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THE BEGINNING OF THE CREATION

Elder Mark Green

"These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God (Revelation 3:14).

One definition of Arianism I have found states, "Arianism was willing to grant our Lord every kind of honour and majesty short of the full nature of the Godhead. He was created from the Godhead before all other effects thereof. Through Him the world was created. He was granted, one might say (paradoxically), all the divine attributes except divinity." It is easy to see how that someone holding to this belief would argue that our text teaches that the Son was the first thing that God created, and was the "beginning" of the creation in that sense.

Words can have different meanings, however. One of the definitions of "beginning" from a standard dictionary is "origin; source; first cause." A standard lexicon gives as one of the meanings of the Greek word arche, from which "beginning" is translated, is "that by which anything begins to be, the origin, the active cause." So, the difference between these two senses in which the word "beginning" can be used is the difference between "creator" and "creation." In which sense does the Bible teach that the word should be applied when speaking of the Christ?

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8). This verse does not say that Jesus was created in the beginning, or that He was from the beginning, but it says that He is the beginning.  He is the source or origin of all creation. Paul told the Colossians, "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him" (Colossians 1:16). However, the Arian might reply to this verse that they agree that creation was made by and through the Son, but that He was the first thing that God created, and then God used him in the rest of the creation. Even that argument, however, is answered by the apostle John: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3).  If it was made, or created, then it was made by the Word, the second Person in the Trinity. If the Son was the first of the creation, or the first thing that God created, then He was made. If He was made, then He was made by Himself, which is a ridiculous statement. John wrote both his gospel and the Revelation, so he should know what he meant when he said in Revelation that Jesus was "the beginning of the creation of God."   Everything that was created, John tells us, was created by the Word. That is the same as telling us that the Word was not created. If He was not created, then "beginning" must mean that He was the origin of all that was created, and not the first thing that was created.