What Was the Date of the Book of Revelation?

Where the authorship of The Revelation is under some dispute, at least among modern-day scholars, the approximate date it was received is far less in doubt. Following is another sampling of twentieth century Biblical scholars:

“As regards to the church’s tradition in the matter, the following facts are known: (a) A diversity of dates was suggested for the book by late writers, including the reigns of Claudius (41-54), Nero (54-68), and Trajan (98-117). Certainly it does not commend these dates that they were proposed only by late writers like Epiphanius, Jerome, and others of the fourth and later centuries and on inconclusive evidence or none. . . . (b) The earlier church writers converged on a date in the reign of Domitian (81-96); such appears to be the united testimony of Melito of Sardis, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Victorinus, and Eusebius—church fathers ranging from the second to the fourth century. Jerome, too, knew of this tradition.

“A number of modern scholars, rejecting both sets of early tradition, have attempted to establish a date in the reign of Vespasian (69-79) . . .” (The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, p. 60.)

“On the whole, the Damitianic date appears to accord the best with the thesis of Revelation and with the contemporary condition of the church as represented in it. While it is not impossible that churches other than those mentioned in either the Acts or the Pauline letters existed in the province of Asia as early as the reign of Nero or of Vespasian, it is unlikely that the church had by such an early period reached the low moral and spiritual ebb reflected in Rev. 2-3. . . . Then, too, the attitude of the church toward the Empire had undergone great change from the earlier one reflected in Mark 12:17; Rom. 13:1; and even in I Pet. 2:13-17. Domitian strenuously insisted on the recognition of the divinity of the imperial line and by his day emperor-worship was the one universal cultus in Asia Minor, the one sort of pagan worship which is portrayed in Revelation as intolerable (cf. 13:11-18). Moreover, the Nero Redivivus theory in the developed form in which this figure is seen combining in his own person the characteristics of Beliar and the Antichrist . . . is found in Revelation (17:8-11; cf. 13:1ff)—a fact that which argues for a late date and most likely the reign of Domitian. Finally, a late date is suggested for the book if—as it seems—John employed a number of other NT books in searching for materials for his own (e.g., Matthew, Luke, I and II Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, I Thessalonians, I Peter, and James).” (ibid, p.61.)

“The generally agreed date of Revelation is in the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (81-96). . .” (The Family Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. 17, p. 3216.)

“The date of the Revelation is given by the great majority of critics as A.D. 95-97. Irenaeus says: ‘It [i.e., the Revelation] was seen no very long time ago, but almost in our own generation, at the close of Domitian's reign.’ Eusebius also records that, in the persecution under Domitian, John the apostle and evangelist was banished to the island Patmos for his testimony of the divine word. There is no mention in any writer of the first three centuries of any other time or place, and the style in which the messages to the Seven Churches are delivered rather suggests the notion that the book was written in Patmos.” (Smith’s Bible Dictionary, p. 563.)

The interesting thing here is that even among the early church fathers, it was recognized that

1. This Revelation was given to the apostle John; and
2. It was given at a time long after the last of the other apostles of Jesus Christ had died. In other words, John was the last living apostle on the face of the earth.

This is also interesting because of the claim of the Mother Church that Peter was the last of the living apostles. However, according to most Biblical scholars, it is believed that Peter died a martyr for the cause of Christ in Rome circa 64 or 65 A.D.