《Lange’s Commentary on the HolyScriptures–Revelation (Vol. 1)》(Johann P. Lange)
Commentator
Johann Peter Lange (April 10, 1802, Sonneborn (now a part of Wuppertal) - July 9, 1884, age 82), was a German Calvinist theologian of peasant origin.
He was born at Sonneborn near Elberfeld, and studied theology at Bonn (from 1822) under K. I. Nitzsch and G. C. F. Lüheld several pastorates, and eventually (1854) settled at Bonn as professor of theology in succession to Isaac August Dorner, becoming also in 1860 counsellor to the consistory.
Lange has been called the poetical theologian par excellence: "It has been said of him that his thoughts succeed each other in such rapid and agitated waves that all calm reflection and all rational distinction become, in a manner, drowned" (F. Lichtenberger).
As a dogmatic writer he belonged to the school of Schleiermacher. His Christliche Dogmatik (5 vols, 1849-1852; new edition, 1870) "contains many fruitful and suggestive thoughts, which, however, are hidden under such a mass of bold figures and strange fancies and suffer so much from want of clearness of presentation, that they did not produce any lasting effect" (Otto Pfleiderer).
Introduction
THE
REVELATION OF JOHN
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EXPOUNDED
BY
JOHN PETER LANGE, D. D.
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BONN
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TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
EVELINA MOORE
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ENLARGED AND EDITED BY
E. R. CRAVEN, D. D.
PASTOR OF THE THIRD PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH AT NEWARK, N. J.
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TOGETHER WITH A DOUBLE ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO ALL THE TEN VOLUMES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT BY
JOHN H. WOODS, A. M.
VOL. X. OF THE NEW TESTAMENT:
CONTAINING THE REVELATION OF John, AND A GENERAL ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO ALL THE VOLUMES OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
PREFACE BY THE GENERAL EDITOR
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With this tenth volume the New Testament Division of the American edition of Lange’s Biblework is completed. The first volume (on Matthew) was published nearly ten years ago (October, 1864), seven years after the German original (1857). The remaining five volumes of the Old Testament Division have been distributed among competent American and English scholars, and will be published as soon as they are ready, without waiting for the German edition, which has been already anticipated in the recently published volume on the Minor Prophets. The completion of the whole series at no distant time, therefore, is placed beyond personal contingencies.
I have reason to be thankful to a kind Providence for life and strength, to my publishers for their energy, patience and perseverance, and to my forty-five contributors for their faithful and efficient co-operation in this laborious and complicated enterprise. I shall never forget the delightful associations with so many eminent Christian scholars, who, on my invitation, have made the treasures of foreign learning and the results of their own researches accessible to the English and American students of the Book of books. Lange’s Commentary, we trust, will long be resorted to as a thesaurus of Biblical learning and piety from all ages and sections of the Christian Church.
This volume is devoted to the last and most difficult book of the Bible, the divine seal of the whole, the cross of crosses of commentators. The Apocalypse will not be fully comprehended until we see it in the light of the millennium and the new heavens on the new earth; nevertheless, even in its partial and imperfect understanding, it is continually fulfilling its noble mission as a book of hope and comfort in the Christian Church. The Jewish Prophets, in spite of all the obscurities and conflicting interpretations, served the same purpose under the Old dispensation long before they were fulfilled in the New. “How many passages in the prophets,” says the genial Herder, “are obscure in their primary historical references, and yet these passages, containing divine truth, doctrine and consolation, are manna for all hearts and all ages. Should it not be so with the book, which is an abstract of almost all prophets and apostles?” It has been such a manna especially in ages of trial and persecution, and will continue to instruct, to warn, to cheer, and to assure the Church militant of the final triumph of Christ—the Alpha and Omega of history.
Dr. Lange, in this Commentary, which appeared in1871 (302pages), boldly meets the difficulties, and marks a considerable advance in the deeper spiritual apprehension of the Apocalypse and its mysterious symbolism. (See his Preface.)
The American edition has fallen into able and faithful hands. The translation of Miss Evelina Moore is all that can be desired.
The additions of Rev. Dr. Craven greatly enhance the value of the work. He has paid minute attention to the textual department, making use of the latest critical labors of Tregelles and Tischendorf.[FN1] He has throughout embodied the results of English scholarship, and of his own long-continued, careful and devout study of this book. We direct the reader’s attention especially to his clear and condensed abstracts of views of the different classes of Apocalyptic interpreters, scattered throughout the volume, and to his original discussions of the following important points:
Excursus on the Basileia
Excursus on Hades
Note on Symbolism
Note on the Living beings (Ζῶα)
Note on the First Six Seals
Note on the Great Tribulation
Note on the Seventh Seal and Trumpets
Note on the Witnesses
Note on the Future Advent of Christ
Note on the Theories concerning the Millennium
Note on the First Resurrection
Note on the General Resurrection and Judgment
Note on the New Jerusalem
This volume contains also a double Alphabetical Index, verbal and topical, to the whole New Testament Division of the Commentary. It was prepared with great care and skill by Mr. John H. Woods, A. M, of Jacksonville, Illinois, and will be found almost indispensable in the use of any of the ten volumes which it covers.
PHILIP SCHAFF
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
TO THE CRITICAL, DOCTRINAL, AND HOMILETICAL COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLE
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GENERAL EDITORS:
Rev. JOHANN PETER LANGE, D.D,
Consistorial Counselor and Professor of Theology in the University of Bonn.
Rev. PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D, LL.D,
Professor of Sacred Literature in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
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I. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE GERMAN EDITION
Rev. C. A. AUBERLEN, PH.D, D. D,
Professer of Theology in the University of Basle, Switzerland.
Rev. KARL CHR. W. F. BÄHR, D.D,
Ministerial Counselor at Carlsruhe.
Rev. KARL BRAUNE, D.D,
General Superintendent at Altenburg, Saxony.
Rev. PAULUS CASSEL, Ph.D,
Professor in Berlin.
Rev. CHR. FR. DAVID ERDMANN, D.D,
Gen. Superintendent of Silesia, and Prof. Honorarius of Theology in the University of Breslau.
Rev. F. R. FAY,
Pastor in Crefeld, Prussia.
Rev. G. F. C. FRONMÜLLER, Ph.D,
Pastor at Kemnath, Würtemberg.
Rev. KARL GEROK, D.D,
Prelate and Chief Chaplain of the Court, Stuttgart.
Rev. PAUL KLEINERT, Ph.D, B.D,
Professor of Old Testament Exegesis in the University of Berlin.
Rev. CHRIST. FR. KLING, D.D,
Dean of Marbach on the Neckar, Würtemberg.
Rev. GOTTHARD VICTOR LECHLER, D.D,
Professor of Theology, and Superintendent at Leipzig.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
Rev. CARL BERNHARD MOLL, D.D,
General Superintendent in Königsberg.
Rev. C. W. EDWARD NAEGELSBACH, Ph.D,
Dean at Bayreuth, Bavaria.
Rev. J. J. VAN OOSTERZEE, D.D,
Professor of Theology in the University of Utrecht.
Rev. C. J. RIGGENBACH, D.D,
Professor of Theology in the University of Basle.
Rev. OTTO SCHMOLLER, Ph.D, B.D,
Urach, Würtemberg.
Rev. FR. JULIUS SCHROEDER, D.D,
Pastor at Elberfeld, Prussia.
Rev. FR. W. SCHULTZ, D.D,
Professor of Theology in Breslau.
Rev. OTTO ZOECKLER, D.D,
Professor of Theology in the University at Greifswald.
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II. CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ANGLO-AMERICAN EDITION
Rev. CHARLES A. AIKEN, Ph.D, D.D,
Professor of Christian Ethics and Apologetics at Princeton, N.J.
Rev. SAMUEL RALPH ASBURY, M.A,
Philadelphia.
Rev. GEORGE R. BLISS, D.D,
Professor in Crozer Theological Seminary, Upland, Pa.
Rev. CHAS. A. BRIGGS, D.D,
Professor of Oriental Languages in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
Rev. JOHN A. BROADUS, D.D,
Professor of New Testament Exegesis at Greenville, S. C.
Rev. TALBOT W. CHAMBERS, D.D,
Pastor of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch Church, New York.
Rev. THOMAS J. CONANT, D.D,
Brooklyn, N. Y.
Rev. E. R. CRAVEN, D.D,
Pastor of the Third Presbyterian Church, Newark, N. J.
Rev. HOWARD CROSBY, D.D, LL.D,
Chancellor of the University of New York.
Rev. GEO. E. DAY, D.D,
Professor in Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Conn.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Rev. CHAS. ELLIOTT, D.D,
Professor of Biblical Literature and Exegesis, Chicago, Ill.
Rev. L. J. EVANS, D.D,
Professor of New Test. Exegesis in Lane Theol. Seminary, Cincinnati.
Rev. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D,
Principal and Professor of Divinity in the Free Church College, Glasgow.
Rev. WILLIAM FINDLAY, M.A,
Pastor of the Free Church, Larkhall, Scotland.
Rev. JOHN FORSYTH, D.D, LL.D,
Chaplain and Prof. of Ethics and Law in U. S. Mil. Academy, West Point, N. Y.
Rev. FREDERIC GARDINER, D.D,
Prof. of the Literature of the O. T. in Berkeley Divinity School, Middletown, Ct.
Rev. ABRAHAM GOSMAN, D.D,
Lawrenceville, N. J.
Rev. W. HENRY GREEN, D.D, LL.D,
Professor of Oriental Literature in the Theol. Seminary at Princeton, N. J.
Rev. JAMES B. HAMMOND, M.A,
New York.
Rev. HORATIO B. HACKETT, D.D,
Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the Theological Seminary, Rochester, N. Y.
Rev. CHESTER D. HARTRANFT, D.D,
New Brunswick, N. J.
Rev. EDWIN HARWOOD, D.D,
Rector of Trinity Church, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. W. H. HORNBLOWER, D.D,
Professor of Sacred Rhetoric, etc, in the Theol. Seminary at Allegheny, Pa.
Rev. JOHN F. HURST, D.D,
President of the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison, N. J.
Rev. MELANCTHON H. JACOBUS, D.D, LL.D,
Professor of Old Test. Literature and Exegesis in the Theol. Sem. at Allegheny, Pa.
Rev. A. C. KENDRICK, D.D, LL.D,
Professor of Greek in the University of Rochester, N. Y.
TAYLER LEWIS, LL.D,
Professor of Oriental Languages in Union College, Schenectady, N. Y.
Rev. JOHN LILLIE, D.D,
Kingston, N. Y.
Rev. SAMUEL T. LOWRIE, D.D,
Professor of Biblical Exegesis in the Theol. Seminary at Allegheny, Pa.
Rev. J. FRED. MCCURDY, M.A,
Ass’t Professor of the Hebrew Language in the Theol. Sem. at Princeton, N. J.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS.
Rev. CHARLES M. MEAD, Ph.D,
Professor of the Hebrew Language and Literature in the Theol. Sem, Andover, Mass.
Rev. J. ISIDOR MOMBERT, D.D,
Philadelphia, Pa.
MISS EVELINE MOORE,
Newark, N. J.
JAMES G. MURPHY, LL.D,
Professor in the General Assembly’s and the Queen’s College at Belfast.
Rev. HOWARD OSGOOD, D.D,
Professor of the Interpretation of the Old Test. in the Theol. Sem, Rochester, N. Y.
Rev. JOSEPH PACKARD, D.D,
Professor of Biblical Literature in the Theological Seminary at Alexandria, Va.
Rev. DANIEL W. POOR, D.D,
Professor of Church History in the Theological Seminary at San Francisco, Cal.
Rev. MATTHEW B. RIDDLE, D.D,
Professor of New Testament Exegesis in the Theol. Seminary at Hartford, Conn.
Rev. CHAS. F. SCHAEFFER, D.D,
Professor of Theology in the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia.
Rev. WILLIAM G. T. SHEDD, D.D, LL.D,
Professor of Systematic Theology in the Union Theological Seminary, New York.
Rev. CHAS. C. STARBUCK, M.A,
Formerly Tutor in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass.
Rev. P. H. STEENSTRA,
Professor of Biblical Literature at Cambridge, Mass.
Rev. JAMES STRONG, D.D,
Professor of Exegetical Theology in the Drew Theological Seminary, Madison. N. J.
Rev. W. G. SUMNER, M.A,
Professor in Yale College, New Haven, Conn.
Rev. C. H. TOY, D.D,
Professor of Hebrew and Old Testament Exegesis, Greenville, S. C.
Rev. E. A. WASHBURN, D.D, LL.D,
Rector of Calvary Church, New York.
WILLIAM WELLS, M.A, LL.D,
Professor of Modern Languages in Union College, New York.
Rev. C. P. WING, D.D,
Carlisle, Pa.
Rev. E. D. YEOMANS, D.D,
Lately of Orange, N. J.
PREFACE BY THE AUTHOR
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Through the gracious assistance of God, the New Testament division of our Bible-work is now entirely completed, with the present Theologico-Homiletical Commentary on the Revelation of John.
In the treatment of this Book, I have considered it expedient to give particular prominence to the theoretical, critical and exegetical section;—a foundation of more than ordinary solidity being necessary in order to an ampler doctrinal and homiletical utilization of this Scripture, which has sustained such manifold wrenchings from one extreme to another.
The first thing requisite was to give a more elaborate and definite form to the theology of Apocalyptics; as it is possible to rectify the existent grand misapprehensions concerning the peculiar characteristics of Hebrew Art, in respect of its perfection in the forms of Eschatological Prophecy,—misapprehensions peculiar to the traditional Hellenistico-humanistic point of view,—only by bringing about a thorough understanding of the magnitude of the contrast between the summits of Hellenistic and Theocratic culture.
With this task was linked the necessity for fixing our gaze more intently upon the symbolical side of Apocalyptics, and for tracing the Apocalyptic symbolism of the New Testament back to the more or less conventionally defined Old Testament elements of Apocalyptics. Nothing save a system of Biblico-prophetic symbolism which shall be founded upon well-ascertained rules, can, on the one hand, terminate the endless hap-hazard conjecture in which exegesis is wont to indulge and which results in the attributing of significations the most motley to the allegorical figures of Scripture; and, on the other hand, insure the decided appreciation of the peculiar character of allegorical Scriptures.
If it be an unmistakable fact that a certain Book is of an allegorical character, it must appear simply inadmissible, in explaining it, to pitch upon interpretations ad libitum, without finding out the symbolical key to the work. But, again, to handle a prophetico-poetic Book, composed in allegories, as if it were a work of literal meaning, Isaiah, manifestly, an utterly unreasonable and mischievous procedure. If the interpreter be not aware of the heaven-wide distinction between an explanation of an allegorical matter and Song of Solomon -called allegorical explanation, his ignorance is an intellectual calamity. But if he do know very well that an allegorical composition should be explained as such, and if Hebrews, nevertheless, in order to illustrate certain school-opinions, torture that allegorical composition until its language seems to be that of the letter, his conduct is a moral scandal.
What though ten or twenty arbitrary and fanciful interpretations have attached themselves to an allegorical passage?—that circumstance does not in the least destroy its allegorical character; on the contrary, it serves but to recommend, in the most pressing manner, an inquiry after the symbolical analogies and the fundamental character of the prophecy. Despair as to exegesis as we find it, need not drive us to despair as to the text to which such exegesis has affixed itself. The Song of Solomon -called synchrono-historical interpretation of modern times, has shown, clearly enough, into what absurdities the latter despair may lead men. The allegorical character of the Apocalypse, in general, being established, the symbolical nature of its numbers, in particular, is at the same time proved; and the great lost labor of a chronological computation of the Numbers,—that chronic malady of Apocalyptic exegesis,— Isaiah, so far at least as the principle is concerned, at an end.
Since the Apocalypses branch into a twofold genealogy, a canonical and an apocryphal, the further task of ascertaining, and eventually establishing, the canonical character of our Book, has presented itself to us. Presumptuous skirmishers in the field of criticism conceive that they can, without compromising themselves, rail at the bare supposition that there are canonical books,—reviling such an assumption as a lack of intellectual freedom. The term canonical was, however, originally applied to the Greek Classics. Now should any one essay to ridicule the idea of the Classics, he would hardly escape the charge of literary barbarism.
In respect of the construction of the Apocalypse, we adhere to the opinion that it is systematically arranged in cyclical collective pictures [pictures of the whole], which are always representative of the entire Course of the World down to the period of its End, and yet, in the succession which they are made to observe, are constantly advancing nearer to that End. The succession of these cycles, which are modified by the number Seven, is in exact correspondence with the movement, development and perfection of macrocosmical life,—from within, outwards. The Seven Churches, in their symbolical significance, constitute not simply an introduction to the Book; as the kernel and centre of the World’s history, they form the determinative fundamental idea of the Book. The Seven Seals constitute the history of the World, in relation to the Seven Churches. The Seven Trumpets follow, as Divine judgments upon, or penitential [exhorting to repentance] trumpets over, seven specific corruptions or forms of sin in the Church. Then ensue the Seven Thunders, as sealed life-pictures of the times of awakening, and of reforms, in the Church. Only in face of these powers of the world to come, can the Seven Heads of the Antichristian Beast develop;—the seven world-monarchies ending in the consummation of Antichristianity in the Antichrist;—the demonic reaction of world-history against the Kingdom of God. On the other hand, Antichristian evil, on its side, calls forth the Seven Vials of Anger, the judgments of hardening, the last of which unfolds into the three special judgments upon the Harlot, the Beast, and Satan, being afterwards summed up again in the General Judgment of the World. That this General Judgment then ushers in the Seventh Day, the eternal Sabbath of God, is a conclusion which the Seer has scenically portrayed rather than expressly declared; his particular reason for withholding such a declaration is probably to be found in the fact that he has at the outset, in the Prologue, announced the complete revelation of God in Christ as a revelation of the Seven Spirits in Christ, or in the fact that the number Seven results from the number Six.
Within the development of the Septenary, we, with others, have retained the division of the Book into Two Parts: The World’s Course to its End, and The End itself.
In perfect consistency with this division, an earlier view is carried out, agreeably with which heavenly scenes precede the earthly occurrences. From beginning to end we find the entire sequence of troublous earthly times to be over-swayed by heavenly actions, by festal presentations of the Divine Council;—the gloomy Earth-pictures being thus ever ruled by radiant Heaven-pictures. The distinctions resulting from this law of the construction alone are qualified to dissipate the unclear and confused views which subsist in regard to the composition of the Apocalypse.
May our labor, under the blessing of the Lord, contribute somewhat toward the furtherance of an understanding of eschatological affairs; in particular, may it promote the wholesome and lively expectation of the Coming of Christ,—an expectation whose vocation it Isaiah, on the one hand, to subdue that indifferentistic spiritualism which disdains all knowledge of a real, eschatological Theology; on the other hand, to paralyze that fanatical separatism and spiritism which, in manifold respects, pervert the glorious prospects of the Church into ridiculous caricatures; and at the same time to disenergize the endless labors of formal chiliastic time-reckoners. * * * * * *