Appian Way Press

Eusebius uses the book of Revelation in his writing in two primary ways: to critically assess its authorship and to draw theological support for Christ's role in fulfilling prophecy.

In The History of the Church, Eusebius extensively discusses the authorship of Revelation, acknowledging that the writing is "from a holy and inspired source" and that its author is named John. However, he expresses strong reservations about identifying this John with the Apostle John, the son of Zebedee, who authored the Gospel and the general letters. Eusebius concludes "from both their character and the style of their words, and from the way the book is presented, that they are not the same person." He notes that the evangelist John "does not write his name anywhere, nor does he proclaim himself," whereas the author of Revelation "immediately introduces himself at the beginning" with phrases like "'The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which must be shown to his servants quickly, and he signified it by sending it through his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to his testimony, whatever he saw.'" Furthermore, the author of Revelation names himself multiple times, stating, "'I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus, was on the island called Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus,'" and again at the end, "'Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.' And I, John, the one seeing and hearing these things."

Eusebius further distinguishes Revelation from the Gospel and letters of John by highlighting significant differences in style and language. He observes that "the Revelation is very different and foreign from these, neither touching nor being near to any of them, almost as if it has no common understanding with them." He points out that the Gospel and letters are "written not only without error according to the speech of the Greeks, but also very carefully in their words, arguments, and structures of interpretation," lacking "any barbarous sound, solecism, or completely private language." In contrast, he finds that the author of Revelation's "dialect and language do not exactly follow Greek, but rather use private expressions that are somewhat barbarous, and sometimes even have solecisms." Despite these critical observations regarding authorship and style, Eusebius does not deny that the author "has seen the Revelation and received knowledge and prophecy."

Despite his skepticism regarding its apostolic authorship, Eusebius utilizes the content of Revelation to support theological arguments. In The Proof of the Gospel, he quotes from the book to illustrate Christ's role in revealing divine truths and fulfilling prophecy. He states, "Therefore, behold, 'he says, the lion from the tribe of Judah has conquered, and he opened the seals that were on the book,' according to the Revelation of John." Eusebius employs this passage to demonstrate that Christ "opened and explained to his disciples the understanding of the divine writings" and "has not come to seal the vision and the prophet, but rather to unfold and bring them to light." This shows that, for Eusebius, the Revelation of John provides authoritative content for understanding Christ's salvific work and the fulfillment of prophetic scripture.