And I saw heaven opened: and behold a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true: and with justice doth he judge and fight.
και ειδον τον ουρανον ανεωγμενον και ιδου ιππος λευκος και ο καθημενος επ αυτον καλουμενος πιστος και αληθινος και εν δικαιοσυνη κρινει και πολεμει
7 Church Fathers comment on this verse
The white horse and the One seated on it indicate our Lord, coming with the heavenly army to reign. At His coming all the nations will be gathered and will fall by the sword. The rest, who prove more worthy, will be in service to the saints. These, in turn, must be slain at the end of the times, after the kingdom of the saints has passed, before the judgment, when the devil is again released. The prophets agree with all that has been said.
The opened heaven signifies the coming of Christ, which follows from heaven. It is like earthly kings, before whom the lifting of curtains precedes the sentence and condemnation of the guilty. The white horse indicates the brightness of the saints. Seated upon them, He will judge the nations, sending forth a fiery flame from His fiery-flaming eyes. That is, by His all-seeing power He illumines the righteous without burning them, and consumes sinners. The many crowns indicate either His authority over all things earthly and heavenly, however many ranks of angels there are in heaven and assemblies and thrones of saints on earth.
Or they indicate His victory over sinners, through the longsuffering of His divine economy, according to David's word: "That Thou mayest prevail when Thou art judged" (Ps 50:6). The unknownness of the name signifies the incomprehensibility of His essence. For He has many names according to the divine economy of our salvation: Good, Shepherd, Light, Sun, Life, Righteousness, Redemption, Sanctification. He also has negative names, which deny defects and limitations proper to finite created being: Incorruptible, Immortal, Unchangeable, Invisible. But according to His essence He has no name, since He is incomprehensible and known only to Himself, with the Father and the All-Holy Spirit.
The white horse is the assumed body. The One seated on it is the Lord of glory, the Word of the Most High Father, the Only-begotten of the unbegotten Father. Therefore, by His being called Faithful and True, the distinctiveness of His name is expressed. For it is said of God: "God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (Deut 32:4). He judges and wars righteously, for of Him it is written: "God is a righteous judge, strong and long-suffering" (Ps 7:12). He wars by freeing us from the opposition of sin. He is patient by permitting the transgressions we commit. He is called strong in order to show that He casts down those who oppose Him.
Again the fall of the antichrist and the dragon is revealed to the evangelist, together with the disaster coming upon them and the punishment appointed for them at the time of the end and of recompense. The ruin of the kings who will then oppose the servants of Christ is also shown. He says this: "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True." He sees the Lord ready for battle and combat on behalf of the saints, warring against the enemies. Therefore the vision describes Him in the form of a commander, assigning to Him a horse, a sword, and command over armies. "And behold, a white horse," upon which the Lord rides. The image reveals that Christ relies on none other than the pure, who are stained by no defilement of sin.
Therefore the Lord said of the chosen vessel, Paul, that "he will proclaim My name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel" (Acts 9:15). It should be noted that Christ relies upon and is seated on such as Paul. It is said: "And He who sat on it," that is, on the horse, "is called Faithful and True," He who judges and makes war in righteousness. He is True, and also Faithful, as the Apostle says of Him: "He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself" (2 Tim 2:13). Therefore He is both True and Faithful, for it is said of Him that the two names are affirmed of one subject. That He judges righteously and fights against visible enemies on behalf of His servants is testified by the Prophet: "O God, give Thy judgment to the king, and Thy righteousness to the king's son." This means Christ, for Christ was the son of Solomon, to whom the psalm is dedicated. Then he continues: "May He judge Thy people with righteousness and Thy poor with judgment" (Ps 71:1-2). That He wages war, the Psalmist makes clear by depicting Him armed in military fashion in the saying: "Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty One, in Thy glory and Thy beauty. Bend Thy bow, prosper, and reign" (Ps 44:4). Then he adds: "Thine arrows are sharp, O Mighty One; peoples shall fall under Thee" (Ps 44:6).
He judges because He is King of all ages. He wars because He always suffers with His members. When He fights, He conquers. He crowns Himself, giving Himself as strength to those who struggle and promising Himself as reward to those who conquer.
The Lord, who is the way, the truth, and the life (Jn 14:6), and to whom it is said through the prophet, "You have done wondrous things; the ancient counsels are true, amen" (Isa 25:1), chose to sit upon a white, that is, immaculate body, in order to subdue the powers of the air.
John sees the Lord in a martial form, as the conqueror of the devil and the King of kings. For the horse is a symbol of war, while the white horse signifies victorious war. He judges the world righteously concerning sin, wars against it, and conquers it as God. The Word of God became the flesh of the Son of Man, and by His blood all who believed in Him and repented were washed from sin. His garments are stained with the blood of those who did not believe.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 24 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS