THE GENRE of REVELATION

In the last half of the 20^th Century one of the new fields of study of the Bible is genre criticism. This classifies books of the Bible according to literary genre, and has affected how some have interpreted the Bible. In general, the books of the Bible are classified in 14 types of literary genre: Apocalyptic – Revelation; Biography - Abraham, Moses David; Psalm – Psalm 19, 119;  Exposition – Hebrews;  Narrative - Genesis, Ezra, Acts;  Oratory - Acts 7;  Parable - Matthew 13:1-53;  Pastoral - Psalm 23;  Poetry – Psalms; Prophecy - Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel; Proverb – Proverbs;  Satire - Ezekiel 34;  Tragedy - Lot, Samson, Saul; and Wisdom Literature - Job, Ecclesiastes. [Swanson, Erick W., “The Genre of Revelation” electronic media, www. Theological Studies. org.] The recent trend is to classify the book of Revelation as apocalyptic.

The problem with this sort of system is that it lumps the whole book into a classification that may or may not be exact. Revelation is a good example. Almost everyone agrees that the book contains apocalyptic, prophetic, and epistolary elements. However, by the classification as apocalyptic, derived from Revelation 1:1, many have made it the overriding understanding. “Genre classification has affected how scholars have interpreted various NT books, particularly the last book of the NT” observes Thomas. [EVANGELICAL HERMENEUTICS: THE NEW VERSUS THE OLD, 323.]   Many have used this as an excuse to promote a nonliteral or allegorical interpretation of the book. The term apocalyptic applies broadly to a group of Jewish writings that existed between 200 BC and 100 AD.

However, we must ask ourselves if this is valid? What does the genre apocalyptic contain? What are its features?  There are five characteristics of Jewish apocalyptic literature. [Erik W. Swanson, THE GENRE OF REVELATION, 7-10]

·         It is revelatory. Revelation came not by the Word of God, or a prophet, but entirely though dreams, visions, and heavenly journeys. Discovered or revealed are hidden secrets, solution to the evil, and the coming of the kingdom through these visions.

·         It is pseudonymous. While some prophets did write anonymously, none are seen as pseudonymous. They used their real names. In Jewish apocalyptic literature they attributed their works to already established prophets—Adam, Moses, Isaiah, Baruch, Solomon, and Ezra.

·         It is symbolic. Apocalyptic writers built on the symbolism of the Old Testament prophets, and go beyond the O.T. symbolism to greatly elaborated apocalypses. Symbolism plays a major role in this genre. “Symbolism became pervasive, extreme, and even grotesque” in the Apocalyptic writings. [Swanson, 10] This further expands the imaginative elements of apocalyptic literature.

·         It is pseudo-predictive. The prophet stood in the present and proclaimed future historical and eschatological events as revealed to them by God. Apocalyptic literature is always eschatological, and foretells future events that arise, not out of the present situation, but breaks into the present. [Robert Mounce, REVELATION, 3]. It sees prophecy was ex eventu, after the fact.

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While this genre is dualistic, good versus evil, in which God wins in the end, two other features must be pointed out. First, Jewish apocalyptic writings are pessimistic concerning the present time. They have a sense of despair, that nothing but evil reigned in the present. They lost all sense of God’s activity in present history. The sense of hope is lost. They became unconcerned about the connection of the present history with eschatology. Second, it was ethically passive. There was no sense of sinfulness, nor need of repentance. To “the apocalyptists the present age is evil and without meaning” observes Mounce [Revelation, 7]. It sees Israel as righteous before God and was interested in consoling and sustaining the remnant, rather than judging the nominally religious.

Does this genre capture the essence of the book of Revelation? While there are similarities—revelatory, symbolic, dualistic, and visionary—these are not sufficient to say that the book is apocalyptic in the sense of the Jewish apocalyptic literature. Differences abound. These include:

·         Lack of pseudonymity.  Revelation was written by a living author who identified himself, and was known by his audience.

·         Lack of pessimism. Revelation is optimistic. Why? Swanson answers: “Because for John, the critical point in history is not in the future, at the end, but in the past, at the Cross. The Lamb that has already been slain dominates John’s writing. God’s people conquer Satan and the problem of evil ‘by the blood of the Lamb’ (Rev. 12:11)” [Swanson, 19]. Victory is provided in history, and is worked out by the obedient suffering of God’s people (Rev. 12:11; 15:2). God is working in history; He is active and gives hope to the present by means of the gospel. God is not waiting to interject His kingdom into history, but is activity working His plan for history with the earthly kingdom as the climax.

·         Strong presence of ethical demands. While the apocalyptic genre centers upon comfort, it does not give a sense of ethical living in the present. Revelation however greatly differs and places strong ethical demands on God’s people. Repentance is a keynote of chapters 2-3 (2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19). People are called to evangelize others, so they may drink of the water of life (22:17).

There can be no question that the apocalyptic genre does not the fully capture the essence of the book of Revelation. While it may have characteristics of the genre, it is not central form of the book. Form should not have priority over content. One aspect that is often overlooked is how did John view his writing? Was it apocalyptic? No it was not. John classifies his own work as that of prophecy (1:3; 10:7, 11; 22:7, 10, 18-19). This is vital to the understanding of this great work from the pen of John the Apostle. To the extent that Revelation is prophetic, one should expect some information about future historical events. That is exactly what we find. As prophecy it is identified with the Old Testament writings of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, all of which have some characteristics of what is called the apocalyptic genre included in them, but are not classified as such, they are classified as prophecy. There is no valid reason to classify Revelation differently. As Osborne observes: “The value of recognizing the prophetic nature of the book underscores that John is not merely producing his own epistle (like Paul or Peter) but is the prophetic channel of a message directly from God and Christ. The origin of this book is not his fertile imagination but God himself” [Grant R. Osborne, BECNT: REVELATION, 13]. John considers himself as a prophet writing prophecy. Revelation is distinct from apocalyptic genre, although using aspects of it; Revelation’s true genre is Prophecy. Like OT prophecy, this views the judgments of God in history as a foretaste to the final judgment. John stands at the end of the line of God’s prophets, foretells what God is doing in history and gives the capstone of history as the coming kingdom of God and the appearance of the King, Jesus Christ. Garland however reminds us, “As all interpreters ought to be quick to recognize prophecy was never given primarily for it predictive content. It was always given with an emphasis on motivating it hearers to repent and return to God” [Tony Garland, THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS CHRIST, 1:36].