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NASB | Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Revelation 1:1 This is the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries], which God [the Father] gave to Him to show to His bond-servants (believers) the things which must soon take place [in their entirety]; and He sent and communicated it by His angel (divine messenger) to His bond-servant John, |
Bible Question: I understand that there are some (4 or more) main interpretative schools for The Revelation. Can you tell me what they are and a little overview about each of them? |
Bible Answer: There is considerable disagreement on how the book of the Revelation should be interpreted. Therefore it is strongly recommended that you consider performing your own inductive study prior to consulting a commentary. The single best inductive study in my opinion is the Precept Ministries International 4 part study on the Revelation (see below ). I would also recommend the Precept inductive study on Daniel (Click Daniel 1-6 or Daniel 7-12) (Click here for links to commentaries on Daniel) because the truths in the book of the Revelation have their foundation in the prophesy in Daniel. To state it another way, a full understanding of the book of the Revelation is impossible without an accurate understanding of the book of Daniel. Before you consult any commentary, it is important to recognize that there are four schools of interpretation of the Revelation and it is critical to know which view the commentary you are consulting espouses. Even more important is that you have a good foundation from your own inductive study before you consult even the most respected commentary, otherwise you will almost certainly be confused by the wide diversity of interpretations of the same passage! The four views of interpretation are summarized in the following chart (see also Bibliography). Preterist More detail Preterist (from Latin praeter meaning "past") holds that through use of symbols and allegory, the Revelation deals with events that were fulfilled in John's time and that it was written primarily to provide hope and comfort to the first century church persecuted by Rome. For example, this view interprets the beasts of (Revelation 13 [note]) as imperial Rome and the imperial priesthood. The preterist view is held by many modern scholars, especially liberals and those who deny that the Revelation predicts specific future events. Historicist More detail Views the Revelation as a symbolic or allegorical prophetic survey of church history from the first century up to the Second Coming of Christ and was the view espoused by most of the "reformers" and thus dominated Protestant though for centuries. This view however has been largely discounted as it does not adequately address the prophesy in the Revelation. The discerning reader needs to be aware that the historicist view is reflected in most of the "older" commentaries (many of which are public domain works easily accessible on the internet) including the works of John Knox, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, C. H. Spurgeon, Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes. Unless you understand their historicist approach to prophesy, you may become very confused when reading these older "classic" commentaries. Note that with the exception of Spurgeon, these works are not included in the list of resources. It is also important to realize that many of these "classic" commentaries tend to treat many of the promises to Israel as now having their primary application to the church, and this view is firmly disavowed by this website (see discussion of The Israel of God). An example of a historicist interpretation is the belief that the strong angel of Rev 10 symbolizes the Reformation and that the harlot in Rev 17 represents the Roman Catholic church, an interpretation that the plain reading of the text simply does not allow. Idealist More detail Maintains that Revelation is not predictive prophecy, but a symbolic portrait of the cosmic conflict between the forces of good and evil. In this view the Revelation becomes merely a collection of stories designed to teach spiritual truth. Some refer to this method of interpretation as "Spiritual". Futurist More detail A literal reading of prophecy will primarily produce a "futurist" interpretation. Thus futurists interpret Revelation 4-22 as predictive of future end time historical events preceding, during and after the return of Jesus Christ, the establishment of His 1000 year (thus futurist are usually "premillennial". Amillennialists spiritualize the 1000 years and postmillennialists spiritualize the resurrection which precedes it), millennial kingdom on earth, followed by the creation of a new heaven and new earth. Variations of this view were held by the earliest expositors, such as Justin Martyr (d. 164), Irenaeus (d. c. 195), et al. This futurist approach has enjoyed a revival since the 19th century and is widely held among evangelicals today. Note that most of the resource links listed below take a futuristic approach to interpret the Revelation. Click here for an excellent in depth discussion of the interpretative approaches to the Revelation (Continued in next post) |