Notes on "Revelation"

[Since receiving my M.Div. from SBTS, I've been reviewing some notes that I took on Revelation 1-3 in studying for my Greek Syntax and Exegesis class. The following are some notes I have from the first word of Revelation: =ApokavluyiV.]

=ApokavluyiV

Translated "apocalypse" or "revelation." This word "expresses the subject and nature of the book" (G.K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, 181). =ApokavluyiV, or some form of this word, occurs in the NT "44 times (verb, 26; noun 18), nearly always with the basic thrust 'to uncover what has formerly been hidden'" (Grant Osborne, Revelation, 52). "The book is a heightened form of prophecy, which can be referred to as 'apocalyptic,' as apparent from the use of 'apocalypse' and 'prophecy' in vv. 1-3 and in 22:7" (Beale, 181). As used in Revelation, "apocalypse" does not seem to refer to a technical genre of Greek literature, as this word for revelation and related words have specific meanings- meanings that do not necessarily coincide with extra-biblical uses of the term- both in this book and in the rest of the NT canon; therefore, the conventions of extra-biblical "apocalyptic literature" have limited value (at best) in exegesis of the book of Revelation.