Revelation 3:4

ὀλ. ὀν. “quasi paucos nominatos, i.e., bonos qui nominatione digni sunt” (cf. the use of πρίσωπα = persons or individuals, in Clem. Rom. and Ignat.). ἐμόλ. (cf. Fragment of Uncanonical Gospel, Oxyrhyn. 2 cent. A.D., line 16 μεμολυμμένος ἐπάτησας, κ. τ. λ.) the sullied garment an emblem of moral stains, including but not identical with that of πορνεύειν (Revelation 14:4, cf. Sir 22:1-3). The language reflects that of the votive inscriptions in Asia Minor, where soiled clothes disqualified the worshipper and dishonoured the god. Moral purity qualifies for spiritual communion (note the dramatic contrast of this ἄξιοι [cf. on Revelation 2:16] with that of Revelation 16:6); the apocalyptic beatitude is: blessed are the pure in life, for they shall join God (see on Revelation 14:14; Revelation 19:8). Note here only in the seven messages an eschatological promise unintroduced by the phrase ὁ νικῶν, although Revelation 3:5 really repeats the same idea, οὕτως = “as being victor” (i.e., accordingly). The idea of heavenly raiment is distinctively Persian (Brandt, 575, 580; Lüken, 122), but permeates Jewish eschatology from Enoch (lxii. 15, 16, the elect clothed after the resurrection in eternal “garments of glory”) down to Slav. En. xxii. 8;4Ezr 2 39; Ezra 2:45 (cf. Herm. Sim. viii. 2) and Asc. Isa. iv. 16 (garments = spiritual bodies in which the saints are vested at the last day, stored up in seventh heaven; cf. 8:26, 9:24 f., uidi stolas multas et thronos et coronas jacentes). περιβαλεῖται κ. τ. λ., like Joshua (Zechariah 3:3 f.); or (as others suggest) like priests acquitted before the Sanhedrin, who were robed in white. In the Apoc., as in En. lxxxv. xc., white is the colour of righteousness, associated with innocence (and joy? Ecclesiastes 9:8), just as black with evil. In Apoc. Pet. 5, the dwellers in Paradise are clothed in ἔνδυμα ἀγγέλων φωτινῶν, whilst the angels who (Revelation 3:6) chastise the wicked are robed in black. All such metaphors reflect the primitive notion that clothing somehow could form almost a part of a man's personality, corresponding to his identity and character (E. Bi. 1140, 1141), rather than the Roman custom of assuming a white toga uirilis to mark entrance upon manhood's privileges (“uitae liberioris iter,” Ovid). τῆς βίβλου τῆς ζωῆς, this favourite symbol of the Apocalypse which goes back even to pre-exilic Judaism (Isaiah 4:3, cf. Exodus 32:32 f., etc.; for the Babylonian background, cf. Jeremias, 69 f.), had through the influence of Dan. (Revelation 12:1) a great vogue in apocalyptic dreams as an apt image no longer of a share in the temporal felicity of God's reign but of personal salvation. For a name to be erased from the book of life (one's deeds not corresponding, upon scrutiny, to one's position; cf. Revelation 20:12, Jub. xxxvi. 10) meant condemnation, or exclusion from the heavenly kingdom. To have one's name retained (“and never will I blot out,” etc.) on the list of heavenly citizens was by this time a current metaphor for eternal fellowship with God and his people, and (by a natural inference drawn in Revelation 13:8) for predestination, the belief in which formed then as always a vivid inspiration in distress and conflict. For the erasure of names from the civic register, consequent upon their owner's condemnation, cf. Dio Chrys. xxxi. 336 c, ὅταν δημοσίᾳ τινὰ δέῃ τῶν πολιτῶν ἀποθανεῖν ἐπʼ ἀδικήματι, πρότερον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ ἐξαλείφεται; Xen. Hell. ii. 3, 51, and Arist. Pac. 1180. Also Dittenberger's Sylloge inscript. Graec. 2 439 20 (iv. B.C.) ὃς δʼ ἂν δόξηι μὴ ὢν φράτηρ ἐσαχθῆναι, ἐξαλειψάτο τὸ ὄνομα αὐτο͂ ὁ ἱερεύς, and Orientis Græci Inscr. Sel. 218 129 (iii. B.C.) ἐξαλείψαντας τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἐκείνου. The special comfort of this verse is intelligible when one reads the prayer offered in contemporary Jewish worship (cf. Shmone-Esreh xii. Palest, recension): “for apostates let there be no hope, may the kingdom of the haughty quickly collapse in our days, and may the Nazarenes and the Minim suddenly perish, may they be blotted out of the book of Life and not enrolled along with the righteous”.

The message to Sardis, the most vehement of the seven, has some interesting resemblances to that addrtssed to Ephesus; cf. Revelation 2:1 = Revelation 3:1; Revelation 2:5 (μνημ.) = Revelation 3:3; Revelation 2:5 (visitation) = Revelation 3:5; Revelation 2:6 = Revelation 3:4. The hope described in Revelation 3:5 is burlesqued by Lucian (Peregr. xl.) who describes his pseudo-Christian hero as seen after death περιπατοῦντα ἐν λευκῇ ἐσθῆτι, φαιδρόν κοτίνῳ τε ἐστεμμένον. The metaphorical references to raiment gain point in view of the local trade in woollen goods and dyed stuffs.