October 5, 2005

“The Lamb Slain From the Foundation of the World”? (Rev. 13:8)

Category: Bible - NT - Revelation :: Permalink

Some months back, in the comments on one of Tim’s posts, I made some comments about the exegesis of Revelation 13:8. I haven’t been blogging much lately (too busy, what with being a dad and all!), but I thought I’d post these comments, slightly revised, here.

I’ve often heard people refer to Jesus as “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” That phrase often leads to certain theological notions, such as “justification from eternity.” Even before the creation of the world, people say, we were already justified through Jesus’ death because Jesus is “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” In a sense, they say, Jesus has always been slain.

But does the Bible refer to Jesus this way? The phrase in question comes from one particular rendition of Revelation 13:8, but even if we accept that this passage calls Jesus “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world,” it isn’t immediately clear that it is saying that Jesus was, in some sense, slain before the creation spoken of in Genesis 1.

D. Holwerda, a classics prof at Utrecht and the brother of the noted Old Testament scholar, Benne Holwerda, argued strongly in a series of essays that “the foundation of the world,” throughout the New Testament, refers to the new creation, not to the original creation in Genesis 1. Thus Jesus’ death is said to take place before “the foundation of the (new) world.”

Of course, if understanding of “the foundation of the world” is correct, it would have interesting implications for the exegesis of Ephesians 1 (“chosen in Him before the foundation of the world”) and a number of other passages. It is certainly an exegetical option worth considering.

But I’m not persuaded. More than that, I’m not persuaded that Revelation 13:8 speaks of Jesus as “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” It seems to me, rather, that “from the foundation of the world” does not modify “slain” but rather “written.”

It is not that the lamb was slain “from the foundation of the world.” Rather, it’s that the names were “written (in the book of the lamb who was slain) from the foundation of the world.” “The foundation of the world” would be the original creation in Genesis 1, and from before that time these names would have been written in the slain lamb’s book.

It is grammatically possible to take “from the foundation of the world” with “slain,” but it isn’t likely. First, it’s hard to make sense of the idea that Jesus was actually slain before the world was created. Second, the parallel with Revelation 17:8 is the clincher. In that verse, John speaks about those whose names were written in the book of life from the foundation of the world — exactly as he does in 13:8, except that in 13:8 he identifies the book of life as belonging to the slain lamb.

When I checked my commentaries on Revelation, I found that tis latter position, which I do find compelling, is held by Aune, Chilton, Greijdanus, Hendriksen, Hughes, Poythress, Van de Kamp, and Wilcock. It’s also the way Revelation 13:8 is rendered in the ASV and the NASB, though surprisingly the NIV, which has this better reading in the margin, sticks to the questionable reading in the main text!

Posted by John Barach @ 12:56 am | Discuss (5)

5 Responses to ““The Lamb Slain From the Foundation of the World”? (Rev. 13:8)”

  1. Lalchhandama Says:

    Maybe not “slaughtered from the foundation of the world;” rather “predestined to be slaughtered from the foundation of the world.” (cf. 1 Peter 1:20 He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake).

  2. John Barach Says:

    Well, certainly He was predestined to be slain. But that isn\’t what Revelation 13 says. It doesn\’t mention predestination.

    It\’s incorrect, I think to say that someone predestined to be slain has actually already been slain. It\’s incorrect because history matters, because predestination is not the same thing as the event predestined.

    But in any case, that isn\’t what\’s being said in Revelation 13. It either says \”slain from the foundation of the world\” or, as I argue is the better interpretation, it talks about those written in the book of the lamb who was slain and identifies them as people written in that book \”from the foundation of the world.\”

  3. Lynda Amos Says:

    One question. If your theory is true. What justifies those whose names were written before the foundations of the world? What gives them the special privilege, if not the shedding of blood? Otherwise, why wasn’t everyone’s name written, having no prerequisite for being included.

    I don’t believe that God is restricted to time. He knew the blood sacrifice would be inevitable, and so He made the provision. I sure feel better knowing that my “insurance policy” is paid, before the need for it arises. (analogy)

    It seems the sin debt would have needed to be paid before the death of the debtor, if there were to be a substitutionary redemption.

    The one thing that is left then would be the acceptance of the reality of Who Jesus is and what He did by all of those who choose to be redeemed. Those who died before the crucifixion are thus included in the promise.

  4. John Barach Says:

    Lynda, I\’m not sure I understand exactly what you\’re asking.

    What I\’ve pointed out here in this blog entry is that it\’s best to take \”from the foundation of the world\” as going with \”names written\” instead of with \”Lamb slain.\”

    The Lamb was slain, not in eternity, not before the creation of the world, but at a certain point in time, under Pontius Pilate, as the Creed says.

    The names, however, were written before that death and even from \”the foundation of the world,\” that is, from creation on.

    But perhaps I\’m not responding to your actual question.

  5. John Barach Says:

    CORRECTION: It appears that I misunderstand the position of D. Holwerda. When I wrote this blog entry, I was going from my (faulty) memory. See here for a correction.

    It still seems to me that someone might make an exegetical case for taking “the foundation of the world” as referring to the beginning of the new creation. D. Holwerda himself did not, but someone might, and that would be an interesting case to consider.

    Still, I remain persuaded that it is correct to take Revelation 13 as speaking of the book written from the foundation of the world.

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