Also, did anyone from the Reformation write a good commentary on
Revelation that is still available? Would be interesting to compare to
today's views.

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Joe
4C's
Boston, MA

There was a large output of commentaries and sermons published on the Apocalypse throughout both the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. If you're looking for actual Reformation-era Reformed commentary, the earliest (and probably most widely accessible today [from that early period]) I know of are the sermons of Bullinger on the book.

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Paul Korte
OPC
Flint, MI

They who perceive in themselves discoveries of the divine goodness, so full and absolutely perfect, and who make them the subject of earnest meditation, will never embrace new doctrines, by which the very grace they feel so powerfully in themselves is thrown into the shade. --John Calvin

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I went to search on possibilities ["reformation era commentaries on revelation"], and Joe's post is already up on Google as a return, less than an hour after posting!

That search did turn up the following work, which looks interesting:

Reformation Readings of the Apocalypse: Geneva, Zurich, and Wittenberg. By Irena Backus. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000. pp. xx, 182. $45.00.)

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Wayne Sparkman, Th.M.
Director, PCA Historical Center, St. Louis, MO
Blogs: The Continuing Story and PCA History Blog

I think Google's spiders hang out here because I've seen hits on threads not at all long after posting.

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Chris Coldwell, Lakewood Presbyterian Church (PCA), Dallas, Texas.
• Naphtali Press: Presbyterian & Reformed Books
• Westminster Letter Press
• The Confessional Presbyterian Journal
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The Regulative Principle: The Scriptures are the “only infallible rule of faith and practice, no rite or ceremony ought to have a place in the public worship of God, which is not warranted in Scripture, either by direct precept or example, or by good and sufficient inference” (Samuel Miller).

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This must be a happenin' place!

I remember having read years back through some good sermons/lectures on Revelation in the collected works of one of the Thomases - take your pick: Boston, Goodwin, Manton. You'll find them in one those collections.

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Adam J. Myer
Slated for the Jan. 10th Chaplains Basic Officer Leadership Course
Estacada Christian Church
Sandy, Oregon

Soli Deo Gloria

If sermons are acceptable, as opposed to commentaries, then here is a list of published works:

PCA Historical Center: Textual Index of Puritan & Reformed Sermons - Revelation

And judging from that list, all the Thomases joined in.

He's not from the Reformation times but have you read Triumph of the Lamb by Dennis E. Johnson?

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sarah
WI
OPC
My Pastor's Sermons: Mark Jenkins...he's awesome!!!

You mean there is something out there besides Tim LaHay's Revelation: Illustrated and Made Plain revised (Zondervan, 1975 {first printing 1973})???

If you want to look at the contemporary era . . .

G K Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New international Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1999.) 1408 pp. Synopsis This is a massive and detailed work suitable for the scholar and student already familiar with Revelation. The interpretative approach is eclecticism or a Redemptive-Historical form of modified idealism that fits most within the overall interpretative framework of such past commentators as Caird, Johnson, Sweet, and above all Hendriksen and Wilcock, he found Mounce and Bauckham useful.

William Hendriksen, More than Conquerors, Baker Book House, 1962. Evangelical and scholarly, a classic of the idealist school (216 pp). He writes on a passage rather than a verse and therefore he is more useful to the layman than the student.Amazon Still popular after 60 years, and rightly so.

Dennis E. Johnson Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation P & R Press; (August 2001) 384 pages, very good, Amill approach (326pp)

Or put another way,

Scholarly: Beale, Osborne, Smalley, Mounce, Thomas, Chilton
Students and teachers: Osborne, Mounce, Johnson, Bauckham
Preachers: Krodel, Keener, Michaels, Brighton
Student starter: Ladd, Morris, Newport
Layman: Hendiksen, Koester, Newport, Barton

Revelation commentary reviews

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Dennis E. McFadden, Ex Mainline Baptist (in Remission)
Atherton Baptist Homes, CEO
First Baptist Church of Alhambra, Member, Transformation Ministries (CA)

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I just read A Theological Guide to the Institutes. In it one of the authors said Calvin probably ran out of time in life to do the Apocolypse of John. He did do the book of Daniel which had much to do with Apocolyptic Revelation.

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R. Martin Snyder
1689er
http://www.puritanboard.com/blogs/puritancovenanter/

"Our object should not be to have scripture on our side but to be on the side of scripture; and however dear any sentiment may have become by being long entertained, so soon as it is seen to be contrary to the Bible, we must be prepared to abandon it without hesitation."
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John
Member
Christ Presbyterian Church (OPC)
Salt Lake City, Utah
www.christpres.net

For Calvin I would suggest it was because he died before he got there.

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Jonathan
Deacon (full time)
Independent Reformed Baptist (BCF 1689)
Tinshill Free Church, Leeds, UK.

I've heard more than once some say that Calvin didn't write a commentary on Revelation because "he didn't understand it" (or something along those lines). That seems far-fetched, and considering he also didn't write commentaries on a couple of NT epistles and some of the OT historical books, singling out Revelation would seem even more unlikely.

Does anyone know about this or have a source? If it's an accurate quote, please let me know.

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Tim Phillips
Pastor, Midlane Park Presbyterian Church (ARP)
Louisville, KY
Husband of Scottish Lass
My Blog: Gairney Bridge
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"Wherever the gospel is preached, it is as if God Himself came into the midst of us." ~ John Calvin

Greetings:

Luther did not believe that Revelation belonged in the inspired canon. Calvin did not have the time to write a commentary.

Blessings,

Rob

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In Essentials Unity, in non-Essentials Liberty, in all things Charity.

Robert Paul Wieland
Springs Reformed Presbyterian Church
Colorado Springs, CO RPCNA
Student at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh PA
Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the Ark, but professionals built the Titanic.