Arian proof texts: Revelation 3:14 - Jesus is the beginning

The argument:

Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.

The argument goes that since Jesus is called the beginning of God’s creation, he must be the first thing God began to create. Being the beginning of something doesn’t necessarily mean you are part of it. It simply means the origin of something.

• This road begins in New York. But New York is a city, not a road.
• This company began with my grandfather making doohickeys in his garage. But my grandfather is a human, not a company.

Let’s look at the Greek. The word translated the beginning is the Greek word ἡ ἀρχή (hei arche). This is the definition of arche from Thayer’s Greek lexicon:

1. beginning, origin
2. the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing in a series, the leader
3. that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active cause
4. the extremity of a thing
   1. of the corners of a sail
5. the first place, principality, rule, magistracy
   1. of angels or demons

Strongs concordance says:

ἀρχή archḗ, ar-khay’; from G756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concretely) chief (in various applications of order, time, place, or rank):—beginning, corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.

The meaning of arche in Revelation 3:14 is more accurately rebdered origin, the person or thing that commences ir starts something, that by which anything begins to be, the active cause, or the ruler of something. “Beginning” can still mean origin, but can also be the first in a series, so “origin” would be a better, less ambiguous way to render arche in Revelation 3:14.

• Jesus is the origin of creation.
• Jesus is the person that commenced creation.
• Jesus is that by which creation began to be.
• Jesus is the active cause of creation.
• Jesus is the ruler of creation.

The NASB which is known to be the most accurate English translation renders Revelation 3:14 this way:

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Origin of the creation of God, says this:

Does it mean that Jesus is the first thing God created?

To find out what the word means in the Bible, we can do a word search for ἡ ἀρχὴ (he arche). It is only used in two other scriptures, Revelation 21:6 and 22:13.

Revelation 21:6-7 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Revelation 22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Who is the Alpha and the Omega? Of course that is God. So if being the beginning of something means you have a beginning, wouldn’t that mean that God also has a beginning? Of course not. What God is saying is that “I was there when this age began and I will be there when this age ends”. Unlike us created beings who has a beginning and end, God is eternal. He transcends time. He created time. He was there when time began and will be there when time ends. So being “the beginning” obviously means that you are beyond whatever began to exist. You are the one who caused it to begin, you are the beginner. The chief, prince or boss of it. Since Jesus is the creator, he is also the chief, prince or boss of creation. He is the beginner, origin, commencer or active cause of creation. The beginning of creation. The source from which creation flows.

Harmony with other scripture

You can’t take one scripture out of context. What you interpret must be in harmony with the rest of scripture. And the idea that Jesus is the origin of creation, the one who started it, is in harmony with the rest of the Bible. John 1:1 says that then the Beginning happened, the Word (Jesus) was already present there. Hence he existed before the beginning of the world. John 1:3 Says Jesus created all things and that no created thing came into existence without him. Hence Jesus is the creator of creation, the origin thereof. He can thus not be a part of creation. Colossians 1:15-17 shows that Jesus is the firstborn (an ancient word for the chief, or most prominent person) of all creation, and that he created all things, and that he is before all things. He is not part of the things he himself created. These and many other details in the Bible shows that this interpretation of Revelation 3:14 is truthful and harmonious with the rest of scripture.