One of the most remarkable parts of that strange and difficult book, the Revelation of St. John, is the

passage 2:1 to 3:22, containing the Seven Letters. The Apocalypse as a whole belongs to a large and well-

known class of later Jewish literature, and has many features in common with previous Apocalypses of

Jewish origin. St. John was using an established literary form, which he adapted in a certain degree to his

purposes, but which seriously fettered and impeded him by its fanciful and unreal character. As a general

rule he obeys the recognised laws of apocalyptic composition, and imitates the current forms so closely that

his Apocalypse has been wrongly taken by some scholars, chiefly German, as a work of originally pure and

unmixed Jewish character, which was modified subsequently to a Christian type.

In this work, Jewish in origin and general plan, and to a great extent Jewish in range of topics, there is

inserted this episode of the Seven Letters, which appears to be almost entirely non-Jewish in character and

certainly non-Jewish in origin and model. There must have been therefore some reason which seemed to the

author to demand imperatively the insertion of such an episode in a work of diverse character. The reason

was that the form of letters had already established itself as the most characteristic expression of the

Christian mind, and as almost obligatory on a Christian writer. Though many other forms have been tried in

Christian literature, e.g. the dialogue, the formal treatise, etc., yet the fact remains that--apart from the

fundamental four Gospels --the highest and most stimulating and creative products of Christian thought

have been expressed in the epistolary form. This was already vaguely present in the mind of St. John while

he was composing the Apocalypse. Under this compelling influence he abandons the apocalyptic form for a

brief interval, and expresses his thought in the form of letters. In them he makes some attempt to keep up the

symbolism which was prescribed by the traditional principles of apocalyptic composition; but such imagery

is too awkward and cumbrous for the epistolary form, and has exerted little influence on the Seven Letters.

The traditional apocalyptic form breaks in his hands, and he throws away the shattered fragments.

In the subsequent development of St. John's thought it is plain that he had recognised the inadequacy and

insufficiency of the fashionable Jewish literary forms. It seems highly probable that the perception of that

fact came to him during the composition of the Revelation, and that the Seven Letters, though placed near

the beginning and fitted carefully into that position, were the last part of the work to be conceived.

It must also be noticed that the book of the Revelation, as a whole, except the first three verses, is cast in the

form of a letter. After the brief introduction, the fourth verse is expressed in the regular epistolary form: --

John to the Seven Asian Churches: Grace to you and peace, from him which is and which was and which is

to come; and from the Seven Spirits, etc.

Such a beginning is out of keeping with the ordinary apocalyptic form; but the pastoral instinct was strong

in the writer, and he could never lose the sense of responsibility for the Churches that were under his

charge. Just as the Roman Consul read in the sky the signs of the will of heaven on behalf of the State, so

St. John saw in the heavens the vision of trial and triumph on behalf of the Churches entrusted to his care.

All that he saw and heard was for them rather than for himself; and this is distinctly intimated to him, 1:11,

What thou seest, write in a book, and send to the Seven Churches.

The expression just quoted from 1:11, write in a book, and send, obviously refers to the vision as a whole. It

is not an introduction to the Seven Letters: it is the order to write out and send the entire Apocalypse. This

the writer does, and sends it with the covering letter, which begins in 1:4. Hence 1:11 explains the origin of

1:4. The idea of the letter as the inevitable Christian form was firmly in the writer's mind. He must write an

Apocalypse with the record of his vision; but he must enclose it in a letter to the Churches.