T<\/span>he angelic announcements of Revelation 14:6\u201311 are an encouragement to the saints to remain steadfast. \u201cHere <\/em>is the perseverance of the saints,\u201d John writes (v. 12). Then he adds the defining qualities of the saints: \u201cthose who guard the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (ten pistin Iesou<\/em>).\u201d<\/p>\n Pauline debates about pistis <\/em>with the genitive rear up. Do the saints keep their faith in Jesus? Or do they somehow keep the faith that Jesus Himself exercised or performed? Is the genitive objective or subjective?<\/p>\n Grammar and context suggest that it\u2019s subjective.<\/p>\n Grammar first: The saints are described as those who keep or guard (te<\/em>reo<\/em>), and the verb has two objects, which are grammatically parallel:<\/p>\n tas tentolas tou theou<\/em> \u2013 the commandments of God.<\/p>\n ten pistin Iesou<\/em> \u2013 the faith of Jesus.<\/p>\n The first genitive isn\u2019t a subjective genitive; is is not the commandments that God keeps. It\u2019s rather a genitive of origin; these are the commandments that come from <\/em>God. We might take the phrases as strictly parallel: The faith that they keep is a faith that comes from Jesus. That seems clunky, but so too does an objective genitive. Guarding commandments means acting in accord with the commands that come from God; but then there\u2019d a bit of gear-grinding if the second item to be guarded is one\u2019s own trust in Jesus. If the \u201cfaith of Jesus\u201d is the faithful obedience of Jesus, which serves as a pattern for the believer, then it makes a natural pair with the \u201ccommandments of God.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The grammar isn\u2019t decisive, but it\u2019s certainly compatible with a subjective understanding.<\/p>\n The context supports this reading as well. The saints in view are the 144,000 who are going to be harvested in martyrdom. They are quite literally following the path of Jesus\u2019 faith, conformed to the pattern of his self-offering and exaltation. The assurance that their persecutors will be judged and that the saints will be vindicated encourages them to guard the faithful way of Jesus.<\/p>\n B<\/span>roader context might help as well. John uses entole <\/em>(commandment) ten times (hmmm), and frequently links it with Jesus\u2019 obedience to death. He lays down His life as a \u201ccommandment I received from My Father\u201d (10:18). He gives a new commandment to His disciples, to love as He loves (13:34; 15:12), and their love is expressed by guarding His commandments (14:15, 21).<\/p>\n This background strengthens the parallels between \u201ccommandments of God\u201d and \u201cfaith of Jesus\u201d in Revelation 14:12: As defined by Jesus in John, the commandment of God is the new commandment to lay down one\u2019s life for the other. This is also the faith of Jesus, His trusting obedience to His Father to the cross. Saints are those who guard that new commandment, following the Lamb wherever He goes.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The angelic announcements of Revelation 14:6\u201311 are an encouragement to the saints to remain steadfast. \u201cHere is the perseverance of the saints,\u201d John writes (v. 12). Then he adds the defining qualities of the saints: \u201cthose who guard the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus (ten pistin Iesou).\u201d Pauline debates about pistis with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,65],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-nt-john","category-bible-nt-revelation"],"yoast_head":"\n