Buist Fanning Examines Revelation 5:10

Revelation 5:10 (SBL Greek Text): καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν βασιλείαν καὶ ἱερεῖς, καὶ βασιλεύουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

ESV: "and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.”

NWT 2013: "and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.”

Weymouth NT: "And hast formed them into a Kingdom to be priests to our God, And they reign over the earth."

Buist Fanning favors the rendering "will reign on the earth" for Rev. 5:10b. After citing Rev. 2:26-27; 3:21; 20:4, 6; 22:5, he then writes about Rev. 5:10:

"Here and in 20:4, 6 it seems clear that this anticipates a physical, geographical reign on earth, not one that is spiritual and otherworldly only (see Dan 7:27 'under all of heaven'; Jer 3:17, rule from Jerusalem)."

See Fanning, page 226.

He seems to reckon that the reign of Jesus with his co-regents will be "spiritual and earthly" not just  heavenly. In footnote 77, Fanning lays out texts that Witnesses often quote like Matt 5:5; 19:28; 2 Tim 2:12, etc.

Regarding ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, Fanning sets forth this position: he believes that ἐπὶ in this context not only signifies the exertion of "power, authority, control . . . over" (BDAG 365) but Fanning indicates ἐπὶ also represents "the sphere or location" of Christ's rule (i.e., the domain); hence, the renderings "on/over the earth." So the Lamb's rulership with his co-regents will consummate "God's intent for humans to exert delegated dominion over creation" in Fanning's estimation.

See Fanning, Buist M. Revelation. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2020.

Compare https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/two-interesting-uses-of-epi-from.html 

https://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2020/04/other-interesting-uses-of-epi-in-lxx.html