Have We Been Too ‘Quick’ In Our Translations of Revelation 3:11?

The majority of English renderings of Rev 3:11 include the word ‘quickly’ as a rendition of ταχύ. But does ταχύ necessarily mean ‘quickly’? It all depends, doesn’t it, on the context. It occurs 12 times in the New Testament, 3 in Matthew, 1 time in Mark, 1 time in Luke, and 1 time in John.

The other 6 times it’s found in Revelation and those passages would seem to indicate that John understands the word to mean something akin to ‘rapidly’ or ‘with haste’ or even ‘hurriedly’; not in the sense of ‘soon’ (relating to the time of the arrival) but ‘swiftly’ (relating to the manner of arrival ‘in a rush!’).

Here’s how to test the theory- in the places in Revelation where ταχύ appears translate it ‘before you know it’ or ‘before you can react’ or ‘in a rush’ (in terms of manner). That sense is eminently more sensible than ‘quickly’ (in terms of time). See for yourself- translate 2:16, 3:11, 11:14, 22:7, 22:12, and 22:20 and utilize a translation that takes seriously manner rather than chronology.

Hence, in Revelation 3:11 John isn’t at all suggesting that Jesus will appear ‘soon’ – he is suggesting instead that Jesus will appear ‘before you can blink’.