18–19 Before the book concludes it utters a solemn
warning, probably via the voice of John, to those who hear its prophetic words.
Using Deuteronomy as a model (Deut. 4:2), Revelation threatens dire
consequences to the one who adds to
or removes any of the words of this
prophetic scroll. Those who add
to them are threatened with the plagues
written about in this scroll (those described in the seals, trumpets and
bowls cycles): in other words, they will be treated as those associated with
the monster or with Babylon, ‘those who make their home on the earth’. Anyone who removes any of the words will lose their share in the tree of life and the holy city. Both amount to the
same thing. These are stern words, particularly threatening for scribes forced
to copy manuscripts of the Apocalypse prior to the advent of printing, or for
compilers of ecclesiastical lectionaries in any age. Perhaps most striking,
however, is the self-understanding that such a statement presupposes.
Revelation’s author is consciously placing it on a par with Deuteronomy, and
therefore with the core of the authoritative Jewish scriptures (similar claims
are made for the Pentateuch in its Septuagintal version in Ep. Arist 310–11). Perhaps the warning also betrays a fear on the
part of John of scribal tampering with his text . . . (Ian Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John
[Black's New Testament Commentary; London: Continuum, 2006], 319)
Further Reading:
Not by Scripture Alone: A Latter-day Saint Refutation of Sola Scriptura