千禧年解釋－回顧與再思

THE INTERPRETATION OF REV 20:1-10-A Reconsideration of the Millennium

周兆真(Simon S. Chow)

《建道學刊》 12期 (1999/07) Pp. 209-240

摘要

啟示錄二十章1至10節是聖經中唯一提及千禧年觀念的經文，華人牧者對解釋這段經文興趣甚濃，注釋書可謂汗牛充棟。本文首先介紹由二十年代至九十年代漢語注釋書中對千禧年的不同解釋；然後從新舊約經文的相互關係（inter-textuality）、猶太啟示文學、希羅社會宗教背景（extra-textuality）及啟示錄二十章與全卷上下文的關係（intra-textuality）來分析千禧年概念。作者最後指出，約翰使用當時慣用的啟示文體及語彙，謂信徒將要和基督作王一千年，目的在勸勉信徒忍受逼迫，而非提供資料以預測末日的進程。

並列摘要

Revelation 20:1-10 is the only passage in the Bible Which mentions the millennium It has drawn great interest in the Chinese Church, resulting in great number of commentaries. First, this paper makes a brief survey of the interpretation of the millenium as found in the Chinese commentaries between the 1920s and 1990s. Second, it offers an alternative interpretation for the passage. In order to achieve this goal, much attention has been given to the inter-, intra- and extra-textuality of Revelation 20:1-10, combined with considerations related to the historical context and to the possible semantic function of the text. The study finds that while writing the book of Revelation, the apostle John follows the convention and style of the apocalyptic genre common in his time. By using symbolic and highly imaginative language, he communicates to his readers that Christ is coming soon, and that when He comes, the believers who are being persecuted will become conquerors. The function of this passage is not informative, i.e. to make a prediction of the end time on a chronological basis, but rather exhortative, i.e. to encourage the reader to persevere.