“The Testimony of Jesus”

Since the expressions “the testimony of Jesus” and “the spirit of prophecy” are equated in the book, it appears that a clue to an understanding of the latter is found in the former. The difficulty with the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” (hē marturia Iēsou) is that it may be interpreted as a subjective or an objective genitive. The former would refer to the testimony borne by Jesus (i.e., His testimony) during His life on earth and later through Christian prophets, while the latter refers to the believers bearing witness about or regarding Jesus. ^{3G. K. Beale argues that “a subjective genitive connotes the idea that all true prophecy has its origin in the words and acts of Jesus; an objective genitive conveys the notion that all true prophecy manifests itself in testimony to Jesus” (The Book of Revelation, The New International Greek Testament Commentary [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999], 947).} By way of illustration, while the New International Version translates the phrase of Revelation 12:17 subjectively as “[they] hold firmly to what Jesus has said,” the editors of Today’s New International Version have changed its meaning, and translate it objectively: “[those who] hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” So also the Revised Standard Version, which translates the verse as “[who] bear witness to Jesus.” The latter represents many commentators’ understanding of the book of Revelation. ^{4For the arguments in favor of the objective genitive, see David E. Aune, Revelation 17-22, Word Biblical Commentary 52c (Waco, Tex.: Thomas Nelson, 1998), 1038; also Henry B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (New York: Macmillan, 1906), 249. Most commentators hold, however, that both the subjective and objective meanings are in view: “the testimony of Jesus” refers to the testimony Jesus bore, but the church also bears witness to Him; see Beale, 679, 947; also Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, reprint (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1967), 161, 729; George A. Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 251; J. Massyngberde Ford, Revelation, The Anchor Bible 38 (New York: Anchor Bible, 1975), 312; Leon Morris, The Book of Revelation, 2nd ed., Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987), 222; M. Eugene Boring, Revelation, Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville, Ky.: John Knox Press, 1989), 194; John P. M. Sweet, Revelation, TPI New Testament Commentaries (Philadelphia: Trinity Press, 1990), 205; Grant R. Osborne, Revelation, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 677; Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2005), 334, 487; Ian Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John, Black’s New Testament Commentary (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2006), 270; Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary, The New Testament Library (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster, 2009), 348.} This would make all the believers in the church prophets who, inspired by the Spirit, bear their testimony concerning Jesus.GOP 190.3

The phrase “the testimony of Jesus” (hē marturia Iēsou) occurs six times in Revelation (1:2, 9; 12:17; 19:10; 20:4). ^{5A similar construction occurs also in 1 Corinthians 1:6 (to marturion tou Christou, “the testimony of Christ”) and 2 Timothy 1:8 (to marturion tou kuriou hēmōn, “the testimony of our Lord”).} While in Revelation 1:9 and 20:4 the expression could be understood as the objective genitive ^{6Gerhard Pfandl sees the possibility that “of Jesus” in Revelation 1:9 and 20:4 might also be taken as a subjective genitive, although he allows for the reading, “a testimony about Jesus” (“The Remnant Church and the Spirit of Prophecy,” in Symposium on Revelation—Book 2, Daniel and Revelation Committee Series 7 [Silver Spring, Md.: Biblical Research Institute, 1992], 309, 310, 320, 321).}—the testimony that John and the faithful Christians bore concerning Jesus— the contextual evidence strongly points to the subjective genitive of the phrase in Revelation 1:2, 12:17, and 19:10. This is the conclusion of many scholars. ^{7See William Barclay, The Revelation of John, 2nd ed., Daily Study Bible (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 2:177; George B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, Harper’s New Testament Commentaries (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), 238; Beckwith, 630; Morris, 160; Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, New International Commentary on the New Testament, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977], 347; George R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, 2nd ed., New Century Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1981), 276; Sweet, 205; Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993), 161; Alan F. Johnson, Revelation, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 13:756.} Such an assertion is supported by several arguments:GOP 191.1

1. In the Johannine writings the object of witnessing is regularly conveyed by the preposition peri (“about, concerning, with reference to, of”) as may be seen from the following text: dioti ou paradexontai sou marturian peri emou (“because they will not accept your testimony about Me”). ^{8Cf. John 1:7, 8, 15; 2:25; 5:31, 32, 36, 37, 39; 8:14; 1 John 5:9, 10.} On the other hand, the subjective idea is regularly expressed by the syntactic combination of the noun “testimony” (marturia) with a genitive noun or pronoun (“testimony/witness of . . .”). First John 5:9 may be taken as an example: “If we receive the testimony of men [tēn marturian tōn anthrōpōn], the testimony of God [hē marturia tou theou] is greater; for the testimony of God [hē marturia tou theou] is this, that He has testified concerning His Son [hoti memarturēken peri tou huiou autou].” This is also the case in all other texts in the Johannine writings in which the construction, “the testimony of . . .” occurs. ^{9Cf. hē marturia tou Iōanou (“the testimony of John”; John 1:19); tēn marturian ēmōn (“our testimony”; John 3:11; 3 John 12); hē marturia mou (“my testimony”; John 5:31, 32; 8:14); tēn marturian autou (“his testimony”; John 3:22-33; 19:35; 21:24); hē marturia sou (“your testimony”; John 8:13; 19:35; 21:24; cf. Acts 22:18); duo anthrōpōn hē marturia (“the testimony of two men”; John 8:17); tēn marturian tōn anthrōpōn (“the testimony of men”; 1 John 5:9); tēn marturian autōn (“their testimony”; Rev. 11:7; 12:11).} This leads to the conclusion that the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” (hē marturia Iēsou) in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10 must be understood subjectively (“the testimony borne by Jesus”); the objective idea would be expressed with hē marturia peri Iēsou/ (“the testimony about/regarding Jesus”).GOP 191.2

2. In both Revelation 12:17 and 19:10 the end-time saints are identified as the ones “who have [echontōn] the testimony of Jesus”—not as those “who hold the testimony of Jesus” as translators have commonly (incorrectly) translated. The use of the verb “have” (echō) with the phrase “the testimony of Jesus” (tēn marturian Iēsou) points to the subjective meaning of the genitive noun: the end-time saints are in possession of “the testimony of Jesus.” The force of this verb joined with “the testimony of Jesus” is generally overlooked by expositors that opt for the objective genitive, which causes the phrase to mean “they bear the testimony.” ^{10David Hill, “Prophecy and Prophets in Revelation,” New Testament Studies 18 (1971): 411; Pfandl, 315.}GOP 192.1

While the verb echo in Greek has different shades of meaning, its basic lexical meaning is “possession.” ^{11See Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 420.} This is the predominant meaning of the word in the New Testament. ^{12E.g., “have authority” (Matt. 7:29; Mark 1:22); “have a reward” (Matt. 5:46); “have faith” (Matt. 17:20; Luke 17:6); “have power” (Mark 2:10; 3:15); “have treasure in heaven” (Mark 10:21); “have eternal life” (John 3:15); “have the light” (John 12:35); “have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1); “have a zeal of God” (Rom. 10:2); “have the mind of Christ” (1 Cor. 2:16); “have boldness” (Eph. 3:12); “have an advocate” (1 John 2:1); “have the keys” (Rev. 1:18); “have patience” (Rev. 2:3); “have a name” (Rev. 3:1); “have the seal” (Rev. 7:2); “have the trumpet” (Rev. 9:14); see also General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Problems in Bible Translation (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald®, 1954), 248.} This is especially true when echo takes marturia as its object. To have a testimony refers to somebody else’s rather than a person’s own testimony, as in the case of Jesus’ statement: “But the witness which I have . . . the very works that I do, bear witness of Me” [ego de echo ten marturian . . . ta erga ha poio marturei peri emou] (John 5:36). Also, in the words of Paul, an elder in the church must “have a good testimony from those outside” [dei de kai marturian kalen echein apo ton exothen] (1 Tim. 3:7). In these two cases the construction: “to have a testimony of . . .” is followed by the subjective genitive case. The objective idea of the believers bearing their witness concerning Jesus would be expressed with the verb martureo (“to witness”) and the preposition peri (“about, concerning”) rather than with the verb echo (“to have).” ^{13Problems in Bible Translation, 248.}GOP 192.2

Both of these cases suggest that the expression “having the testimony of Jesus” (echontōn tēn marturian Iēsou) in Revelation 12:17 and 19:10 does not refer to the testimony that the end-time believers bear about Jesus. It rather denotes that the end-time believers are in possession of the testimony that Jesus Himself bore during His earthly life and ministry, which prophets who had the spirit of prophecy preached after His ascension.GOP 193.1