Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Revelation 22:15

For without [are] dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

15. For ] should be omitted.

dogs &c.] The articles should be expressed, “ the dogs, and the sorcerers (see on Rev 9:21, Rev 21:8), and the fornicators, and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone that loveth &c.”

maketh ] Or doeth: the word is the same as in St John’s I Eph 1:6 . To do the truth or a lie is a great deal more, for good or evil, than merely to say it. In that passage, the false Christian’s falsehood lies altogether in what he does, not in the privileges he claims, which would be truly his, if not belied by his life.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

For without are dogs – The wicked, the depraved, the vile: for of such characters the dogs, an unclean animal among the Jews, was regarded as a symbol, Deu 23:18. On the meaning of the expression, see the notes on Phi 3:2. The word without means that they would not be admitted into the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:8, Rev 21:27.

And sorcerers, … – All these characters are specified in Rev 21:8, as excluded from heaven. See the notes on that verse. The only change is, that those who love and make a lie are added to the list; that is, who delight in lies, or what is false.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 15. Without are dogs] All those who are uncircumcised in heart. The Jews call all the uncircumcised dogs. “Who is a dog? Ans. He who is not circumcised.” Pirkey Elieser, chap. 29.

And sorcerers] See Clarke on Re 21:8.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

15. Butso Coptic. ButA, B, HIPPOLYTUS, ANDREAS,and CYPRIAN omit.

dogsGreek, “thedogs”; the impure, filthy (Re22:11; compare Php 3:2).

makethincluding also”whosoever practiceth a lie” [W. KELLY].

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

For without are dogs,…. That is, without the holy city are such persons who are comparable to dogs for their filthiness, impudence, and voraciousness, as are persecutors, heretics, and apostates, Mt 7:6. Some think Sodomites are intended, as in De 23:18. So Abarbinel and others interpret the law; and who abound in the Roman jurisdiction, called therefore Sodom,

Re 11:8 and indeed all wicked men, who will be cast out into outer darkness, may be signified hereby. The Jews say k,

“when a man dies, if he be worthy (or righteous) he descends in the likeness of a lion to receive “his” soul, but if not, in the likeness of “a dog”, concerning which David says,

Ps 22:20.”

And sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters; characters of the antichristian party, who will have no place in this city, or glorious kingdom of Christ; [See comments on Re 21:8].

And whosoever loveth and maketh a lie; who loves both to invent and tell lies, and loves to hear them told by others; meaning more especially the doctrinal lies of antichrist, which are spoken in hypocrisy by him, and his followers are given up to believe.

k Raya Mchimna in Zohar in Numb. fol. 95. 2.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Without (). Outside the holy city, with which compare Rev 21:8; Rev 21:27. Dustierdieck supplies an imperative: “Out, ye dogs.”

The dogs ( ). Not literal dogs, but the morally impure (Deut 23:18; 2Kgs 8:13; Ps 22:17; Ps 22:21; Matt 7:6; Mark 7:27; Phil 3:3). Dogs in the Oriental cities are the scavengers and excite unspeakable contempt.

The sorcerers ( ). As in 21:8, where are listed “the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters,” all “outside” the holy city here as there “in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, the second death.” Both are pictures (symbolic language) of hell, the eternal absence from fellowship with God. Another time Jesus spoke of “the outer darkness” ( , Matt 8:12; Matt 22:13; Matt 25:30), outside of lighted house, as the abode of the damned. Another symbol is the worm that dies not (Mr 9:48).

Every one that loveth and maketh a lie ( ). An interpretation of (all liars) of 21:8 and of (doing a lie) of 21:27. Satan is the father of lying (Joh 8:44) and Satan’s home is a congenial place for those who love and practise lying (2Th 2:12). See 1Jo 1:6 for not doing the truth and see also Rom 1:25; Eph 4:25.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Dogs [ ] . The A. V. omits the article “the dogs.” Compare Phi 3:2. This was the term of reproach with which the Judaizers stigmatized the Gentiles as impure. In the Mosaic law the word is used to denounce the moral profligacies of heathen worship (Deu 23:18). Compare Mt 14:26. Here the word is used of those whose moral impurity excludes them from the New Jerusalem. “As a term of reproach, the word on the lips of a Jew, signified chiefly impurity; of a Greek, impudence. The herds of dogs which prowl about Eastern cities, without a home and without an owner, feeding on the refuse and filth of the streets, quarreling among themselves, and attacking the passer – by, explain both applications of the image” (Lightfoot, on Phi 3:2). Sorcerers. See on ch. Rev 9:21, and compare ch. 21 8.

Whoremongers [] . Rev., better, fornicators.

Maketh [] . Or doeth. Compare doeth the truth, Joh 3:21; 1Jo 1:6. See on Joh 3:21.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “For without,” (ekso) “For on the outside,” of the holy city and the hew heaven and new earth, who could neither enter heaven nor the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:27; Joh 3:5.

a) “Are dogs,” (hoi kunes) “Are the dogs,” canines, carnivorous, wild beasts, jackals. The dogs refer to two legged unregenerate Sodomites, moral degenerates, Gentile dogs, not the four-legged beast, Php_3:2; Isa 56:10-12.

b) “And sorcerers,” (kai hoi pharmakoi) “And the sorcerers,” deceivers and deluders and the deluded by means of drugs and narcotics, witchcraft practitioners seeking aid from demon spirits, Gal 5:19-20.

c) “And whoremongers,” (kai hoi pornoi) “And the fornicators,” those who lived all their lives and died with unrepented guilt of illicit, immoral sex sins, Mat 5:28; Rev 21:8.

d) “And murderers,” (kai hoi phoneis) “And the murderers,” Men who in malice-aforethought, and covetous premeditation took the lives of their fellowman, Mat 5:21-22.

e) “And idolators,” (kai hoi eidolatrai) “And the idolators,” those who made and worshipped idols, in open defiance, at enmity with the command of our Lord, 1Sa 15:23; 1Co 10:7; Eph 5:5; Col 3:5.

2) “And whosoever loveth and maketh a lie,” (kai pas philon kai poion pseudos) “And everyone continually or repeatedly loving (in a fleshly manner) and making (fabricating to themselves) a lie or falsehood,” Each person chooses in life, salvation or damnation, heaven or hell, the truth or the lie, that there is no God, therefore, no accountability, Pro 19:5; Pro 19:9; Rev 21:27. All unsaved are quarantined or debarred from entering heaven and the Holy City.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

(15) For without are dogs and sorcerers . . .Better, Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolators, and every one loving and doing falsehood. The language is again an echo of earlier words. (See Rev. 21:8.) The allusion to the dogs outside the city is hardly appreciated by Westerns. In the East, however, troops of hungry and semi-wild dogs used to wander about the fields and streets of the cities, devouring dead bodies and other offal (1Ki. 14:11; 1Ki. 16:4; 1Ki. 21:19; 1Ki. 22:38; 2Ki. 9:10; 2Ki. 9:36; Jer. 15:3; Psa. 59:6), and thus became such objects of dislike that fierce and cruel enemies are poetically styled dogs in Psa. 22:16; Psa. 22:20. The dog, moreover, was an unclean animal; dogs, therefore, are represented as outside the city, because nothing unclean is allowed to enter. The sins enumerated here are similar to those mentioned in the last chapter (Rev. 22:8); it is the reiteration, therefore, of the warning that those who would enter in must break off their sins by righteousness.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

15. Without are the dogs, with the article. Not meaning that the dogs are admitted into the new earth, while excluded from the city. The Greek word for without is used for moral separateness in l Corinthians Rev 5:12-13; Col 4:5 ; 1Th 4:12. In Act 26:11, it means out of the country, even to foreign cities. The foreign and distant place assigned for characters represented by the dogs is specified in Rev 21:8, with which passage compare this verse.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Outside are the dogs, and the occult-seekers, and the sexually misbehavers, and the murderers, and the idolaters and every one who makes and loves a lie.’

Compare Rev 21:8; Rev 21:27. Throughout the book these things have been illustrated and condemned. Dogs in those days were mainly disreputable and disease ridden creatures as they scavenged around cities, and cities always sought to exclude them. Here we are told that men reveal themselves to be ‘dogs’ when they engage in the occult, in sexual misbehaviour, in murder, in putting loyalties before God and in lies and deceit, especially in believing the great Liar, and they too are then excluded. The warning is clear. Make sure you are in.

This cannot seriously be taken to demand that those mentioned are waiting there, standing outside. They are outside because there was no welcome for them. The point is that they are ‘outside’ because they have been excluded. They are the opposite of being in. They are, in fact, at this time in the lake of fire (Rev 20:15).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

Ver. 15. For without are dogs ] In outer darkness. The Irish air will sooner brook a toad or snake to live therein, than heaven will brook a sinner. It was not permitted to a dog to enter into the Acropolis or tower at Athens, for his heat in venery and ill savour, saith Plutarch. Goats, likewise, saith Varro, come not there (unless for necessary sacrifice once a year) lest they should hurt the olive. No filthy dogs or nasty goats get into heaven’s tower, &c. The panther smells well among beasts (whom thereby she draweth about her), not so among men. God and the saints loathe what the wicked love and delight in, as the panther doth in man’s excrements.

And whosoever loveth ] Though he maketh it not. Some will not coin a false tale, that yet will spread it; these are equally guilty, and excluded God’s kingdom, Psa 52:3 .

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

, an archaic metaphor, coloured by the nomad’s hatred of hounds; cf. Arabia Deserta , i. 337, 339 (“only the dog has no citizenship in the nomad life”. “It is the only life mishandled by the gentle Arab, who with spurns and blows cast out these profane creatures from the tent.”) Here are not merely impure pagans, but the impudently impure, possibly in the special and darker sense of “sodomites” ( cf. 1Ti 1:10 ; Deu 23:19-20 , collated with and ). cf. on Rev 21:8 and Cooke’s North Sem. Inscriptions , p. 68. Such loathsome practices were not uncommon in the Oriental cults.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Figure of speech Synecdoche of Species (App-6) in this verse.

For. The texts omit.

dogs. The word “dog” appears in Phoenician remains, as applied to a class of servants attached to a temple of Ashtoreth in Cyprus.

loveth. App-135.

lie. Compare Rev 21:27.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Rev 22:15. [247] ) A good mind loves the truth, a bad one loves falsehood. That saying of Aristotle may in a certain sense be accommodated to this passage: , , , : lib. viii. Topic. cap. 14. Let this be transferred to spiritual things. It is the part of a good disposition to love the truth, and to hate falsehood: of a bad disposition, to hate the truth, and to love falsehood. Such indeed we all are by nature; but one receives the truth, an other continues to imitate the deaf adder: Psa 58:4-5. Hence the hearing of many is averse from the harmony of the truth, especially from that of the Apocalypse. The things which are set forth are plain from the words themselves and from the parallelism, but must be applied.

[247] , through the gates) namely, as those who are invested with legitimate power.-V. g.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

without: Rev 9:20, Rev 9:21, Rev 21:8, Rev 21:27, 1Co 6:9, 1Co 6:10, Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5:3-6, Col 3:6

dogs: Phi 3:2

sorcerers: Rev 9:21, Rev 18:23, Isa 47:9, Isa 47:12, Isa 57:3, Mal 3:5, Act 8:11, Act 13:6-11

whoremongers: Rev 17:1-6

whosoever: Rev 21:8, Rev 21:27, 1Ki 22:8, 1Ki 22:21-23, Isa 9:15, Isa 9:16, Jer 5:31, Joh 3:18-21, Joh 8:46, 2Th 2:10-12

Reciprocal: Gen 39:9 – how then Exo 12:50 – as the Lord Exo 20:23 – General Exo 22:18 – General Lev 6:2 – lie Lev 13:46 – without Lev 14:40 – without the city Lev 14:41 – into an unclean place Lev 26:1 – Ye shall Num 19:13 – purifieth Deu 23:18 – dog Deu 33:28 – Israel 1Sa 15:23 – witchcraft 2Ki 8:13 – a dog 2Ki 23:24 – the workers Psa 5:6 – destroy Psa 15:2 – worketh Psa 22:16 – dogs Psa 24:4 – pure Psa 26:9 – Gather not Psa 31:18 – the lying Psa 52:3 – lying Psa 62:4 – delight Psa 101:8 – cut off Psa 118:20 – This gate Psa 119:29 – Remove Psa 119:163 – hate Pro 2:18 – General Pro 5:11 – thou Pro 6:17 – lying Pro 12:22 – Lying Pro 19:9 – and Pro 24:28 – deceive Isa 30:9 – lying Isa 49:18 – Lift up Isa 56:11 – they are Isa 57:11 – that thou Jer 7:9 – steal Jer 23:14 – walk Jer 27:9 – hearken Jer 50:36 – upon the liars Eze 41:12 – separate Mic 5:12 – General Zec 5:3 – the curse Zec 8:19 – therefore Zec 14:21 – no more Mat 7:23 – depart Mat 7:24 – whosoever Mat 15:14 – And if Mat 15:26 – It is not Luk 13:28 – you Joh 8:44 – When Act 8:9 – used Rom 3:10 – none 1Co 5:11 – fornicator 1Co 10:14 – flee 2Co 12:21 – uncleanness Gal 5:21 – that they Eph 4:25 – putting Eph 5:5 – who is Phi 3:19 – end Col 3:5 – fornication Col 3:9 – Lie 1Th 4:3 – that 2Th 1:9 – be 1Ti 1:9 – manslayers 1Ti 1:10 – for liars Heb 12:16 – any fornicator Heb 13:4 – and the bed Rev 2:14 – to commit Rev 19:20 – the false

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Gen 9:615. Without means on the outside of the eternal city. The precedin1Jn 3:15 reveals who will be permitted to enter the city and this one tells some of the kind that will not enter. Dogs. It would be foolish to think this is used with reference to the dumb brute, for it would not be more true of the dog than of all others of the animal kingdom. 2Pe 2:12 informs us that the beasts are destined to be destroyed; theCol 3:5 be no “hereafter” for them. The word is from KUON and Thayer says that some authorities define it to mean “sodomites.” The word corresponding to it in the Old Testament is keleb which Strong defines, “A dog; hence (by euphemism) [substitution of a milder word as being less offensive to the ear] a male prostitute.” In Deu 23:18 the word is used in that sense where it is associated with an immoral woman in designating “tainted money.” The “hire of a whore” means money an immoral woman receives from her male patrons. While on that subject it was appropriate to name another immoral person and that is a man who practices unnatural immorality for money, and that is what is meant by “the price of a dog.” It seems very fitting to call a Sodomite a dog, for that animal is the only creature of the brute creation that is inclined to gratify his lust on one of his own sex. And we have the same appropriateness of the two kinds of immoral characters that the Old Testament passage showed, namely, the dogs and very soon the whoremongers. The dogs are men who have immoral relationDeu 23:18 her men, and whoremongers are men who patronize womenPhp 3:2 e immoral as an occupation. Thayer says a sorcerer is “one who prepares or uses magical remedies.” It is similar to those who are engaged in the “dope” business today. The scriptures tell us that medicine does good (Pro 17:22), but any kind of drugs or narcotics that produce unnatural feelings of gaiety, or the opposite one of abandonment to lasciviousness, will damage the body and that will bring the curse of God upon the guilty. (1Co 6:18-20.) The first sin committed by man against man was murder (Gen 4:8). That crime is so great that God finally gave the decree of capital punishment against all who cRev 21:8 Rev 21:27. But literal murder is not the only kind that can be committed. 1Jn 3:15 says a man who hates his brother is a murderer, and of course all such persons will be on the outside of the holy city. Idolaters are those who worship anything or any person besides the true God. It may be images made with hands or the works of creation such as the planetsRev 22:16 ls, etc. Also Paul says that covetousness is idolatry (Col 3:5), hence there will be no covetous persons in Heaven. Chapter 21:8 shows that liars of all kinds will be cast into the lake of fire. Our verse expresses the same thought as to its comprehensiveness by taking in all who love the liars.

Comments by Foy E. Wallace

Verse 15.

Verse 15: For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

These all were the aggregation of the enemies of Christ and the saints and the persecutors of the church and their followers. The characters of all who were without the city were in contrast with all who were within it. The expression without are dogs had the implication that all who were without were of that classification, a term of various1Ch 3:5 ations. It was descriptive of the evil and impious characters that inhabit the outside.

Among the Jews the dog was typical of that which was unclean and vile. The Mosaic laMatthew 1 thatLuke 3 ire of a harlot and the price of a dog were abominable to God and were not acceptable for the offerings and the vows of the law. (Deu 23:18) Paul warned the Gen 49:10 ns to beware of the dogs (Php 3:2) which meant the cautious avoidance of Gentile influence and affiliation. The JewsExo 2:1-10 e Gentiles dogs; but here the unbelieving Jews had so classified themselves and the term had boomeranged and fallen back upon them. Jesus said to his disciples; “Give not that which is holy to the dogs,” meaning that the pure principles of his teaching should not be compromised or mixed with the inferior philosophies and practices of the heathen world surrounding them. None of these evil things could enter the city of God–all dogs were without.

For comments on the terms sorcerers, whoremongers and liars turn to Rev 21:8 Rev 21:27. These were terms to designate heathenism and to define their practices; and these words of John constituted a pronouncement for the eternal exclusion of all cla2Pe 1:19 ch these evils represented, and of all who do not obey his commandments–the gospel which Jesus Christ had commissioned his ambassadors to preach to all the world.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Rev 22:15. Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. These words appear to be added, net so much for the sake of telling us what shall be the fate of the sinful classes mentioned, as for the sake of enhancing by contrast that description of the blessedness of the righteous which had been given in the previous verse. The latter are within the city, separated for ever from the classes now described, the very mention of which awakens pain and horror in the mind. The word dogs is a general appellative applicable to all these classes, and is to be explained by remembering the light in which such animals were regarded by the Jews (Psa 22:16; Psa 22:20; comp. Mat 7:6; Php 3:2). This general appellation is then subdivided (comp. chap. Rev 21:8).

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Without, that is, without the gates of the city of the New Jerusalem, are all filthy and unclean sinners, all cruel and bloody persecutors, all raging and furious enemies to me and my people, all idolaters and all liars; these shall be shut out of heaven, as dogs are shut out of the house; and shut into hell, to be imprisoned with devils and damned spirits, and that everlastingly, to lie for ever in that mysterious fire, whose strange property it is always to torture, but never to kill, or always to kill but never to consume: they would die, but they cannot die; they seek for death, but cannot find it; they desire it, but it flies from them.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Those who will not be allowed into the city are described as dogs because, in that day, dogs were wild scavengers who roamed in deadly packs. Also, Cofman says male prostitutes that worked in pagan temples were called dogs, so the word could describe a thoroughly immoral person. The test of this list has been dealt with under comments on Rev 21:8

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Verse 15

Dogs; reprobates. (See Matthew 7:6.)

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

The opposite of the blessings described in Rev 22:14 is exclusion from the New Jerusalem, namely, eternity in the lake of fire (Rev 20:15; Rev 21:8). Jesus described the people who will not enter the city by the works that mark their lives of unbelief. "Dogs" is a metaphor for the morally impure (cf. Deu 23:18; 2Ki 8:13; Psa 22:16; Psa 22:20; Isa 56:10; Mat 7:6; Mat 15:26; Mar 7:27; Php 3:2-3). In John’s day many dogs were wild, aggressive scavengers. [Note: Robertson, 6:485; Johnson, p. 602.] Their fate should warn believers not to fall into apostasy and its associated vices. [Note: Wall, p. 266.] The other types of individuals named here appear in other lists of wicked unbelievers (cf. Rev 21:8).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)