Revelation (New Testament Library | NTL)
Overview
The book of Revelation is one of the most complicated in the New Testament. The book calls for a prophetic reaction to the world and uses some of the most violent language of the entire Bible. Brian Blount’s commentary provides a sure and confident guide through these difficult and sometimes troubling passages, seeing Revelation as a prophetic intervention and at the same time an awe-inspiring swirl of frightening violence and breathtaking hope.
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Key Features
- Explores Revelation as a prophetic intervention and at the same time an awe-inspiring swirl of frightening violence and breathtaking hope.
- Opens fresh perspectives on Johannine studies
- Insights on the book of Revelation
Top Highlights
“Sardis squandered its name, its reputation of invulnerability, because its benefactors did not stay alert to the dangers around them. The members of the Sardis church, while likewise reveling in their past reputation for witness, were also frittering that reputation away. This is why John plays with the word ‘name’ by using it four times in this short letter. ‘This word-play … emphasizes the problem.… They have become a church in name only’” (Page 66)
“How would the Ephesians have tested them? The contextual stress on witnessing suggests that they evaluated communal leaders by judging whether they accommodated themselves to the lordship claims of Rome or defiantly proclaimed the lordship claims of God and Christ.” (Page 50)
“The truth is that God is the God of the poor and the oppressed.… Because they are powerless, God will take up their cause and redeem them from oppression and violence. The oppressed do not see any dichotomy between God’s love and God’s justice’” (Page 3)
“Once known as a loving community, they had suddenly become a policing one. Ephesian faith had become a matter of Ephesian quality control. Assessment became more important than love.” (Page 51)
“Witness is key, not only because of its lead position in the chain of three, but also because it follows up on John’s opening three verses, which convey his entire work as the witness—that is, revelation—proclaimed by Jesus (see the comments on 1:1–2). The kai (and) that connects the two trailing titles is epexegetical rather than correlative. An appropriate translation would be, ‘the firstborn of the dead, who is the ruler of the kings of the earth.’ The entire phrase clarifies what it means for Jesus to be a faithful witness; the image of universal kingship clarifies what it means for this faithful witness to be firstborn of the dead. As God is ruler of all, pantokratōr (1:8), Jesus is ruler of the entire human realm. This is the revelation proclaimed by Jesus Christ.” (Pages 35–36)
- Title: Revelation: A Commentary
- Author: Brian K. Blount
- Edition: 1st Ed.
- Series: The New Testament Library
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2015
- Pages: 488
- Era: era:contemporary
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible. N.T. Revelation › Commentaries
- ISBNs: 9780664221218, 9780664239022, 0664221211, 0664239021
- Resource ID: LLS:NTL87REV
- Resource Type: Bible Commentary
- Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T20:29:28Z