Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: RevelationBarnes, Albert
Religion
Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation
Barnes, Albert
Bible. New Testament -- Commentaries; Bible. Revelation -- Commentaries
To this might be added certain internal marks, or certain facts in the
life of John which accord with this supposition, and seem to confirm
it. They are such that if they did _not_ exist there might be some room
for plausible doubt, though it must be admitted that, in themselves,
they do not amount to positive proof of any considerable strength that
he _was_ the author. There is not room to dwell upon them, and they
can only be briefly referred to. They are such as these:――(1) That the
author calls himself _John_, evidently with the design of representing
himself as the _apostle_ of that name; for (a) his supposed relation to
the churches of Asia Minor is such as the relation of the apostle John
was, and (b) the name _John_, unless there was something to qualify it,
would be naturally understood as referring to the apostle of that name.
(2) The fact that John lived at Ephesus, and was well known to the
seven churches of Asia Minor. (3) The fact that he lived to extreme old
age――to the time when the book was supposed to have been written. See
§ II. (4) The fact that there was a persecution in the time of Domitian,
when this book is supposed to have been written; and (5) what might be
derived from a comparison of this book with the acknowledged writings
of John.
II. To confirm the argument, it is necessary to show the insufficiency
of the reasons for doubting that John was the author. This point may be
considered {xxxvi} under two heads――the alleged grounds for doubting
that it was written by John by the ancients; and the reasons alleged by
the moderns.
(1) The ancients.
(a) It has been maintained that it was rejected by Caius, a presbyter
at Rome. He flourished, according to Cave, about A.D. 210. See Lardner,
ii. 394‒410. There is a single passage in his writings, from which it
has been inferred that he designed to reject the Apocalypse. This is
in the following words――“And Cerinthus also, who by his revelations, as
if written by some great apostle, imposes upon us monstrous relations
of things of his own invention, as shown him by an angel, says, ‘that
after the resurrection there shall be a terrestrial kingdom of Christ,
and that men shall live again in Jerusalem, subject to sensual desires
and pleasures. And being an enemy to the divine Scriptures, and
desirous to seduce mankind, he says there will be a term of a thousand
years spent in nuptial entertainments’” (Lardner, ii. 400, 401).
The whole force of this depends on the supposition that Caius meant to
refer to Rev. xx. 4‒6.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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