Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 3:9 - 3:9
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Rev_3:9. διδῶ , not “I will suffer,” as Wolf recommends. Hengstenb also incorrectly: “I give thee, or the Christian Church, and therefore also thee.” The διδῶ , to which as object the partitive gen. τῶν λεγόντων belongs,[1444] is again taken up in the formally (fut.) more definitely fixed ποιήσω , as then the σὐτούς also recurs to the just-mentioned object τῶν λεγόντων , κ . τ . λ . The words ἐκ τῆς συναγωγῆς τοῦ σατανᾶ designate the persons meant, with respect to their origin. They are not false Christians,[1445] but[1446] Jews who just because of their enmity to the true Messiah (Rev_3:7) are not true Jews, but the synagogue of Satan. Yet also in that the Lord brings some from this synagogue, and causes them to come humbly and believingly to his church, he shows that he is the one who has the key of David.
ποιήσω αὐτοὺς , ἵνα ἥξουσι , κ . τ . λ . Concerning the attraction αὐτούς , cf. Winer, p. 282; concerning ἵνα , also Joh_11:37, after ποιεῖν , with the ind. fut., cf. Rev_6:11, Rev_22:14; 1Pe_3:1; Mar_3:2; Winer, p. 272.
The ποιήσω marks the still entirely future result which the Lord will work;[1447] the inner relation to ΔΙΔῶ and ΔΈΔΩΚΑ (Rev_3:8) is this, that the ΔΈΔΩΚΑ (perf.) extends to the present, and continues in its operation, while the ΔΙΔῶ is present in its work, and will proceed to the ΠΟΙΉΣΩ . The opened door still stands open, and the Lord will work that a multitude of still unbelieving Jews may enter.
Both the ἭΞΟΥΣΙ and the ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΉΣΟΥΣΙ ἘΝΏΠΟΙΝ ΤῶΝ ΠΟΔῶΝ ΔΟΥ are explained in connection with the O. T. prophecies of the conversion of the heathen, by the fact that for unbelieving Jews, as they have just been described, the Church of Jesus Christ, viz., of him who has the key of David, Rev_3:7, is the true Zion, in which they, no less than the heathen, must seek and will find the truth of God, and the fellowship of salvation. Thus, so far as the expressions are concerned, such prophecies as Isa_60:14; Isa_49:23; Isa_2:3; Psa_72:9; Zach. 8:20 sqq., are in full harmony with what is here stated. The ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΕῖΝ , Κ . Τ . Λ ., especially as an expression of homage,[1448] has its complete justification in the fact that the Church of Jesus Christ stands there as beloved of the Lord ( Κ . ΓΝῶΣΙΝ , ὍΤΙ ἨΓΆΠΗΣΆ ΣΕ ), and as the mediator of the divine salvation. Yet the Catholic interpretation without any ground has: “The highest devotion of believers, and reverence and submission to the Church and its prelates, are signified. For this adoration proceeds from the apprehension of an excellence of prelates that is more than human, and less than divine.”[1449]
ΚΑῚ ΓΝῶΣΙΝ , ὍΤΙ ἨΓΑΠΗΣΆ ΔΕ . On the one hand, the aorist form ἨΓΆΠΗΣΑ ,[1450] and on the other the connection and allusion to Rev_3:7, furnish the reference to the definite proof of the Lord’s love, in that he has died for his Church. Just this must the unbelieving Jews acknowledge who now still reject and blaspheme the Lord as a crucified evil-doer.[1451] Incorrect reference of the ἨΓΑΠ . in N. de Lyra: “By advancing thee not only to the catholic faith, but also to the episcopal dignity; “in Ew., to Rev_3:10, or[1452] to Isa_63:4; Isa_66:24. De Wette too, indefinitely: “That I have acknowledged thee as a faithful church, and furnished thee with my gifts and power.”
[1444] Cf. Rev_2:17. Winer, p. 490.
[1445] Vitr.
[1446] Cf. Rev_2:9.
[1447] Viz., ἥξουσ ., κ . τ . λ .
[1448] Cf. Gen_23:7, etc. Ew., Ebrard, etc.
[1449] C. a Lap.
[1450] Cf. Joh_13:1; Eph_5:25; Gal_2:20; also Joh_3:16; 1Jn_4:10-11.
[1451] Cf. Rev_2:9; Act_13:45.
[1452] Ew. ii.