If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life,

and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book.

Hey, listeners, this is Nick from Scripture Central, and today's podcast addresses the question.

Does the Book of Revelation establish a closed canon?

At the end of the Book of Revelation, the Lord gives a striking warning to those who would read this book of Scripture.

If any man shall add unto these things,

God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book, and if any man shall take

away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of

life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Some have used this verse to imply that the scriptural canon is closed, and no one should

add to the Bible as a whole.

This is not what this passage would have meant in the original context of this verse.

Rather, John's warning to neither add to nor take away from the words of the book of this prophecy

were intended specifically to refer to the Book of Revelation itself, especially since the

New Testament and by extension the entire Bible had not yet been fully compiled.

This is especially evident when the verse is viewed in the wider historical background and context of the formation of the New Testament as a whole.

For example, many early Christians believed the book of Revelation to have been written during Domitian's reign in AD 81 through 96.

Others believed that it was written a generation earlier during Nero's reign

in AD 54 through 68. Other texts, including the epistles of John, are typically believed to have

been written after the Book of Revelation, even when assuming the latter of the two dates.

As such, if this verse was meant to mark an end to all Scripture,

...