Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 22:15

"Without are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the fornicators, and the murderers, and the idolaters, and every one that loveth and maketh a lie." — Revelation 22:15 (ASV)

John has already made it clear that no idolaters can ever enter the city but only those whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life (cf. comments on 21:8, 27). Such are “the dogs”—those who “practice magic arts...,” i.e., those who rebel against the rule of God (on “dog,” cf. Dt 23:18; Matthew 15:26). No doubt such people will not be admitted through the gates of the Holy City but will be in the lake of fire (20:15). But the problem involves what appears to be their present exclusion from the city at the time of John’s writing. Are they “outside” now? As has been previously argued, the city is future and is not to be identified with the present historical church (see comments on 21:1–22:21; 21:2). Only in an eschatological sense can it be maintained that the new city exists in the present. Since the fulfillment of v.14 lies in the future, the time of v.15 is also most naturally future. The word “outside” is simply a figure that agrees with the whole imagery of the Holy City. It means exclusion. To be outside the city means to be in the lake of fire.