Giancarlo Biguzzi, «The Chaos of Rev 22,6-21 and Prophecy in Asia», Vol. 83 (2002) 193-210

Interpreters of the Apocalypse agree that in Ap 22,6-21 disorder reigns and that, most of all, various voices in these verses interfere with one another, without care for rules which would produce a proper development. Therefore, chaos is undeniably in the text. But it is equally true that with some ease one can discern in the text an articulation in three strophes: the first and the third speak of the revelation received by John and of the transmission of that revelation to the churches by means of John’s book, while the second is concerned with the ethical life and its eschatological reward. All this reveals the anxiety of John about a relaxation of vigilance on the part of the churches of Asia, so that John consequently insists on the imminence of the eschatological Coming and labors to show the legitimacy of the demands of his book, especially before the eyes of his ‘brother-prophets’. It is the framework of their prophetic style, probably charismatic like that of the prophets of 1 Cor 14, which allows us to make sense of the interference and injection of various voices in these verses of the johannine Apocalypse; we find a similar style in certain other verses at the beginning and in the body of John’s book.

14,30a). Paul then orders that the first prophet has to remain silent (o( prw/toj siga/tw, v. 30,b), because the spirits of prophets (pneu/mata profhtw=n) are subject to the prophets (v. 32). Well, John’s vocabulary is surprisingly close to Paul’s: if Paul writes pneu/mata profhtw=n, John has pneu/mata tw=n profhtw=n in Rev 22,6b, and pneu/ma th=j profhtei/aj in 19,10. But — what is more — Paul’s o( prw/toj siga/tw, if compared with Revelation, helps understanding why the narrator is silenced in Rev 16,14 or in 22,6 by the voice proclaiming: ‘Behold, I am coming soon!’ Finally, all that a non-charismatic Corinthian could do when participating in charismatic meetings was to assent to the speeches of the prophets by uttering his ‘Amen’ (1 Cor 14,16): an Amen like the Amens which are found in the ‘charismatico-prophetic’ contexts of Rev 1,7 and, exactly, Rev 22,20.

        It is not implausible, then, to interpret the interference of many voices in Rev from the perspective of the Corinthian charismatic praxis, and vice versa to see in Rev 22,6-21 a concrete case of what the two or three prophets who were permitted to speak by Paul could have said in the Corinthian assembly, even when interrupting someone else who was already speaking.

3. The prophetic praxis and John’s relationship to the brother-prophets

        In conclusion, John clothes his writing with a charismatic way of speaking, and thereby probably intends to establish some sort of link with the ‘brother-prophets’ whom he mentions in 19,10 and 22,9. It is a way of confirming solidarity with them, or better, of saying that, if he wants to, he is able to speak as they and their congregations do.

        John follows the same strategy of ‘recalling solidarity in order to be listened to’ in 1,9 where he defines himself ‘a sharer (sugkoinwno/j)’ with his addressees. When scrutinised attentively, the sugkoinwno/j of 1,9 and the a)delfoi/ of 19,10 and 22,9, however, betray John’s awareness of his superiority. He experiences tribulation as the seven churches do (1,9), and yet it is he who is in the position of narrating the christophany and the vision of the heavenly throne, and it is he who says, in the name of Christ: ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer’ (2,10), or ‘Hold fast to what you have, until I come’ (2,25), or again: ‘Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints’ (13,10). In other words, even if John imitates the intermittent language of his brother-prophets, first of all he is well aware that he is bound to pass on to them the revelations he receives, and therefore that he is called to a responsibility superior to their responsibility.