A Reason to Explain –
A need to understand what is written. From Augustine:
“What then, Brothers, shall we keep silence?
Why then read it if only to keep silence about it?
Or
why hear it if it is not to be explained?
But also,
why explain it if it is not to be understood?”
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A Prophecy Again –
A little book eaten by John the Apostle who added the seven churches. He was told to prophesy again. Followers of John the Baptist were found in Ephesus by Paul in Acts 19. This is a reasonable explanation of why John uses his name three times in the first chapter of the Apocalypse. Three different Johns.
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A Dog That Didn’t Bark –
A commentary by Victorinus on the Apocalypse. He mentions the seven churches that Paul wrote to but not the ones John wrote to. Eusebius has the same problem. He mentions six of the seven churches of the Apocalypse but never associates any of them with the Apocalypse. Is there a reasonable explanation for this?
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A Reason to Explain –
A need to understand what is written. From Augustine:
“What then, Brothers, shall we keep silence?
Why then read it if only to keep silence about it?
Or
why hear it if it is not to be explained?
But also,
why explain it if it is not to be understood?”
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A Conjecture –
A reasonable explanation to address what is not settled. Who wrote it? When was it written? Why was the Apocalypse written? The Apocalypse has “a decidedly Jewish complexion” and it was suggested that John the Baptist was the first writer. Others have suggested multiple writers. All named John.
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A Third John –
A confirmation that the apostle wrote the Apocalypse was necessary to get it in the Bible which was being translated and defined by Jerome. Just before the Vulgate was completed John Chrysostom was in Ephesus replacing seven corrupt bishops. Jerome needed a reliable version of the Apocalypse. A third John who also am your brother.
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A Home For Doubt –
A necessary explanation for what we experience. We have to make sense of it. To ignore it is to deny reality. To deny objectivity. Call it speculation, conjecture, or whatever but please accept the fact that there must be a reason, a purpose, a meaning, etc. At least ask the question why. There may be a reasonable explanation.
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A Servant of God –
A “lamb” and the “bare record” ties John the Baptist to the Apocalypse. Vischer holds the Apocalypse to have been originally a purely Jewish composition. It would not have included the seven churches that Eusebius and Victorinus failed to recognize. There is a reasonable explanation why they didn’t.
A Witness –
A Church History that includes six of the seven churches that John wrote to but Eusebius never associates them with the Apocalypse. Victorinus doesn’t even mention them. Is it possible there is a version of the Apocalypse that doesn’t include the seven churches? It could be a reasonable explanation for what we are looking at.
A Witness –
A view of what was. We don’t know what the Apocalypse looked like in the third century. Victorinus knew and we know what his commentary looked like. It didn’t include the seven churches John wrote to. It did include the seven churches Paul wrote to. There is a reasonable explanation for this. He is not the only witness.
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