Revelation 1:2 - Exposition

Who bare record. "To bear witness" ( μαρτυρεῖν ) and "witness," or "testimony'' ( μαρτυρία ) , are characteristic of St. John's writings, and serve to connect together his Gospel, the First Epistle, and the Apocalypse. Such words should be carefully noted, and, so far as possible, uniformly translated, in order to mark their frequency in the English Version. The Authorized Version rings the changes on "bear witness," "bear record," "give record," and "testify," for μαρτυρεῖν ; and on "witness," "record," and "testimony," for μαρτυρία . The Revised Version has here made great improvements. To bear witness to the truth and the Word of God was St. John's special function throughout his long life, and to this fact he calls attention in all his chief writings (see Haupt on 1 John 5:6 ). The testimony of Jesus Christ , like "the Revelation of Jesus Christ" (verse 1), means that which he gave, not that which tells about him. And of all things that he saw ; better, as in the Revised Version, even of all things that he saw, taking δσα εἵδεν in apposition with what precedes. The seer is here speaking of the visions of the Apocalypse, not of the events in Christ's life. The aorists, ἐμαρτύρησεν and εἵδεν , are rightly compared to the συνέγραψε of Thucydides (1.1; 6.7, 93).