Posted on 02/09/2017 5:25:06 PM PST by grumpa
Many Christians understand the book to have been written around AD 95/96. They simply take this late date for Revelation on faith, without ever checking it out. But there is strong and convincing evidence that the book was written prior to AD 70 when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Over 130 authors, from different theological persuasions, have been identified as holding to a pre-AD 70 date, during the latter years of the reign of Nero, who ruled Rome from AD 54 to 68.
The argument for the late date of Revelation rests principally on a single AMBIGUOUS, THIRD-HAND comment by the second-century church father Irenaeus (c. AD 180). Scholars have puzzled over how to understand his comment, which can be interpreted in different ways, and there is considerable contrary evidence. This one blurb from Irenaeus is pretty much all the late daters have. Irenaeus, by the way, is known to have made other historical and theological errors, which the interested reader can explore on the Internet.
Actually, John, the author of Revelation, probably died prior to AD 70. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at onedrive.live.com ...
Very interesting. Seems to hold together.
Those would be your first two clues as to it's age.
Doesn’t matter...What does matter is that none of the events in Revelation have taken place yet..Had Revelation take place you wouldn’t be here to write about it because the earth vanished about a thousand years ago...
..Had Revelation take place you wouldn’t be here to write about it because the earth vanished about a thousand years ago...
How could it vanish if it never ends?
Conjecture at best, and unscientific
“Those would be your first two clues as to it’s age.”
That would only tell us how old the oldest surviving copy is and who was the first to mention the Book of Revelation in writing. There are, for instance, fragmentary passages of Revelation in the writings of the Early Church Fathers dating from the second century. That only tells us it was written before then and was known by then. It doesn’t tell us when it was written. The oldest actual copies - in toto or in fragments are more recent. So that would only tell us that we have fragments and whole copies from the third or fourth century. That doesn’t tell us when the book was written.
The internal evidence can only give us some ideas as to when it was written. Nothing is guaranteed other than that range of years. The fact that the Temple’s destruction, and Jerusalem’s destruction, is not described as an accomplished fact might suggest it was written BEFORE A.D. 70. The fact that 666 = Nero would strengthen that suggestion since he died in 68. Other factors suggest it was written as the late 90s, however.
Having had to assign dates to medieval mss. when I was in graduate school I can tell you this is sometimes a very technical business. Perhaps the most accessible book for an early dating of Revelation is Gentry’s: https://www.amazon.com/Before-Jerusalem-Fell-Dating-Revelation/dp/0982620608
Age of a manuscript doesn’t necessarily confirm anything. The apostle Paul said there were people passing around spurious letters as if he had written them. I suppose if one of them cropped up, there would be consternation.
Hitchcock wrote his thesis on the date of Revelation ... he defends the traditional date of 95 AD, which the vast majority of scholars support.
People want a pre 70 AD date because they want it to be a commentary on Nero and the Roman Empire. If it was written after 70AD it would mean the temple mentioned in Revelation could not be Herrod’s Temple and thus must be a prophetic account.
November 9,2016
Martin Luther placed Revelation at the end of the New Testament because he did not think it should be in the Bible. There is not six people in the world with the foggiest notion what it means — if you take it out of the context of 65AD, which is the period to which it was addressed. The mark of the beast was in full play at that time. I even saw a documentary on PBS where it mentioned it, although it was not called that. People were required to sacrifice to the emperor or face death, etc.
Moses Stuart went through it with a fine tooth comb. Its construction is amazing, and most of its contents and symbolism are taken from the Old Testament, especially Isaiah. And sometimes redirected, such as the Key of David, and Gog and Magog.
Christians have been persecuted and put to death all down through history. It is happening now in the Middle East. The North Koreans government still takes particular delight in torturing Christians.
By the way, “anti-Christ” is not mentioned in Revelation.
ping
“I even saw a documentary on PBS where it mentioned it...”
That settles it. We have our answer.
As a matter of fact, it is. The Roman emperors claimed divinity and worship. The “only name under heaven whereby you can be saved” was a line Paul got off a Roman coin, referring to the emperor.
WHEN WAS REVELATION WRITTEN?
90s.
The preterist interpretation of John's apocalypse requires an early date. It takes a lot of special pleading and weird interpretation to get there. Unconvincing.
I was just about to say. Lol. “It was on PBS. IT MUST BE TRUE!!!” Haha
True. That's why I said "clue". You can also gauge that indirectly by reliable historical reference to the book. Based on that it doesn't look earlier than mid to late 2nd Century.
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