Rev 12:11

[thyrodandstaff]

12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the (RSV-CE inserts “their” here) testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.

The Ignatius Study Bible states that here the martyrs are victorious. Do you think that “the” or “their” testimony refers to the fact that the first martyrs the Apostles wrote the gospels?

 

[kkollwitz]

λόγον τῆς μαρτυρίας αὐτῶν = logos tis martyrias auton = word of their testimony

I don’t think this sentence in the overall context of the chapter is referring particularly to the Evangelists, or the Apostles, but anyone martyred for the faith. As usual, logos is translated as word, which can be a problem for English speakers. In this case I understand logos more as *reason/ rationale/ consideration/ cause/ on account of, *than word.

I am not a trained theologian; I’m just interested in the variety of meanings for Logos.

 

[NotWorthy]

12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the (RSV-CE inserts “their” here) testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.

The Ignatius Study Bible states that here the martyrs are victorious. Do you think that “the” or “their” testimony refers to the fact that the first martyrs the Apostles wrote the gospels?

I think the “testimony” is the fact that they are martyrs for the faith. The clue is in the meaning of “martyr” which is “witness”. What does a witness do? Testify.

Again, look at they “loved not their lives unto death”. IOW, they were willing to die for what they believed in, because they loved their Lord more than they loved their own lives…

 

[De_Maria]

12:11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the (RSV-CE inserts “their” here) testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death.

The Ignatius Study Bible states that here the martyrs are victorious. Do you think that “the” or “their” testimony refers to the fact that the first martyrs the Apostles wrote the gospels?

As for me, I understand they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, as a reference to the Mass, specifically, the Sacrifice of the Mass. And by the word of their testimony as a reference to their Preaching. In fact, both parts of that sentence could be a reference to the Mass since within the Mass we receive the Eucharist and the Preaching of the Apostles.

The Apostles were amongst the first martyrs. But not all the first martyrs were Apostles. As evidence, we see St. Stephen, the very first martyr, was not an Apostle.