Description
ASSEMBLY AND COMPILATION OF JOHN CALVIN’S INTERPRETATION OF PASSAGES FROM THE BOOK OF REVELATION
John Calvin knew the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ intimately and cited passages, directly and indirectly, from the Book of Revelation throughout his ministry. His first written work was in defense of the Scriptural teaching concerning saints at their death (Psychopannychia (1534)) wherein Calvin quotes the Book of Revelation directly five times. His pastoral letter of comfort to the five young men soon to be burned at the stake (Letter to the Five Prisoners of Lyons (1552)) directly quotes from Revelation, Chapter 5. His pastoral letter to a Christian woman beset with sickness (Letter to Madame de Coligny. The Christian Uses of Sickness. (Geneva, (5th august 1563)) alludes to the Apocalypse (the Greek Text of the Book of Revelation) in the word, lukewarm. In each of the Four Books of his Institutes (1536-1559), his life-long work, Calvin quotes and alludes to the Book of Revelation, indicating that it was always in his thoughts. From these thoughts and comments over his lifetime, recorded by faithful witnesses and in his writings, and preserved in Calvin’s Collected Works, we have assembled and then compiled Calvin’s references and allusions to the Book of Revelation, and in, Revelation: The Book of Blessing, Volume 10 Fascicle E, Part 1, we offer to the reader
Calvin’s Interpretation of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
In Calvin’s Collected Works in digitized format (70+ Volumes, 31,739 pages including editors’ comments), Calvin quoted directly from the Apocalypse more than 70 times. These direct citations within their respective contexts, and with their cross-references, constitute a major part of Calvin’s Interpretation of the Book of Revelation. These 70 + direct quotations from the Apocalypse are placed by Chapter and Verse into the Heptadic Structure of the Apocalypse.
Scattered throughout these 70+ volumes are dozens of words and phrases that appear only in the Apocalypse. These words and phrases within their respective contexts are assembled and then selectively compiled as part of Calvin’s oblique references to the Apocalypse. Some words and phrases appear multiple times and, in several contexts, which are quoted selectively.
Also scattered throughout Calvin’s 70+ volumes are words and phrases which appear throughout the Bible including the Apocalypse. Calvin was self-consistent in his use of the Names, Titles, Descriptions, cross-references, grammatical and lexical materials, and these materials have the same meanings in all parts of the Scriptures including the Apocalypse. This is our secondary source of Calvin’s oblique interpretation of the Apocalypse. The Table of Contents of Vol. 10E Part 1 serves as an annotated outline for Volume 10E.
