EN IVa: Τοὺς τρεῖς χρóνους

Changing the non-capital lambda of the word λóγος to a capital one (Λóγος) makes a substantial difference. A lower-case lambda means, ‘the teaching (of this passage of Revelation) has included all three tenses (of the verbs used therein)’. In that case, λóγος betokens ‘teaching’, and the author would have suggested ‘the teaching of this scriptural passage’. This rendering, however, can be definitely excluded on account of the sentence that follows: ‘Being aware of this, John the Theologian says . . .’ What John ‘is aware of’ is obviously not the ‘three tenses’ of verbs, which he himself used, but the deeper meaning of the statement, ‘the Logos encompasses all time’. This time is understood to be a ‘tripartite’ one (past, present, future): the Logos is the Lord of all time, and dominates all History, which is a quotation from Clement of Alexandria styling the Logos ‘the alpha and the omega’.

This Scholion integrates two major traditions: one, the Hellenic (Stoic) concept of the Logos as a universal principle, which is ‘god’, even though the term is employed by John in a substantially different context. Second, the biblical concept of Christ (also transformed in import), which is dominant in Paul’s theology. The aim is to show that this passage of Revelation is compatible with both John and Paul, since it expresses the same theology about the Second Person of the Trinity. Hence the parallel expressions referring to John and Paul respectively: Τοῦτο ἐπιστάμενος ὁ θεολóγος Ἰωάννης, and Χριστòν αὐτòν ἐπιστάμενος, ὁ ἀπóστολóς φησιν.