SPECIAL TOPIC: TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS

SPECIAL TOPIC: TWENTY-FOUR ELDERS

There is much debate about the identity of these "elders" mentioned in Revelation 4 and 5. There are two major theories.

They represent believers:
1. pictured as being clothed in white (cf. 1 Cor. 9:25; 1 Thess. 2:19; 2 Tim. 4:8; James1:12; 1 Pet. 5:4)
2. angels are never said to wear crowns and sit on thrones (cf. Rev. 4:4,10)
3. Rev. 5:9-10 in the Vulgate, Peshitta, and later the Textus Receptus, includes the elders in the songs of redemption. See the textual options in my exegetical commentary (2024) on Revelation, free online.
They represent angels:
1. angels do wear white garments (cf. Matt. 28:3; John 20:12; Mark 16:5; Acts 1:10; Rev. 15:6 and Dan. 10:5,6)
2. these "elders" are always identified with "the living creatures" as in Rev. 5:11,14, which seem to list three different orders of angels
3. one of the elders acts as a revealing angel (cf. Rev. 5:5)
4. in Isa. 24:23 the angels of God's heavenly council are called "elders" (see SPECIAL TOPIC: HEAVENLY COUNCIL OF ANGELIC BEINGS)
5. the textual evidence of Rev. 5:10 implies that the elder does not include himself in the song of redeemed humanity

My best guess is option #2.