Wow, that opened up a can of worms... I spent a good portion of of the morning looking at it.
I'm very weak in Greek (no rhyme intended).
I won't argue a point, rather I'll point you to just a few public sources that discuss the issue (Google Books)
...from the foundation of the world (these last words are ambiguously placed. They may belong either to γέγραπται, or to ἐσφαγμένου. ...
Henry Alford, Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary, vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press, 1976), 677–678.
The syntax of this part of verse 8 is not immediately clear, since it apparently allows for two quite different understandings of the Greek. First, given the word order of the text, it seems natural to connect the phrase, ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου (
apo katabolēs kosmou, ‘since the creation of the world’), with the immediately preceding participial adjective, ἐσφαγμένου (
esphagmenou, ‘sacrificed’, lit. ‘slaughtered’). In this case, the reference is to Christ, the Lamb, whose redemptive death was ‘decreed in the counsels of eternity’ (Mounce 252); cf.
T. Mos. 1.14; Acts 2:23; 1 Pet. 1:18–20. This exegesis is followed, among others, by reb, Wall (170) and Thompson (140). However, it is not easy, logically or theologically, to make sense of the claim that Jesus the Messiah was crucified at the outset of time (cf. Aune 747), even if he was eternally destined to die for the sins of the world.
It is therefore preferable to adopt the alternative interpretation, which is grammatically possible, and take the prepositional phrase ‘since the creation of the world’ with the verb γέγραπται (
gegraptai, ‘written’); and, despite the separation in that case between the modifier and its antecedent, such a linkage is strongly supported by the close parallel at 17:8 (q.v.). ...
Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (London: SPCK, 2005), 343.
The last phrase
apo katabolēs kosmou [2602/2889, 2856/3180] (from the foundation of the world) immediately follows
esphagmenou [4969, 5377] (having been slain). This translation is found in the KJV and NKJV. However, many other versions (RSV, NRSV, NJB, NET, NASB, ESV) agree with the rendering of the NLT. Why do these translations and commentators1 interpret the last phrase of the verse so it modifies “written”? The primary rationale comes from considering 17:8, which literally reads, “And they will be amazed, those who dwell upon the earth, of whom has not been written the name upon the book of the life from (the) foundation of (the) world.” ...
M. Robert Mulholland Jr., “Revelation,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: James, 1–2 Peter, Jude, Revelation, ed. Philip W. Comfort, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2011), 519–520.
Some writers assumed that people’s names were placed in the scroll as a reward for righteous living (Herm.
Man. 8.6; Herm.
Sim. 2.9;
Apoc. Zeph. 3:6–9). In Revelation, however, people’s names are placed there through divine grace. Since God has inscribed people in the scroll from the time the world was made, their place is a divine gift (Rev 13:8; 17:8; cf.
Jos. As. 15:4). Divine grace stands in tension with human accountability. At the last judgment, people are accountable for their actions, as inscribed in the scrolls of deeds, but are saved by grace, by having their names in the scroll of life (Rev 3:5; 20:12–15; 21:27). Revelation does not assume that those in the scroll are sinless and assumes that all people—inside and outside the church—need to repent (2:5, 16, 21, 22; 3:3, 19; 9:20, 21; 16:9, 11). Some ancient writers assume that people will be blotted out of God’s scroll through sin, but Revelation affirms only that God will not blot out those who are faithful (Note on 3:5).
The Greek word order is confusing. Some interpreters take it to mean that the Lamb was “slain from the time the world was made,” reading it as a way of speaking about Christ’s preexistence and the idea that his death was foreordained (KJV, NIV; cf. 1 Pet 1:19–20; Bede; Harrington; Osborne; Prigent; Reddish; Rowland). This interpretation seems forced, however, since pressing the Greek word order does not suggest that the Lamb’s death was simply foreordained but that he was actually slain from the time the world was made, which is incongruous. Therefore, many take the word order to mean that the names in the Lamb’s scroll are “written from the time the world was made,” an idea that is clear in Rev 17:8 (NAB, NRSV; Aune; Giesen; Thomas; Matt 25:34; Eph 1:4).
Craig R. Koester,
Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, ed. John J. Collins, vol. 38A, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2014), 575.
Interpreters sometimes construe this promise as a veiled threat that Christ will blot out the names of those who are disobedient (Roloff; Thomas; Royalty, “Etched”). Theologically, this question involves Revelation’s complex treatment of divine grace and human accountability. On the side of grace, the writer assumes that God inscribed people’s names in the Lamb’s scroll of life before the time the world was made (13:8; 17:8). People’s names are in the scroll because God wants them there; it is an act of divine favor. These same passages also affirm that those who worship the beast are not in the scroll and will be judged. Some understand this in terms of divine election, maintaining that those whom God has placed in the scroll never fall away, whereas those who engage in false worship were never in the scroll at all. If people who appear to be believers fall away, this is taken to mean that they were never truly in the scroll (Beale). Others find this unpersuasive, since Christ speaks of blotting out a name that was in the scroll. Such interpreters give a greater role to human agency, arguing that God places people in the scroll by grace, and their names are blotted out if they reject this gift (Caird; Harrington; Osborne).
In the end, Revelation leaves readers with a tension. There is no suggestion that God determined to exclude some people from his scroll at the dawn of time, thereby consigning them to the beast. At the last judgment, people are judged according to their works, but salvation ultimately depends on divine favor, as shown by their names being inscribed in the scroll of life (20:12–15; 21:27). Logically, the tension is awkward, but it shapes the readers’ perspectives in a twofold way: On the one hand, people are accountable for what they do, so they are to resist sin and evil. On the other hand, if the world seems so dominated by evil that resistance appears futile (13:4), the scroll of life gives assurance that salvation is ultimately God’s doing. The tension encourages people to resist compromise with evil without making them despair of the future.
Third is the promise that Christ will acknowledge the names of the faithful before his Father and the angels (3:5c). Earlier, the congregation’s reputation, or “name,” was judged negatively, since it merely gave the appearance of life. Stating this judgment in the presence of angels, spirits, and readers in other congregations meant disgrace for the Sardians (3:1), but to have one’s name acknowledged before God and the angels signals vindication and honor for the faithful. Some interpreters picture a juridical context. If believers are to confess the name of Jesus in the presence of earthly judges, Jesus promises to confess their names before the heavenly judge.
Craig R. Koester, Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, ed. John J. Collins, vol. 38A, Anchor Yale Bible (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2014), 320.
