http://www.thenarrowpath.com | REVELATION 20:4
“they lived and reigned...” or “they came to life and reigned...”
The first option supports the a-millennial view that the souls of the Christians,
though they had died, lived on (i.e. in heaven).
The second option supports the pre-millennial view that the saints
came back to life (i.e. by resurrection) after death.
“lived” or “came to life” = ezésan, aorist indicative active of záo (to live), and is found in the same tense in two other places in Revelation:
Rev. 2:8 — “[Christ], who was dead and ezésan”
and
Rev. 13:14 — “...the beast who was wounded by the sword and ezésan”
— where it is variously translated
1. In Revelation 2:8, all translations except the KJV translate ezésan as “came to life” or some equivalent, since the resurrection of Christ is in view;
2. In Revelation 13:14, all translations except the NASB translate ezésan as “lived” or some equivalent, since it is the beast that survived the wounding of one of its seven heads;
3. Only the KJV and NKJV (probably following the KJV) translate ezésan as “lived,” (reflecting the a-millennial commitments of the KJV translators), while all others (probably reflecting pre-millennial commitments of the translators) translate as “came to life” or some equivalent;
4. Only the KJV and NASB translated consistently in all three passages, though they favored different translations from one another.
5. Since most agree that ezésan means “came to life” in Rev.2:8, and “yet lived” in 13:14, it seems clear that the translation in 20:4 could go either way, depending upon one’s eschatological leanings.
A.T. Robertson wrote, on Revelation 20:4 “and they lived”:
“If ingressive aorist, it means ‘came to life’ or ‘lived again’ as in 2:8...If it is constantive aorist here and in verse 5, then it could mean increased spiritual life.”
The second verb “and reigned,” is ebasileusan which is also the same aorist indicative active (of basileuo ), and is, according to Robertson, “more clearly constantive.” (Word Pictures in the New Testament, Vol.5, p.459)