The External Evidence
Regarding the dating of Revelation, the book All Scripture Is Inspired states:
“According to the earliest testimony, John wrote the Revelation about 96 C.E., approximately 26 years after the destruction of Jerusalem. This would be toward the close of the reign of Emperor Domitian. In verification of this, Irenaeus in his “Against Heresies” (V, xxx) says of the Apocalypse: “For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.” Eusebius and Jerome both agree with this testimony. Domitian was the brother of Titus, who led the Roman armies to destroy Jerusalem. He became emperor at the death of Titus, 15 years before the book of Revelation was written. He demanded that he be worshiped as god and assumed the title Dominus et Deus noster (meaning “Our Lord and God”). Emperor worship did not disturb those who worshiped false gods, but it could not be indulged in by the early Christians, who refused to compromise their faith on this point. Thus, toward the close of Domitian’s rule (81-96 C.E.), severe persecution came upon the Christians. It is thought that John was exiled to Patmos by Domitian. When Domitian was assassinated in 96 C.E., he was succeeded by the more tolerant emperor Nerva, who evidently released John. It was during this imprisonment on Patmos that John received the visions he wrote down. (All Scripture Is Inspired pg. 264 par. 5)
Indeed, as the All Scripture is Inspired book states, the earliest testimony to the timing of John’s receiving the Revelation is that of Irenaeus Bishop of Lyons c. 130-200 CE.
Regarding Revelation, in his work Against Heresies he wrote concerning the identity of the antichrist who was thought at the time to be the beast John was referring to in Revelation 13:18:
This is where it calls for wisdom: Let the one who has insight calculate the number of the wild beast, for it is a man’s number, and its number is 666. (Revelation 13:18)
“If we had to openly proclaim in the present time, the name of the Antichrist, it would have been said by him, who also saw the Apocalypse. Because it was seen not so long ago, but almost in our generation, at the end of Domitian’s power.” (Against Heresies Book 5 chapter 30 par.3)
It appears that he is saying John saw the Apocalypse at the end of Domitian’s reign. While many have claimed that it is unclear what he means when he says “it was seen”, the statement to me appears to be fairly straight forward. The nearest antecedent to what was seen was the Apocalypse by John in the previous sentence. That being the case, this would be strong evidence in favor of John receiving the Revelation just prior to Domitian’s death in 96 CE, perhaps around 95 CE.
Furthermore, Irenaeus says that John ministered in Ephesus until he died during the reign of Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE)[1] Additionally, Irenaeus was raised in Smyrna, where one of the congregations to which the Revelation was sent. He also knew Polycarp who was said to have known many of the apostles and had been taught by the apostle John.
Victorinus c. 304 CE wrote a commentary on the book of Revelation, and his commentary is, in fact, the oldest commentary that we possess. In it, he writes,
“When John said these things he was in the island of Patmos, condemned to the labor of the mines by Caesar Domitian. There, he saw the Apocalypse; and when grown old, he thought that he should at length receive his quittance by suffering, Domitian being killed, all his judgments were discharged. And John being dismissed from the mines, thus subsequently delivered the same Apocalypse which he had received from God.”[14]
However, it is a fact that Nero was also called Domitius, his full name being Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus.[2]
Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) wrote:
“A fearful star, for the most part, this comet is, and not easily expiated: as it appeared by the late civil troubles when Octavius was consul: as also a second time by the war of Pompey and Caesar. And in our days about the time that Claudius Caesar was poisoned, and left the empire to Domitius Nero; in the Time of whose Reign there was another almost continually seen, and always terrible”
This means that it is possible that Irenaeus words were interpreted incorrectly.
Robert Young’s Analytical Concordance on Revelation states:
“It was written in Patmos about A.D. 68, whither John had been banished by Domitius Nero, as stated in the title of the Syria version of the book; and with this concurs the express statement of Irenaeus in A.D. 175, who says it happened in the reign of Domitianou – i.e., Domitius (Nero). Sulpicius, Orosius, etc., stupidly mistaking Domitianou for Domitianikos, supposed Irenaeus to refer to Domitian, A.D. 95, and most succeeding writers have fallen into the same blunder. The internal testimony is wholly in favor of the early date.” (J.A.T. Robinson (1976) from Redating the New Testament, p. 13)
According to All Scripture Is Inspired both Eusebius and Jerome agree with Irenaeus. However, Eusebius c. 260/265 – 339 CE and Jerome c. 342 /347 – 420 CE and we would have to add Victorinus, were not contemporaries of Irenaeus having lived much later. Both Eusebius and Jerome got their information from Tertullian 150-212 CE. We do not have Tertullian’s original writing about the dating of Revelation.
The Muratorian Fragment (170 CE) states
“…for the blessed apostle Paul himself, following the order of his predecessor John, he wrote to only seven churches by name, in the following order…”[3]
However, Paul was killed in 68 AD by Nero. If Paul copied John’s example of writing to 7 churches, then John must have written Revelation prior to 68 AD.
As you can see, determining the date of the book from historical sources is not an easy matter.
D. Gene West offers another possibility of understanding what Irenaeus wrote. That rather than John seeing the Revelation during the reign of Domitian, he suggests what was seen was an authoritative copy of the Revelation that had been seen by others during the reign of Domitian. In the same chapter of Against Heresies, Irenaeus wrote the following:
“Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies [of the Apocalypse], and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony [to it]; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, [if reckoned] according to the Greek mode of calculation by the [value of] the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six” (Against Heresies book 5 chapter 30 par. 1)
West concludes:
“Here, in the same period in which Irenaeus spoke of Revelation being seen by people in the reign of Domitian, he also referred to “approved and ancient copies of the Apocalypse.” If the Revelation had been written during the reign of Domitian, as some believe Irenaeus was saying, how could there be “ancient and approved copies” of it in existence at the same time?” (Avenging His Holy Saints Apostles and Prophets by D. Gene West pg. 37)
However, it must be remembered that Against Heresies was written in 175 CE, nearly 80 years after the death of Domitian. Irenaeus could very well be referring here to copies of the Apocalypse circulating in his day along with the testimony of Polycarp and others that had seen John face to face.
It would appear then, with such conflicting data, the wise course would be to give greater authority to the internal evidence, and allow what Revelation itself says to help us interpret the historical data rather than allow the historical data to shape our interpretation of the book. So at this stage, I will not rule out any of the possibilities.
[1] Irenaeus, Against Heresies 2.22.5 and 3.3.4.
[2] see “Pliny’s Natural history. In thirty-seven books”,Book II, Pg. 64.