The Jewish Annotated New Testament (301 page)

8
:
Dreamers
might imply that the false teachers have replaced apostolic authority (see v. 17) with personal visions and revelation.
Glorious ones
(or “glories”), possibly angels, understood as intermediaries (e.g., Dan 9.20–22) between the divine and human realms, and conveyors of insight, moral exhortation, and steadfastness among Second Temple Jews.

9
:
Michael contended with the devil
, the story of Moses’ body probably drawn from the
T. Moses
, an incomplete text giving Moses’ last words to Joshua. As it stands the text does not depict the assumption, that is, taking Moses bodily into heaven. The legend that the angel Michael and the devil fought over Moses’ body has no known clear source. It is used here to combine references to good and bad angels (see vv. 6,8) with overall concern for authority, morality, and truth.

11
: Three villains from the Tanakh:
Cain
, fratricide (Gen 4.1–16), also considered in Jewish midrash (
Tg. Ps.-J
.; Gen 4.1) a son of Eve and the devil;
Balaam
(Num 22), a false prophet;
Korah
(Num 16), a rebel against Moses.

12
–13
: These intruders are selfish
blemishes
, fruitless, destructive, and misleading; cf. 2 Pet 2.17–18.
Love-feasts
, eucharists that may have included meals for the community (cf. 1 Cor 11.20–21); they were presumably intended to increase the bonds of love in the community.
Twice dead
, those baptized who have fallen away; they have died once in baptism (cf. Rom 6.3), and again by betraying their faith.

14
–19:
Intruders foretold.

14
:
Enoch
, descendant of Adam (Gen 5.18–24); his prophecy comes from
1 En
. 1.9. Jude takes “the Lord” to be Jesus.

17
–18
:
Predictions of the apostles
, otherwise unattested (though perhaps meaning those such as 2 Thess 2.3);
the last time
reinforces the author’s apocalyptic worldview (cf. 2 Pet 3.3).

20
–23: Exhortation.
The recipients should hold firm, trust in their reward, and keep those
wavering
from following the defiling teaching of the enemies.

20
:
Faith
, the teaching of the community, not a relationship of trust.
Pray in the Holy Spirit
, perhaps a reference to the worship practice of ecstatic utterance of words presumed to be from God (cf. 1 Cor 12.3,10).

21
–22
:
Mercy … eternal life
, the
love of God
as expressed in the compassion of
Jesus
brings the believers into the kingdom (
eternal life
, the life of God).
Have mercy
, show mercy as you are yourselves shown mercy.

24
–25: Doxology.
An extended, concluding praise of God (cf. Rom 16.27).
Without blemish
, language of sacrifice, in which both those serving in the Temple (Lev 21.17–18) and the offered animal (Lev 22.20–21) must be free from defect.
God … Savior, through Jesus Christ
, God saves by the agency of Jesus; the text may reflect views of the status of the messiah that do not yet see him as divine.

1.1
–3:
Introduction.

1
: The text is designated a
revelation
(Gk “apocalypsis,” equivalent to Lat “revelatio,” “take away the veil, uncover”) rather than a letter or account or book. It is focused on imminent events. As with many sacred texts, its special authority comes from its angelic origin. The term “apocalypse” gives its name to a literary genre usually characterized by heavenly visions of highly symbolic images with angelic mediation (see Introduction).
Servants
, Gk “douloi,” “slaves,” members of the community.

2
:
Testified
, bore witness (Gk “martyroō”).

3
:
Blessed
, Gk “makarios,” for Heb “‘ashrei,” “happy, fortunate” in LXX, e.g., Ps 1.1.
Prophecy
, word from God, here in written form that should be conveyed orally, not privately or secretly.
Time is near
, Gk “kairos,” critical hour or day, referring to the time of the new age.

1.4
–8:
Opening doxology.

4
: The text now becomes a letter, with a traditional epistolary greeting (see, e.g., 1 Cor 1.3; Phil 1.2; etc.).
Seven churches
, representing all of the Christian community.
Asia
, the Roman province of Asia Minor, present-day Turkey.
Grace … peace
, the standard Gk salutation “chairete,” “be joyful, happy,” adapted to Christian use with “charis,” “grace, favor” (from God) and adding the Jewish salutation “peace,” Gk “eirēnē,” Heb “shalom.”
Is … was … and is to come
, Gk “the being and the was and the coming,” unusual phrasing indicating past, present, and imminent future in God;
seven spirits
, an apparent reference to the seven angels who are agents of God (
1 En
. 20.1–8).

5
:
Witness
, Gk “martys, martyros,” from which comes English “martyr.”
Firstborn of the dead
, Gk “prōtotokos” in LXX for Heb “beckhor,” “firstborn” either literally or figuratively; e.g., Ps 89.27 [Heb v. 28; LXX 88.28], implying that Jesus’ resurrection was the first of an imminent general resurrection.

6
: Christ transforms his devotees into a
kingdom
and
priests
—symbols of eschatological perfection paralleled at Qumran (1QSa),
Jubilees
, and echoed throughout Revelation (5.10; 20.6; cf. Ex 19.6; Isa 61.6).

8
:
Alpha and the Omega
, first and last letters of the Gk alphabet, meaning “beginning and end.”

1.9
–20: The heavenly call.
John
, an otherwise unknown early Christian writer; he is not the author of John’s Gospel or of the Letters of John.
Patmos
, an island off the western coast of Asia Minor (in the eastern Aegean Sea). It is fated that John be there, although not necessarily because of exile. He declares his participation with Jesus in both
kingdom
and “thlipsis,”
persecution
or “affliction.”

10
–11
:
In the spirit
, a state of prophetic ecstasy initially brings an aural theophany; the divine voice immediately assigns John to a scribal role, typical of apocalyptic seers (
4 Ezra
14; cf. Ezek 2.8–3.3).

11
:
Ephesus … Laodicea
, the
seven churches
in western Asia Minor (see map, p.
470
).

12
–16
: This initial vision of the angelic mediator is constructed from several biblical visions of God and his chief manifesting forms (Dan 7; Ezek 1), augmented with new symbols like the lampstands, suggestive of the Temple. By attributing his revelations to such a figure, John thus claims a superlative heavenly source.

12
:
Lampstands
, Gk “lychnia,” Heb “menorah,” the lamps in the Temple near the altar (Ex 37.17–24), here an attribute of the revealing Christ.

13
:
Son of Man
, Dan 7.13–14;
1 En
. 46–48,62,69–71, the human-like embodiment or representative of God’s rule.
Golden sash
, Dan 10.5, probably a badge of rank or honor.

14
:
White
, Dan 7.9, representing both venerable age and purity.
Flame of fire
, Dan 7.9; 10.6. Fire was a purifying agent.

15
:
Bronze
, Dan 10.6.
Many waters
, a simile for loudness but also a comparison for the divine voice, which overcomes the sound of storm or cataract as God overcomes the waters in creation (Gen 1); compare Ezek 1.24; 43.2; Ps 29.3; 93.4.

16
:
Seven stars
, the
angels
that are the guardians of the communities (see v. 20).
Two-edged sword
, God’s word in the mouth of a prophet (see Isa 49.2).

17
:
As though dead
, John’s terror is typical of prophetic visions and calls: Isa 6.5; Dan 7.15;
4 Ezra
5.14; 10.29–30.
First and last
, see v. 8n.

18
:
Keys of Death and of Hades
, the abode of the dead, which will be opened up in the last judgment, ch 20.

19
: Hab 2.2.

20
:
Angels
, see v. 16n.

2.1
–3.22: Letters dictated to seven congregations.

2.1
–7:
Ephesus.

1
:
Ephesus
, a major port city on the Asia Minor coast, known especially for a temple to a famous local form of the goddess Artemis. Evidence points to a robust Jewish community there (cf. Josephus,
Ag. Ap
. 2.439;
Ant
. 14.10.25.263–65; Acts 19).
Seven stars
, see 1.16n.

2
:
Apostles
, “ones sent out,” representatives or ambassadors for the community.

6
: The author judges positively the efforts of this congregation to discern true and false apostles and to resist the practices of the
Nicolaitans
, an unknown group.

7
: The repeated phrase
Let anyone who has an ear
…, probably referred to the traditions of Jesus’ own words (cf. Mk 4.9,23, etc.), although here it is meant to sanction the voice of the risen Christ’s spirit.
Tree of life that is in the paradise of God
, the tree of Gen 2 is here assumed to be located in heaven (see
1 En
. 24–25,32).