Greek (THGNT): Καὶ ὁ ἕβδομος ἄγγελος ἐσάλπισεν, καὶ ἐγένοντο φωναὶ μεγάλαι ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ [a]λέγουσαι· ἐγένετο ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ κόσμου τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ βασιλεύσει εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων.
RSV: "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.'"
Robert Mounce (NICNT): "Although the Son will ultimately be subjected to the Father (1 Cor 15:28), he will nevertheless share the eternal rule of God. The singular ('he will reign') emphasizes the unity of this joint sovereignty."
βασιλεύσει is future indicative active-3rd person singular. As Mounce says, it could be translated "he will reign," but is the singular verb being used to reference two divine persons? That is doubtful as we examine the context of 11:15 (see Rev. 11:16-17). Furthermore, 11:15 uses this language: τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν καὶ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. Would the singular verb not more fittingly reference "the Lord" (i.e., Jesus' Father)? The context helps us to answer that question in the affirmative.
Robert Wall's observations sound more convincing: "The radical theocentrism of John’s Revelation is not heard more clearly than here. The antecedent of he will reign for ever and ever is God rather than either Christ or both God and Christ. The effective result of the messianic mission of the faithful Jesus is to bring to an end the world’s rebellion against God and to provide God with the agent worthy enough to open the sealed scroll that declares and institutes God’s sovereignty over the evil powers forever."
See Wall, Robert W. Revelation. Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1995. Fifth Printing.
From David Aune's Word Biblical Commentary on Revelation: "The subject of the 3rd sing. fut. verb βασιλεύσει can be either 'the Lord' or 'his Messiah,' but is probably the former."
Aune, Dr. David. Revelation 6-16, Volume 52B (Word Biblical Commentary) (p. 845). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
Aune provides further evidence from many sources that "the Lord" likely is the referent of the singular pronoun in Rev. 11:15:
"καὶ βασιλεύσει εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, 'who will reign for ever and ever.' While the grammatical subject of βασιλεύσει, 'will reign,' is ἡ βασιλεία, 'the kingdom' (v 15b), this is clearly impossible, for the logical subject is certainly God, to be supplied from τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν, 'our Lord,' in v 15b."
Aune, Dr. David. Revelation 6-16, Volume 52B (Word Biblical Commentary) (p. 855). Zondervan Academic. Kindle Edition.
9 comments:
Yes the reign of Jehovah is forever and ever, but the benefits of Jesus rule will last forever and ever. Of course this is all to the glory of the one who put it all in motion Jehovah God.
So all truly benefit forever because of Jesus reign.
Thanks, Philip. I agree that the kingdom is Jehovah's and he's submitted all creation to Jesus, which ultimately glorified Jehovah. However, 11:15 says "he will reign," which likely refers to one person, Jehovah. So Christ appears to sit on Jehovah's throne since God reigns through him.
I say 'yes' in answer to the question, 'is the singular pronoun being used to reference two divine persons?.'
Concerning "reign" as used in Revelation 11:15 the BDAG (3rd Edition) reads, "of God and Christ together" (basileuō, page 170).
I think it is also worth noting what the Jehovah's Witnesses have affirmed.
a. The Watchtower: And in the final book of the Bible the apostle John quoted voices out of heaven that said about the Lord Jehovah: "He will rule as king forever and ever." The writer John here uses the plural form of the Greek phrase, which literally means "to the ages of the ages." (Rev. 11:15; 1 Tim. 1:17) With regard to the future, then, John knew unquestionably that our Creator will reign "into the ages of the ages." (Kingdom Interlinear Translation) (Serve with Eternity in View, June 15, 1974, 6th paragraph)
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1974446
b. The Watchtower: the Scriptures speak of Christ's rule of having "no end." (Isa. 9:7; Luke 1:33; Rev. 11:15). (Jesus' Royal Act of Humility, January 1, 1977, 9th paragraph)
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1977003
FR, I checked BDAG and it doesn't exactly affirm that the singular pronoun is referencing two persons in Rev. 11:15. As I read the entry, BDAG only confirms that 11:15 refers to the rule of God and Christ, not that the pronoun refers to both of them. It is their kingdom, but "the Lord" (Jehovah) rules through Christ. The same BDAG entry says basileuo is used of "God and those closely united w. him"
This includes "faithful Christians" (page 170)
Read the whole BDAG entry.
Revelation 11:16-17: "And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned."
Thanks for the correction. I should have referred to Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament:
of God, Revelation 11:15, 17; Revelation 19:6; of the rule of Jesus, the Messiah, Luke 1:33; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Revelation 11:15 (basileuō)
https://biblehub.com/greek/936.htm
In any event, Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words reads: of Christ, Luke 1:33; 1 Corinthians 15:25; Revelation 11:15 (Reign)
https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ved/r/reign.html
From Isbon Beckwith's Revelation Commentary:
βασιλεύσει εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας , he shall reign for ever : suggested
by Dan. 2:44, 7:27. The subj. of the vb. is God, to be supplied
from τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν; see v. 17. But the joint sovereignty of
Christ is implied in the preceding words. If the words τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ were an editorial insertion to add Christ's joint
sovereignty (see p. 012), the interpolator would hardly have
failed to change the vb. to the pl.
See page 609.
"But the joint sovereignty of Christ is implied in the preceding words."
Doesn't this demonstrate that the singular pronoun encompasses both the Father and the Son?
Beckwith explicitly writes that the subject of the verb is God/the Lord, but he thinks joint sovereignty is demonstrated by the words, the kingdom of the world became the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. I will say more later.
Okay. Thanks.
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