Category Biblical Greek

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: ¹⁹ “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. ²⁰ Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹ And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. ²² Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. ²³ I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. ²⁴ “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. ²⁵ But hold fast what you have till I come. ²⁶ And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—

²⁷ ‘He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
    They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
    as I also have received from My Father; ²⁸ and I will give him the morning star.

²⁹ “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’

John’s Intentionally Inflammatory Remarks (Revelation 2:18)

In Revelation 2:18, Jesus addresses Thyatira using the title The Son of God. That title is very confrontational. Why? This prophecy has been sent in writing to a church planted in a Roman imperial setting. Domitian is Caesar at the time it was received. He ruled from 81-96 AD. Domitian regarded himself as God and directed people to refer to him as such¹ (Domitian 13.2). The son of Domitian died as an infant in 83 AD. The emperor wanted his son to be regarded as the son of God. The coinage he created depicted his dead son as divine Caesar, enthroned over the world/globe and surrounded by seven stars. In Figure 1 the side of the coin depicting the dead son says Divus Caesar, Imperatoris Domitiani Filius. This, when translated, says The divine Caesar, son of Emperor Domitian.

John had already opened the book of Revelation with fighting words. How? In Revelation 1:16, the exiled apostle says that Jesus is the One who has the seven stars in His right hand. This directly contradicts the message that Domitian has sent through the denarius he had printed. And John, a dissident of the kingdom of Jesus rails against Domitian; indeed, he won’t let it rest. In Revelation 1:20, the seven stars are interpreted as the angels (messengers) of the seven churches. So John is not merely using pretty celestial imagery. He is saying , “The true Son of God is not Caesar’s dead son. The true Son of God and cosmic ruler is Jesus (cf Psalm 2:7). The seven stars belong to Him”(Revelation 1:16, 20; 2:1). Now, can you see why it is very confrontational?

Figure 1: Silver Denarius (AD 82–83) of Domitian, featuring his deified infant son, who was born in AD 73 and died young, seated on a globe surrounded by seven stars.

Praise for a Persevering and Progressing Witness (Revelation 2:19)

When “love,” “faith,” and “endurance,” especially “endurance and faith,” are used in Revelation they usually indicate a witness that presses on or continues in the face of opposition – a persevering witness. This is clearly the case in light of the phrase “your last works are greater than the first.” The Lord and issuer of the prophecy hereby contrasts Thyatira with the church in Ephesus. While the first works of Ephesus were greater that the last (Revelation 2:5), the last works of Thyatira are greater than the first (Revelation 2:19). Their witness has waxed with time; they have made progress in presenting the truth about Christ to their surrounding community.

The Problem of Permitting a False Prophet (Revelation 2:20)

In Revelation 2:20, Jesus does not say, “Jezebel is teaching falsely.” He says: “You allow that woman Jezebel…” The sin before God is not only in the corrupting influence of the false prophetess. The sin is also and most egregiously in the leadership or congregation tolerating her influence. It looks a lot like the problem seen with Eli and his sons in the book of Samuel. Eli’s failure was not that he personally committed the same sins as his corrupt sons. His sin was that he failed to restrain evil that he had a responsibility to confront. The key passage is:

“For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.”
— 1 Samuel 3:13

The situation with Eli and his sons is similar to what is happening in Thyatira:

So then, how do we summarize this?

The issue in Thyatira was not only the presence of a Jezebel; it was the permission of a Jezebel. Jesus rebukes not only the false prophetess who corrupted the church, but the people in the church that allowed the corruption to continue. Thyatira had committed the sin of Eli: they knew the evil, saw the effect, and made no earnest attempt to stop it. That church did not have to teach Jezebel’s doctrine to become guilty of Jezebel’s deeds. The failure to restrain unrighteousness is passive facilitation and an active aiding and abetting in the actions of the false prophet.

The Grace of God for the Rebel (Revelation 2:21-22)

Jesus indicates that He has been patient. Although the particulars are not recorded in this message, He has already told that woman Jezebel to repent. The Son of God has also given her time to turn from sexual immorality and teaching idolatries. She did not use the time wisely. (In this light we see that the problem happening in Pergamum is fresh; there is no indicator that a period of time for repentance had passed.) Issues being addressed in Thyatira had already been confronted by Jesus and He had graciously given the leading sinner time to stop the particular sin of using tabernacles of meeting (1 Corinthians 6:19–20; John 14:16–17; Romans 8:9–11) for unholy activities. Time is up.

Unless they, that woman Jezebel and her children, repent of their deeds, she will be cast into a sickbed and her children (people that follow her teachings) will be killed. The rendering of the underlying Greek in 2:22 starts with Indeed. This is an unfortunate way of translating the underlying word. Upon reading this passage in the NKJV, I wondered whether the word underlying the Indeed of 2:22 was actually ἰδοὺ. Upon checking the Nestle-Aland United Bible Societies version, my suspicions were confirmed:

²²ἰδοὺ βάλλω αὐτὴν εἰς κλίνην καὶ τοὺς μοιχεύοντας μετ̓ αὐτῆς εἰς θλῖψιν μεγάλην, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσωσιν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς,

The rendering in the NKJV makes the statement of Jesus an interjection. As an interjection it does not direct the church in Thyatira to do anything. The indeed amounts to an introductory exclamation; words with emphasis and emotion. However, if it had been translated behold it is seen as an imperative and a summons to watch what He was going to do if the wrongdoers did not repent. (ESV, KJV, and NASB render the underlying word as behold, The NET Bible has Look!) It may seem like a small matter. However, without the imperative it is not a call to action or a command that alters the course of that church or the modern reader. Jesus calls them to behold what He will do if there are people in their fellowship that teach immorality and idolatry and will not repent. The Righteous Judge will protect the fellowship from their corrupting influence and make the evildoers and example.

Perception of Heart and Mind (Revelation 2:23)

The outcome of judgement will serve to prove to everyone that Jesus is a discerner of the intent of the heart and that He knows the hidden meditations of the mind. How will the sickbed, death, and tribulation prove this? Because, there will be a clear delineation between the devoted and disobedient, between the adherents of that woman Jezebel and her children and those that do not have this doctrine. In seeing the selective judgement and correlation with crimes against God, the churches shall know that Jesus is He who searches the minds and hearts.

This is the point of the attributes of Jesus that were highlighted in the introduction of the prophecy to Thyatira (Revelation 2:18): (1) the Son of God, (2) eyes like a flame of fire, (3) feet like fine brass. Earlier in John the readers are told that the Man in the vision (4) is clothed  with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band (Revelation 1:13) and that He has a (5) voice as the sound of many waters. (See also Revelation 1:14). This man is the same as the one Daniel the prophet saw in his vision:

⁴ Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, ⁵ I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! ⁶ His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. ⁷ And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. (Daniel 10:4-7)

The reader that knows the Old Testament would not miss the similarity between the person that is being seen by John and the person of Daniel’s vision. The importance of the highlighted features now becomes apparent: the Son of God has eyes unusual eyes as an indicator of His ability to see what others cannot:

Jesus is now claiming to have the perception of the LORD (Yahweh). In fact, He is saying that He is the Lord. But what is the significance the title Son of God, the eyes, and the feet like fine brass for the church in Thyatira?

The Righeteous in the Church, the Rest in Thyatira, and the Shared Reign (Revelation 2:24-27)

The Relevance for Others in Christ (Revelation 2:29)

Footnotes

¹ Suetonius reports that Domitian issued a circular letter beginning, “Our Master and our God bids that this be done,” after which the custom arose of addressing him in that way (Domitian 13.2).

² “Love,” “faith,” and “endurance” are associated elsewhere in the book with the notion of a persevering witness: cf. ἀγάπη (“love”) in 2:4; ὑπομονή and πίστις (“endurance, faith”) in 13:10; 14:12; πίστις (“faith”) in 2:13; ὑπομονή (“endurance”) in 1:19; 3:10 (although cf. the exception in 2:2–3); see likewise πίστος (“faith”) in 1:5; 2:10; 3:14; 17:14.

References

Beale, G. K. (1999). The book of Revelation: a commentary on the Greek text (p. 260). W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.

Suetonius. (1914). The lives of the Caesars (J. C. Rolfe, Trans.). Harvard University Press. Original work published ca. 121 CE. https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Domitian*.html

²⁰Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. ²¹And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. ²²Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

Upon reading this passage in the NKJV I wondered whether the word underlying the Indeed of 2:22 was actually ἰδοὺ. Upon checking the Nestle-Aland United Bible Societies version, my suspicions were confirmed:

²²ἰδοὺ βάλλω αὐτὴν εἰς κλίνην καὶ τοὺς μοιχεύοντας μετ̓ αὐτῆς εἰς θλῖψιν μεγάλην, ἐὰν μὴ μετανοήσωσιν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῆς,

The rendering in the NKJV makes the statement of Jesus an interjection. However, if it had been translated behold it would have been an imperative and a summons to watch what He was going to do if the wrongdoers did not repent. (ESV, KJV, and NASB have behold, The NET Bible has Look!) It may seem like a small matter. However, without the imperative it is not a call to action or a command that alters the course of that church or the modern reader. Jesus calls me to behold what He will do if there are people in our fellowship that teach immorality and idolatry and will not repent. The Righteous Judge will protect the fellowship from their influence.

In His grip by His grace,
Roderick L. Barnes, Sr.

P.S. It should be noted that the normal translation of ἰδοὺ is behold.

Revelation is not given merely as secret information for speculation among an elite group of Jesus followers. It is given to those who belong to Him, serve Him, suffer for Him, and must understand history under His lordship. The dative of Revelation 1:1 helps emphasize reception and responsibility:

The revelation is shown to the servants so that they may hear, keep, endure, worship rightly, and overcome.

That is, Revelation 1:1, τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ is dative because the servants are the intended recipients of the revelation, not the direct object being revealed (accusative). Through the Scriptures God has made known His plan to His servants so that they can live effectively in His service.

In His grip by His grace,
Roderick L. Barnes, Sr.

The accusative and the dative in Koine Greek do very different jobs, even though in some verses they can feel close in English.

• The accusative usually marks the direct object — the person or thing receiving the action of the verb.
• The dative usually marks the indirect object or the idea of to, for, in, by, with, depending on context.

So, here are the main ideas in two nutshells: (1) Accusative answers: Whom? or What? (2) Dative answers things like: To whom? For whom? By whom? In what? With what?

Accusative = The Direct Object

If the verb acts directly on something, that noun is often in the accusative. For example, consider the following sentence: βλέπω τὸν ἄνθρωπον or “I see the man.”

• • βλέπω = I see
  • τὸν ἄνθρωπον = the man
  • “the man” is what is being seen, so it is accusative

Consider another example: ἔχει τὸ βιβλίον or “He has the book.” The book is the thing directly involved as the object of the action.

Dative = Recipient, Sphere, Means, Association, and More

The dative is broader. It often tells you the person affected indirectly or the means/location/relationship involved.

A. Indirect object

δίδωμι τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ τὸ βιβλίον
“I give the book to the man.”

• • • τὸ βιβλίον = accusative, direct object
    • τῷ ἀνθρώπῳ = dative, indirect object

That sentence is a great illustration of the difference:

• • • What is given? the book → accusative
    • To whom is it given? the man → dative

B. Means or instrument

γράφει καλάμῳ
“He writes with a reed pen.”

The pen is not the direct object. It is the means by which the action happens, so Greek may use the dative.

C. Sphere or location

μένει τῷ οἴκῳ
“He remains in the house.”

The dative can sometimes indicate the sphere or location in which something happens.

D. Association

πορεύεται τοῖς μαθηταῖς
“He goes with the disciples.”

Again, not direct object, but association.

A very simple comparison

Take this idea:

Jesus teaches the disciples the word.

A Greek-style distinction might look like this:

• the word = what is being taught → accusative
• the disciples = those receiving it → dative

So the accusative is the thing, and the dative is often the recipient or relation.

A useful English shortcut

When reading Greek:

• If you can translate it naturally with “to” or “for”, there is a good chance you are looking at a dative.
• If it is the thing directly acted upon, it is often accusative.

But there is overlap in English translation, so the safest method is to ask:

What role is this noun playing in the sentence?

• Direct target of the action? → accusative
• Recipient, means, location, association, benefit? → dative

Example from a giving verb

ὁ πατὴρ δίδωσι τῷ υἱῷ ἄρτον

“The father gives bread to the son.”

• ὁ πατήρ = subject
• ἄρτον = bread, direct object, accusative
• τῷ υἱῷ = to the son, indirect object, dative

That is probably the cleanest way to remember it.

One caution

In Koine Greek, the dative case absorbed functions that older Greek sometimes kept more distinct. So the dative can cover ideas that in English might be translated with:

• to
• for
• with
• by
• in

That is why the dative can feel slippery. The accusative is usually easier: it is commonly the direct object, though it can also be used with prepositions and for extent/duration.

Memory hook

Think:

• Accusative = aimed at
• Dative = given to / related to

Or even shorter:

• Accusative = target
• Dative = recipient / reference

Tiny side-by-side chart

In Koine Greek, the dative and accusative cases are both used to indicate relationships between words in a sentence. But the dative and the accusative serve different functions. In this very brief post I will compare these two cases with examples from the New Testament. If you are struggling to understand why the verb will be in one case accusative or in another dative or if you are having trouble falling asleep, read this post.

The Accusative Case

1. Direct Object — The accusative is most commonly used to indicate the direct object of a verb, i.e., the noun that directly receives the action.
   • Example: ὁ ἄνθρωπος τὸν ἄρτον ἔφαγεν (The man ate the bread). Here, τὸν ἄρτον (the bread) is in the accusative case because it is the direct object of the verb ἔφαγεν (ate).
2. Motion Toward — The accusative can also indicate motion toward a place or goal.
   • Example: εἰς τὴν πόλιν (into the city). Here, τὴν πόλιν (the city) is in the accusative because it indicates the destination of the motion.
3. Extent of Time or Space: The accusative can express the extent of time or space.
   • Example: ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν (the whole day). Here, ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν (the whole day) is accusative, indicating the duration of time.

The Dative Case

1. Indirect Object — The dative is commonly used to indicate the indirect object of a verb, i.e., the noun that benefits from or is affected by the action.
   • Example: ὁ ἄνθρωπος τῷ παιδίῳ βιβλίον δίδωσιν (The man gives the book to the child). Here, τῷ παιδίῳ (to the child) is in the dative case because it is the indirect object. The book is affected by the action of giving. In this case, the child is the direct object and is in the accusative case.
2. Means or Instrument — The dative can express the means or instrument by which something is done.
   • Example: χειρὶ γράφει (he writes with his hand). Here, χειρὶ (with his hand) is in the dative case, indicating the instrument used.
3. Location or Sphere — The dative can indicate the location where an action takes place or the sphere in which something occurs.
   • Example: ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ (in the house). Here, τῇ οἰκίᾳ (in the house) is in the dative case, indicating location.
4. Reference or Respect — The dative can express respect or reference, showing in what respect something is true.
   • Example: τῷ νόμῳ δικαιόω (I am justified by the law). Here, τῷ νόμῳ (by the law) is in the dative case, indicating the respect or reference in which the justification takes place.

Summary

• Accusative: Primarily indicates the direct object, motion toward, or extent of time/space.
• Dative: Primarily indicates the indirect object, means/instrument, location, or respect.

In His grip by His grace,
Roderick L. Barnes, Sr.

References