SPECIAL TOPIC: CROWNS FOR BELIEVERS IN THE NT
"Crown" refers to an athletic victor's laurel wreath. We get the English name
"Stephen" from this Greek word.
- There are several crowns assigned to believers in the NT:
- an imperishable crown (1 Cor. 9:25)
- a crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:8)
- a crown of life (James 1:12; Rev. 2:10; 3:11)
- a crown of glory (1 Pet. 5:4; also note Ps. 8:5; 103:4; Heb. 2:7,9)
- There are two crowns assigned to the Messiah.
- a crown of thorns (cf. Matt. 27:29; Mark 15:17; John 19:2,5)
- a golden crown (cf. Rev. 14:14, possibly related to the royal crown of Ps. 21:3)
- the "crown" mentioned in Rev. 6:2, given to the one who rides on a white house, does not
refer to Christ but is connected to the colored horses of judgment (cf. Rev. 9:7)
- Other images using "crown"
- Paul's use of churches he founded as effective crown of service
- Phillipi, Phil. 4:1
- Thessalonica, 1 Thess. 2:19
- the 24 elders of Rev. 4:4 who may be angels
- a crown of twelve stars given to the mother of the Messiah (Rev. 12:1), which is the Messianic
community of the faithful (see
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE REMNANT (three senses)
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