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Revelation 3:12

in Revelation 3

The one who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will never again leave it. Upon him I will write the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from My God), and My new name.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

He that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out thence no more: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and mine own new name.

KJV

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

This verse in Revelation 3

Commentary

18 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

A pillar in the temple - There is probably all allusion here to the two pillars in the temple of Jerusalem, called Jachin and Boaz, stability and strength. The Church is the temple; Christ is the foundation on which it is built; and his ministers are the Pillars by which, under him, it is adorned and supported. St. Paul has the same allusions, Gal 2:9. I will write upon him the name of my God - That is, I will make him a priest unto myself.

This site's exposition

Hold fast to what you have

on Revelation 3:11-13

I am coming soon, so the church must Hold fast to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The overcomer becomes a pillar in the temple and bears three names, God's, the city's and Christ's new name, seen in chapters 21 and 22.

This site's exposition

I will make a pillar in the temple

Adam Clarke sees in the pillar the pillars of the temple in Jerusalem, and sets Galatians 2:9 beside them. Matthew Henry reads My new name as the banner of the one who overcomes. Three names are written upon him.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Oecumenius

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 550.

proposed

And he who overcomes, he says, that he will make them to sit with him always in the sight of God; for this is to become the pillar of the divine temple. For the pillar could never go out for any good reason from the …

A commentator

Apringius of Beja

TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12 · Written before 600.

proposed

[I will write on him the name of my God] so that he might be signed with the divine name and be adorned with the glory of immortality and might receive the name of the divine city of Jerusalem, which is the vision of peace, …

A commentator

Ticonius

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12 · Written before 390.

proposed

"And he shall never go out of it." The nations went out from God, and they gave to idols that worship which they owed to God alone. But "all the families of the nations will remember and turn to the Lord and shall worship before …
"He that overcometh shall be made a pillar in the temple of God." For even as a pillar is an ornament of the building, so he who perseveres shall obtain a nobility in the Church.

A commentator

Ticonius

COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12 · Written before 390.

proposed

"And I will write on him the name of my God." That is, we are signed with the name of Christian. "And the name of the city of the new Jerusalem which comes down from my God out of heaven." The name of the church …
10 more voices on this verse

The Medieval Church6 voices

A commentator

Bonaventure

Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 23 · Written in the 13th century.

proposed

This passage establishes that it was those who were upon Mount Sion who were sealed; also, that one of the angels who were to pour out the bowls — and, fittingly, it was the sixth — showed him the city the measure of which was …

A commentator

Alcuin of York

COMMENTARY ON REVELATION · Written before 804.

proposed

He that shall overcome, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. God's temple is the Church, according to this: The temple of God is holy, which you are. [1 Cor. 3:17] Since not only the preachers, but also the good …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, etc. He who overcomes adversities for my sake will gloriously fear no further loss of adversity in the temple of the Church. These pillars, that is, holy men, now strengthen …

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

And I will write on him the name of my God. Because indeed by adoption we are called sons of God.

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

And the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem. He will be associated with the unity of the Church, which by heavenly grace is regenerated into a new life.

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Revelation · Written before 735.

proposed

And my new name. This is the Christian name, not because it is new to the Son of God, who had this glory before the world was made, but new to the Son of Man who was dead and has risen, and sits at the …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

And then another part of the inscription is, [2.] The new name of Christ, the Mediator, the Redeemer, the captain of our salvation; by this it will appear under whose banner this conquering believer had enlisted, under whose conduct he acted, by whose example he was encouraged, and under whose influence he fought the good fight, and came off victorious.
He that overcometh,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

The Hebrew name is the original and holier one: the Greek, the recent and more secular and political one" [BENGEL]. my new name--at present incommunicable and only known to God: to be hereafter revealed and made the believer's own in union with God in Christ. Christ's name written on him denotes he shall be wholly Christ's.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

Him that overcometh - See the notes on Rev 2:7. Will make a pillar in the temple of my God - See the introductory remarks to this epistle. The promised reward of faithfulness here is, that he who was victorious would be honored as if he were a pillar or column in the temple of God. Such a pillar or column was partly for ornament, and partly for support; and the idea here is, that in that temple he would contribute to its beauty and the justness of its proportions, and would see the same time be honored as if he were a pillar which was necessary for the support of the temple. It is not uncommon in the New Testament to represent the church as a temple, and Christians as parts of it. See 1Co 3:16-17; 1Co 6:19; 2Co 6:16; 1Pe 2:5. And he shall go no more out - He shall be permanent as a part of that spiritual temple. The idea of “going out” does not properly belong to a pillar; but the speaker here has in his mind the man, though represented as a column. The description of some parts would be applicable more directly to a pillar; in others more properly to a man. Compare Joh 6:37; Joh 10:28-29; 1Jn 2:19, for an illustration of the sentiment here. The main truth here is, that if we reach heaven, our happiness will be secure forever. We shall have the most absolute certainty that the welfare of the soul will no more be perilled; that we shall never be in danger of falling into temptation; that no artful foe shall ever have power to alienate our affections from God; that we shall never die. Though we may change our place, and may roam from world to world until we shall have surveyed all the wonders of creation, yet we shall never “go out of the temple of God.” Compare the notes on Joh 14:2. When we reach the heavenly world our conflicts will be over, our doubts at an end. […]

The words behind it

52 Greek words

Every Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 1:18

    Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of…

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 50:7

      Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.

    • Ezekiel 3:8–9

      Behold, I will make your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads.

    • Jeremiah 15:20

      Then I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save and deliver…

    • Jeremiah 6:27

      “I have appointed you to examine My people like ore, so you may know and try their ways.

  • Through

    Revelation 21:2

    I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

    it leads to

    • Hebrews 11:10

      For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

  • Through

    Revelation 22:4

    They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 14:1

      Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

    • Matthew 5:8

      Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

  • Through

    Revelation 14:1

    Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father’s name written on their foreheads.

    it leads to

    • Joel 2:32

      And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has promised, among the remnant called by…

Where this verse is studied

About Revelation

The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, about 1430 to 1432. Public domain.
The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Jan and Hubert van Eyck, about 1430 to 1432. Public domain.
This page draws on 13 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alcuin of York, COMMENTARY ON REVELATION; Apringius of Beja, TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12; Bede, Commentary on Revelation; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 23; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on Revelation; Ticonius, COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 3:12 and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.