Bullinger and
Apocalypse 12
Bullinger devotes three short sermons
(52, 53, and 54) to Apc 12, which he considers, as we saw, as the beginning of
either the third or fourth vision. His exegesis of the chapter is for the most
part profoundly unoriginal and resembles nothing so much as a patchwork of
interpretations drawn from earlier Western commentators.
Aware of the dominant interpretation
which takes the woman to be the church and of the less well-known
interpretation of her as Mary, Bullinger naturally prefers the former and cites
several passages form other books of the Scripture (Eph. 5, Gen. 2, etc.) in
which a woman embodies the church. However, as we shall see, he does not
discard the Marial exegesis altogether but weaves it skillfully into the
“ecclesiastical” interpretation. Following Bede and François Lambert in
particular, Bullinger takes the sun to represent Christ, “the sun of
righteousness.” His interpretation of the moon under the woman’s feet is,
however, very much his own. He agrees with Bede, Lambert, and others that the
church tramples underfoot the moon, which stands for all things corruptible and
changeable. (Cent sermons, 1565, 223r) However, he also takes the
passage to refer to the light of the church’s righteousness, which waxes and
wanes in a similar fashion to the moon, as it is subject to the influence of
the flesh. (Cent sermons, 1565, 223r) Such flashes of individuality are
isolated, and it is obvious that Bullinger is very much influence by Victorinus
of Poetovio as well as by Primasius, Bede, and Lambert, seeing as he interprets
the stars in the woman’s crown as standing for patriarchs, prophets, and apostles.
(Cent sermons, 1565, 223r) However, like Lambert, he insists that it is
the doctrine of the ministry that is being expounded.
Who or what is the woman pregnant
with? We saw that according to Bede she was pregnant with the truth faithful
(to whom the church constantly gives birth), whereas for Lambert she was
pregnant with Christ in the sense of “pregnant with the message of Christ.”
Bullinger adopts neither interpretation wholeheartedly, although he inclines
toward Lambert’s. Like the Wittenberg commentator, he notes that Christ is born
in the faithful whenever they are reborn by his faith and, again like Lambert,
he cites Gal. 4.19 in support of this. (Lambert, In Apc, 15828, 199v)
However not wishing to do away with the Marial exegesis, he also insists that
the church can be pregnant with Christ in the sense of wanting Christ to be
born of the Virgin. He does, however, admit, after Primasius, that the woman
herself cannot represent the Virgin, seeing as she suffers from birth pangs,
which are not possible in a virgin birth. (Cent sermons, 1565, 223r) (Irena
Backus, Reformation Readings of the Apocalypse: Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenberg
[Oxford Studies in Historical Theology; Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000], 107)