Die Christus-Metapher „Widderlamm“

Abstract

The term ἀρνίον is used no fewer than 28 times in the Revelation of John (starting with 5:6 and ending with 22:3). But the meaning of the word is controversial: “ram” or “lamb”? And it may be asked also whether one has to think of a sacrificial animal in those 28 ἀρνίον-instances of this “book.” Exegetes mostly not take into consideration the accent on the “masculinity” of the ἀρνίον (see esp. 5:6 and 19:7; cf. 19:9; 21:2, 9) and the lacking of the expression “slaughtered lamb” after 13:8, that is, in the concluding parts of the “book” (17:1–22:5/21), which, instead, emphasize the magnificence of the ἀρνίον. The option to translate the word ἀρνίον by “ram lamb” – an animal that matures quite early – should solve the problems. And this suggestion is supported by diachronic observations, including the fact that the Septuagint does not use the term ἀρνίον with regard to cultic sacrifice.