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Rev_3:10. ὅτι ἐτήρησας
κἀγώ σε τηρήσω . The form of the antanaclasis[1453] corresponds with the inner relation between the performance of the church, and the reward on the Lord’s part; but even the performance of the church depends entirely upon the Lord’s grace, as the ΛΌΓΟς Τ . ὙΠΟΜ . itself, which the church has kept, is full of divine power, nourishes and supports the faith, fidelity, patience, and hope of the church, and thus qualifies the same for victory.
ΤῸΝ ΛΌΓΟΝ Τῆς ὙΠΟΜΟΝῆς ΜΟΥ . The gen. ὙΠΟΜΟΝῆς designates the ΛΌΓΟς according to its peculiar nature, as it depends upon its contents;[1454] the pronoun ΜΟΥ belongs not only to Τῆς ὙΠΟΜ .,[1455] but[1456] to the whole conception Τ . ΛΟΓ . Τ . ὙΠΟΜ .[1457] The form of statement in Rev_1:9 is therefore, at all events, a different one.[1458] Consequently Τ . ΛΟΓ . Τ . ὙΠΟΜ . ΜΟΥ cannot be: “the word concerning Christ’s patience, concerning the sufferings of Christ patiently endured for us,” or “the word of constancy in Christ’s faith;”[1459] or “the word which makes its demands partly according to its contents and spirit,[1460] and partly by virtue of the duty of confession and steadfastness in following, as it belongs to me and mine;”[1461] also not: “my patience, i. e., the specifically Christian, expressly required by the Lord himself, and enjoined as a preservative against the judgments threatened against the world.”[1462] The vacillation and juncture of different ideas by all interpreters who wish to refer the μου only to τ . ὑπομ . reveals the unnaturalness of the combination. The λόγος τῆς ὑπομονῆς of the Lord dare not, however, be explained: “the word which among other commandments contains that of patience also,” an explanation which is incorrectly ascribed to Grot., who, as many others vacillating concerning the relation of the μου , says at one time: “My precept concerning patience,” and then, again, that the patience of Christ signifies “that which Christ has enjoined.” The whole word of God as a word of patience rather appears to be the view of the Revelation in general, and of our epistle in particular, because with respect to troubles unavoidable to believers it gives and demands steadfast, faithful, and hopeful patience, i.e., the virtue which alone can lead us from all troubles to glory.[1463] With respect to the already present and still future troubles, every thing to the believer turns upon the fact that he “overcomes.” This he can attain only through the ὑπομονή , to which the word of his Lord points him. Thus the writer of the Apoc. can from his point of vision regard the whole word of Christ as a λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς with the same right as, e.g., Paul, the preacher of righteousness, alone by faith in the Crucified, represents the whole gospel as the λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ [1464]
In the words κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας , κ . τ . λ ., the church at Philadelphia is not promised that it shall be preserved from the hour of trial, i.e., that it shall not meet with sufferings full of trial,[1465] but in accordance with the presentation of the Apoc., that the troubles before the coming of the Lord will befall all believers, who of course are sealed,[1466] lest by the temptation in the troubles they may fall;[1467] and in accordance with the corresponding expression τηρ . ἐκ ,[1468] in distinction from ΤΗΡ . ἈΠΌ ,[1469] the church at Philadelphia, since it has already maintained victorious patience, is also to be delivered by his confirming grace from the universal distress impending before the coming of the Lord.[1470]
The ὭΡΑ ΤΟῦ ΠΕΙΡΑΣΜΟῦ , Κ . Τ . Λ ., i.e., the precise period wherein the temptation is to occur,[1471] refers to no persecution whatever proceeding from the Roman emperors,—neither that of Nero,[1472] nor some one after Domitian,[1473] possibly under Trajan,[1474]—also not, as Primas and Beda[1475] arbitrarily agree, to sufferings occasioned by antichrist; but the idea, here not more minutely defined, is to be referred, according to the further development of the Apoc., to all the afflictions which, before the personal coming of the Lord,[1476] are to burst upon believers;[1477] the punishments impending by God’s wrath only over unbelievers before the appearing of the Lord are not meant.[1478]
The idea of the πειρασμός and πειράσαι [1479] has its justification because, on the one hand, to believers the danger of a fall into such suffering is present,[1480]—and hence there go with it the promise σὲ τηρήσω , the command κράτει , κ . τ . λ ., Rev_3:11, and the pledge to the victor, Rev_3:12,—but, on the other hand, to unbelievers such suffering must actually be a temptation,[1481] and that, too, of such kind as that because of their impenitent unbelief they will ever fall by it the deeper, and their hostility to what is holy be always the more revealed by despair and blasphemy.[1482]
ἐπὶ τὴς οἰκουμένης ὅλης . The remark that hereby the Roman empire is designated[1483] is correct only so far as in John’s historical horizon the whole world appears comprehended in the Roman empire. Yet by this (erroneous) limitation, the prophetic truth remains untouched, that the hour of temptation is to come to the actual οἰκουμένη ὅλη , as certainly as the Lord himself is to appear as absolutely Judge of all.
πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς . Those dwelling on the earth are, according to the constant mode of expression in the Apoc.,[1484] the mass of men, in contradistinction to believers redeemed from all nations and tongues.[1485] The πειράσαι refers to them in so far only as they are not kept ( σὲ τηρήσω ).
[1453] Beng., etc.
[1454] Cf. Winer, p. 222.
[1455] Calov., Ew., De Wette, Hengstenb., etc.
[1456] Cf. Rev_13:3; Col_1:13; Heb_1:3.
[1457] Winer, p. 222. Obscure: Grot., Vitr., Eichh., Heinr., Ebrard.
[1458] Against Hengstenb., etc.
[1459] Calov.
[1460] As the word of the cross (1Co_1:18).
[1461] Vitr., who also paraphrases: “They preserved the word of the Lord’s patience; i.e., the word of the Lord, which is a word of patience, because no one can with constancy profess the doctrine of the gospel, unless, at the same time, he fortify himself to bear with patience the afflictions accompanying the profession of Christianity.” All Christians must bear the cross of Christ (Mat_16:24), i.e., θλῖψις ; but θλῖψις works ὑπομονήν (Rom_5:3), so that the λογ . τῆς ὑπομον . is nothing else than the λογ . τοῦ σταυροῦ (1Co_1:18).
[1462] Luk_21:19; Luk_8:15; Mat_10:22; Mat_24:13. Hengstenb.
[1463] Cf. Rev_1:9; Mat_24:13.
[1464] Cf. 1Co_1:17 sqq., Rev_2:1.
[1465] Whereby either the church at Philadelphia alone, as constituting a special exception (Beng., Eichh., Ebrard), or certain afflictions (chs. 6, 8), in whose presence all believers are to remain approved (Rev_7:3 sqq.; De Wette; cf. Ewald, Züll.), are regarded.
[1466] The case is different in Rev_9:3, where they who are sealed are not touched by a plague immediately coming from the abyss.
[1467] Cf. Rev_7:3; Rev_7:14; Mat_24:22; Mat_24:24.
[1468] Joh_17:15. Cf. Rev_7:14 : ἐρχ . ἐκ τ . θλίψ .
[1469] Jam_1:27; Pro_7:5. Cf. 2Th_3:3.
[1470] Cf. Vitr., Hengstenb., Ew. ii., Volkm.
[1471] Cf. Rev_14:7; Rev_14:15.
[1472] Grot.
[1473] N. de Lyra.
[1474] Alcas., Pareus, etc.
[1475] Cf. Andr., Areth.
[1476] Cf. immediately afterwards Rev_3:11 : ἕρχομαι ταχύ .
[1477] Cf. ch. 6.
[1478] Cf. ch. 16.
[1479] Cf. Rev_2:10.
[1480] Cf. Mat_24:22; Mat_24:24.
[1481] Cf. Deu_4:34; Deu_7:19; Deu_29:3.
[1482] Rev_9:20. Cf. Rev_16:11; Rev_16:21; Hengstenb.
[1483] Cf. Luk_2:1; Grot., Vitr., Stern, etc.
[1484] Rev_6:10, Rev_11:10, Rev_13:8; Rev_13:14, etc. Cf. Act_4:26.
[1485] Cf. Rev_5:9.