Unlike Paul and the author of Ephesians (see
Muddiman 2001: 141), John of Patmos seems to dissent from the view
that Paul is to be numbered among the apostles. He has already
alluded to the possibility of there being ‘false apostles’ among the
congregation in Ephesus (2:2; though Paul himself is aware of the same
possibility, 2 Cor. 11:13); the message to the congregation in Thyatira has
castigated ‘Jezebel’ for a practice which arguably she might have derived from
Paul’s teaching (2:20; cf. 1 Corinthians 8–10; see Boxall 1998). Paul’s
name is not to be found inscribed on the foundation
stones of the holy city, for these bear only the twelve names. (Ian Boxall, The Revelation of
St. John [Black's New Testament Commentary; London: Continuum, 2006], 303)
