Journal: Journal of Ministry and Theology
Volume: JMAT 26:1 (Spring 2022)
Article: The Biblical Roots Of The Hermeneutic In Revelation
Author: John Oglesby

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The Biblical Roots Of The Hermeneutic In Revelation

John Oglesby

Key Words: Revelation, Hermeneutics, Genre, Speech Act

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Introduction

The author of Revelation begins with arguably the most pressing introduction within all of divine literature:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.2

John the Apostle begins by identifying the source of the revelation, the stance by which to receive it, the result of those

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who read and keep its contents and repeats the urgency that defines the information of the revelation.

The book of Revelation is a critical part of the biblical canon,3 yet often misunderstood due to either a shift in hermeneutics when approaching the book or simply a poor hermeneutic consistently used throughout the Bible as a whole.4 Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof points this out in his critique of premillennialism: “The theory [premillennialism] is based on a literal interpretation of the prophetic delineations of the future of Israel and of the Kingdom of God, which is entirely untenable.”5 Although Berkhof disagrees with the conclusion of premillennialism, or a literal interpretation of prophecy, he recognizes the battlefield of a proper view of prophecy is that of interpretation or hermeneutics.

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Hermeneutics finds its proper place in epistemology, the foundational category of one’s worldview.6 Within epistemology (the study of knowledge/certainty), the source of authority and how to interpret or understand that authority is established. How should one understand the book of Revelation? Berkhof was correct–the varying answers to this question lead to varying disagreements within the metaphysics topic of eschatology. However, the more foundational question is “How should one understand the book of Revelation based on the proper authority?”

Hermeneutics is an important study but must be established o...