(Excerpted from the manuscript, A Journey Unto Revelation’s End,)
by Steve Santini
But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be “cut off” Galatians 1:8 Apostle Paul
There are
many questions as to the time that the book of Revelation was written and as to
the identity of the author. Even so, the content indicates an authorship that
was outside the understanding of the Pauline revelation and a date beyond the
finality of Paul’s revelation written in his last days under house arrest in
Rome. For one to come to these considerations focused comparisons between the
two divergent gospels need to be made and questions must be asked.
When Eastern
children were educated they were required to sit in silence and learn from they
teachers until they reached maturity. From the time of maturity they were
allowed to ask all and any of their remaining questions. In the gospel of Luke,
we read that Joseph and Mary took the twelve-year old Jesus with them to
Jerusalem for their annual attendance of the Passover feast. During their return to Nazareth they found
that He was not traveling in the company of the other children. They returned
to Jerusalem and after three days found that Jesus had been with the temple
teachers hearing them and asking questions. It says that all who heard Him were
astounded at his understanding and answers. The effective quest of a hungering
mind follows a similar pattern. The seeker first sits in silent study
assimilating truths and searching for a foundation then, as the Spirit leads
unanswered questions do come forth. Then answers that lead to deeper
understanding and new questions are given.
These are
some significant differences between Paul’s revelation of the mystery and
John’s revelation of wrath that led me to question whether the book of
Revelation has application for the Pauline church. Why does the writer of the
book of Revelation focuses on the function of angels? He addresses his rebuke
to the angels of each of the seven churches. The wrath of the book of
Revelation is administered by angels and at the conclusion the author falls to
the ground to worship the angel who supposedly revealed the book to him. In
Jewish theology angels played a central role. The hand of angels gave the Old
Testament Law. It was their function to enforce the law and the Jews believed
that each local synagogue had as its final arbitrator an angel. In Paul’s
gospel, which is based on faith and grace rather than law, the administration
of the churches is given to saints and those mature in Christ Jesus. He even
says that the saints of his churches will judge angels. When he writes to the
Colossians he warns the church about those who worship angels when he writes:
“Let no man beguile you of your reward in voluntary humility and worshipping of
angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up in
his fleshly mind.”
Why does the
author of the book of Revelation end the book, as no other author in the Bible
does, with a judgmental curse upon those who would add anything or delete
anything from his writing? Curses were the standard practice of those in Jewish
legalism and were believed to be carried out by angels. Paul admonishes the
church to “curse not.”
Why does the
author of the book of Revelation pay particular attention to maintaining Jewish
identity? In the rebuke to the angel of the church of Philadelphia of primary
concern are those who say they are Jews who are not. Paul makes it clear in his
gospel that there is no longer a difference between Jew and Gentile in Christ.
Why then is this such a judgmental issue to the author of Revelation?
Why does the
writer of the book of Revelation base rewards solely upon works? Paul, in
Corinthians, writes of rewards being based on the building of faith upon the
foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
If it is Paul’s revelation that fulfills the
word of God and if Peter was given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, why is
the differing book of Revelation, written decades after the deaths of Peter and
Paul, considered by most as the end time’s revelation of the scriptures? (Colossians
1:25)
Why hasn’t Hebrews, which was written most likely by Paul and states in
the introduction, “and again when he bringeth the first born into the habitable
world,” been considered more appropriate as the “end-times” revelation?
Why does the author Revelation mention the twelve apostles and not
Paul? Paul’s revelation, as written in
scripture, fulfills the word of God.
Why doesn’t the author mention the mystery “out resurrection” that was
so important to Paul?
Why isn’t the role of the saints who lead the church out of wrath
highlighted in the book of revelation as it is in Paul’s epistles?
Of whom was the author of Revelation referring, decades after Paul had
said all Asia had turned away from him, when the author wrote to the Ephesians
the following: “…thou hast tried then which say they are apostles and are not,
and hast found them liars:” Could the author have been referring to Paul and
Timothy who had at one time, years earlier, preached the mystery extensively in
Ephesus of Asia Minor?
When reading
ancient rabbinical letters of the second century it is evident that they made
an effort to disrupt the Christian “heresy” with disinformation. Comments
written about Peter’s concluding Babylonian ministry are most disparaging. In
the fourth century those rabbis in Babylon still boasted that no one had
believe his message for three hundred years. This has made me wonder if it is
possible that the book of Revelation was purposely written to or purposely
directed towards those of belief to cause them to doubt Paul’s revelation of
the mystery.
Why, also,
did Martin Luther dismiss the book of Revelation? And why was it that in all of
John Calvin’s extensive commentaries there is nothing written on the book of
Revelation? Even Jerome, the compiler of the Latin Vulgate, had doubts about
the inclusion of the book of Revelation in the canon. Was there a history of
the incorporation of the book of Revelation into the canon that they were more
familiar with than we are in this day?
* * *
Our
introduction into the text regarding this topic comes from Acts chapter twenty
verse twenty-eight through verse thirty-one. The three-year period that Paul
spent in Ephesus teaching night and day the fullness of the mystery was the
longest period of time that he was able to freely minister of any time spent
with a church. It was because of the echoes of his ministry here that all of
Asia Minor heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. As a result he was rightfully
accused of turning the world upside down. In this record in Acts chapter twenty,
Paul reminds the church overseers of the accomplishment of the sacrificial
blood of Jesus. In his epistle to the Ephesians it is the blood of Jesus Christ
that breaks down the middle wall of partition bringing forth the one new man.
Paul says that after he is gone that grievous wolves from without shall enter
into the church not sparing the flock and that even some among the church would
arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves.
The
definition of the Greek word for the word grievous is heavy or
burdensome not being concerned for the precious nature of the select object.
The definition for the word not sparing is from Vine’s Complete
Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words and is given as such: not
to forego the infliction of that evil or retribution which was designed. Rather
than appropriately teaching the in-gatherings of grace and mercy to the flock
those who entered in would bring a burdensome legalistic message, which would
pronounce the infliction of judgmental retribution in the harvest of wrath.
We look to
church history from the text and later secular history to identify those who
would enter in with this message. From Galatians chapter two we see that after
fourteen years of ministry Paul began delivering a more developed message than
Jesus said would be then currently available to James, John and Peter. It was
this message that brought him into conflict with those of Israel who had
started forward in their gospel of mercy, only, for the most part, to be drawn
back into the Mosaic Law. In Romans chapter eleven Paul says that Israel was
blind in part until the fullness of the Gentiles would come into his gospel.
The part that Israel, as a nation, could not see was the “one new man”
expressed in his later epistle to the Ephesians. In their ignorance many
thought Paul a heretic and tried to undercut his work as in Corinth or
attempted to have him silenced as in Acts chapters twenty-one through
twenty-eight. Some who
are now examining the Dead Sea Scrolls are saying they have identified Paul as
“the liar” to have been excommunicated by the church in Jerusalem. Historians also say that by the beginning
of the second century the Ebionites, who claimed that they were from the
original followers of Peter, James, and John, had begun to revile the churches
following Paul’s gospel.
After Peter
and Paul died and during, and after, the failed Jewish revolt of 64 to 73 AD
some fleeing refugees resettled in Asia Minor. One of these could very well
have been John, the eventual author of the book of Revelation. John, having the
credentials of being a believer from Israel, would have been able to gain
access to the Pauline churches of Ephesus as other blinded Hebrews had been
accepted by the young Pauline church of Corinth decades before. From a cursory
reading of the book of Revelation is obvious that this book brings the burden
of judgment and retribution down upon the church in Ephesus and the churches in
the region. Although the book, over time, gained regional recognition in Asia
Minor where all had turned away from Paul, it was not until the fifth century
after Jerome had completed his standardized version, and Roman secular power
was used to force conformity, that the book of Revelation was universally
accepted as the final book to be incorporated into what we have today as the
Bible. According to the records of the Council of Carthage, as late as 397 AD
John’s book of Revelation was not accepted as a part of the canon by those
attending.
It was, I
believe, John’s misshapen book of Revelation that gave those who had walked an
additional opportunity to arise and speak perverse things drawing disciples
after themselves. These are the ones whose god became their bellies and who
became enemies of the cross of Christ. (If you can convincingly scare people
enough by focusing on future retributive judgment and say you have the answer
on how to work to live a holy life to avoid that future judgment you can gain a
pretty good following to sustain yourself. Then even more perverse you can
declare someone a heretic, excommunicate them, have them murdered and declare
it God’s judgment on a sinner.) In Acts twenty verse thirty Paul says that
those who are to arise to draw disciples after themselves would speak perverse
things. This word perverse from the definition of the Greek word means
to divide and reverse in twisted disarray. The basis for all division is the
judgment in the mind of man that separates the supposed good from the supposed
evil. What in Ephesus was there to divide? There was the family of God. If you
can divide the elements of a family, like commonly done in military strategy
with an opposing army, you can drive them back in twisted disarray. If you can
muddle and separate mature spiritual males from mature spiritual females or visa
versa you can cut off the spiritual family just as would be done with an
earthly family. From the initial division in Ephesus where Paul had once
preached the fullness of the mystery, the truth of the family of God was
obfuscated and then buried, I would say, layer by layer over the early
centuries of the Christian church.
The fact that
it took over three hundred years for the church to universally accept the book
of Revelation into the canon of scripture is, though, a testament to the power
of Paul’s revelation of the mystery. It is also a testament to one man who out
of the rubble of the disarray in Ephesus gravitated to Paul’s message and
insured that it was preserved as an integral part of the canon. That man is the
so-called heretic Marcion. After a period of approximately sixty years of
seemingly mute historical silence regarding the church after Paul’s death, we
see a very different church emerging in Ephesus. According to Robert Eisler’s
most interesting book, The Enigma of the Fourth Gospel, John, the author
of Revelation, is now at the center of the church with a scriptorium. It is
into this scriptorium that the young Marcion from Sinope, on the southern
coasts of the Black Sea, enters as a copyist. In time there is a deep split
between John and Marcion to the point that John would not enter the public
baths if Marcion were present. Could the split have been over a differing
regard for the Pauline epistles? Could there have been an ongoing orchestrated
attempt to sweep Paul under the rug of disrepute that Marcion was resisting?
This may have been the case because both the highly respected textual critics
Bauer and Goodspeed have commented on the crashing silence regarding the
Pauline epistles by the Orthodox Church in the second century. Justin Martyr
never mentions Paul or his writings and those that do, as one author has said,
“make slight mention of him and when they do it is as ill prepared school
boys.” Could Marcion in his comings and goings in Ephesus have run into a small
isolated remnant, who, through Timothy’s former pastorate in the years of
silence, maintained a regard for Paul’s revelation and preserved copies of his
letters? We do not know for sure yet considering the forthcoming events it
seems to be most likely.
(We have
assumed that the John who wrote the book of Revelation is the same as the John
who wrote the gospel of John and the letters of John. If the dating in church
traditions of Marcion’s relationship with John in Ephesus is correct, it seems
unlikely that they could have been the same. The apostle John had been with
Jesus in 30 AD and the relationship between the John of Ephesus and Marcion is
dated around 125 AD. Even if John the apostle were a young man at the time of
Jesus he would have to have been well over one hundred to have been the same
John in Ephesus. It is unlikely that it could have been John Mark either. John
Mark remained loyal to Paul and his message to the end of Paul’s life when most
all of his Jewish brethren had turned against Paul. We also need to realize
that in the second century as the church emerges from the historical silence
that there were many pseudo gospels coming forth. Could it have been that the
names of former spiritual luminaries were placed on these gospels to give them
credibility or to hide the true identity of the actual authors? This is another
aspect of the disarray that emerges in the second century. So this John in
Ephesus was most likely out from among those who fled Israel during the Jewish
revolt against Rome and who ignorantly held Paul and his writings in disdain.)
After the
split between John and Marcion in Ephesus, Marcion gathers together the gospel
of Luke and Paul’s epistles and begins to establish churches throughout the
Roman Empire. He was so successful that eventually his following rivaled the
numbers following the Orthodox Church. Marcion is labeled as a facilitator of
the so-called Gnostic heresy and through rumor and innuendo attempts are made
to squash the rebellion. He persists, though he and his followers endure
persecution at the hands of the secular church. Over the following centuries
the Marcionite churches dwindle slowly until the sixth century when we have the last historical record of their
existence in the East. By placing the Pauline epistles in the hand of the
“common” man throughout the Roman Empire at this critical juncture Marcion
insured that the responses of each of the later church councils would include
the Pauline letters in the canon. It may also be said that his influence was a
reason that some churches resisted placing the book of James in the canon and
the reason that the majority of church councils rejected placing the book of
Revelation in the canon until the fifth century when it was accepted.
When we take
into the account of the conflict between John and Marcion and the differences
between Paul’s end times revelation and that of John, we must consider that, at
the worst, the book of Revelation was written with fragmented knowledge to
purposely reconstitute a legalistic Jewish gospel in order to draw more
Christians away from Paul’s revelation of the mystery. At the very best we could consider that the
writer of the book of Revelation was a sincere, yet mistaken, believing Judean
writing from his limited knowledge and lack of understanding a subjectively
laced prophecy to drive those formerly of Israel back to zealousness for the
law.
Contrary to what is assumed, Paul did write
at length of the end times in his letters. In the introductory section of the
book of Hebrews he wrote, “again when he bringeth the first begotten into the
world.” When we look more closely at the Greek words in this phrase it becomes
apparent that Paul was writing of a period of time that would culminate again
with the actual presence on earth of Jesus Christ. The word for into is the Greek word eis that means motion from the center to
a point focusing more on the motion than the point. The word bringeth also connotes a time period
through which the action takes place. The word
is used of a flock driven to market or sheepfold.
The book of
Revelation has grasped our attention more so, in part, because of the
descriptive and spectacular catastrophic actions of angels. It also has grasped
our attention because it is last in the present canon scripture. It is common
knowledge that the earliest western record of a complete canon does place the
book of Revelation last, yet less known is the fact that the book Hebrews was
second to last in this canon. This indicates, according to the elongated
historical process of the incorporation of the book of Revelation into the
canon that Hebrews was at an earlier time the last book in the canon. Even
today the Peshitta canon used in the eastern churches, which are recognized for
superior maintenance of textual contiguity, does not contain the book of
Revelation and concludes with the book of Hebrews. Even in the west, a later 12th
century Greek
manuscript appropriately places Hebrews after II Thessalonians at the end
of Paul’s letters. This is not to say that the book of Revelation is without
some aspects of truth since even the book of Hebrews speaks of the heaven and
earth being shaken again.
In all of
this, we need not be doubtfully confused by the plethora of random interpretations
of a book of very questionable overall validity. Nor do we need to be
intimidated by the book of Revelation because, in the least common denominator,
Paul writes that those who believe in his gospel are to be delivered away from
the future wrath that will be directed towards unbelief. (I Thessalonians 1:10)
Related Studies
The Transition Into Paradise
(New 9/06)
A "Heads Up"
on Things to Come
The Transition unto Paradise from II Peter, Hebrews
and Thessalonians
The
First Giant Step in the Restitution of All Things (New 1/06)
Ehrman, B.D., The
Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, London, The Oxford University Press, 1996
Eisler, R., The
Enigma of the Fourth Gospel, London, Metheun, 1938
Embry, R., The
Enigma About Divine Love and the Creation of Evil, New York, Writers Club
Press 2000
Rubenstein, R.E., When
Jesus Became God: The Epic Fight over Christ’s Divinity in the Last Days of
Rome, New York, Harcourt Brace, 1999
The Lion Handbook to the Bible, Lion Publishing, Herts, England, 1973
Waite, C.B., History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two
Hundred, Chicago, C.V. Waite & Co., 1881
Gleason, D. The Historical and
Theological Wars that inspired the Book of Revelation
About the Author and
Some Reader Comments
Copyright, Steven G. Santini, 2002
All Rights Reserved