history in the second half of the first and during the greater part of the second century. Polycarp,
the patriarchal martyr, and Irenaeus, the leading theologian in the conflict with Gnosticism, best
represent the spirit of John and bear testimony to his influence. He alone could complete the work
of Paul and Peter, and give the church that compact unity which she needed for her self-preservation
against persecution from without and heresy and corruption from within.
If it were not for the writings of John the last thirty years of the first century would be almost
an entire blank. They resemble that mysterious period of forty days between the resurrection and
the ascension, when the Lord hovered, as it were, between heaven and earth, barely touching the
earth beneath, and appearing to the disciples like a spirit from the other world. But the theology of
the second and third centuries evidently presupposes the writings of John, and starts from his
Christology rather than from Paul’s anthropology and soteriology, which were almost buried out
of sight until Augustin, in Africa, revived them.
John at Patmos.
John was banished to the solitary, rocky, and barren island of Patmos (now Patmo or
Palmosa), in the Aegean sea, southwest of Ephesus. This rests on the testimony of the Apocalypse,
1:9, as usually understood: "I, John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and
kingdom and patience in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for (on account of) the word
of God and the testimony of Jesus."^591 There he received, while "in the spirit, on the Lord’s day,"
those wonderful revelations concerning the struggles and victories of Christianity.
The fact of his banishment to Patmos is confirmed by the unanimous testimony of antiquity.^592
It is perpetuated in the traditions of the island, which has no other significance. "John—that is the
thought of Patmos; the island belongs to him; it is his sanctuary. Its stones preach of him, and in
every heart, he lives."^593
The time of the exile is uncertain, and depends upon the disputed question of the date of
the Apocalypse. External evidence points to the reign of Domitian, a.d. 95; internal evidence to the
reign of Nero, or soon after his death, a.d. 68.
The prevailing—we may say the only distinct tradition, beginning with so respectable a
witness as Irenaeus about 170, assigns the exile to the end of the reign of Domitian, who ruled from
81 to 96.^594 He was the second Roman emperor who persecuted Christianity, and banishment was(^591) Bleek understands διά of the object: John was carried (in a vision) to Patmos for the purpose of receiving there the revelation
of Christ He derives the whole tradition of John’s banishment to Patmos from a misunderstanding of this passage. So also Lücke,
De Wette, Reuss, and Düsterdieck. But the traditional exegesis is confirmed by the mention of the θλίψις, βασιλεία and ὑπομονή
in the same verse, by the natural meaning of μαρτυρία, and by the parallel passages Rev. 6:9 and 20:4, where διά likewise
indicates the occasion or reason of suffering.
(^592) Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian, Eusebius, Jerome, etc.
(^593) Tischendorf, Reise in’s Morgenland, II.257 sq. A grotto on a hill in the southern part of the island is still pointed out as the
place of the apocalyptic vision, and on the summit of the mountain is the monastery of St. John, with a library of about 250
manuscripts.
(^594) Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., V. 30, says that the Apocalypse was seen πρὸς τῷ τέλει τῆς Δομετιανοῦ ἀρχῆς. So also Eusebius, H.
E. III. 18, 20, 33; Chron. ad ann. 14 Domitiani; and Jerome, De vir. illustr., c. 9. This view has prevailed among commentators
and historians till quite recently, and is advocated by Hengstenberg, Lange, Ebrard (and by myself in the Hist. of the Ap. Ch., §
101, pp. 400 sqq.). It is indeed difficult to set aside the clear testimony of Irenaeus, who, through Polycarp, was connected with
the very age of John. But we must remember that he was mistaken even on more important points of history, as the age of Jesus,
which he asserts, with an appeal to tradition, to have been above fifty years.
A.D. 1-100.