The proper understanding of Revelation 3:14 has been a matter of confusion to many. With a reading of the King James Version, Christ is presented as the first creation, calling him “the beginning (a)rxh\[*]) of the creation of God.”  This understanding, though explicit in the text, has been fiercely opposed by those rejecting the notion of a created Messiah.  Those doing such will argue that the text must either be translated differently or properly understood in accordance with their theology. 

Two views have been presented on how Revelation 3:14 should be understood as alternatives to the plainest reading of the text. The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible translates it according to one view, reading, “the ruler of God’s creation.” On the other hand, the New American Standard Bible (NASB) provides a differing view within a footnote, explaining that the meaning is “Origin or Source.” Are these views valid? 

While the noun a)rxh\ does at time refer to ones who are the originator of an action, such a sense is not found within the book of Revelation, or even the New Testament. While some have pointed to texts such as Revelation 22:13, where God is identified as “the beginning,” the sense is not that he was the beginner, but that he was the first one to exist and that he is eternal in his existence.  This point in itself does not rule out the meaning of “originator” for Revelation 3:14, but it does make it less probable.

The sense of him as the “originator” of “the creation” is ruled out when the text tells us that it is God’s (the Father's) creation (tou= qeou=). As his creation, he is the “originator” of it. It comes from him, so he is its “source.” God’s position as the “source” of creation is explicitly defined when we are told that it is him “out of whom are all things.” (1Cor. 8:6) To say that Jesus Christ filled this position would be to give him the role of the Father. 

Taking this point a step further, to argue that Jesus Christ was the originator or source of creation would be to explicitly contradict Scripture. How so? In our discussion of whether or not Jesus was the source of creation, we saw in texts such as John 1:3, Colossians 1:16 and Hebrews 1:2 that he is not. While a quick glance of these texts has brought many to conclude that he is, these texts only speak to the contrary. 

On John 1:3, Dana and Mantey explain whom the source of creation is seen to be, and it is not Jesus. They state: “Here God the Father is thought of as the original cause of creation, and the λογος as the intermediate agent.”[1]  The grammar parallels what is seen in Colossians 1:16, where again Christ is not seen as the origin or source of creation, but the intermediate through whom the Father worked. The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key to the Greek New Testament explains: “The prep[osition] w[ith] the gen[itive] describes Christ as the intermediate instrument of creation (Abbott; Lightfoot).”[2]  

Further details on this point can be seen in our article that discusses whether or not it is proper to identify Jesus Christ as the Source of creation. But again, to argue that Revelation 3:14 identifies Jesus Christ as the “Origin or Source” as the NASB claims would be in direct contradiction to these other texts. Commenting on Hebrews 1:2, Robertson summarizes the fact that Jesus is not the originator of creation, stating: “The Son as Heir is also the Intermediate Agent (dia\) in the work of creation as we have it in Col 1:16f.; Joh 1:3.”[3] As the intermediate agent, Jesus Christ cannot be the originator or source of creation, for such language would be contradictory. 

It is apparent that some have come to recognize the difficulty of viewing Revelation 3:14 to mean that Jesus Christ is the originator or source of creation. In view of the evidence, many have turned to understanding that Revelation 3:14 identifies Jesus as the “ruler of God’s creation,” as we see in the NIV. This view proves to be almost equally as troubling. 

It will not be denied that a)rxh can be translated “ruler,” and at times within the New Testament it is. Yet one cannot fail to notice that only the plural is used in such a way within the New Testament, never the singular.[4] On only three occasions is such a sense even approached with the singular form of the noun, and even then it is only used in the abstract sense of “rule,” not ruler.[5] With only three exceptions,[6] all other occurrences of the word, there being 39 in number, find the meaning to be “beginning.”[7] 

Within the New Testament we observe that every time we find the word “ruler” in the singular, it is consistently translated from the word a)/rxwn, not a)rxh\.[8] While the two words are related, they are not the same word. Even within the book of Revelation this word is used, identifying Jesus Christ as “the ruler (a)/rxwn) of the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 1:5) With such a clear and consistent pattern of use, extending even into the very book in question, a)/rxwn would be expected were Christ identified as “the ruler of God’s creation.” It is strikingly absent. 

The Nestle-Aland 27th Edition Greek New Testament has marked Revelation 3:14 as an allusion to Proverbs 8:22,[9] where Wisdom is identified within the Septuagint as the first of God’s creation, “the beginning of his ways.” The Hebrew text gives a similar thought, though saying that Wisdom was “produced” or “acquired” as such. (For further information on Wisdom, please see our article Jesus Christ - Wisdom Personified).  F.F. Bruce brings this point to light as well, noting that the expression “the beginning of God’s creation” is probably “an allusion to wisdom's self-introduction as ‘the beginning of His way’ in Prov[erbs] 8:22.”[10]  This would make sense, for in both texts a)rxh\ would then be used in the same way.  With God’s means of producing and acquiring being to create, the sense of "created" as specified by LXX is clearly implied by the Hebrew.  C.F. Burney comments on the text with the same thought as Bruce, saying: "Another New Testament allusion to Prov[erbs] viii 22 in reference to Christ is found in Rev[elation] iii 14 h( a)rxh\ th=j kti/sewj tou= qeou=, a title of the risen Christ which Dr Swete and Dr Charles have not a shadow of authority for limiting in meaning to 'the Source of God's creation'. There is every reason to suppose that a)rxh\ is here used with all the fullness of meaning which St Paul extracts from reshith-Beginning, Sum-total, Head, First-fruits."[11]  Of course, however one chooses to view Proverbs 8:22, in no way can the sense of either the "ruler" or the “origin or source” of creation be found. 

Within the Septuagint, an electronic search reveals that a)rxh\ appears 236 times in 221 verses.[12]  While there are occasions where the sense is “ruler” and only rarely “originator” can be found, the majority of passages are found to mean “beginning.”  Examples of this include Genesis 49:3, where we read of “the first (or beginning) of [Jacob’s] children,” and Jeremiah 2:3, where Israel is seen to be "the beginning of his harvest," as the first nation God set aside for himself. These, along with many other texts, such as Exodus 12:2 and 34:22, clearly parallel first in time sense that is present in Revelation 3:14.   

One might object, noting that the other two titles assigned to Christ in Revelation 3:14 are active titles. He is the Amen and the Faithful and True Witness. If these are active titles, would not a)rxh\ by necessity also be active? If active, that would rule out the meaning of first-created, which is a passive title. 

In response to this we observe that the juxtaposition of active and passive titles is not unheard of. A definitive example of this is found in Hebrews 1:3, where many scholars understand Christ to be the "radiance" of God's glory (active), while recognizing that he is the "exact representation" or "copy" of God's being (passive). Though juxtaposed as in Revelation 3:14, Hebrews 1:3 provides one title that is active and one that is passive. So this objection is not convincing. 

The evidence overwhelmingly points to Jesus being "the beginning of God's creation," his first-created being. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature has argued that “the m[eanin]g. beginning=‘first created’ is linguistically probable.” [13]  It is not simply a possible meaning, but it is the probable meaning. In other words, there is more linguistic evidence for this sense than any other. Indeed, Jesus is God's first and most supreme creation.