Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation — John Shaqi
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
But in regard to this the following remarks may be made:――(a) Caius was
strongly opposed to Cerinthus, and to his views; (b) he was opposed to
the prevailing doctrine of Chiliasm, or the doctrine of the millennium,
as then extensively held――that Christ would reign personally on the
earth with his saints for a thousand years; (c) it may be _possible_
that Cerinthus may have forged a work pretending to be of apostolic
origin, in which these doctrines were affirmed; (d) it is possible that
the book of Revelation, as left by John, may have been interpolated
and corrupted by Caius thus. Some one of these suppositions is more
probable than the supposition that Caius meant to reject the book of
Revelation; for,
1. The views referred to by Caius, as held by Cerinthus, are _not_
the views which are found in Rev. xx. He spoke of a “terrestrial
kingdom of Christ;” says that “men would again live in Jerusalem;” that
they “would be subject to sensual pleasures;” and that the “term of a
thousand years would be spent in nuptial entertainments.” None of these
opinions are found in the book of Revelation as we now have it.
2. The _title_ given by Caius to the book――_Revelations_ instead of
_Revelation_――Ἀποκάλυψις――as we find it in the book itself, chap. i. 1,
would seem to indicate a different work from that of John. Eusebius
always refers to the Apocalypse by the noun singular (Prof. Stuart,
i. 341), and this is the general manner in which the work has been
designated. If Caius had designed to refer to this, it is probable that
he would have used the common term to designate it.
3. These views receive some confirmation from a passage in Theodoret,
“who spoke of Cerinthus in such a way as seems to imply that he had
forged an Apocalypse for the promotion of his designs.” That passage
is, “Cerinthus forged certain revelations _as if he himself had seen
them_, and added descriptions of certain terrible things, and declares
that the kingdom of the Lord will be established on the earth,” &c. See
Prof. Stuart, i. 342. On the whole, nothing of material importance can
be derived from the testimony of Caius in proof that the Apocalypse was
not believed to have been written by John.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account