The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 1 — Section 64

These vnrione refcrC'nces arc, H must be admitt.ro., made by thoeo who accoptcd the apostolic origin of t,he Revelation, and hatl tho document before them which gnve them the information; st.iJI, the statement is variously made, and appears to rest on other "report" ns well. Such confirmation is valuable as exte,·nal evidence to one striking touch of local colouring, though the dare of the exile is dilforently conceived by the authorities. The fitness of the place, I\S providing much of the scenery of the mi<rl1ty dram!\ v.·hich followcll, is brilliantly expanded by Deon Stanley,• Sermons in the Enst' (1S62). (v.) The relation of John to the Churches of Asia is another of those internal marks of authenticity of great weight. Rev. i.-iii. show that the author stood towards them in the position of guide, patron, censor, and as superior to their chief minister or "~n~el." This posit!on could ~ot hllve _been assumed during the period of Paul's mrn1stiy, or that of Timothy. '!he tone differs from that assumed by Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy; nor does the Epistle to the Ephesians or Colossians givo any hint of the state of things revealed in references to the Churches of proconsular Asia. :More- over, till a period coincident with Paul's ministry at Ephesus, John Was' a "pillar n of the Church in Jerusalem. Ecclesiastical tradition is lnrgely concerned with such a residence of John in Ephesus after the destruction of Jerusalem. Some critics, whose entire theory of the New Testament canon turns upon the early date of the Apocalypse, endeavour to repudiate or refute the historical character of John's residence in Asia; bot the evidence is so varied in favour of this residence at Ephesus, at a later rather than an earlier pe1iod, that it will not be overthrown, and consequently we have here a very powerful corroboration of the obvious implications of the documents themselves. Thus Polycrates, a Bishop of Ephesus, a contemporary of Irenams, in his letter to Victor of Rome, as quoted by Eusebius (' Hist. Eccl.,' v. 24) in a passage which links together the author of the Fourth Gospel and Apocalypse, as follows, says," Moreover, .John, he who leaned on the Lord's bosom (eh. xiii. 25), who came to be a priest, who wore the 1rfra.1..o,, [the golden frontlet], and a witness and teacher, he has fallen asleep in Ephesus." This is rejected by some as fantastic and untrustworthy, but it cannot be denied that these tt\•o more ancient documents are thus connected, and thRt St, John's residence and death in Ephesus were referred to by one who lived where the traditions of his life and work must have been vivid. • Clemens Alex. says(' Quis Dives Salv.,' c. 42), "When the tyrant was dead [in all probability meaning Domitian], he departed from the island Patmos to Ephesus." Irenreus (' Adv. lillilr.,' ii. 22. 5; iii. 1. 1) declares that "John, the Lord's disciple, he that lcaued on his bosom, published the Gospel at Ephesus during his abode in Asia.n Eusebius (' Hist. EccL,' iii 23) quotes, on the authority of Clemens Alex., the mteresting passage in which St. John is represented, in his old age, seeking and l'eclaiming the young robber, and in this connection adds, "The Apostle and Evangelist ,John organized the Churches that were in Asia when he returned from his exile in the island after the death of Domitian" (cf. ibid., iii. 1, 18, 31). .Tustiu Martyr, in 'Dial. cum Trypho,' c. 81, describing an interview which to:ik place <in Ephesus, refers by name to the" Apocalypse" as the work of" a certain man John, one of the apost.les of Christ," and speaks of his ministry and teaching as taking placo ... .a.p' 71p:;,,, among us." Apollonins (Eusebius • Hist. Eccl.,' v. 18), a writer against Montanism in the second century, says that" John wrote the Apocalypse, and that he is said to have raised a dead man to life by Divine power, in Ephesus." Jerome (' De Viris Ill,' c. 9) says that "John was buried in Ephesus." A st.atement made at the Council of Ephesus, that "the Virgin Mary accompanied John to Ephesus, and that he died and was buried there," was first mentioned by Epiphanius (' Hrer.,' 711. 11). . . Dr. Davidson says," The place where he wrote was Asia Mmor, probably Ephesus itsdf, to which he had returned from Patmos." These testimonies are ooduced as powerfully corroborating the stateiuent of the Apocalypse itself, that it was produced by-0ne who stood in intimate relations with the Churches of proconsular Asia. This internal evidence is conclusive when thus backed up by a tradition so widely diffused. 1i"eim (' Jesus von Nnzara,' En:;. tran~., vol. i. pp. 14.3, 207), while ru:ceptiog the  'l'llE GOSPEL ACCORDING ·ro ST. JOHN. lni