This blog continues the focus on the different methods of interpreting the Apocalypse. The 3rd one is the Idealist view.
Idealist
The view is that the Apocalypse doesn’t relate to historical events, but to “timeless spiritual truths”. This view holds that Revelation deals with the church between the 1st and 2nd coming of Jesus and the judgements found in Revelation are on all sinners at all times. The beast refers to all anti-christian empires at all times and the millennium is not a future event, but just describes the church age.
One of the strengths of this way of thinking or Revelation is that the book has relevance for the church at all times. Among the weaknesses is the inability to see any future events based on the prophecies of the book.
Osborne*** (Pg. 20)
***Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) Grant R. Osborne
The seven ministers ("angels") in Asia Minor, to whom the book of R. is written are unfamiliar with the two Hebrew words "Armageddon" and "Abaddon" but they understand Greek well. Their unfamiliarity with name and place Hebrew (the most basic of all vocabulary in any tongue is name and place vocab.) shows they do not know any Hebrew -- which had been a dead language since before 280 BC in Palestine and abroad.
ReplyDeleteThe Hebrew Bible proved insufficient in 280 BC for the international language needs of Gods people. This gave rise to the necessity of the LXX, which when completed, because sufficient for the international language needs of Gods people. This made the MT (or earlier tradition) unnecessary.
The Hebrew = unnec./ insufficient; the Greek was necessary and sufficient. The national language (Hebrew) is no longer the Bible or Word of God but lost that judicial status when the LXX acquired it.
"Now there was a certain native-born ALEXANDRIAN Jew named Apollos who was mighty in THE SCRIPTURES..." [the Bible, not A Bible]
One chapter earlier Paul "reasoned from the Scriptures daily in the synagogues" [with the diaspora Jews for whom the LXX was written -- they did not know any Hebrew, only Aramaic]
Paul teaches with Apollos at Corinth (1 Cor 1) and Cephas. Joseph, in Genesis -- a type of Christ -- gives heavenly bread (prophetically obtained grain) to all the world when the famine becomes severe. This international, heavenly bread out of Egypt cannot signify the Christ of the MT, but of the LXX only (Joseph never made it out of Egypt alive).
Acts 15, 21 -- the Church declares in Greek only in a Palestinian (ARAMAIC-prevalent) environment. This shows the declarative, ecclesiastical tongue does not follow the "language of the day" (as many say is the reason that the NT appears all and only in Greek -- this is NOT the reason; rather, the ecclesiastical tongue, and the NT follows the Greek because it is the tongue of the ALEXANDRIAN bible -- THE Bible.
Note: If acts two means what people say it does, it proves that the apostles never understood Acts 2 -- it supposedly teaches that we are supposed to make translations when the apostles never made a single translation. Not only did they not make a whole Bible translation, they never even made a single New Testament in translation. These do not appear in the Church until the 5th century.
Did the whole catholic Church fail for the first four centuries -- including the infallible apostolic ministry -- as the translationist position suggests?
Or is the Bible prevalent at the council of Nice (325) -- alpha and omega (no apocrypha) -- the apostolic and catholic Bible? This was clearly the one followed in Acts 15 and 21 -- since there was no New Testament they were following LXX only. The NT completes this Bible, not the Hebrew (KG used to B) Bible.
Doxa to Theo monos.