Customer Reviews

Revelation (Concordia Commentary)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In the United States today, the dominant view among Christians concerning the end-times is something very similar to the "Left Behind" scenario. This commentary on Revalation gives a completely different, centuries-old amillennialist interpretation of one of the most difficult books of the Bible.

Brighton is a professor emeritus at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis (and one of the nicest people--student, prof. or other--that I've met on campus) and has an extrodinarily high reputation in the New Testament department. His commentary is based on the Koine Greek, which is translated into English. Any awkward translations of unique word usage is explained to the point that, by the end of the book, one is able to see Semetisms in John's hasty writing.

As far as the text goes, Brighton masterfully lays out his amillenialist view: that the seven seals, trumpets, etc. all introduce the same period of time (not following strict chronology) and that these visions all represent what is happening in the church today. Symbols are clearly explained and frequent reminders are provided so that the reader doesn't get confused trying to keep them all straight.

For many people, the thought of the end of the world is quite frightening. Brighton's Revelation commentary is Christ-centered and has a clear focus on the Good News of life eternally with Christ in heaven. Instead of feeling fearful as I read eschatological prophesy, I found myself longing for Christ's return. Highly recommended.

This is the best and most scholarly review of this book of the bible. The discussions are thourough and rely on evaluation of revelation in context of the saving love of God in Christ Jesus.The correlation among various events of scripture as portrayed in the 3 fold vision in revelation is well done. Proper discussion of who the characters are, the revelation of our salavation as having already occured in baptism and before the creation of the world and yet not yet played out in our human experience in temporal time is dicussed in the words and promises of God as spoken coinsistently throughout time in His written Word. The best discussion of what is going on at the mount of transfiguaration occurs here. The saints whorshiping on earth in the celebration of the Eucharist ,with the saints of old and the angels and archangels and the glorious company of heaven, as yet to be revealed to us ,is of great comfort to those who are being saved.One of the best commentaries on scripture written.

This commentary takes seriously the Greek New Testament text of the Book of Revation without all the last-minute hype from last week's newspaper. Commentary takes the historical context of the early New Testament church into account and does not fall into the mistaken belief that Revelation was written for the present generation of Christians and had nothing to say to the first generation of Christians in the Roman Empire. If you are looking for one commentary on the Book of Revelation that won't be outdated in five years, this is it. Its refreshing to read a commentary that actually makes the Christ of the New Testament the focus and center of each section.

Dr. Brighton's passion for the final NT book is shown throughout the commentary. His love for this work and its complications meld well together in his years of teaching, research and preaching from Revelation. Although he engages with the scholarly works at hand, he is also very practical in his giving forth of much that can be gleaned for teaching and preaching. I know its usefulness will be great in Christ's church.

Brighton has written a decent commentary on Revelation, the Greek is not transliterated. I just loved his summary on Ch 7 as the church militant (on earth) and the church triumphant (in heaven), from that alone I can see that he understands Revelation. It was written 1999 so he can still refer to Beale (1998).

He has a decent discussion on the mighty angel of Ch 10; mercifully he does not conclude that the angel is Christ (Beale's first choice). He regards the first seal as military, tyrannical dominance, the two witnesses are the churches prophetic witness to Jesus Christ, the woman of Ch 12 is Israel and the church, Babylon is the false church, on Ch 20 he is Amillennial.

The last decade has given us many good commentaries on Revelation, possibly a reaction to the "Left Behind" series, Brighton is one of the good commentaries.

Dr. Brighton does a wonderful job of presenting an interpretation of Revelation from an amillenialist viewpoint. He clears up many of the controversies surrounding the book of Revelation with careful exegesis of the text and proper matrixing of related Scripture. Pastors, seminary students, and laypeople alike will find this book to be very useful in their own study of Revelation.

Pr. Brighton says his Revelation was 25 years in the thinking, praying, researching, and writing. The work reflects his deep thought and knowledge of the Koine grammar, textual critical issues, and the scholarly field which is thick with commentaries, not all of them good.

In preparing my own MA thesis, I used Pr. Brighton's text and sought to prove that his grammatical points and analysis were either a bit off or wrong; this I did in order to be sure that his work would be an unimpeachable source. His Revelation stood up to intense grammatical and analytical scrutiny. The Revelation narrative, he writes, is recapitulative. The same event is recounted through different scenarios, and they all lead to the Second Coming.

This is a book that any serious scholar of The Revelation must have on his bookshelf. Moreover, it is tremendously accessible to people lacking the academic background in the Koine and textual criticism.

As for Roger Ph Drews who wrote thus: "Even though "martus" a "witness" appears in 1:5, the significance of a martyr, one who will die for his testimony, is apparently not significant," either he has not read The Revelation of Jesus Christ, either in the Koine or the English, or he did not understand what he read. For, the text of Rev 1:5 reads as follows: "kai apo Ihsouv Cristouv, o martuß, o pistoß, o prwtotokoß twn nekrwn." Translated, this means: "and from Jesus Christ (who gave John the Revelation which the first century church heard), the martyr, the faithful, the first-born of the dead." In other words, 'martus' is in apposition to 'Jesus Christ' and therefore specifies Christ Himself. Since the entire Revelation is Christ and His Second Coming, it is absurd to claim as Roger Ph Drews does that: "Even though "martus" a "witness" appears in 1:5, the significance of a martyr, one who will die for his testimony, is apparently not significant." Apart from this, though Drews tosses in some of the code words of NT scholarship ('textual variances,' for instance), his ignorance of the field, Revelation itself, and Brighton's text is clear.

No doubt one can make valid criticisms of Brighton's book. However, Drews's is not one of them.

It is rare for a biblical commentary to "catch on" so to speak,
but it is evident that this is an exception. It went into a third printing in less than a year. This is the definative
commentary of Revelation for any student of the Bible. I have
not heard of any scholarly detraction of this work from the academic community or from the discerning layman. Dr. Brighton
is Professor Emeritus at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. I know that he is sought after to lecture on the Book of Revelation both here and abroad and often does so. I gave friends and relatives this book as a gift.

Dr. Brighton has made the Book of Revelation his lifelong study, and he brings his decades of research + prayer to bear in this magisterial work. Dr. Brighton tackles what is arguably the most puzzling book in the Bible & sheds light on it from Scripture, ancient writings, & the commentaries of others. His book is always & foremost centered on the person & work of Jesus Christ, the "exalted Son of Man." Dr. Brighton demonstrates that, just as the four Gospels are an account of Jesus' earthly life, so the book of Revelation is an account of His heavenly, post-ascension life.
This book is so full of comfort and joy for the redeemed people of God!

Thank you for your prompt delivery. We are using this book for a study class and like it very much. Jane and Charlie