not immediately associate the final chapters of the Bible (Revelation 19-22)—and their well-known references to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the millennium, and the new heavens and new earth—with the Bible’s teaching about itself, but they are in fact a rich seam from which to mine an understanding of the nature and function of Holy Scripture.
First, there is an extremely close connection established in these final chapters of the Bible between Jesus Christ and the written words of the Bible. It is important for us to specify this relationship as clearly as we can, not least because some argue that Jesus is the true “Word” of God and the Bible should be considered in some sense a less authoritative or less “divine” word. Of course, no-one suggests that the Bible and Jesus Christ are both the “word/Word of God” in the same sense. Jesus Christ is the ontological Word of God because he is God: the Bible is not God and is not worthy of our worship. However, it would be equally problematic to separate the ontological Word and the written word further than Scripture allows.
We see this close connection first by the way that Jesus and Scripture are spoken of in precisely the same terms, as “trustworthy and true” W/words (in 19:11-13 and 22:6). In chapter 19 the victorious warrior-king Jesus is given several “names” and in verse 11 is “called Faithful and True” (pistos kai alēthinos).[1] Then in verse 13 we read that “the name by which he is called is The Word of God” (ho logos tou theou).[2] What is remarkable is that in chapter 22 the angel (or messenger) of God applies this same epithet of “faithful and true” to “these words” (v.6), identifying “these words” as those authored by (in the sense of “originating from”) God. The ESV has “trustworthy and true” in verse 6, but the Greek (pistoi kai alēthinoi) is the same—albeit in plural form—as the name by which Jesus himself is called in 19:11.
What are “these words”? In the context of chapter 22, they are clearly “the words of the prophecy of this book” (vv.7, 10, 18); “the words of this book” (v.9); “the words of the book of this prophecy” (v.19). What is clear from these various references and the interchangeable genitives is that “the words”, “the book”, and “the prophecy” are essentially the same thing. These words are to be understood as Jesus’ own words, reflecting his own “name” and therefore his character and his attributes of faithfulness and truth. Such an association is also found elsewhere in the book of Revelation. In chapter 3 verse 8, Jesus links “my word” with “my name”, where (positively) to keep his word and (negatively) not to deny his name amount to two sides of the coin of patient endurance.
We may conclude that in these final chapters of the Revelation of John, the incarnate Word (Jesus) and Jesus’ words (the Bible) are almost identified in terms of some of their essential attributes. This means that Scripture bears as much authority, and is worthy of as much honour as, Jesus himself. To keep the words (v.7) is the source of blessing. To seal them up (v.10) is proscribed. To tamper with them (vv.18-11) is to endanger one’s eternal destiny. Keeping the words of Scripture and worshiping God are the two distinctive marks of any true servant of Jesus (v.9), and these marks are thus inseparable.
Second, we may consider the origin of Scripture in God himself. Verse 6 in full reads: “And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.””[3] What does this verse have to say about the scriptures, i.e. about “these words” which constitute “the prophecy of this book”? They have their origin in God, the “Lord”. He is the ultimate author. This Lord is described as “the God of the spirits of the prophets” (tōn pneumatōn tōn prophētōn). It is not immediately obvious what is meant by this phrase.[4] The reference to “spirits” is grammatically plural in Greek. But in the book of Revelation, it is at least possible that the (hypostatic) Holy Spirit of God is intended, given that the “seven spirits” of 1:4, 3:1 and 4:5 are typically understood by commentators to be a reference to the (one) Holy Spirit, emphasizing by use of the number seven his perfection. So, GNB translates 22:6 as “the Lord God, who gives his Spirit [singular, implying the Holy Spirit] to the prophets”.
Whether it is God who gives his Spirit to the prophets, or God who gives the prophets their (human) spirits, or God who authoritatively teaches the spirits of the prophets, is hard to say definitively. Each of these concepts might be illuminating in this context. But however we understand this phrase, the idea of sovereign spiritual communication is clearly to the fore. God communicates his words spiritually to his prophets. The NIV renders the phrase, “the God who inspires the prophets”. This may be something of an over-translation, but there is no doubt that the tenor of the verse chimes with the teaching of 2 Peter 1:21: “no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (We will return to this text in a future article.) Here in Revelation, as in other parts of the New Testament, an apostle (John) is numbered among the prophetic brotherhood (v.9): the apostles shared in the prophetic ministry of the word of God. In the words of 19:10, “the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (to pneuma tēs prophēteias). We have already acknowledged the likely reference to the prophetic ministry of the NT writers in Romans 16:26: here it is spelled out clearly.
Third, and finally, we may note the importance of the "writtenness" of revelation in these chapters. This is closely related to the previous point, but takes it a stage further, because it acknowledges the bibliographic (i.e. written in a book or on a scroll) nature of at least some revelation. The first article in this series noted that God is always the subject of the act of revelation in the NT. How revelatory “acts” relate to revelatory “products” (such as books and scrolls) is something we must consider later, but we see here a repeated heavenly command to put pen to paper (or stylus to papyrus). Twice in Revelation chapters 19-22, John is commanded by the heavenly messenger/angel to “write” (graphon; 19:9, 21:5), echoing the initial command in 1:11 to “[w]rite what you see in a book”. (See also the repetition of graphon in 2:1, 8, 12, 18, 3:1, 7, 14, 14:13.) John’s writing of the revelatory words he is given is related to a “book” or “scroll” (biblios; 1:11, 22:6, 9, 10) in which he is commanded to write. It is clear from the last three references to “this” book in chapter 22 that the entire scroll containing the book of Revelation is intended. Other references to writing and books/scrolls in Revelation may well be figurative in nature, typical of apocalyptic literature in their symbolism (for example, the scroll opened by the Lamb in 5:1-10, the “little scroll” which John eats in 10:1-8, and the Lamb’s “book of life” in 13:8, 17:8, 20:12, 21:27). Even so, the descriptions of these written scrolls/books with their unmistakably heavenly origin suggest the existence of divine archetypes or patterns for the human work of writing that John will do in response to the revelation he receives.
In conclusion, the words that have their origin in God and which are communicated by God to the prophetic writer of Scripture are the same words as the words written in the prophetic book that John writes. In other words, in the book of Revelation the words of God and the words of Scripture are clearly identified. These words come with the authority—and some of the attributes—of the Lord himself.
[The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®)
© 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
All rights reserved.]
[1] In some NT manuscripts, the word “called” is omitted. Some scholars suggest this is because a later scribe wanted to avoid the implication that Jesus is merely “called” Faithful and True, rather than being faithful and true. (See the textual commentary by the United Bible Societies, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, Second Edition a Companion Volume to the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (4th Rev. Ed.) (London; New York: United Bible Societies, 1994) in situ.) In any case this does not affect the point I am making here. Jesus is also introduced as “the faithful and true witness” in 3:14, where the Greek for “faithful and true” is identical to that of 19:11.
[2] “The Word of God” as a name or title for Jesus Christ is probably unique to chapter 19. I say “probably” because it is at least possible that other references to “the word of God” in the book of Revelation refer to Jesus. See 1:2, 1:9, 6:9, and 20:3. However, the link in each case to the “testimony” or “witness” (μαρτυρία) suggests strongly that the word of God in these cases is parallel to the testimony, and so these are not references to Jesus himself, but the word about him.
[3] Most translations agree that the words of the angel extend to the end of the verse. But some, including the NASB and NKJV, limit the quotation to “These words are faithful and true,” indicating that the rest of the verse is John’s commentary.
[4] The Japanese New Revised Bible translates it as “the God who gives the apostles [their] spirit[s]”.
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