Monday, June 29, 2015

Revelation 1:1 versus Trinitarian Christology

Many biblical texts portray Jesus being subordinate to the Father, even after his ascension and exaltation (e.g., 1 Cor 15:20-28; Heb 1:3). Another powerful example of Jesus' subordination to the Father, post-ascension/exaltation is that of Rev 1:1, which reads:

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant. (ESV)

The text is rather clear that God (θεος) is the person of the Father in this verse (note the differentiation, not just between the persons of the Father and the Son, but God [θεος] and Jesus), but that the Father gave this revelation to Jesus; Jesus did not simply give this to an angel who mediated it to the author of Revelation.

The Greek underlying the phrase, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him" is Αποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἣν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς. The term "gave" (εδωκεν) is the aorist indicative active of διδωμι which means "to give" or "to pass/hand down." The text is crystal clear—God the Father gave this revelation (i.e., the book of Revelation) to Jesus; it did not originate with Jesus Himself or from Jesus ex nihilo, if you will.


Even in his highly exalted station, Jesus is subordinate to the Father, something which is part-and-parcel of the entirety of New Testament Christology, though such is at odds with so-called "Orthodox" formulations of Christology.