Reading for April 12th

In 1.1-11: The opening: orienting the audience. This section contains the basic markers to allow the reader to place this writing: It is first of all a revelation (a message from God); but also a letter (a message from a known person). Read Revelation 1.1-8 In verses 1-3 As v. 3 indicates, the work is to be read aloud, thus the first voice one hears is that of the public reader. This voice announces that the revelation is of Jesus Christ, meaning that it both belongs to him and is about him. The revelation descends through the orders: God, Jesus, angel, John, churches. In verses 4-7: Sunddenly the revelation genre is forced into a letter genre as John speaks in his own voice. This is a standard letter opening, comparable to any of Paul's letters. In verses 4-5a: The grace has three sources: God, Jesus, and the Spirit, each described symbolically. God is described in a terse (and awkward) expression, literally: The being, that was, and the coming. One expects, but does not find a future tense. The Spirit is symbolized as sevenfold, meaning perfect and complete. Jesus has three symbolic tags. referring respectively to his death, reurrection and present reign. In verses 5b-6: This short doxology emphasizes two major themes of Revelation: kingdom (politics) and priests (religion); they are throughly intermixed in John's vision. In verse 7: This oracular announcement places Jesus' coming in the present tense, surrounded by his past suffering and future revelation. In verse 8; The vpoice of the Lord speaks next; God's title here echoes the Exodus story (Ex 3.14). John carefully avoids future tense, instead describing God as "coming," a major theme (for example, 1.7; 3.11; 16.15; 21.2;22.1, 20). Comments or Questions.