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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 2:17, a new name
The new name on the stone echoes Isaiah's promise that God will call his restored people by a new name.
Revelation 2:17, in every translation this tool compares.
When a town wins its charter and takes a new name, the new name tells you its status has changed. Isaiah 62 says God will call Zion by a new name, and Isaiah 65 says his servants will be called by another name. Jesus promises the one who conquers a new name written on the stone. Beale and Heiser read it, after 3:12, as God's and Christ's own name.
A new name (onoma kainon). The Greek of Isaiah 62:2 has kalesei se to onoma sou to kainon, he will call you by your new name. Isaiah 65:15 has klethesetai onoma kainon, they will be called by a new name.
In Isaiah the name is spoken by the Lord over Jerusalem and God's servants. John has a name written on a stone that only the receiver knows. Isaiah's promise was to Israel restored; John gives it to whoever conquers at Pergamum. He also adds the secrecy, which is not in Isaiah.
Beale reads the new name as Israel's promised new standing, now given to the church as the people of the last days. The name marks belonging and God's presence, as 3:12 and 22:4 spell out. Isaiah 65 sets faithful servants against Israelites who ate at idol feasts, which suits Pergamum.
Not Isaiah's name for Zion. In Isaiah 62 God gives Zion a new name before the nations. John turns the promise into a name given to the one who conquers.
Beale calls the new name an allusion to Isaiah 62:2 and 65:15, noting the shared kaleo with onoma kainon, and perhaps Isaiah 56:5. In Isaiah 62 the new name signals Israel's royal status (62:3), God's restored presence (62:4) and a marriage with the Lord. Isaiah 65:15 contrasts God's servants with those who dedicate meals to idols (65:3-4, 11), and the Targum of Isaiah 65:6, 15 links the sword and the second death, both of which close the letter. The vault's Septuagint confirms both phrases. Beale reads 3:12 as the key: the name is God's name, the name of the new Jerusalem, and Christ's new name, all one. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible names Isaiah 62:2 and 65:15; the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible names Isaiah 56:5 and 62:2; the CSB Study Bible's cross-references give Isaiah 56:5 and 62:2. The grade is drawn here: the phrase new name with the verb to call points to these chapters.
Heiser asks whether the name is God's or the believer's. Isaiah 62:2 and 65:15 do not settle it alone. Aune lands on God's or Jesus' name, and Heiser prefers Beale's simpler path: 3:12 answers 2:17. He calls it name theology, a mark of ownership, and reads the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:27, where God's name is put on Israel. The mark of the beast in chapter 13 is its dark mirror.
Beckwith, as Beale reports, holds that the name belongs to the believer alone and draws on secret names used in magic. Beale answers that all overcomers receive the same name. MacArthur also reads the name as personal: a word from Christ to each one he loves, which no one but its holder knows, and which admits its holder to glory. The ESV Study Bible relates the new name to the Spirit making believers holy. Keener notes that a change of name in the Old Testament came with a promise (Genesis 17:5, 15).
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 2:17c, and The New Name
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 2:17
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 2:17
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 2:17
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 2:17
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 2:17
- Septuagint, Isaiah 62:2 and 65:15, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 2:17
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 2: Letters to the Churches: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 2:17
