Writer: Apostle John

2. By what means did the Revelation come to John, and why is the title of the book most appropriate?

² According to the title verse, this is “a revelation by Jesus Christ, which God gave him . . . And he sent forth his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John.” So John was merely the writer, not the originator, of the material. Therefore John is not the revelator, nor is the book a revelation of John. (1:1) This unveiling to God’s slave of His wonderful purposes for the future makes its title most appropriate, for the book’s Greek name A·po·kaʹly·psis (Apocalypse) means “Uncovering” or “Unveiling.”

3. Who does Revelation itself indicate the writer named John is, and how do ancient historians support this?

³ Who was this John referred to as the writer of Revelation in its first chapter? We are told that he was a slave of Jesus Christ, as well as a brother and sharer in tribulation, and that he was exiled on the island of Patmos. Obviously he was well-known to his first readers, to whom no further identification was necessary. He must be the apostle John. This conclusion is supported by most ancient historians. Papias, who wrote in the first part of the second century C.E., is said to have held the book to be of apostolic origin. Says Justin Martyr, of the second century, in his “Dialogue With Trypho, a Jew” (LXXXI): “There was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him.”a Irenaeus speaks explicitly of the apostle John as the writer, as do Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian, of the late second and early third centuries. Origen, noteworthy Biblical scholar of the third century, said: “I speak of him who leaned back on Jesus’ breast, John, who has left behind one Gospel, . . . and he wrote also the Apocalypse.”b