The Testimony of Jesus
The second identifying mark of the remnant church is “the testimony of Jesus” (marturia Iesou). This expression occurs six times in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:2, 9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4, NIV).
What is the meaning of the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” in the following texts? Rev. 1:2, 9; 19:10; 20:4, NIV.
Two grammatically possible explanations concerning its meaning have been put forward. The first view interprets “the testimony of Jesus” as man’s witness for Christ (NEB, RSV). The second view understands “the testimony of Jesus” as the self-revelation of Jesus—His own testimony (NIV, NKJV).
A study of the word testimony in John’s writings indicates that each time it appears in the same grammatical construction as in Revelation, it always refers to Jesus’ own testimony (John 1:19; 3:11, 32, 33; 5:31). In contrast, the idea of witnessing about somebody in John's writings consistently is expressed by a different grammatical construction.
In the book of Revelation, therefore, the expression “testimony of Jesus” also should be understood as Jesus’ testimony about Himself, and not the remnant’s testimony about Him. This is borne out by a study of the texts in Revelation themselves. Revelation 1:2 says that John bore witness to “the word of God” and to “the testimony of Jesus.” Thus, “the word of God” refers to what God says and is parallel to “the testimony of Jesus.” Thus, “the word of God” is simply what Jesus says; it is the testimony that Jesus gives about Himself.
The same is true in Revelation 1:9. John introduces himself and states his credentials and says that he is on the island of Patmos because of “the word of God” and “the testimony of Jesus.” The parallelism between the “word of God” and “the testimony of Jesus” is again clearly discernible. Thus, according to the principle of “interpreting scripture with scripture,” every text in the book of Revelation where the phrase “testimony of Jesus” appears always refers to Jesus’ own testimony.
| How has Jesus revealed Himself to you? Would you like to know Him better? What’s the only way you can? |
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