John's Gospel: A Neglected Key to Revelation?

by Warren A. Gage

Publisher:

Warren A. Gage

, 2001

Overview

John’s Gospel begins with a war between light and darkness (John 1:5), but this war is not consummated until darkness is vanquished at the end of John’s Revelation (Rev. 21:25). John’s Gospel begins with the claim that the divine Word is tabernacled among us in Jesus (John 1:14) while John’s Revelation ends by claiming that the tabernacle of God will be among men forever (Rev. 21:3). Jesus comes down from heaven as a bridegroom in the Gospel (John 1:14; 3:29), but there is no bride coming down from heaven until the end of Revelation (Rev. 21:2).

John’s Gospel: A Neglected Key to Revelation? explores the literary and thematic patterns—both consecutive and chiastic—that tie the fourth Gospel and Revelation together. When read as a literary diptych, the two books create a pattern of interlocking typologies. Warren Gage suggests that they were composed to interpret each other. An appendix further supports that thesis by demonstrating that the same consecutive, literary and thematic patterns are discernible in the Gospel of Luke and Acts—books generally recognized as penned by the same hand.

The Logos version of John’s Gospel provides you with unique benefits available nowhere else. Scripture references appear on mouse-over and link to your preferred translation or the original-language text. This volume fully integrates into your digital library, cross-referencing to your dictionaries, commentaries, and other reference tools and allowing you to discover what other scholars and theologians have to say about the relationship between the Gospel of John and Revelation.

Key Features

• Explores the literary and thematic patterns linking the Gospel of John and Revelation
• Analyzes the interpretive relationship between the two books
• Includes an appendix to further support Gage’s thesis

Contents

• The Vision of the Seven Last Angels
• The Music of St. John: A Symphonic Reading of the Fourth Gospel and Revelation
• The Kerygmatic Imagination of St. John
• The Iconic Imagination of St. John

Top Highlights

“This dissertation will present evidence that the two great texts of John are primarily connected by a chiastic-type correspondence that, along with a straightforward parallel correspondence, connect the two books so closely by direct verbal links that they may be justly regarded as constituting an elaborate literary diptych. The Fourth Gospel’s theme of the redeemed fallen woman, expressed in the account of the Samaritan woman, the woman caught in adultery, and in the transformation of Mary Magdalene, suggests the remarkable possibility, supported by chiastic and parallel correspondence to the Apocalypse, that the virginal New Jerusalem of Revelation actually has her origin in the city of the whorish Babylon.” (Page 7)

“The first and seventh angels are stationed upon the earth (‘in a wilderness’, 17:3 and ‘upon a mountain’, 21:10). The second and the sixth angels descend to midheaven (‘descending from heaven’ in 18:1 and 20:1), and the third and fifth occupy a place in heaven (‘throwing a millstone into the sea,’ 18:21 and ‘standing in the sun,’ 19:17).¹⁷ The central scene of the fourth ‘angel’ is the vision of Christ in heaven (19:11).” (Pages 12–13)

“We then compared the letters to the seven churches to the vision of Babylon and New Jerusalem, concluding that John intended the whore and the bride to be characterizations of the seven churches,⁵⁵ and not symbols of the church under the Roman imperium.” (Page 37)

“The Gospel presents the Bridegroom; the Revelation introduces the bride” (Page 100)

“It should be noted that all the promises to the seven churches are precisely fulfilled in the New Jerusalem.⁴⁸ Consequently, John has carefully exploited the capacity of a chiastic structure to show promises and their fulfillment.” (Page 32)

Product Details

• Title: John’s Gospel: A Neglected Key to Revelation?
• Author: Warren A. Gage
• Publisher: St. Andrews House
• Publication Date: 2001
• Pages: 235

About Warren A. Gage

Dr. Warren Gage is founder and President of the Alexandrian Forum. He received his PhD and MA from the University of Dallas, his ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary, and his JD from SMU Dedman School of Law. Previously, Dr. Gage served as Professor of Old Testament and Dean of Faculty at Knox Theological Seminary. While at Knox, he founded and directed the Christianity and Classical Studies graduate program. Dr. Gage is an ordained minister in the PCA and has authored numerous books and both scholarly and popular-level articles.