Though I haven’t read The Dawn, from Friedrich Nietzsche, as with nearly all of his books a few of passages have become the philosophical equivalent of purple passages in the Bible. Among those is Nietzsche’s self-identification with his audience as “friends of the lento,” an Italian word meaning slow that’s often employed in music. He goes on to call himself “a teacher of slow reading,” related to his training as a philologist. Philology, Nietzsche continues, “teaches how to read well, that is, slowly, profoundly, attentively, prudently, with inner thoughts, with the mental doors ajar, with delicate fingers and eyes.” As a principle, reading lento is highly commendable; and in my experience it’s one of the greatest benefits of learning to read the Bible in Greek and Hebrew.

So we arrive at the reason you most likely clicked on this article: its title, possibly its blurb, and the New Testament book of Revelation. Last year I worked through a few passages from Revelation 2-3 with my Greek students and something stood out that I hadn’t noticed before. Below I’ll consider those in turn, suggesting with the first that we can make too much of the original languages; while arguing in the second that they are nevertheless critical for interpretation.

To Both the Angel and the Church

Each of the seven letters in Revelation 2-3 address the angel of that respective church (Revelation 2:8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). For example, “To the angel of the church in Ephesus” (Revelation 2:1). Regrettably, none of the commentaries I briefly scanned were particularly helpful in explaining who or what “the angel” is, apart from them being representatives and a reminder to the churches of “unseen, spiritual realities of their situation and of their need for heavenly help” (see Revelation 1:20).

Given that the angel addressed is singular in number (ἀγγέλῳ not ἀγγέλοις), so too are the second person pronouns throughout. And while English translations can’t make this explicit, it’s plainly evident in the Greek. In Revelation 2:4 we read, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.” The word translated as “you” in that verse is twice the singular second person pronoun (σου)— the other is derived from the personal ending of the verb (ἀφῆκες). So far, so what? Well, nothing much. But hang on.

Linguistically, what’s quite interesting is that the above isn’t consistent across the seven letters. For example, the second letter begins in the same way as the fist, “to the angel of the church in Smyrna” (Revelation 2:8). Then Jesus addresses said angel in the singular, again using σου (Revelation 2:9). But something unusual—grammatically speaking—occurs in 2:10, which I’ll highlight using square brackets: “Do not fear what you [singular] are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you [plural] into prison, that you [plural] may be tested, and for ten days you [plural] will have tribulation. Be faithful [singular] unto death, and I will give you [singular] the crown of life.” Here is where reading lento demands a pause to ponder.

Why does Jesus address the local church using both singular and collective (or plural) pronouns, especially in such a way that they’re conflated and not distinct (similarly 2:13, 23-24)? There are times when a writer will shift from singular to plural—and vice versa—to indicate a change in addressee. But in Revelation 2 Jesus addresses the recipient and respective churches both in the singular and plural.

Of course, one can make too much of these sorts of things—and I don’t want to find myself on the same path as John Hagee and other off-the-wall readers of Revelation. If nothing else, it reminds us that English translations can’t always fully express the nuance of Greek—or Hebrew for that matter, so I’m told. I’m tempted to say more, to suggest that Jesus’ address of the church using both the singular and plural is indicative of its organic and communal nature. It’s a thought.

To Both the Church and to the Churches

My reticence to draw too much out of the above observations—however interesting—is that it only occurs in three of the seven letters: Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira. Again, more creative interpreters we point out that those are the three central letters, flanked on each side by two others; John Hagee, that’s for free. Only there is something both consistent and significant throughout the seven letters worthy of reflection.

Each of the seven letters concludes with the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22)—the same phrase occurs one another time, in Revelation 13:9. As G. K. Beale notes, this is a paradigmatic or formulaic saying almost identical to the Synoptic Gospels(Matthew 13:9-17; Mark 4:9, 23; Luke 8:8) and undoubtedly alluding to the Old Testament (see Isaiah 6:9-10; Ezekiel 3:27; 12:2; and Jeremiah 5:21). As he writes, “this exhortation is a formulaic exhortation to heed the message of the symbolic parables,” having “the dual function of signifying that symbolic revelation will be received by the elect but rejected by unbelievers.” All of that, as I said, demands inspection. But reading Revelation lento I noticed something else.

This paradigmatic exhortation that brings each of the seven letters to a close can be translated like so, again inserting square brackets: “Let the one [singular] who has ears, hear what the Spirit says to the churches [plural].” Thankfully, any decent English translation will pick this up. So here we have an explicit and significant detail in the Greek. Though each of the letters is specifically addressed to the angel as well as the local church, each address ends with the exhortation for all of God’s people to hear what the Spirit says. These letters therefore, so peculiar in their provenance and purpose, are intended and applicable to all churches. As Beale writes, “Although each letter is addressed to the particular situation of a particular church, it is relevant for the needs of all “seven” of the churches, and consequently for the universal church.”

Go Read Revelation

In closing, even a basic grasp of the biblical languages and depending on the various study tools available tends towards more attentive reading. This was Nietzsche’s point concerning philology in The Dawn. So above I offered up two things that I noticed while reading Revelation 2-3 in Greek. The implications of the first were interesting but not necessarily meaningful—I’ll leave that decision up to you. However, the second tends towards a quite profound, even if oft assumed, significance: Revelation was written for you, for all of God’s churches.