Introduction
In earlier articles, links were established between the Fourth Gospel (4G) and the epistles to the Ephesians and Hebrews. It was suggested that they were all addressed to different elements within the Ephesian community at different stages of its development. The last writing that completes the chain of evidence is the warning to Ephesus in the book of Revelation. In order to reach a conclusion it is necessary to examine the relationship between the Johannine writings—are the 4G and Revelation written by the same hand, namely, John the son of Zebedee?
The Relationship between the 4G and Revelation
Critical scholarship recognises that some relationship must exist across the Johannine Corpus for, despite their differences, they display many theological likenesses. This has led scholars to postulate a “Johannine School” or “Johannine Circle”— a common group of disciples of John the Apostle who wrote and edited these works—thus explaining the similarities and differences between them. G. R. Beasley–Murray proposes that the authors of John and Revelation were both disciples of John the son of Zebedee.[1] There is almost unanimous agreement among critical scholarship that the author of Revelation and the author of the 4G could not be the same person. However, it is just as easy to attribute both books to a single author writing in different circumstances.
We know that Revelation was written during a period of banishment on Patmos, possibly under house arrest (or forced labour?) with restricted access to the wider Christian community. As such one would expect Revelation (if left unrevised) to be different in many ways to a Gospel that was composed under more comfortable circumstances, even though we may be uncertain about the exact date and circumstances of the Gospel.
The two Johannine writings in question are of a different linguistic character; for example, John of the Apocalypse frequently uses “ungrammatical” solecisms; however, these are done purposely because elsewhere the author practises correct usage. Nevertheless, according to G. B. Caird, “It is certain that they [both] came from the same geographical, cultural, and theological setting, if not from the one hand”.[2] What can be said for the view that both books were composed by the apostle John, the son of Zebedee?
Theological Correspondence between the 4G and Revelation
In an appendix to M. Hengel’s work on the Johannine question,[3] J. Frey has noted correspondence between the apocalyptic theology of the 4G and Revelation. Both works emphasise what are typically regarded as apocalyptic motifs: dualism; determinism; election; messianism; revelation; hostility with the world; wisdom; eschatological judgment; and the revelation of heavenly mysteries by Jesus. Thus, Beasley-Murray observes that,
Both works alone, for example use the term logos (the “Word”) of Christ, both see in the Lamb of God a coalescence of the concept of the apocalyptic Warrior Lamb and the Passover Lamb (see Beasley-Murray 1978, 124-26; and 1986, 24-25,354-55). Moreover the terms for witness, life, death, thirst, hunger and conquer in a spiritual or moral sense occur so frequently in the Gospel and the Revelation as to suggest a positive relationship in the area of soteriology between the two works.[4]
A comparison table demonstrates their thematic associations:
| John 1 | Revelation 14 |
|---|---|
| Where abidest thou? Come and ye shall see (vv. 38, 39) | I saw the Lamb stood on Mt. Zion and with him 144,000 (v. 1) |
| The Lamb of God. (vv. 24, 36) They followed Jesus (vv. 37, 43) |
Which follow the Lamb wherever He goes (v. 4) |
| Nathaniel found ‘under the fig tree’ (v. 48) | Firstfruits unto God and the Lamb (v. 4) |
| Nathaniel an Israelite in whom is no guile(v. 47) | In their mouth was found no guile (v. 5) |
| John 12 | Revelation 12 |
| Then came a voice from heaven, saying, I have glorified it and will glorify it again (v. 28. | And I heard a loud voice in heaven, Now is the salvation, and the power and the kingdom, become our God’s, and the authority is become his Christ’s (v. 10, RV mg). |
| Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out (v. 31) | And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil (v. 9) |
| John 12 | Revelation 14 |
| If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there also shall my servant be(v. 26) | These are they that follow the Lamb wherever He goes (v. 4) |
| Verily, verily, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it bringeth forth much fruit (v. 24) | These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb (v. 4) |
| He that loveth his life shall loose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (v. 25) | From henceforth saith the spirit, (RVmg), yea, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them (v.13) |
| John 12 | Revelation 14 |
| A voice from heaven saying (v. 28) The people said that it thundered, others said, an angel spake to him (v. 29) |
Saying with a loud voice (v. 7) The voice of a great thunder (v. 2) |
| For this cause came I unto this hour(v. 27) Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out (v. 31) |
The hour of his judgment is come (v. 7) |
| John 16:20-21 | Revelation 11:10; 12:1-5,12 |
| Enemy rejoicing A woman travailing in birth Sorrow Birth of a man child Your sorrow turned to joy |
Enemy rejoicing A woman travailing in birth Pained to be delivered Birth of a man child Rejoice ye heavens… |
| John 21 | Revelation 1 |
| If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? (v. 21) | I was in the Spirit on the Lords day (v. 10) |
| The disciple who Jesus loved (v. 20) | Unto him that loved us (v. 5) |
| ..even the world itself….would not contain the books that should be written (v. 25) | What thou seest, write in a book (v. 11) |
| This is the disciple that beareth witness (R.V.) of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his (= Jesus?) witness is true |
Who bare witness (R.V.) of the word of God, and of the testimony (witness) of Jesus Christ, and of all the things that he saw (v. 2) The faithful witness (v. 5) |
In R. Gundry’s[5] analysis of lo,goj (word) and its related family, he comments on John’s frequent and synonymous use of evntolh, (commandment(s)), as in Rev 14:15, 21; 15:10, 12, all of which speak of keeping Jesus’ command-ments, or commandment, and John 8:51, 52; 14:23, 24; 17:6, all of which speak of keeping his word. He also expands the associated family to include the word used for Jesus’ marturi,a (testimony) in John 3:11, 32, 33; 4:44; 5:31; 7:7; 8:13, 14, 18; 13:21; 18:37 and compares this with the association of testimony with “the word of God” in the book of Revelation.
We can observe other connections between the two books. For example, in Rev 19:13 it says that Jesus’ name is the “Word of God”, and John’s exile on Patmos “because of the word of God” (Rev 1:2, 9) probably refers to a testifying to Jesus himself and exile because of him. Or again, the “commandment(s)” of Jesus concern baptism and the breaking of bread. This unique usage of “commandments” is also found in Rev 12:17; 14:12; 22:14. Finally, another pertinent observation is that the 4G contains no Olivet prophecy, probably because the equivalent is already found in the Seal Section of Revelation.
The Warning to Ephesus
The Letter to the Hebrews demonstrates awareness of the warning to Ephesus in Revelation. Hebrews was a last ditch appeal to the Jewish element at Ephesus which carried the threat of the removal of the temple cult, a lesson that had been reinforced at Ephesus with the expulsion of the exorcists. Of course the early dating of the 4G (for which we argue) and Hebrews (pre-70) has implications for the dating of Revelation–we leave the reader to draw their own conclusions.
Previous articles have already established links between Hebrews and the community at Ephesus; the literary dependence of Hebrews on the warning to Ephesus in Revelation confirms our earlier conclusion. The reverse could be argued, namely that Rev 2:1-7 is dependent on Hebrews, but this is less plausible. Thus, we would argue that the author of Hebrews was obviously aware of the warning issued by Jesus to Ephesus and felt the need to remind his readers at Ephesus by weaving those warnings into the “woof and warp” of the fabric of his epistle.
If the first readers of Hebrews were unaware of the existence of Rev 2:1-7, then the multiple allusions would be pointless—now they form a powerful argument to the Hebrews—you (Jewish Christians at Ephesus) have already been warned from heaven by Jesus…therefore repent! (See Table)
Often a counter argument to the above view is presented, namely, that the situation in the ecclesia at Ephesus can scarcely have deteriorated so rapidly that it degenerated into apostasy so soon after being founded by Paul. Arguments of this nature are subjective (how long does it take—5 years, 10 years, 20 years for apostasy to develop?); moreover, they fail to take account that a concerted campaign was underway to subvert the Gospel.[6] Even during his lifetime Paul could declare that, “all those in Asia have turned away from me” (2 Tim 1:15) and to the Galatians Paul could write; “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel; which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:6-7).
| Hebrews (c. 67) | Revelation 2:1-7 |
|---|---|
| But call to remembrance the former days, in which after ye were illuminated ye endured a great fight of afflictions (Heb 10:32) | Remember from whence thou art fallen…will remove thy lampstands (illumination) (vv. 1-7). |
| God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love, which ye showed towards his name (Heb 6:10). | I know thy works and thy labour and thy patience (v. 2). |
| That ye wax not weary fainting in your souls (Heb 12: 3). | And hast borne, and hast patience and for my names sake hast laboured and hast not fainted (v. 3. |
| That no man fall after the same example of disobedience (Heb 4: 11; cf. 6:6). | Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen (v. 5). |
| …how much more shall we not escape, who turn away from him that warneth from heaven (Heb 12:26) | Revelation is the only message from Jesus spoken from heaven to the churches |
| And this word, yet once more signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken (Heb 12:27) | I will remove thy lampstand…. (v. 5) |
God walked amongst the trees in the cool of the day (Gen.3:8). This aspect of God “walking” is picked up in a description of the tabernacle/temple (2 Sam 7:6; 2 Cor 6:16). This feature thus illustrates how the Garden of Eden and the tabernacle/temple are consciously linked as areas of dwelling for God. In the same way, Jesus walks amongst the seven candlesticks (Rev 2:1) which together correspond to the trees of Eden. Hence, the description of the candlestick in the tabernacle clearly mimics the parts of a tree – trunk, branches, knops, flowers and almond fruit (Exod 25:31-37). Each ecclesia was to think of itself as a candlestick/tree in a Garden. The tree of life is forward of the throne of God and of the lamb in Revelation (Rev 22:1), just as the candlestick was also forward of the ark in the tabernacle in the Holy Place. Hence, each ecclesia was also to think of itself as a “tree of life”. Hence, in Jesus’ warning to Ephesus, there is mention of the tree of life (Rev 2:7). These temple/tabernacle/Garden allusions provide the framework for Jesus’ warning to Ephesus about their “fall”. Such allusions to Genesis in Revelation’s warning to Ephesus are deeply embedded and intricately woven and cannot be suspected of being a dependent on Hebrews—we are dealing here with the original which Hebrews references.[7]
Conclusion
The 4G and the book of Revelation come, if not from the same hand, at the very least from the same mind. Revelation was received in the region of Asia on the island of Patmos and (admittedly weak) external evidence suggests that the 4G was also written to the community at Ephesus in Asia. The series of articles presented in the EJournal have presented a chain of internal evidence linking the 4G, Hebrews (and Ephesians) with different sections of the Ephesian community of believers at different stages of their development.
[1] G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (rev., ed.; NCB; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978), 36.
[2] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (HNTC; New York: Harper & Row, 1996), 4.
[3] M. Hengel, Die johanneische Frage; Ein Lösungsversuch mit einem Beitrag zur Apokalypse von Jörg Frey (WUNT 67; Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 1993).
[4] G. R. Beasley-Murray, “Revelation” in The Dictionary of the Later New Testament & Its Developments, (eds., R. P. Martin, P. H. Davids; Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity Press, 1997), 1032.
[5] R. H. Gundry, The Old Is Better: New Testament: Essays in Support of Traditional Interpretations (Tübingen: Mohr [Siebeck], 2005), 327 (fn.28).
[6] On this see H. A. Whittaker, Studies in the Acts of the Apostles (Cannock: Biblia, 1985), 393-399.
[7] [ED. AP] The argument here is that the tightly knit text (Rev 2:1-7) is more likely to be the original for the echoes shared with a more diffuse text (Hebrews 4, 6, 10, 12)
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