(בְּרֵאשַׁית, "in the beginning," liter. ally at the head, Genesis 1:1; Sept. and New Test. ἐν ἀρχῇ ), besides its ordinary import, was with the He. brews an idiomatic form of expression for eternity, q. d. originally. In this sense it is employed alike by Moses and (in its Greek form) by the evangelist John (John 1:1). (See CREATION).
Our Lord is also emphatically styled the Beginning (Ἀρχή ) both by Paul and John (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:8; Revelation 3:14), and it is worthy of remark that the Greek philosophers expressed the First Cause of all things by the same word. (See LOGOS).