The Book Of Revelation

Who is the Author?

We can confidently affirm that the author of Revelation is John, but we don’t know precisely which John. Several Johns have been suggested: John the son Zebedee, John the Elder, Cerinthus, or John Mark.1 Unfortunately, there is no way to know exactly who authored the work, but we can identify a few clues. Revelation’s John wields extensive knowledge of Israel’s scriptures and possibly even of Targums (contemporary Jewish translations, not Greek translations)of those scriptures.2 Moreover, John makes heavy use of the Jerusalem Temple and describes it with some accuracy (chapters 8 and 11). Even the apocalyptic genre and unconventional Greek with which John writes bears the marks of a Semitic hand. It’s possible that Revelation was written by an itinerant Palestinian Christian prophet who, after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE, escaped to Asia Minor and began ministry there.3 Given the date, the Palestinian texture of the book, and the dearth of precise data, many Evangelicals affirm the apostle John(the son of Zebedee)’s authorship of Revelation.