From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Thu Feb 19 1998 - 07:11:59 EST
At 5:09 AM -0600 2/19/98, Trevor M Peterson wrote:
>Greetings,
>
>If this has already been addressed, I apologize--someone just point me in
>the right direction for the archives, and I'll go back to lurking.
>
>Are there any structural or grammatical indicators that would explain the
>recipients of the imperatives in Rev 22:17? I'm thinking specfically
>here of the two ERCOU's. (The others are pretty straightforward, or so
>it seems.) Contextually, it seems to be a tough call, since both the
>idea of the Lord's coming and the invitation for the thirsty to come are
>expressed.
Perhaps this is naive, but I have always assumed that these imperatives are
addressed to each individual reader of this document: the DIYWN of the
imperative ERCESQW. I would think too that these readers in the first
instance addressed would be the hUMIN of verse 16, and that this "you" in
the first instance would be members of "the churches" in verse 16--the
seven churches of the John who writes, the churches to whom individual
letters are written in chapters 2 and 3. But that first instance expands,
does it not, as the kaleidoscope that is this apocalyptic book's
kaleidoscope turns, to embrace believers and churches of all time. Or so I
think.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics/Washington University
One Brookings Drive/St. Louis, MO, USA 63130/(314) 935-4018
Home: 7222 Colgate Ave./St. Louis, MO 63130/(314) 726-5649
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cconrad@yancey.main.nc.us
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/
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