Greeting & Doxology: Revelation 1:4-6

NAS Revelation 1:4-6 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne; 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood, 6 and He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Greeting – In v. 4, John greets his readers: “John to the seven churches (cf. v. 11) that are in Asia.” “This is the unusual New Testament form for beginning a letter. Indeed the whole book of Revelation from v. 4 to its close is in fact an epistle” {Charles}. It is interesting to note that the apostle Paul too wrote letters to seven places (Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica). “In the N.T. ‘Asia’ always refers to the Roman province of Asia, made up of about one-third of the west and southwest end of modern Asia Minor. Asia lay to the west of the region of Phrygia and Galatia. ‘Asia’ here does not refer to the continent of Asia” {NET Notes}. “Unlike modern letters in which the senders put their names at the end of the letter, ancient letters sensibly named their writers at the beginning” {MacArthur}.

“Grace and peace” – The specific greeting is “Grace and peace.” “The words ‘grace and peace’ concisely summarize both a Christian’s standing before God and his experience. ‘Grace’ speaks of God’s attitude toward believers; ‘peace’ speaks both of their standing with God and their experience of divine peace (from the Hebrew שָׁלוֹם [sha-lome})” {Walvoord}.

“The One who is and was and is to come” – “The expression ‘from the One who is and was and is to come’ is quite extraordinary. It may be an interpretation of the name ‘Yahweh already current, or an attempt to show reverence for the divine name by preserving it unchanged, or simply one more of the grammatical peculiarities so frequent in Revelation” {NET Notes}. “This unusual expression stresses the continuity of God’s sovereign dealings with mankind” {Constable}.

“Seven Spirits” – “The phrase ‘seven spirits’ may refer to the seven principle angelic messengers (cf. v. 20; 8:2, 6; 15:1; 1 Kings 22:19-21; Heb 1:14). Another view, popular among fundamentalists, is that the phrase refers to the Holy Spirit in His fullness (cf. Isaiah 11:2-3; Zech 4:2-7), though this is an unusual way to refer to Him. If so, this title fills out a reference to the trinity in this sentence (cf. Rev 3:1; 4:5; 5:6)” {Constable}. “Jesus Christ is here mentioned last (v. 5), probably because of His prominence in this book” {Walvoord}.

Titles of Christ – “He is described as ‘the faithful witness (3:14; Psalm 89:37; Isa 43:10-13) that is, the source of the revelation to be given (Jesus Christ’s present ministry of revealing what follows [in the book of Revelation – TAR]; ‘the firstborn from the dead’ (cf. Col 1:18), referring to His historic Resurrection (“The Resurrection carried with it a potential lordship over all humanity [Rom 14:9], not only over the church [Col 1:18]” {Constable}); and ‘the ruler of the kings of the earth,’ indicating His prophetic role after His Second Coming (Psalm 89:27; Matt 2:6; Rev 19)” {Walvoord}. “Christ holds the title deed to the world (cf. 5:1-10)” {MacArthur}.

Doxology – In vv. 5b-6, it becomes evident that these verses comprise not only a greeting, but a doxology: “To Him who loves us, and released us from our sins by His blood… To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” A doxology is an expression of praise to God. “The work of Christ on behalf of believers caused John to burst forth in an inspired doxology of praise to Him. In the present, Christ loves believers with an unbreakable love (Rom 8:35-39). The greatest expression of that love came when He ‘released us from our sins by His blood’ – a reference to the atonement provided by His sacrificial death on the Cross on our behalf” {MacArthur}.

“Released by His Blood” – The NAS reads (as do all modern translations), “released us from our sins by His blood.” The Greek verb in the Critical Text is λυω (lu-o), which means to loose, untie, set free. The NKJ and KJV, however, read, “washed us from our sins in His own blood.” The Greek verb in the Majority Text is λουω (lou-o), which means to wash, bathe. While the former has better MS (manuscript) support, a credible case can be made for the latter. Both readings are true to Scripture. The difference is most probably due to scribal error or emendation (scribal correction of textual alterations; an alteration designed to correct or improve a text). Scribal errors are a reality of serious Bible study. Though unbelievers and critics of the Bible like to emphasize them to undermine the integrity of Scripture, in fact they do not affect doctrine at all. More than 95% amount to little more than spelling differences and insignificant grammatical issues.

The Heart of the Gospel – “Here in this clause (v. 5) is the heart of the gospel. Sinners are forgiven by God, set free from sin, death, and hell by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross. God made Him our substitute, killing Him for our sins, so that the penalty was fully paid for us. God’s justice was satisfied and God was able then to grant righteousness to repentant sinners for whom Christ died” {MacArthur}.

“Kingdom” – In v. 6 John says that Christ’s love also caused Him to make “us to be a kingdom.” “This is not the millennial kingdom; it is the universal sphere of God’s rule which all believers enter at salvation (cf. Col 1:13) in which we enjoy His loving, gracious rule and almighty sovereign protection” {MacArthur/TAR}.

“Priests” – “And He has made us to be ‘priests to His God and Father’ (the KJV/NKJ translation of “kings and priests,” is not likely to be correct, since the former Greek word is singular [which supports instead “kingdom”] and the latter is plural), priests with the purpose now and forever of serving God” {Walvoord}.

God’s Love – “It is interesting that John, the Apostle of love, would emphasize God’s love in this first doxology as the dominating divine characteristic (cf. Deut 4:37)” {Constable}.

“Amen” – “The doxology concludes with the ascription to Christ of ‘glory and dominion forever and ever.’ Lenski notes that the Greek takes its greatest term for time, the eon (era, age, time), pluralizes this, and then multiples it by its own plural for ultimate emphasis. In this context, ‘glory’ is praise and honor, and ‘dominion’ connotes power and might. These two are likewise joined in the doxology to God and the Lamb in 5:13. The statement is both a confident assertion about the exalted Christ and an exhortation to regard Him correspondingly. ‘Amen’ transliterates the Hebrew word meaning ‘so be it’” {Mounce}. “Here it signifies the writer’s assent to the truthfulness of these affirmations about Jesus Christ (cf. 1:7; 5:14; 7:12 [twice]; 9:14; 22:20)” {Constable}.

– Professor Thomas A. Rohm