Vermaan of bemoedig Johannes die kerke?

Abstract

Does John exhort or encourage the churches? For many centuries Revelation has been the object of a mainly historical approach, legating us with a certain reconstructed historical situation as frame of reference: The church has been the object of persecution and the purpose of Revelation was to encourage the church. This paper supports the contestation of the �traditional scenario� by concluding that the church lost its group-identity because boundaries between her and society were vague. John's intention is to cause the necessary alterations. He thus exhorts the church by means of warning, calls to repent and even threats.