Fragment: Greek Translation in Revelation

Revelation  •  1 min. read  •  grade level: 12
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" Two passages in Revelation seem to admit of being more easily explained, and to save some controversy, if we adopt the simple interpretation; that ψυχὴ, in these places, means dead 'body' instead of 'soul,' see Num. 9 One is Rev. 6:9,9And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: (Revelation 6:9) describing the opening of the fifth seal, where we read of souls' under the altar, the other the celebrated passage in Rev. 20:4,4And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4) I saw the souls of them that were beheaded. An objection may be raised, How can dead, headless bodies speak? It may be a sufficient answer to say, How can a soul speak without a body at all? To which we may add, It seems contrary to common sense to see a soul. To make a soul visible would not only be (we may suppose) to suspend the course of nature, and achieve what is called a physical impossibility, which is the very nature of a miracle, but, beyond this, to bring to pass what is rather a metaphysical or mathematical impossibility, i.e. that which, in the very nature of the case, can no more be than a sound can be seen, or a color be heard, or two and two can make Ave. At all events, this difficulty is worth considering. Corpses cannot literally speak, no more can blood, yet in figurative, i.e. scriptural, language it has a voice, see Gen. 4 Heb. 11 Again, corpses, as such, do not live and reign, neither do souls (according to the common version) without bodies. In the one case the first resurrection unites body and soul, in the other it not only does so, but repairs the loss the mutilated body had sustained." B.