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The Standards

Thirty questions every reading of Revelation 13 is asked, beginning with the Church's own criteria for reading Scripture.

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A reading of Revelation 13 is weighed here in two ways. First, against the marks: what Scripture and the Church reveal about the beasts, set out in depth on The First Beast. Second, against these standards: how a reading uses the marks. The first three are the Church's own criteria for interpreting Scripture (CCC 112–114); the rest come from the Church's documents, the Fathers, Scripture's own tests, and the charter of The Ephesus Challenge.

A standard is a question asked of an argument. Meeting it does not make a reading true, and failing one does not make it false; it shows where the reading is strong and where it needs more support. Every proposal is asked the same questions, Fr. John's included.

The first twelve

#	Standard	The question it asks of a proposal	Basis
1	Unity of Scripture	Does it read the passage within the whole of Scripture, not in isolation?	CCC 112; Dei Verbum 12
2	Living Tradition	Does it engage how the Fathers and the Church have read the passage?	CCC 113
3	Analogy of faith	Is it consistent with the truths of the faith as a whole?	CCC 114
4	Text in its context	Does each verse it uses say what the proposal needs, in its own context? For example, 1 Thess 5:3 concerns the sudden Day of the Lord.	CCC 109–110
5	No date-setting	Does it avoid fixing the day or the hour?	Matt 24:36; CCC 673
6	Private revelation in its place	Does it treat apparitions and private revelations as aids, never as additions to the faith?	CCC 67
7	Checkable evidence	Does each mark it claims rest on evidence a reader can verify?	Charter, rule 5
8	Consistency	Has it held steady, or shifted with circumstances or politics?	Charter safeguard
9	Humility	Does it claim no more than its evidence allows?	2 Pet 1:20; Augustine's reserve on 2 Thess 2 (City of God XX.19)
10	Charity and justice	Does it treat persons justly and avoid stirring hostility?	Charter, rules 1 and 4
11	Agenda or sincere search	Is its method sound? Relevant context is stated with sources; any judgment of motive is marked as Fr. John's assessment.	Charter safeguard
12	Fruit	Does it lead readers to endurance, faith and hope rather than fear?	Rev 13:10; Luke 12:7; charter, rule 6

Further standards

Added on October 20, 2026, from the Church's documents on reading Scripture, the Fathers, and Scripture's own tests.

#	Standard	The question it asks of a proposal	Basis
13	Literal sense first	Does it establish what the text says before building a spiritual or future reading on it, and argue only from the literal sense?	CCC 116; Aquinas, ST I q. 1 a. 10 ad 1; Divino Afflante Spiritu 23; Providentissimus Deus 15
14	Literary form and the writer's intention	Does it read apocalyptic images as apocalyptic, asking what the sacred writer meant in his time?	Dei Verbum 12; CCC 109–110; Divino Afflante Spiritu 33–38
15	First fulfillment, then further fulfillment	Does it account for what the text meant first (Antiochus, Rome) before applying it to the end?	Dei Verbum 12; Verbum Domini 40–41
16	Scripture interprets Scripture	Does it test a reading against clearer passages elsewhere?	Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana III.27.38–28.39; Verbum Domini 39
17	Consent of the Fathers	Where the Fathers agree on a matter of faith, does it follow them? Where they differ, does it say so and leave freedom?	Trent, Session 4; Vatican I, Dei Filius ch. 2; Providentissimus Deus 14; Divino Afflante Spiritu 47
18	Everywhere, always, by all	Is the reading held widely and anciently, or is it new and local?	Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium 2.6
19	Levels of authority kept distinct	Does it label each claim as Scripture, Church teaching, common opinion of the Fathers, a theologian's view, private revelation or the proposer's own view?	Dei Verbum 10; CCC 67; charter, rule 2
20	Application without manipulation	When it applies the text to present events, does it rest on sound exegesis and avoid projecting ideologies onto the text?	PBC, Interpretation of the Bible in the Church (1993) I.F, IV.A.3; Verbum Domini 44
21	Not a private reading	Does it submit to the Church's judgment and avoid twisting hard passages?	2 Pet 1:20–21; 3:16; CCC 119
22	Test everything	Has it been tested against Christ come in the flesh, and does it hold what is good?	1 Thess 5:19–21; 1 John 4:1–3
23	Failed predictions count	Has it, or a version of it, predicted things that did not happen?	Deut 18:21–22
24	No unhealthy curiosity	Does it seek to know the future in a way that replaces trust in Providence?	CCC 2115–2116
25	No fixed time for the Antichrist	Does it avoid announcing when the Antichrist will come?	Lateran V, Session 11 (1516) (primary text to confirm); CCC 673
26	No messianic hope fulfilled within history	Does it avoid promising an earthly golden age, religious or political, before the end?	CCC 676; DS 3839
27	Builds up charity	Does it build up love of God and neighbor?	Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana I.36.40
28	The Jewish people justly treated	Does it avoid blaming or stereotyping the Jewish people, and hold to the Church's hope for Israel?	Nostra Aetate 4; CCC 597, 674
29	Other views stated at their best	Does it give opposing readings as their holders would, before judging them?	Ignatius, Spiritual Exercises 22; charter, rules 1 and 4
30	Confidence graded	Does it grade each claim (possible, probable, settled) and never call settled what the Church has not settled?	Charter (Oct 19, 2026)