What does the Word “Beginning”
refer to in the New Testament?
(Copyright © 2024 by Daniel B. Sedory)
Introduction: The word “beginning” (Greek: archē, ἀρχή) or the phrases “in the beginning” (’En archē, Ἐν ἀρχῇ) and “from the beginning” (ap’ archēs, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς) as found in the New Testament refer to at least four different major events in the history of the world. This work will examine the context of those events as presented in the New Testment from the furthest back in time to a still future event:
Although this work is primarily concerned with passages from the New Testament, one should note that the word beginning as used in the majority of English
translations of Proverbs 8:23 refers to a "time" (from our perspecitve as creatures confined by both space and time) before the creation of the
world, that is, to the eternal existence of God outside of time![1] The word beginning itself implies at least when time began; perhaps
coincident with God’s first physical creative act. So although you cannot really have a beginning before the coincidental creation of time, most translations of this
verse and others state that “wisdom” existed before the beginning of the world. This would be similar to the words of Jesus in John 17:5 when
He said: “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (pro tou ton kosmon, πρὸ τοῦ τὸν κόσμον; or, "before the world was.").”
Before moving on, we must point out that the "wisdom" spoken of in Proverbs 8 is not a reference to the Word, the Messiah, but rather a personification of
God’s attribute of wisdom. Jesus himself, rather than claiming to be the Wisdom in Proverbs 8, mentions her deeds (in Matthew 11:19) and
her children (in Luke 7:35) instead of using it as an occasion to refer to himself like he did in John 8:58 when he claimed to be the I am (as in the
“I AM” of Exodus 3:14).
[There will be a page all about Proverbs 8:23 linked here in the future.]
1. The Creation of the World — John 1:1-2 begins with “In the beginning” (’En archē, Ἐν ἀρχῇ). This is clearly from the context[2] a reference to the creation of the world, and specifically to “the Word” (the Son of God[3]) as its Creator. At a time when the Greek Septuagint version of the Old Testament was the Bible of Jews (many of whom could not read Hebrew) and of Christians, they would immediately think of Genesis 1:1 when hearing or seeing the words ’En archē (Ἐν ἀρχῇ) since that’s exactly how Genesis begins in Greek. Most of the time, Scripture declares exactly what event is being referred to such as “from the beginning of the world” (ap’ archēs kosmou, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κόσμου) in Matthew 24:21 and “from the beginning of the creation” (ap’ archēs ktiseōs, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως) in Mark 13:19.
2. The Creation of Humanity — In Matthew 19:4, Jesus stated: “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning (ap’ archēs, ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς) MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE” (NASB). “The beginning” here obviously referring to the creation of Adam and Eve. (The “from the beginning“ in Matthew 19:8 would be the same.) Although Mark 10:6 begins with “But from the beginning of creation (apo de archēs ktiseōs, ἀπὸ δὲ ἀρχῆς κτίσεως),” the addition of “God MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE.” (NASB) shows Jesus was referring to their creation (Genesis 1:26-31) on Day 6; not the beginning of all creation.
3. “The Fall” — In John 8:44 (“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”; ESV), the beginning that Jesus referred to, since He was speaking to men during His ministry on earth, must be either when the devil tempted Eve to sin (Genesis 3:1 ff.); thus, causing her to die spiritually first (then physically later on), or, to the murder of Abel by Cain (Genesis 4:8) either due to sin in his heart being attributed back to when the devil tempted Eve to sin (resulting in all their offspring to be born as sinners) or some more direct influence. Exactly which event may have been in mind (or both), the point was that the devil was a liar and by listening to his lies, Adam and Eve died both spiritually and physically.
4. The Beginning of Messiah’s Ministry — Mark 1:1 (“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”), Luke 1:2-3 (“like the accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning. [3] So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,”), John 8:25 (“So they said to him, 'Who are you?' Jesus said to them, 'Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.”)
5. The beginning (archē) in Matthew 24:8 concerns a still future event called the “great tribulation” (in Matthew 24:21, 29 and Revelation 7:14).
1[Return to Text] One further thought in relation to the existence of God: There may be a logical order to God’s thoughts, but they would not have been
temporal in the way that we have thoughts from one moment in time to the next. The following is the NET Bible translation of Proverbs 8:23; to which I have added both the
Hebrew and Greek (from the Septuagint translation; LXX) in parentheses for each word or phrase:
From eternity (Hebrew: mēʿôlām, מֵעוֹלָם or in the LXX: pro tou
aiōnos, πρὸ τοῦ αἰῶνος) I was appointed (nissaktî, נִסַּכְתִּי), from the beginning (mērōʾš, מֵרֹאשׁ, literally, from the head or from the first; translated by the LXX as: en archē,
ἐν ἀρχῇ), from before the world existed (miqqadmê-ʾāreṣ, מִקַּדְמֵי־אָֽרֶץ, LXX: pro tou tēn gēn
poiēsai, πρὸ τοῦ τὴν γῆν ποιῆσαι).
The 1985 edition of the NIV Study Bible, translated this as: “I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began.” The
ESV translates this verse as: “Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.” Yet from the very first edition of the NASB, even though
its translation begins with “From everlasting I was established,” it finishes with: “From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.”
I have seen an explanation for this (from an A.I. summary with no references whatsoever) as an attempt to emphasize that “wisdom” (see 8:1, 11-12) was
present at (and used by God during) the creation of the universe. Although this is a departure from the ASV (which has “Before the earth was.”) and may appear to result
in a contradiction between wisdom being established “From everlasting” and whenever “the earliest times of the earth” were, I believe the NASB
translators (and those of the LSB too; see: Proverbs 8 in the LSB) saw this phrase as the beginning
of a new stanza that is part of verses 24 ff.; most of which begin with the word “When”.
2[Return to Text] John 1:1-3:In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. [2] The Word was with God
in the beginning. [3] All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. (NET Bible)
3[Return to Text] John 1:14 clearly shows that Jesus was “the Word” after his miraculous birth and while living as the God-man on the earth:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (ESV)
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (NASB)
Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (NET Bible)
First published on: 17 NOV 2024 (2024.11.17).
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