Please read Thomas S. Kepler, The book of Revelation: a commentary for laymen (New York: Oxford University Press) I know of no other commentary that knows the historical period and takes the historical situation in which John wrote and interprets Rev in light of that, as well as using other scripture to do so.

In the late 19th century Irish scholar John Gwynn wrote about a manuscript that he believed was the lost earlier Philoxenian Revision of 508. It is now called the Crawford Codex. Dated to the 12th century, Gwynn believed the text actually went back to the early 6th century and this Crawford Codex is today the only Aramaic manuscript containing all 27 NT books under a single cover. One of these books is known as Crawford Revelation, and its text is markedly different from the other Peshitta Revelation as well as the Greek version. Written in red ink is the following Aramaic declaration:

“Again we have recorded the Revelation concerning the Set-apart Yochanan the Evangelist while on the island of Patmos, which he was sent to by him who was Nero Caesar.”

There are a number of reasons why Nero is a better candidate as Yochanan’s persecutor. For one thing, his name adds up to 666 in Hebrew. For another, Like John 5:2, the Temple is described as still standing in Jerusalem in Revelation 11. These and other factors put Yochanan’s text before the Second Temple’s destruction in 70 CE.

I think as time goes on, the Domitian theory will become less of a default and more of a minority view.

Andrew Gabriel Roth
Author and Translator of the Aramaic English New Testament (AENT)
www. onefaithonepeopleministries .com

This appears to be referring to the single mention by Tacitus? I think there are solid arguments that this is a Christian alteration of a passage about Chrestians, as argued in this 2014 paper:
https://brill.com/view/journals/vc/68/3/article-p264_2.xml?language=en

To summarise my perception of the important points:

– The passage is in the wrong place to fit the chronology of Jesus.
– Tacitus said it was a name, which matches Chrestus but not Jesus.
– We know Christians forged passages in contemporary texts, with one obvious example being the Testimonium Flavianum.
– We know Christians weren’t associated with the fire of Rome, because there’s no way Pliny the Younger wouldn’t have heard of that.
– Suetonius attests to a rebel Chrestus in Rome in this period.
– Suetonius separately attests to Christians and makes no connection to the fire.
– Acts has no knowledge of the fire being related to Christianity.
– We have direct manuscript evidence that an earlier passage was about Chrestians, not Christians.
– Tacitus was a snob about spelling and grammar, so claims of other misspellings of Christians as “Chrestians” don’t apply to his own words.
– We know that Chrestus was a common slave name at the time.
– Tacitus uses the past tense: meaning the group he was referring to didn’t exist in his own time. This matches Chrestians but does not match Christians.
– Tacitus mentions “a huge multitude”, which doesnt match Christians at that time, but would match the entire Jewish population of Rome.
– The phrase “not so much for the crime of burning the city as because of the hatred of mankind” doesn’t match Christian doctrine, but could match a violent rebel group with a history of crimes.
– Most importantly: there is no evidence that Christians were connected to the fire until hundreds of years later. The earliest link between Christians and the fire comes from the 4th century Christian forgery of letters between Paul and Seneca. This might even be the inspiration for the Christian interpolation in Tacitus.

Glad you are here 😊

The Apostles were all Jews. They went to the temple at the appointed times that God commanded in His Word. They did not change that. Jesus kept these times as well. You are right, they followed Jesus.

The First Persecution, Under Nero, A.D. 67 The Third Persecution, Under Trajan, A.D. 108
The Second Persecution, Under Domitian, A.D. 81
The emperor Domitian, who was naturally inclined to cruelty, first slew his brother, and then raised the second persecution against the Christians. In his rage he put to death some of the Roman senators, some through malice; and others to confiscate their estates. He then commanded all the lineage of David be put to death.
Among the numerous martyrs that suffered during this persecution was Simeon, bishop of Jerusalem, who was crucified; and St. John, who was boiled in oil, and afterward banished to Patmos. Flavia, the daughter of a Roman senator, was likewise banished to Pontus; and a law was made, “That no Christian, once brought before the tribunal, should be exempted from punishment without renouncing his religion.”
A variety of fabricated tales were, during this reign, composed in order to injure the Christians. Such was the infatuation of the pagans, that, if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes afflicted any of the Roman provinces, it was laid upon the Christians. These persecutions among the Christians increased the number of informers and many, for the sake of gain, swore away the lives of the innocent.
Another hardship was, that, when any Christians were brought before the magistrates, a test oath was proposed, when, if they refused to take it, death was pronounced against them; and if they confessed themselves Christians, the sentence was the same.
The following were the most remarkable among the numerous martyrs who suffered during this persecution.
Dionysius, the Areopagite, was an Athenian by birth, and educated in all the useful and ornamental literature of Greece. He then travelled to Egypt to study astronomy, and made very particular observations on the great and supernatural eclipse, which happened at the time of our Savior’s crucifixion.
The sanctity of his conversation and the purity of his manners recommended him so strongly to the Christians in general, that he was appointed bishop of Athens.
Nicodemus, a benevolent Christian of some distinction, suffered at Rome during the rage of Domitian’s persecution.
Protasius and Gervasius were martyred at Milan.
Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St. Paul, and bishop of Ephesus, where he zealously governed the Church until A.D. 97. At this period, as the pagans were about to celebrate a feast called Catagogion, Timothy, meeting the procession, severely reproved them for their ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated the people that they fell upon him with their clubs, and beat him in so dreadful a manner that he expired of the bruises two days later.”

A careful reading of Revelation along with knowledge of the ancient Roman world would actually suggest that the work, as it exists today, was written by at least three authors writing at different times. The first edition might well have been written as early as the 30’s CE, with a second edition in the late 60’s or early 70’s and the final version being written in the 90’s. The second and third editions merely reworked the previous editions but could not totally eliminate portions that were already knows, just modify them slightly in an attempt to make a coherent whole.