Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 18:4 - 18:20

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 18:4 - 18:20


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Rev_18:4-20. Another voice from heaven—scarcely that of God or Christ,[3928] because the discourse extending until Rev_18:20, and even presenting from Rev_18:9 the grievance of another, is not appropriate to the mouth of God or Christ, but of an angel, who[3929] speaks in the name of God—first of all commands those who belong to the people of God to leave the city given over to destruction: ἴνα μὴ συγκοινωνήσατε , κ . τ . λ .[3930] The ἀμαρτίαις αὐτῆς [3931] is not to be taken by metonymy for the punishments of sin;[3932] but the idea is,[3933] that fellowship in the sins of the city, which indeed is not a fellowship of guilt, yet will be a fellowship of punishments ( κ . ἐκ τ . πληγῶν , κ . τ . λ .). [See Note LXXXII., p. 449.] For the idea that God’s believers, whether under compulsion,[3934] or in consequence of an increased temptation,[3935] could actually share in the sins of the great city, is here scarcely justified, since the judgment unmistakably befalls them. Believers would share in the destruction occurring because of the sins of the city, which now (Rev_18:5) have reached the highest limit: ὅτι ἐκολλήθησαν , κ . τ . λ ., i.e., the sins—not the cry thereof—have accumulated to so monstrous a degree that they reach even to heaven.[3936] On the expression κολλᾶσθαι

ἄχρι τ . οὐρ ., literally belong even to heaven, cf. Bar_1:20,[3937] Psa_63:9,[3938] and similar examples in Biel, Thes.

ἐμνημόνευσεν , cf. Rev_16:9.

[3928] Beng., Hengstenb.

[3929] Rev_11:3.

[3930] Cf. Jer_51:6; Jer_51:9; Jer_51:45.

[3931] Cf. Rev_18:5, αἱ άμαρτ . and τ . ἀδικήμ . αύτ .

[3932] Beng., De Wette.

[3933] Cf. Gen_19:15. Hengstenb.

[3934] Ew. ii.

[3935] Luthardt.

[3936] Cf. Eze_9:6. Beng.

[3937] ἐκολλήθη είς ἡμᾶς τὰ κακὰ .

[3938] ἐκολλ . ἡ ψυχή μου ὁπίσω σου .

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

LXXXII. Rev_18:4. συνκοινωνήσατε ταῖς ἀμαρτίαις

Participation both in the sins, i.e., in the guilt, and in the punishment, is, however, expressly mentioned. As Ebrard and Hengstenberg note, there is an explicit antithesis between ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις and τῶν πληγῶν . Besides, where there is no guilt, there is no real punishment, except in that one case of the vicarious suffering of Him who assumed our guilt. The chastisements of the believer are not punishments, but blessings. Lange is therefore right when he takes exception to our author’s interpretation, and adds: “A guiltless participation in punishment would certainly be akin to propitiatory suffering. Fellowship with the sinner, however, on an equal moral footing, without the re-action of discipline, chastisement, excommunication, is fellowship in his guilt. Hence the πληγαί are not simply strokes: they are deserved strokes. See Joshua 7; Num_16:21-24.