The objection
In Revelation 3,14 Jesus calls himself the beginning of God's creation. This sounds like the first created being. Is the translation “source” merely a Trinitarian escape route?
1. A word denotes more than a temporal position
The Greek archē can denote beginning, source or rule. “First creature” is therefore not a mere translation, but already a particular interpretation. Likewise, “source” must not be chosen merely because it seems more convenient apologetically. The meaning must fit the statement and the word's usage.[1]
The wording linguistically allows discussion. This openness, however, is different from proof that Jesus was created.
2. Revelation calls God himself beginning and end
In Revelation 21,6 the one seated on the throne calls himself beginning and end. No one need conclude from this that God is the first and last creature. The expression can indicate his comprehensive causality and rule over history and the world.
In 1,17–18 Christ calls himself the First and the Last and the Living One who was dead and lives. This context connects his divine majesty with his actual death. Revelation does not begin using exalted divine language only after a supposed abolition of his creaturehood.
3. “God's creation” does not yet determine the relationship
The genitive designates creation as God's work. It does not thereby yet say whether its “beginning” is its first member or its source. The decisive question is how Christ elsewhere stands in relation to this work. John 1,3 places everything that came into being opposite his creative efficacy. Colossians 1 calls him both beginning and the one through whom everything was created.[2]
These are not arbitrarily summoned counterverses. They address precisely the disputed relationship: Is the Son part of the created totality, or does he stand over against it as Creator?
4. The better reading explains the overall evidence
“Source of creation” connects the title with Christ's position as Creator. The reading “first creature,” by contrast, requires an exception to the comprehensive statements about creation and must weaken the exalted divine titles. It does not derive these assumptions from Revelation 3,14 itself.
The verse is therefore no linguistically unambiguous evidence against Christ's deity. Nor need we make it the sole proof of his deity. Within the biblical witness, it designates the faithful witness whose authority over the world rests on his relationship to its origin.
Biblical texts in context
Sources and further study
- NET Bible, Revelation 3,14Note on archē: beginning, source and rule; decision from the context.
- Robert L. Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian FaithColossians 1,15–20, pp. 250–252: the connection between beginning, primogeniture and creation.