The names and titles of Christ are worthy of the
closest study, and should be examined closely in the Original, as
presented in the sublinear of the Concordant Version. There we read of
THE
ORIGINAL OF-THE CREATION OF-THE God. In phrases such as this, the relation
of the words to each other are of prime importance. Here it is the
so-called genitive, which we call the possessive case.
It is not simply THE-God, but tou,
OF-THE, and Theou,
God's, not Theos, God. It is not God, Himself, but something that is
His, that is, the creation. A long list of the occurrences of this form
will be found on page 259 of the lexicon in the complete C.V., as well as
on page 128 of the International edition (Rev.3:14).
There we have them segregated into groups, Son,
Kingdom, begotten, glory, grace, hand, sight, judgment, messengers, power,
righteousness, spirit, will, word, and others. These hundreds of examples
unite their testimony in affirming that whatever is of God is distinct
from God. All is of God (2 Cor.5:18). That clearly shows that all is
not God Himself, as some suppose. A son is of a father, but no son is
his own father. A creation of man is not man himself God's creation is
not God.
Further, in the example before us, "beginning" or
"Original," of creation is neither God nor creation, but belongs to
creation, and must be created. According to the C.V. concordance, this
form occurs in Mark 10:6; 13:19; Rom.1:20; 8:19; Col.1:5; Heb.9:11; 2
Peter 3:4, and in this passage, Rev.3:14. In fact this very phrase
"beginning of creation" occurs in Mark 10:6; 13:19; 2 Peter 3:4, and
refers to the first part of the time in which creation has existed. But
our passage is in the unveiling of Jesus Christ, and He is the One
indicated by this phrase. His relation to creation is more definitely set
forth in Col.1:15-17, where He is said to be the Firstborn of every
creature (which shows that He is One), and all else was created in Him and
through Him and for Him, and He is before all. So also was the human race
created in and through Adam, who was before the rest. Let us believe
exactly what is revealed, rather than reason illogically about it in order
to make bring it in line with the apostasy of Christendom.
