Revelation

Commentary on Revelation by Alfred Plummer

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], Revelation. The Pulpit Commentary

This is a commentary on the book of Revelation in The Pulpit Commentary series by Alfred Plummer. It presented difficulties in scanning because of the very poor quality of the paper used. My previous scanner was unequal to the challenge, but my new one has at least provided a readable result, even if it is not up the quality I would like. Plummer also wrote a commentary on the letters of John in the same series, which I will look out for.

My thank to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain work for digitisation.

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], Revelation. The Pulpit Commentary. London & New York: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1909. Hbk. pp.585. [Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Contents

  • Introduction
    1. The Title
    2. Author
    3. Date
    4. Place
    5. Manuscripts
    6. Versions
    7. Quotations
    8. History of the Printed Text
    9. Character of the Greek
    10. Authenticity
  • Commentary
  • Index

Introduction. 1. The Title

The Revelation. – The name given to this book in our Bibles is the English form of the Latin equivalent of the Greek title Apokaluphis. This Greek title is as old as the book itself, and forms the first word of the original text, where it constitutes an essential member of the opening sentence and paragraph. It was consistent with the Hebrew cast of the whole document that the Hebrew fashion of naming books by their initial words should be followed in this instance; but the classical and modern method of designating a. literary work by the name ‘of its principal theme happened here ‘to lead to the same resnlt: Apokaluphis is not only the initial word of the book, but also a subject-title, descriptive of the largest portion of the contents.

In the Vulgate version the Greek word is retained, both in the title and at the commencement of the text. Its proper Latin equivalent, however, is not found by merely writing it in Latin letters, apocalypsis, but by combining the Latin renderings of its two component parts, taking re to represent apo and velatio as synonymous with kaluphis. According to the etymological genius of the respective languages, just as the simple substantive velatio, or kaluphis, signified the act of covering with a veil, so the compound re-velatio, or apo-kaluphis, meant the act of removing, turning back, or taking off the veil, in such a manner as to discover what previously was hidden from view.

The Latin compound, unaltered except by the Anglicizing of its termination, has become thoroughly naturalized in our English language; and on that account it is, for biblical and ministerial use, preferable to the original title, which, even in its Anglicized form, “Apocalypse,” has never ceased to be “Greek” to ordinary English ears….

Pages i-ii

Evangelical Quarterly Volume 86 (2014) on-line

Evangelical Quarterly Volume 86 (2014) front cover

BiblicalStudies.org.uk provides the on-line archive for The Evangelical Quarterly, subject to the permission of the authors, who usually hold the rights to these articles. There is a five year delay between publication and the articles appearing in the archive. Most of the material from Volume 86 (2014) is now available for free download. It contains a good variety of subject matter: from the trinity to hermeneutics; early church history to eschatology, and so should provide something of interest to most readers.

My thanks to the authors who have granted permission for their articles to be hosted here. More may appear later, so be sure to visit the main Evangelical Quarterly archive for updates and the download links.

Table of Contents

86.1

John Wilks, “Editorial,”: 3-5.

Fred Sanders, “Redefining Progress in Trinitarian Theology: Stephen R. Holmes on the Trinity,”: 6-20.

Jason Radcliff, “T.F. Torrance in the light of Stephen Holmes’s Critique of Contemporary Trinitarian Thought,”: 21-38.

Jon Mackenzie, “A Double-Headed Luther? A Lutheran Response to The Holy Trinity by Stephen R. Holmes,”: 39-54.

Kevin Giles, “A personal response to Stephen R. Holmes,”: 55-62.

John E. Colwell, “A Conversation Overheard: Reflecting on the Trinitarian Grammar of Intimacy and Substance,”: 63-76.

86.2

Bernardo Cho, “Subverting Slavery: Philemon, Onesimus, and Paul’s Gospel of Reconciliation,”: 99-115.

Gregory R. Goswell, “The book of Ruth and the house of David,”: 116-129.

Peter Ensor, “Tertullian and penal substitutionary atonement,”: 130-142.

Andrew Gregory, “Patristic study debunked – or redivivus? A review article,”: 143-155.

86.3

Michael Strickland, “Redaction Criticism on Trial: The Cases of A.B. Bruce and Robert Gundry,” Andrew Gregory, “Patristic study debunked – or redivivus? A review article,”: 195-209.

Benjamin L. Merkle & W. Tyler Krug, “Hermeneutical Challenges for a Premillennial Interpretation of Revelation 20,”: 210-226.

Laurie Guy, “Back to the Future: The Millennium and the Exodus in Revelation 20,”: 227-238.

Nicholas P. Lunn, “‘Let my people go!’ The exodus as Israel’s metaphorical divorce from Egypt,”: 239-251.

86.4

Timothy C. Tennent, “Postmodernity, the Paradigm and the Pre-Eminence of Christ,”: 291-302.

Stanley E. Porter, “The Authority of the Bible as a Hermeneutical Issue,”: 303-324.

Benjamin Sargent, “Biblical hermeneutics and the Zurich Reformation,” Timothy C. Tennent, “Postmodernity, the Paradigm and the Pre-Eminence of Christ,”: 325-342.

Mark Saucy, “Personal Ethics of the New Covenant: How Does the Spirit Change Us?” Evangelical Quarterly 86.4 (Oct. 2014): 343-378.

Commentary on Revelation by William Henry Simcox

Commentary on Revelation by William Henry Simcox 1The Reverend William Henry Simcox was the Rector of Harlaxton in Lincolnshire. This is his contribution to the Cambridge Bible for Schools series on the Book of Revelation.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

William Henry Simcox [1843-1889], The Revelation of S. John the Divine with Notes and Introduction, 2nd edn. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. Hbk. pp.176. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Text and Notes
  3. Appendices

Introduction: Authorship and Canonicity

In the case of some of the books of Scripture, the questions of their authorship and of their canonical authority are quite independent of one another. Many books are anonymous, many have their authors known only by a post-canonical tradition; and the rejection, in any case where it may be called for, of this tradition need not and ought not to involve a denial of the divine authority of the book. Even in cases where the supposed author is named or unmistakeably indicated in the book itself, it does not always follow that the book must either be written by him, or can owe none of its inspiration to the Spirit of truth: the person of the professed author may be assumed dramatically without any mala fides. On the other hand, there are books which plainly exclude any such hypothesis, and must either be forgeries, more or less excusable but hardly consistent with divine direction, or else must be accepted as genuine and inspired works of their professed authors.