The interpretation timeline

Rev 3:21

How this passage has been read — the sources, oldest to newest.

From the early Church Fathers to now.

11 Patristic · 1 Medieval

Patristic before A.D. 750
220
A.D.
220
A.D.
235
A.D.
Hippolytus of Rome
c. A.D. 170–235
“And thou shalt receive the kingdom of heaven, thou who, whilst thou didst sojourn in this life, didst know the Celestial King. And thou shalt be a companion of the Deity, and a co-heir with Christ, no longer enslaved by lusts or passions, and never again wasted by disease. For thou hast become God: for whatever sufferings thou didst undergo while being a man, these He gave to thee, because thou wast of mortal mould, but whatever it is consistent with God to impart, these God has promised to bestow upon thee, because thou hast been deified, and begotten unto immortality. This constitutes the import of the proverb, "Know thyself; "i.e., discover God within thyself, for He has formed thee after His own image. For with the knowledge of self is conjoined the being an object of God's knowledge, for thou art called by the Deity Himself.”
235
A.D.
Hippolytus of Rome
c. A.D. 170–235
“But give me now your best attention, I pray you, for I wish to go back to the fountain of life, and to view the fountain that gushes with healing. The Father of immortality sent the immortal Son and Word into the world, who came to man in order to wash him with water and the Spirit; and He, begetting us again to incorruption of soul and body, breathed into us the breath (spirit) of life, and endued us with an incorruptible panoply. If, therefore, man has become immortal, he will also be God. And if he is made God by water and the Holy Spirit after the regeneration of the layer he is found to be also joint-heir with Christ after the resurrection from the dead. Wherefore I preach to this effect: Come, all ye kindreds of the nations, to the immortality of the baptism. I bring good tidings of life to you who tarry in the darkness of ignorance. Come into liberty from slavery, into a kingdom from tyranny, into incorruption from corruption. And how, saith one, shall we come? How? By water and the Holy Ghost. This is the water in conjunction with the Spirit, by which paradise is watered, by which the earth is enriched, by which plants grow, by which animals multiply, and (to sum up the whole in a single word) by which man is begotten again and endued with life, in which also Christ was baptized, and in which the Spirit descended in the form of a dove.”
258
A.D.
Cyprian
c. A.D. 200–258
“For to this battle our Lord, as with the trumpet of His Gospel, stimulates us when He says, "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth his own soul more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me." And again, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed shall ye be, when men shall persecute you, and hate you. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for so did their fathers persecute the prophets which were before you." And again," Because ye shall stand before kings and powers, and the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the son, and he that endureth to the end shall be saved; " and "To him that overcometh will I give to sit on my throne, even as I also overcame and am set down on the throne of my Father." Moreover the apostle: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (As it is written, For thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.) Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors for Him who hath loved us."”
303
A.D.
390
A.D.
Ticonius
d. A.D. 390
“[In the image of the Son] sitting with [the Father], he shows that the Son participates in the power of the Father. For what else does it mean that he is seated on the throne of the Father than that he is of one and the same substance? And just as he conquered the devil and sat at the right hand of the Father, so also he who conquers will sit with him. For God the Son is powerful, who in the Father is everywhere and by his own power fills the heaven and the earth.”
247 years pass — nothing from this stretch is hosted yet
637
A.D.
Andreas of Caesarea
c. A.D. 563–637
“"The throne" indicates the kingdom and the rest of the coming age. Therefore he says that those who have conquered the enemy "will be glorified with me and will rule with me." When he says, "as I myself have conquered," he is speaking in a human manner on account of the assumption [of the flesh]. For God the Word did not acquire the kingdom as a prize for virtue, for he has this essentially as an eternal possession. For if this were not so, he would not be able to share it with others. But according to the Theologian and the "son of thunder," he shared from his fullness with all the saints. For this reason also he promised to his holy apostles that they would sit upon twelve thrones and judge the future twelve tribes of Israel. For when he who is God and the eternal King became man for us, he shared everything which is ours, except only sin, and shared everything of his with those who had conquered the devil, as it was possible for human nature to receive. Therefore, having made a cloud the chariot of his ascension into heaven, he said through the apostle that the saints would be snatched up to meet him on the clouds. And when he, who is the Creator and Lord of creation, shall come as judge, he will allow the saints to judge those who had rebelled against the truly divine and blessed service.”
735
A.D.
735
A.D.
Bede
A.D. 673–735
“As I also conquered, and sat down with my Father on his throne. The Lord, having conquered, sat on the throne with the Father, because after the struggles of the passion, after the victory of the resurrection, He more clearly showed Himself to all that He was equal to the Father's power. Note that in each church, the Lord first reveals His power, then reviews the works of the church, either to be praised or blamed, always intermingled with admonition. Finally, He repays the due reward, which can be understood in the present and in the future, to both parties. When He adds: He who has ears, let him hear, it is undoubtedly fitting to understand the ears of the heart for obedience to the commandments.”
Medieval c. 750 – 1100
804
A.D.
Alcuin of York
c. A.D. 735–804
“To him that shall overcome, I will give to sit with me in my throne: as I also have overcome, and am set down with my Father in his throne. The Lord victorious sits in the Father's throne because, after the Passion and Resurrection, he showed that he was equal to the Father. He says that we also sit in it, because we receive power of judgment in the Son's power, according to this: You, who have followed me, you shall sit on twelve seats, etc. [Matt. 19:28] It is not inconsistent with the truth that he says elsewhere we will sit on twelve thrones and here on his throne; for by the twelve thrones is indicated universal judgment, and by the throne of the Son a unique summit of judicial power. Therefore the same thing is indicated by the twelve thrones and by the one throne of the Son. We should however ask the question of how it is that he says all victors will judge, whereas not all will, but some of those who overcome will judge, and others will be judged. One should know then that they will have in others the power they do not have in themselves, in the same way as the whole body of a man has the power to speak through the mouth and to see through the eyes. Now if we look more subtly at the phrase in which it is said as I also have overcome, we find that it indicates those who are more brilliant and outstanding in their victory.”
Undated date unknown
Oecumenius
c. A.D. 550
“To the one who overcomes, He says, I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, that is, he will reign with Me. For it has been said by the most wise Paul, "if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him." (Rom. 8:17; 1 Cor. 4:8) Just as I also conquered, He says, and I reign with My Father. For the Lord has also said in the Gospels: "Take heart, I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33)”
Modern · 1953 →

The in-app commentary runs from the Fathers to the early-modern record, then stops — that's where the public-domain sources end, not where the reading does. For the modern reading, follow the sources directly.