Revelation 1:6 - Exposition

And hath made us kings and priests ; rather, as in the Revised Version, and he made us (to be) a kingdom, (to be) priests. "Made us" is not coordinate with "loosed us;" the sentence makes a fresh start. "Kingdom," not "kings," is the right reading. Christians are nowhere said to be kings. Collectively they are a kingdom—"a kingdom of priests" ( Exodus 19:6 ), or, as St. Peter, following the LXX ., gives it, "a royal priesthood" ( 1 Peter 2:9 ). Each member of Christ shares in his eternal priesthood. Unto God and his Father ; more probably we should render, with the Revised Version, unto his God and Father (comp. John 20:17 ; Romans 15:6 ; 2 Corinthians 1:3 ; Ephesians 1:3 ). Alford objects that when St. John wishes a possessive genitive to apply to more than one substantive, he commonly repeats the genitive; and he quotes John 2:12 ; John 6:11 ; John 9:21 . But in these passages he repeats not only the genitive, but the article. Here the article is not repeated, and τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ must be taken as one phrase. To him be the glory . The construction returns to that of the opening clause, "Unto him that loveth us." St. John's doxologies increase in volume as he progresses—twofold here, threefold in Revelation 4:11 , fourfold in Revelation 5:13 , sevenfold in Revelation 7:12 . In each case all the substantives have the article—" the glory," "the honour," " the power," etc. Forever and ever ; literally, unto the ages of the ages ( εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων , in saecula saeculorum ) . It occurs twelve times in the Apocalypse, besides once without the articles ( Revelation 14:12 ). In his Gospel and Epistles St. John uses the simpler formula, "forever," literally, "unto the age" ( εἰς τὸν αἰῶγα ) . (See Appendix E. to St. John, in the 'Cambridge Greek Testament.') An indefinite period of immense duration is meant (comp. Galatians 1:5 and Ephesians 2:2 , Ephesians 2:7 , where the countless ages of the world to come seem to be contrasted with the transitory age of this world; see also Hebrews 13:21 and 1 Peter 4:11 ).