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If we leave Genesis 1:1 and go straight over to the last book of Scripture,
namely the book of the Revelation, we shall see that the words `in the
beginning' acquire a fuller sense than was possible at the time when they
were first written by Moses.
Arche occurs in Revelation four times, as follows:
`I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty'.
`These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
beginning of the creation of God'.
`And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of
the water of life freely'.
`I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the
last' (Rev. 1:8; 3:14; 21:6; 22:13).
Here, in the last book of the Bible arche ceases to bear a time
significance, it is the title of a Person, a Person in Whom Creation and the
purpose of the ages find their meaning and their goal.
Paul uses arche eighteen times, the word having the time sense
`beginning' in five occurrences (Phil. 4:15, the only occurrence with this
meaning in the Prison Epistles), once in the earlier epistles (2 Thess. 2:13)
and three times in Hebrews (1:10; 2:3; 7:3). The remaining references have
the meaning `principalities', `rule' and `principles' (Rom. 8:38; 1 Cor.
15:24; Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16,18; 2:10,15; Tit. 3:1; Heb. 6:1).
The Hebrew word rosh, which gives us the word for `beginning', is translated
`head' in Genesis 3:15 and both `beginning' and `head' in Exodus 12:2 and 9
respectively.
In Colossians 1:18, Paul uses arche of Christ in a somewhat similar
sense to the usage of the word in the Revelation:
`Who is the Image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of every
creature: for by Him were all things created ... and He is the head of
the body, the church: Who Is The Beginning, the firstborn from the dead
... in Him should All Fulness dwell' (Col. 1:15 -19).
The two phrases `by Him' all things were created, and `in Him' all
fulness dwells, are obviously complementary. It is a fact, that the
preposition en is translated many times `by', but it is difficult to
understand how it is that in Colossians 1:16 en auto should be translated `By
Him' while in Colossians 1:19 en auto should be translated `In Him'.
Moreover the preposition en occurs in the phrases `in heaven', `in all
things'. Again, the A.V. reads in verse 17, `By Him all things consist'
where the preposition is dia, which only makes the need more felt that en
should not be translated `by' in the same context.
There does not appear any grammatical necessity to depart from the
primary meaning of en `in' in Colossians 1:16, and this is the considered
opinion of such exegetes as Bishop Lightfoot and Dean Alford, and the
translators of the R.V.