Before Jerusalem Fell

Irenaeus, Bishop of Lpn.s 59
rule.’ “5 5
Is it not remarkable that in the same breath Irenaeus can
mention “those who have seen John face to face” and “all the good
and ancient copies [of Revelation]”? It would seem that the “ancient”
(cip~doz5) character of the “copies” (&my@~ozq) would suggest
something more ancient than the “end of Domitian’s reign,” which
Irenaeus speaks of as “almost in our own generation.”
It is difficult to see why the A.D. 130ff Irenaeus would have referred
(as he did) to “ancient copies” (rather than simply to “copies”) – tithe
original autograph had itself been written on~ “towards the end of
Domitian’s rule.” . . . For then, the first “ancient copies” would and
could only have been made after A.D. 96 — whereas Irenaeus implies
that those ancient copies were made before that date! Moreover, even
if the copies comemed were made only after A.D. 96 – they could
hardly have been called “ancient” by the time of Irenaeus (born 130
A.D.). Still less could such first copies then (at a date only after 96
A. D.) appropriately have been described by Irenaeus as “the most
approved and ancient copies.” Surely the compilation of many copies
would thereafter require even further time. And the further determination
of such of those approved and ancient copies as Irenaeus refers
to as the “most approved and ancient copies” of the original, would
need a further long time to take place.56
If Revelation were written pre-A.D. 70, then its date would be about
three decades older still.
The Weight of Irenaeus’s Statement
Few early church fathers stand above Irenaeus in importance as
an early, reliable witness to ancient Church history. Williston Walker
notes that he was “the earliest theological leader of distinction in the
rising Catholic Church. “5 7
Schaff agrees with Walker’s assessment
and speaks highly of Irenaeus: “Irenaeus is the leading representative
of catholic Christianity in the last quarter of the second century, the
champion of orthodoxy against Gnostic heresy, and the mediator
between the Eastern and Western churches. He united a learned
Greek education and philosophical penetration with practical wis-
55. Francis Nigel Lee, “Revelation and Jerusalem” (Brisbane, Australia by the
author, 1985), $36.
56. Ibid., $37.
57. Williston Walker, A Histoty of the Christian Church, 3rd ed. (New York: Scribners,
1970), p. 62.