Revelation 1:2

Bare record. Gr. martureō, “to testify,” “to witness.” The past tense shows that the author here refers to what he is about to write from the viewpoint of his readers, for whom his act of writing will be in the past. The epistles of Paul (see on Gal. 6:11; Phil. 2:25) provide numerous examples of such usages of the past tense, as do the writings of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The use of such a form was considered a courtesy to the reader. John declares himself a witness, bearing testimony of all that God had revealed to him.

Word. Gr. logos “word,” “utterance,” “message,” “oracle” (see on John 1:1).

Of God. That is, from God, or spoken by God. John here refers back to “the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him” (v. 1). “The word of God,” “the testimony of Jesus,” and “all things that he saw” all refer to the same thing—“the Revelation” of v. 1.

Testimony of Jesus. This may refer to the book of Revelation being a message either from Jesus or about Jesus (see on v. 1). The context favors the former. The book is, of course, both.

Verses 1 and 2 illustrate a typical Biblical parallelism, in which the first and fourth lines and the second and third are parallel:

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ”

“which God gave”

“the word of God”

“the testimony of Jesus Christ”

Saw. Words denoting visual communication and perception occur 73 times in the Revelation, and words denoting audio communication and perception, 38 times. The Revelation is a factual, eye- and ear-witness report of what John saw and heard while in vision.