REVELATION 1:3 -- WORD STUDY ON "KEEP"

The first of seven beatitudes, or blessings, pronounced in this book appears in this verse. RSV renders it as follows: “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written therein; for the time is near.”

The question I would like to address here concerns the exact meaning of the verb “keep.” To my simple-minded way of reading this verse, it must mean either to obey, as in “keeping the commandments” or to preserve, as in “keeping the words for future generations.” And actually, even in the English language “keep” can have a host of different meanings depending on the context.

The first place to turn is to see if there are any alternative English translations. Phillips' paraphrase reads “pay attention to;” NASB and NEB say “heed;” The Living Bible reads “do what it says;” “obey what is written” is the rendering of TEV; Jerusalem Bible says “treasure”; and NIV translates it as “take to heart.”

Thus, my two first guesses are seen to not be totally off-base after all. But we have also learned that there are other nuances to the word as well. To go a little further, the easiest way to do a word study if you don't know Greek or Hebrew is to consult an exhaustive concordance, several versions of which can be purchased from Christian Book Distributors or even found for free on-line. In this manner you will be able to (1) see the exact Greek word being used in this verse and in all other places in the Bible where it occurs, (2) learn alternative translations for that same Greek word, and (3) compare this particular Greek word for “keep” with any other synonymous Greek words that might have been used instead.

For example, from such a concordance you will learn that the specific Greek word appearing in Revelation 1:3 is tereo, the most popular by far of the some 14 words translated in KJV as “keep.” And you can see that those other words have various nuances of meaning such as lead, feed, guard, have, hold fast, hold near, make, do, preserve intact, and watch. As to tereo, its more specific meaning is said to be “watch” or “observe.”

Alternatively, you will learn that tereo is translated by KJV 57 times as “keep,” 8 times as “reserve,” 4 times as “observe,” twice each as “preserve” and “watch,” and once as “hold fast.” Of these alternative translations, only one appears in Revelation, and that is as “hold fast” in Revelation 3:3.

I will not go through all of the occurrences of tereo in Revelation except to list them so that you can see how John uses the word in each context: Rev. 1:3; 2:26; 3:3,8,10; 12:17; 14:12; 16:15; and 22:7,9.

If you wish to pursue the issue in an even deeper manner, it is necessary to consult a word study book. The most popular and inexpensive NT resource of that type is one written years ago by W.E. Vine. By simply looking up the English word (listed alphabetically), you will get a quick summary of all the Greek words translated in that manner as well as representative ways in which tereo is rendered in various NT passages.

Moving even deeper into such a word study will involve having access to a much more complete and scholarly resource such as the three-volume work The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. (There is a corresponding four-volume set for OT words also published by Zondervan.)

One advantage of such a scholarly resource is that it not only discusses the meaning of the Greek word as it appears in the NT, but also provides a brief historical survey as to its meaning in classical Greek writings and in the Septuagint translation of the OT. From the latter, we can see which Hebrew words in the OT were translated by tereo during the century immediately preceding the writing of the NT.

Specifically concerning its use in Revelation, the scholar Schutz states that when “linked with logos (word), entole (command), and pistis (faith), tereo has the force of keeping fast a confession, both in facing false doctrine and in meeting a martyr's death (2:26; 3:3,8,10; 12:17; 14:12).” Unfortunately, Schutz does not specifically mention the occurrence of tereo in Revelation 1:3 in that category.

But he does go on in saying, “All the Johannine passages, whether they are concerned with the keeping of the word or commandment by the church or the individual..., or with God's or Christ's keeping of the church..., have to do with remaining in the church or in Christ.” So that overall principle should be kept in mind when trying to figure out the specific meaning of tereo in the context of 1:3.

Of course, if you happen to have a detailed commentary on Revelation at your disposal, then much more information on the subject is available. But in lieu of that, here is one last resource to which you can resort – consideration of literary factors, specifically concerning how the book of Revelation is organized. Some of my own comments on this subject are found in the post titled “The Book of Revelation: Introduction to the Literary Structure.”

One of the points I made in that short essay was that the opening and closing sections of the book act as a pair of bookends, technically called an inclusio, in that the same wording and themes appear in both. Below is a list of these parallels found between the end of the book and the first three verses only.

                                                    Figure 1: Bookends for Revelation

Revelation 1:1-3                                                            Revelation 22:6-21

Revelations come from God, Christ                             Revelations come from God, Christ

    and angels (1:1)                                                            and angels (22:6, 16)

“Show his servants what must soon take                     “Show his servants what must soon take

    place” (1:1-2)                                                               place” (22:6)

“testified” (1:2)                                                             “testifies” (22:20)

“prophecy” (1:3)                                                           “prophecy” (22:7b,10,18,19)

“the time is near” (1:3)                                                 “the time is near” (22:10)

“the things written” (1:3)                                              “the things written” (22:18-19)

Greeting from John: “Grace and peace...                      Final greeting from John: “Grace...

    AMEN” (1:4-6)                                                              AMEN” (22:21)

“Behold, he is coming. AMEN” (1:7)                          “Behold, I am coming soon: (22:7a and

                                                                                            22:12)

                                                                                      “I am coming soon. AMEN.” (22:20)

In addition, we have the first and last beatitudes of Revelation found in these bracketing passages:

    “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it.” (1:3)

    ----------------------------------------

    “Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” (22:7)

But in addition, there is another verse in Revelation 22 which takes us back to 1:3, but in a negative way in that it is a curse in place of a blessing:

    “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if any one adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away...” (22:18)

Thus, if we couple the similar underlined words and what follows them, we have the sort of antithetic parallelism found in Hebrew poetry. And following that lead, one can see this sort of purposeful contrast between 1:3 and 22:18:

        He who hears and keeps                  is blessed, but

        He who hears and adds or subtracts is cursed.

By that reasoning we reach the conclusion that in some way or other “keeping” the prophecy is the exact opposite of “altering” it in any way. The fact that we are getting closer to the meaning of “keep” in this manner is confirmed by looking at the OT passage behind the teaching of 22:18 –

    A. “Give heed to the statutes and ordinances I [Moses] am teaching you.” (Deut. 4:1)

            B. “You must not add to what I command you nor take away (Deut. 4:2a)

    A'. “But keep the commandments of the LORD with which I am charging you (Deut. 4:2b)

Again, we see from the parallelism of A and A' that “to keep” is the same as “to heed” while also being the opposite of altering, as in Section B.

One possible objection to such an analysis is that while it is easy to understand how a commandment can be heeded or obeyed, how can you obey a prophecy? The simple answer is that it is well accepted that in biblical language, prophecy is just as much, if not more, about “telling forth” God's word as it is about “foretelling” the future. The book of Revelation also fits into this category and should be read by a Christian more for its moral and theological teachings than for any supposed insights into the parade of future historical events.