SEV Biblia, Chapter 1:9
¶ Yo Juan, vuestro hermano, y participante en la tribulacin y en el Reino, y en la paciencia de Jess, el Cristo; estaba en la isla que es llamada Patmos, por la palabra de Dios y el testimonio de Jess, el Cristo.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Revelation 1:9
Verse 9. Your brother] A Christian, begotten of God, and incorporated in the heavenly family. Companion in tribulation] Suffering under the persecution in which you also suffer.
In the kingdom] For we are a kingdom of priests unto God.
And patience of Jesus] Meekly bearing all indignities, privations, and sufferings, for the sake and after the example of our Lord and Master.
The isle that is called Patmos] This island is one of the Sporades, and lies in the AEgean Sea, between the island of Icaria, and the promontory of Miletus. It is now called Pactino, Patmol, or Palmosa. It has derived all its celebrity from being the place to which St. John was banished by one of the Roman emperors; whether Domitian, Claudius, or Nero, is not agreed on, but it was most probably the latter. The island has a convent on a well fortified hill, dedicated to John the apostle; the inhabitants are said to amount to about three hundred men, and about twenty women to one man.
It is very barren, producing very little grain, but abounding in partridges, quails, turtles, pigeons, snipes, and rabbits. It has many good harbours, and is much infested by pirates. Patmos, its capital and chief harbour, lies in east LONG. 26 24', north LAT. 37 24'. The whole island is about thirty miles in circumference.
For the testimony of Jesus Christ.] For preaching Christianity, and converting heathens to the Lord Jesus.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 9. I, John, who also am your brother , etc.] Here begins the narrative of the visions and prophecies of this book, the former verses containing a general preface to the whole; and this, and the two following verses, are the introduction to the first vision, which John saw; who describes himself by his name, I John, the evangelist and apostle, a servant of Christ, and a beloved disciple of his; one that was well known to the seven churches to whom he writes, and who had no reason to doubt of his fidelity in the account he gives them; and also by his relation to them as a brother, not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense, they and he belonging to that family that is named of Christ, to the household of God, and of faith, and having one and the same Father, even God: thus, though he was an elder, an evangelist, yea, an apostle by office, yet he puts himself on a level with the several members of these churches, as he was a believer in Christ: and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ ; many are the afflictions and tribulations of the saints; these lie in the way to the kingdom; and they are companions and partners with one another in them, both by enduring the same, and by their sympathy and compassion with each other; and as they go sharers in the troubles of this life, so they do, and shall in the kingdom; in the kingdom of grace now, being all of them made kings and priests unto God, and in the kingdom of Christ on earth, where they will all reign with him a thousand years, and in the kingdom of glory, where they shall reign together to all eternity; and in the mean while, they join in the exercise of the grace of patience, of which Christ is the author, exemplar, and object; they are directed by the Spirit of God into a patient waiting for Christ, or a patient expectation of his coming, kingdom, and glory: the Alexandrian copy reads, patience in Christ; and the Complutensian edition, patience in Christ Jesus: this same person John, who gives this account of himself, was in the isle that is called Patmos ; but now Palmosa; it is one of the islands of the Cyclades, in the Archipelago, or Icarian sea, and sometimes called the Aegean sea, and had its name from the turpentine trees in it; it is, as Pliny says, about thirty miles in circumference; and it lay next to the churches on the continent, and is said to be about forty miles southwest of Ephesus, from whence John came thither, and to which church he writes first; how he came here he does not say, concealing, through modesty, his sufferings; he did not come here of his own accord; Ignatius says f21 , John efugadeueto , was banished to Patmos: by Domitian emperor of Rome, as Irenaeus says f22 , at the latter end of his reign, about the year 95 or 96; and, as Tertullian after he had been cast into a vessel of flaming oil, where he got no hurt: and this banishment was not for any immorality, and capital sin he had committed, but for the word of God ; for believing in Christ, the essential Word of God, and for professing and bearing record of him, both in preaching and writing: and for the testimony of Jesus ; for the Gospel of Christ, (see Revelation 1:2); for embracing it, adhering to it, and publishing it: it is generally thought that John wrote his Revelation in this isle, though some think it is not to be concluded from these words, but the contrary that he had been here, but now was not, but at Ephesus, where he wrote what he had a vision of there.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 9-11 - It was the apostle's comfort that he did not suffer as an evil-doer but for the testimony of Jesus, for bearing witness to Christ as the Immanuel, the Saviour; and the Spirit of glory and of God rested upo this persecuted apostle. The day and time when he had this vision wa the Lord's day, the Christian sabbath, the first day of the week observed in remembrance of the resurrection of Christ. Let us who cal him "Our Lord," honour him on his own day. The name shows how thi sacred day should be observed; the Lord's day should be wholly devote to the Lord, and none of its hours employed in a sensual, worldl manner, or in amusements. He was in a serious, heavenly, spiritual frame, under the gracious influences of the Spirit of God. Those wh would enjoy communion with God on the Lord's day, must seek to dra their thoughts and affections from earthly things. And if believers ar kept on the Lord's holy day, from public ordinances and the communio of saints, by necessity and not by choice, they may look for comfort i meditation and secret duties, from the influences of the Spirit; and by hearing the voice and contemplating the glory of their beloved Saviour from whose gracious words and power no confinement or outwar circumstances can separate them. An alarm was given as with the soun of the trumpet, and then the apostle heard the voice of Christ.
Greek Textus Receptus
εγω 1473 ιωαννης 2491 ο 3588 και 2532 αδελφος 80 υμων 5216 και 2532 συγκοινωνος 4791 εν 1722 τη 3588 θλιψει 2347 και 2532 εν 1722 τη 3588 βασιλεια 932 και 2532 υπομονη 5281 ιησου 2424 χριστου 5547 εγενομην 1096 5633 εν 1722 τη 3588 νησω 3520 τη 3588 καλουμενη 2564 5746 πατμω 3963 δια 1223 τον 3588 λογον 3056 του 3588 θεου 2316 και 2532 δια 1223 την 3588 μαρτυριαν 3141 ιησου 2424 χριστου 5547
Vincent's NT Word Studies
9. I John. Compare Dan. vii. 28; ix. 2; x. 2.
Who am also your brother (o kai adelfov umwn). Omit kai, also, and render as Rev., John your brother.
Companion (sugkoinwnov). Rev., better, partaker with you. See Philip. i. 7, and note on partners, Luke v. 10. Koinwnov, is a partner, associate. Sun strengthens the term: partner along with. Compare John's favorite word in the First Epistle, koinwnia fellowship, 1 John i. 3. In the tribulation, etc. Denoting the sphere or element in which the fellowship subsisted.
Tribulation (qliyei). See on Matt. xiii. 21 Persecution for Christ's sake, and illustrated by John's own banishment.
Kingdom (basileia). The present kingdom. Trench is wrong in saying that "while the tribulation is present the kingdom is only in hope." On the contrary, it is the assurance of being now within the kingdom of Christ - under Christ's sovereignty, fighting the good fight under His leadership - which gives hope and courage and patience. The kingdom of God is a present energy, and it is a peculiality of John to treat the eternal life as already present. See John iii. 36; v. 24; vi. 47, 54; 1 John v. 11
