I testify to everyone who hears the words of
the prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to them, God will place the plagues
that are written in this book upon that person. And if anyone removes anything
from the words of the book of the prophecy, God will remove his part from the
tree of life and his part in the holy city, which are described in this book.
(Rev 22:18-19 | Thomas
Wayment Translation)
Rev 22:18-19
is a common “proof-text” used by some advocates of Sola Scriptura. For a thorough exegesis of this passage, and a
refutation of the claim that the passage refutes the Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura, see:
For those
who may be interested, here is a discussion of the passage from a traditionalist
Roman Catholic commentary who argues it is about adding to the prophecies in
the book of Revelation or a denial of the book containing predictive prophecies:
A Solemn Warning
So intent is Jesus on fulfilling his mission
that he gives a solemn warning to the readers of the Apocalypse. This is Jesus
himself talking to all of us. When he says: “I warn everyone . . .” it is akin
to a colloquial expression in English: “I swear to you . . .” or “Don’t you
dare . . .” or “Don’t you even think about tampering with this.” It is a solemn
threat.
Hence, not only is the Apocalypse attested by
two or three witnesses (God, the angel and Jesus), it is sealed in blood with
an oath, as it were. Both “adding to” and “taking away” the words of the
Apocalypse will result in the same punishment (hell), but in order to emphasize
the seriousness of the threat it is described in two stages, that is, for those
who “add,” Jesus will add to them; and those who “take away,” Jesus will take
away from them. The emphasis is on the possible ways of tampering with the
divine word: adding to or taking away.
More specifically, the focus is on “prophecy,”
as can be seen in the two similar but inverted phrases: “the words of the
prophecy of this book (verse 18) and “the words of the book of this prophecy”
(verse 19). Since the operative word in both cases is “prophecy,” then “adding
to” would refer to those who claim that God inspired them with additional
prophecy about future events, and “taking away” would refer to someone who
denies that the Apocalypse contains predictive prophecy. (Robert A. Sungenis, The Apocalypse of Saint John [The
Catholic Apologetics Study Bible Volume II; Goleta, Calif.: Queenship
Publishing, 2007], 535)
