Many Johannine scholars over the last several decades have noted the prominence of the theme of “witness” in both the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation. On the one hand, both the verb μαρτυρέω (33x) and the noun μαρτυρία (14x) are used more frequently in the Fourth Gospel than in any other book of the New Testament. On the other hand, in the book of Revelation, the noun μαρτυρία appears nine times; the verb μαρτυρέω appears at the beginning and end of the book (Rev 1:2; 22:16, 18, 20), forming an inclusio; and the term μάρτυς is used to identity both Jesus and his followers throughout the work (Rev 1:5; 2:13; 3:14; 11:3; 17:6).
Scholars generally recognize the Holy Spirit’s role in this witness-bearing activity in the Fourth Gospel (cf. John 15:26); and while the Spirit’s role in Revelation is not directly identified as “witness-bearing,” commentators regularly note his active role in conveying messages both to John and to the church in general (e.g., 1:10; 2:7; 14:13). This naturally raises questions such as: How does the Spirit’s role as witness in the Fourth Gospel compare with his role in Revelation? Do the two books present conflicting accounts of the Spirit’s witness-bearing, or are they complementary? Is there a sense in which the two might mutually illumine one another, especially in light of the fact that both books have historically been included within the Johannine corpus?
In this paper, I will argue that while the Fourth Gospel and the Apocalypse emphasize different aspects of the Spirit’s work, they together present a consistent picture of the Spirit’s role as Christ’s witness to both God’s people and, through them, to the world. In both books, the Spirit functions as an emissary of Christ, testifying about him to his followers and equipping them to bear witness themselves to a hostile and unbelieving world. While the two books highlight different aspects and forms of the Spirit’s testifying role, these differences reveal their distinct emphases rather than completely different understandings of the Spirit’s work. This study will proceed in two stages. First, I will highlight the major similarities between the Spirit’s witness-bearing role in the Fourth Gospel and his work in Revelation, organized according to the Spirit’s relation to three other parties: Christ, God’s people, and the wider world. Second, I will present the key differences between the Spirit’s witnessing role in the two books, contrasting (1) the Spirit’s past-oriented testimony in the Fourth Gospel with the Spirit’s future-oriented testimony in the Apocalypse, and (2) the written form of the Spirit’s testimony in the Apocalypse with the exclusively oral form of the Spirit’s testimony in the Fourth Gospel. I will conclude by arguing that both of these contrasts can be categorized as differences of emphasis rather than of substance.