When Was the Revelation Accepted as Scripture

For centuries John’s vision has presented an immense challenge to its readers.

The story of Christ’s revelation to the Apostle John and its eventual acceptance into the New Testament canon of scripture is a fascinating one.  Some of the letters and epistles, such as the gospels and the letters of Paul, were accepted almost without question. Yet others, like 2 Peter and the Revelation, were debated for some time before finding their place in the canon.

In the first and second centuries many writings and epistles were circulating among the churches. Some groups of believers were using books and letters in their services that were popular, though of questionable authenticity, such as The Gospel of Thomas, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Apocalypse of Peter, and the Epistle of Barnabas, among others. Heretical movements were springing up, and gradually, the need to have a definitive list of the inspired Scriptures became apparent.

The acceptance of a gospel or epistle as authentic scripture was based largely on how much the earliest of the Church Fathers quoted or referred to them. For example, Justin Martyr (130-63) in his Apology, refers to certain “memoirs of the Apostles, which are called gospels, and which are read in Christian assemblies together with the writings of the Prophets.” We can identify these memoirs as our Gospels by the fact that he quotes from all of them throughout his works.

Other examples are Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna. Both purportedly were disciples of John (See, Appendix, Polycarp; Ignatius). They wrote their epistles in the first decade of the second century (100-110), and quoted Matthew, Luke, and John as though their readers were very familiar with them.

Few today would contest the claim that the book of Revelation has always been one of the most controversial books in the New Testament canon, and its reception by the early church was equally complicated.

• Early on, John’s Revelation had proponents such as Papias (c.125)^, Justin Martyr (130-63)¹, Irenaeus (c. 115-165)², Tertullian (c.160)^3, Clement of Alexandria (c. 215)⁴, and Hippolytus (c. 236)⁵.
• Each of these Church Fathers accepted the revelation, believing that the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee, was its author.
• Objections to John’s Revelation came later, were limited, and eventually resolved⁶. 
• Because Revelation was an ancient book quoted by the early church fathers as authoritative, it was affirmed by the synods of Hippo (c.393) and Carthage (c.397), and confirmed by scholars such as Philastrius of Brescia (c.385), Rufinus of Aquileia (c.404), Jerome (c.414), and Augustine (c.426). 

God is not in the business of trying to confuse His Church. Believing that fact, one must assume that the great vision John experienced contains truths that are meant to be understood; truths that were and are essential clarion calls to the Body of Christ.

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1. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, Chapter 81, “And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell a thousand years in Jerusalem…”  ↩︎
2. Irenaeus, Against all Heresies, Book 4, Chapter 20; Eusebius, History of the Church, Book 3, Chapter 39. ↩︎
3. Tertullian, Against Heretics, Chapter 33. ↩︎
4. Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 11; Stromata, Book 6, Chapter 13 ↩︎
5. Hippolytus, On Daniel, Chapter 2.  The Refutation of All Heresies, Book 7, Chapter 24; (The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus, Translation by Rev. S.D.F. Salmond). ↩︎
6. Millennialism (1000-year reign of Christ, Rev 22) was espoused by a second-century self-proclaimed prophet, Montanus, who predicted the world’s end and even set the date. His teachings, including millennialism, were declared heretical by the Synod of Iconium in 230 A.D. and the Council of Constantinople in 380. Because millennialists had traditionally used Revelation as the main source of their teachings, the Church tended to be slow to accept the Book of Revelation as scripture. ↩︎