the genre itself. These differences also suggest his implicit criticism of certain apocalyptic traditions that were circulating in his churches. Just as the author of 2 Thess. 2:1–12 criticized a tradition concerning the end time within a church, so did John. He not only reversed traditional images, as we have seen, but he also modified an apocalyptic interim speculation, as we shall see (cf. comments to 20:4–6). Apocalypticism did not determine his Christology. On the contrary, he reworked apocalyptic