Difference between revisions of "Alpha And Omega"

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== Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament <ref name="term_54956" /> ==
<p> These are the first and last letters of the Gr. alphabet; cf. Heb. ‘ <i> [[Aleph]] </i> to <i> [[Tau]] </i> ’; Eng. ‘A to Z.’ The title is applied to God the Father in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8; &nbsp;Revelation 21:5, and to Christ in &nbsp;Revelation 22:13 (cf. &nbsp;Revelation 2:8). The ancient Heb. name for God, יהוה, has been very variously derived, but its most probable meaning is the ‘Eternal’ One-‘I am that I am’ (&nbsp;Exodus 3:14). This idea of the Deity, further emphasized in &nbsp;Isaiah 41:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:10; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6, is expressed in the language of the [[Apocalypse]] by the Greek phrase ‘Α and Ω,’ which corresponds to a common Heb. expression ‘ <i> Aleph </i> to <i> Tau </i> ,’ of which the [[Talmud]] and other Rabbinic writings furnish many examples. R. H. [[Charles]] adduces similar phrases in Latin (Martial, v. 26) and Greek (Theodoret, <i> HE </i> [Note: E Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.).]iv. 8) to express completeness. To those who believe in a [[Jewish]] original for the NT Apocalypse, its presence there will cause no surprise, and its application to Christ will constitute an instance of the [[Christian]] remodelling which that book has undergone. Moreover, Jewish writers ( <i> e.g. </i> Kohler) have given another explanation of its use as a title for God, calling it the hellenized form of a well-known saying, ‘The [[Seal]] of God is <i> Emeth </i> (אֱמֶת = ‘truth’), a word containing first, middle, and last letters of the Heb, alphabet (cf. <i> Gen. [[Rab]] </i> . lxxxi.; Jerus. <i> Sanh </i> . i. 18 <i> a </i> ; <i> Sanh </i> , 64 <i> a </i> ; <i> Yoma </i> 69 <i> b </i> ). [[Josephus]] ( <i> c. [[Apion]] </i> .) probably refers to this saying (cf. also &nbsp;Daniel 10:21 בִּכְתִב אֱמֶח, ‘the writing of truth’). [[Similar]] is the use of Justin ( <i> Address to [[Greeks]] </i> , xxv.). Whatever may be the origin of the phrase, its chief significance for [[Christians]] lies in its constant application to Christ, of which this passage in the Apocalypse supplies the first of countless instances. Charles and Müller agree that Patristic commentators invariably referred all these passages to the Son, and in so doing they plainly claimed the [[Divine]] privilege of eternity for the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and established the claim set forth in the later creeds that the Word of God was equal with God.’ </p> <p> Not only was this the universal opinion of the earliest commentators, as of the Christian author or editor of the Apocalypse; it was an opinion deeply rooted in the convictions of the Christian congregations. We hear of no attempt to dispute it; and, relying on this as an established fact, the [[Gnostic]] teachers sought to deduce by various means and numerical quibbles the essential identity of all the Persona of the [[Trinity]] (cf. Iven. <i> adv. Hœr </i> , I. xiv. 6, xv. 1). Among others, Tertullian ( <i> Monog </i> . v.), [[Cyprian]] ( <i> Testimon </i> . ii, 1, 6), Clem. Alex. ( <i> Strom </i> . iv. 25, vi. 16), [[Ambrose]] ( <i> Exp. </i> [Note: Expositor.] <i> in septem Vis </i> . i. 8), emphasized this view of the matter; and, before the last persecution of [[Diocletian]] was over, many inscriptions had been put up on tombstones, walls of catacombs, etc., in which these two letters stood for the name of Christ, At a subsequent period the practice became universal all over the Christian world, and countless examples are still extant to prove the general popularity of this custom. </p> <p> In most cases the letters are accompanied by other symbols and titles of the Master, <i> e.g. </i> ⳩; in a few examples they stand alone as a reverent way of representing the presence of the Redeemer. Most numerous in the period from a.d. 300-500, they decline in number and importance during the early Middle Ages, and are rare, at least in the West, after the 7th and 8th centuries. It is significant to note that in none of those hundreds of examples do the letters (often rudely scrawled by poor peasants) refer to any one but Jesus Christ. It is hard to conceive of any fact more suited to emphasize the deep-rooted belief of the early Christians in the true [[Divinity]] of their Lord and Master, who had created the world, existed from the beginning, and was still alive and ready to succour His faithful followers. </p> <p> Literature.-R. H. Charles, articlein <i> Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) </i> ; B. W. Bacon, articleIn <i> Dict. of Christ and the [[Gospels]] </i> ; K. Kohler, articlein <i> Jewish Encyclopedia </i> ; W. Müller in <i> Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche </i> 3 (full account of extant inscriptions); C. Schoettgen, <i> Hor. Heb. </i> , Leipzig, 1733. </p> <p> L. St. [[Alban]] Wells. </p>
       
== Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible <ref name="term_49212" /> ==
<p> <strong> [[Alpha And Omega]]  </strong> . A title of God in &nbsp; Revelation 1:8; &nbsp; Revelation 21:6 , of Jesus in &nbsp; Revelation 22:13 [its presence in &nbsp; Revelation 1:11 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] is not Justified by the MSS]. [[Alpha]] was the first, and [[Omega]] the last letter of the Greek, as Aleph and [[Taw]] were the first and the last of the [[Hebrew]] alphabet. In the Talmud, ‘From Aleph to Taw’ meant ‘From first to last,’ including all between. Cf. <em> Shabb </em> . 51. 1 (on &nbsp; Ezekiel 9:6 ): ‘Do not read “My Sanctuary,” but “My saints,” who are the sons of men who have kept the whole Law from Aleph to Taw.’ </p> <p> This explains the title. In each instance St. John defines It. &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘the beginning and the ending’ is an interpolation from &nbsp; Revelation 21:6 , &nbsp; Revelation 22:13 ), <em> i.e. </em> the Eternal, the Contemporary of every generation. &nbsp; Revelation 21:6 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end’; &nbsp; Revelation 22:13 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last (cf. &nbsp; Isaiah 44:6; &nbsp; Isaiah 48:12 ), the beginning and the end,’ <em> i.e. </em> He who comprehends and embraces all things, from whom all come and to whom all return, the <em> fons et clausula </em> , the starting-point and the goal of history (cf. &nbsp; Colossians 1:17 ). The ascription of this title to Jesus as well as to God in a writing so early as the Apocalypse strikingly attests the view of our Lord’s Person which prevailed in the primitive Church. </p> <p> Aurelius Prudentius makes fine use of the title in his hymn on <em> The Lord’s [[Nativity]] </em> (‘Corde natus ex parentis’), thus rendered by Neale: </p> <p> ‘Of the Father’s love begotten </p> <p> [[Ere]] the worlds began to be, </p> <p> He is Alpha and Omega, </p> <p> He the source, the ending He, </p> <p> Of the things that are, that have been, </p> <p> And that future years shall see, </p> <p> [[Evermore]] and evermore.’ </p> <p> David Smith. </p>
       
== Holman Bible Dictionary <ref name="term_38296" /> ==
&nbsp;Revelation 1:8&nbsp;1:17&nbsp;Revelation 21:6&nbsp;Revelation 22:13&nbsp;Revelation 22:13
       
== International Standard Bible Encyclopedia <ref name="term_949" /> ==
<p> ''''' al´fa ''''' , ''''' ō´me ''''' - ''''' ga ''''' , ''''' o ''''' - ''''' mē´ga ''''' (Alpha and Omega = A and O): The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, hence, symbolically, "beginning and end"; in Revelation "The [[Eternal]] One" in &nbsp; Revelation 1:8 of the Father, in &nbsp; Revelation 21:6 and &nbsp; Revelation 22:13 of the Son. Compare Theodoret, Eusebius, <i> Historia Ecclesiastica </i> , iv. 8: "We used alpha down to omega, i.e. <i> all </i> ." A similar expression is found in Latin (Martial, v.26). Compare [[Aretas]] (Cramer's <i> Catenae Graecae in New [[Testament]] </i> ) on &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 and Tertullian ( <i> Monog </i> , 5): "So also two Greek letters, the first and last, did the Lord put on Himself, symbols of the beginning and the end meeting in Him, in order that just as alpha rolls on to omega and omega returns again to alpha, so He might show that both the evolution of the beginning to the end is in Him and again the return of the end to the beginning." Cyprian, <i> Testim </i> , ii.1; vi.22, iii.100, [[Paulinus]] of Nola Carm. xix.645; xxx.89; Prudentius, <i> Cathem </i> ., ix.10-12. In Patristic and later literature the phrase is regularly applied to the Son. God blesses [[Israel]] from <i> ''''' 'ālēph ''''' </i> to <i> ''''' taw ''''' </i> (&nbsp;Leviticus 26:3-13 ), but curses from <i> ''''' waw ''''' </i> to <i> ''''' mem ''''' </i> (Lev 26:14-43). So [[Abraham]] observed the whole law from <i> ''''' 'ālēph ''''' </i> to <i> ''''' taw ''''' </i> . Consequently, "Alpha and Omega" may be a Greek rendering of the Hebrew phrase, which expressed among the later [[Jews]] the whole extent of a thing. </p>
       
==References ==
<references>


Alpha And Omega <ref name="term_54974" />
<ref name="term_54956"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/alpha+and+omega Alpha And Omega from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
<p> <b> [[Alpha]] [[And]] [[Omega.]] </b> [[—A]] solemn designation of divinity, of [[Jewish]] origin, peculiar to the Book of Revelation. In &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 it is applied to Himself by ‘the Almighty,’ with obvious relation to &nbsp;Exodus 3:14 (cf. &nbsp;Exodus 3:4) and &nbsp;Isaiah 41:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6 (for the [[Lxx]] [[Septuagint]] rendering of צִבָאוחיהוה by παντο by παντοκράτωρ, cf. &nbsp;Amos 3:13; &nbsp;Amos 4:13). In &nbsp;Revelation 21:6 also the epithet is applied not to the Son but to the Father, as shown by the context (cf. &nbsp;Revelation 21:3 ‘a voice out of the throne,’ &nbsp;Revelation 21:5 ‘He spake that is seated on the throne,’ &nbsp;Revelation 21:7 [[‘I]] will be his God and he shall be my son’). In &nbsp;Revelation 22:13 it is placed in a derived sense ( <i> i.e. </i> [[‘I,]] the primary object and ultimate fulfilment of God’s promise’) in the mouth of the glorified Jesus. This transfer of a [[Divine]] title to the Son furnishes a problem of great interest for the early development of Christology; for, as [[R.]] [[H.]] [[Charles]] points out (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible i. p. 70), ‘although in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 [add &nbsp;Revelation 21:6] this title is used of God the Father, it seems to be confined to the Son in Patristic and subsequent literature.’ </p> <p> <b> 1. </b> <i> Origin and Significance </i> .—( <i> a </i> ) The simplest and most primary use of this figure, derived as it is from the first and last terms of the alphabet, which with [[Greeks]] and Hebrews were also those of numerical notation, is common to several languages. Thus in English we have the expression ‘from [[A]] to [[Z.’]] Schoettgen ( <i> Hor. Heb. </i> i. 1086) adduced from <i> [[Jalkut]] Rubein </i> , fol. 17. 4, ‘Adam transgressed the whole law from א to ח’; and 48. 4, ‘Abraham kept the law from א to ח.’ As Cremer shows (Theol. Worterbuch, p. 1), this has no bearing on the case except linguistically. In Rub. 128. 3, God is said to bless [[Israel]] from א to ח (because &nbsp;Leviticus 16:3; &nbsp;Leviticus 16:16 begins with א and ends with ח), but to curse only from ו to מ (because &nbsp;Leviticus 16:14-34 begins with ו and ends with מ). [[R.]] [[H.]] Charles (.c.) adds examples of this (general) use from [[Martial]] (v. 26 and ii. 57) and [[Theodoret]] [[(E]] [Note: [[E]] Historia Ecclesiastica.] iv. 8). </p> <p> ( <i> b </i> ) In the later, more philosophical, period of [[Hebrew]] literature similar expressions are applied to God, as indicative of His omnipresence and eternal existence. God, as the Being <i> from </i> whom all things proceed and <i> to </i> whom they tend, is thus contrasted in Deutero-Isaiah with heathen divinities (&nbsp;Isaiah 41:4; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:10 [cf. &nbsp;Exodus 3:14] &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6; &nbsp;Isaiah 48:12). Here the best example is the Kabbalistic designation of the [[Shekinah]] as אח, according to [[Buxtorf]] = ‘principium et finis’ (. Chald. Talm. [Note: Talmud.] <i> et Rabb. </i> ). </p> <p> But a threefold designation of God as the [[Eternal]] is also employed. The <i> [[Jerusalem]] [[Targum]] </i> on &nbsp;Exodus 3:14 so interprets the Divine name (‘qui fuit, est, et erit, dixit mundo’), and the <i> Targ </i> . [Note: Targum.] <i> [[Jonathan]] </i> on &nbsp;Deuteronomy 3:29 (‘ego ille est, qui est, et qui fuit, et qui erit’). So also, according to Bousset ( <i> ad </i> &nbsp;Revelation 1:4), <i> Shemoth [[R.]] </i> iii. f. 105. 2, <i> [[Midrash]] Tillim </i> 117. 2, <i> [[Bereshith]] [[R.]] </i> on &nbsp;Daniel 10:21 (the ‘writing of אמח—truth = the seal of God.’ See below). Thus in &nbsp;Hebrews 2:10 God is both end and <i> means </i> of all things (διʼ ὄν, διʼ οὖ τὰ πάντα); in &nbsp;Romans 11:36 ‘Of him, <i> through </i> him, and unto him are all things’; cf. &nbsp;Revelation 1:4. </p> <p> Instances of expressions of like implication applied to the [[Deity]] (ὁ θεός), or to individual divinities, are naturally still more common in Greek philosophical literature, so that, as Justin says ( <i> ad Graecos </i> , xxv.), ‘Plato, when mystically expressing the attributes of God’s eternity, said, “God is, as the old tradition runs, the end and the middle of all things”; plainly alluding to the Law of Moses.’ The tradition was indeed ‘old’ in Plato’s day, but there are many more probable sources than &nbsp;Exodus 3:14 for Plato. We need refer only to the song of the Peleiadae at Dodona: Ζεὺς ἧν, Ζεὺς ἔστιν, Ζεὺς ἔσσεται ( <i> Paus. </i> x. 12. 5); and the Orphic saying, Ζεὺς πρῶτος γένετο, Ζεὑς ὕστατος ἀρχικέραυνος, Ζεὺς κεφαλή, Ζεὺς μέσσα, κ.τ.λ. (Lobeck, <i> Aglaophamus </i> , 521, 523, 530 f.). [[Similar]] attributes are applied to Athene and [[Asclepius]] in examples quoted by Wetstein. Notoriously the Jewish apologists had been beforehand with Justin [[Martyr]] in ascribing to Moses the larger and more philosophical conceptions of Deity enunciated by the philosophers; and from these writings of the period of Revelation and earlier it is possible to demonstrate the existence of a Jewish <i> kerygma </i> (formula of missionary propaganda) defining the true nature of the Deity and of right worship, wherein &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6 ff. with the expression borrowed in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8; &nbsp;Revelation 21:6, or its equivalent, is the central feature. [[Josephus]] ( <i> circa (about) </i> <i> Apion. </i> ii. 190–198 [ed. Niese]), contrasting the law of Moses on this subject with heathenism, calls it ‘our doctrine (λόγος) concerning God and His worship.’ What he designated ‘the first commandment’ is easily recognizable as part of such a <i> kerygma </i> , and seems to be derived from the same Jewish apologist pseudo-Hecataeus ( <i> circa (about) </i> 60 b.c.) whom he quotes in <i> circa (about) </i> <i> Apion. </i> i. § 183–204, and ii. 43. It is traceable already in the diatribes against idolatry in the <i> Ep. of [[Aristeas]] </i> (132–141) and the <i> Wisdom of [[Solomon]] </i> (chapters 13–14). The Proœmium of the oldest Jewish [[Sibyl]] ( <i> Sib. Or. </i> v. 7–8, 15) has: ‘There is one God Omnipotent, immeasurable, eternal, almighty, invisible, alone all-seeing, Himself unseen.… [[Worship]] Him, the alone existent, the Ruler of the world, who alone is from eternity to eternity.’ It appears again in [[Christian]] adaptation in &nbsp;Acts 17:24-31 (cf. 14:15–17, &nbsp;1 Thessalonians 1:9-10, &nbsp;Romans 1:18-32, &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 11:23; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 13:6; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 13:10; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 14:12; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 14:22-27); in the fragment of the <i> [[Kerygma]] Petri </i> , quoted in Clem. <i> Strom. </i> vi. 5. 39–43 (Frags. 2 and 3 <i> ap. </i> Preuschen, <i> Antileg. </i> p. 52: εἰς θεός ἐστιν, ὃς ἁρχὴν πάντων ἐποίησεν καὶ τέλους ἐξουσίαν ἕχων, κ.τ.λ.): in the <i> Apology of [[Aristides]] </i> ; Tatian’s <i> [[Oration]] </i> iv.; Athenagoras, <i> Leg. </i> xiii., and the <i> Ep. to Diogn. </i> iii. It begins in Josephus: ὅτι θεὸς ἔχει τὰ σύμπαντα παντελὴς καὶ μακάριος, αὐτὸς αὐτῷ καὶ πᾶσιν αὐτάρκης, ἀρχὴ καὶ μέσα καὶ τέλος οὗτος τῶν πάντων—‘He is the beginning and middle and end of all things’ ( <i> circa (about) </i> <i> Apion. </i> ii. 190). </p> <p> On the other hand, the apologetic and eschatological literature, which Rabbinic [[Judaism]] after the rise of Christian speculation more and more excluded from canonical use, shows a marked tendency to offset these heathen demiurgic ascriptions by similar ones applied not directly to God but to a hypostatized creative Wisdom (&nbsp;Proverbs 8:22-36, &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 7:21; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 8:1; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 9:4; &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 9:9, &nbsp;Sirach 24:9; &nbsp;Sirach 24:28, &nbsp;Baruch 3:9-37), or to an angelic Being endowed with the same demiurgic attributes (&nbsp;2 [[Esdras]] 5:56 to &nbsp;2 Esdras 6:6). </p> <p> The statement of Rabbi Kohler ( <i> Jewish Encycl. </i> i. p. 438) is therefore correct regarding the phrase in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8; &nbsp;Revelation 21:6 if not in 22:13: ‘This is not simply a paraphrase of &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6 [[“I]] am the first and the last”, but the Hellenized form of a well-known Rabbinical dictum, “The seal of God is <i> Emet </i> , which means Truth, and is derived from the letters אמח, the first, the middle, and the last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the beginning, the middle, and the end of all things.” ’ In other words, we must realize the metaphysical development of Jewish theology which had taken place between Deutero-Isaiah and Revelation. The passages adduced by Kohler from 69 and . 64, and in particular Jerus. [Note: Jerusalem.] <i> Jeb. </i> 12:13 <i> a </i> , <i> Gen </i> . [Note: [[Geneva]] [[Nt]] 1557, Bible 1560.] [[R]] [Note: Redactor.] <i> . </i> lxxxi., show the early prevalence of this interpretation of &nbsp;Daniel 10:21 [[‘I]] shall show thee what is marked upon the writing of truth (בכחבאמת), as the <i> signum </i> of God; for, says Simon hen Lakish, “א is the first, מ the middle, and ח the last letter of the alphabet.” ’ This being the name of God according to &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6, explained Jerus. [Note: Jerusalem.] <i> Sanh. </i> i. 18 <i> a </i> , [[‘I]] am the first [having had none from whom to receive the kingdom]; [[I]] am the middle, there being none who shares the kingdom with me; [and [[I]] am the last], there being none to whom [[I]] shall hand the kingdom of the world.’ It would seem probable, however, considering the connexion with &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6 (‘first and last,’ the passage is a commonplace of early Christian-Jewish polemic), that the Kabbalistic form אח is the earlier, the middle term having perhaps been inserted in opposition to Jewish angelological and Christian cosmological speculation. Cf. &nbsp;Revelation 11:17; &nbsp;Revelation 16:5 with &nbsp;Revelation 1:4; &nbsp;Revelation 4:8; and &nbsp;2 Esdras 6:1-6 (where Uriel, speaking in the name of the Creator, says, ‘In the beginning, when the earth was made … then did [[I]] design these things, and they all were through me alone, and through none other: as by me also they shall be ended, and by none other’) with &nbsp;Hebrews 2:10. </p> <p> In &nbsp;1 Corinthians 8:6 we have a significant addition to the two-term ascription, ‘One God, the Father, <i> of </i> (ἑξ) whom are all things, and we <i> unto </i> (εἰς) him.’ St. Paul (or his [[Corinthian]] converts) adds, ‘And one Lord Jesus Christ, <i> through </i> whom are all things, and we <i> through </i> him.’ This addition marks the parting of the ways for Jewish and Christian theology, implying a mediating hypostasis identified with Christ, that is, a Wisdom-Logos doctrine. That in &nbsp;Revelation 1:6; &nbsp;Revelation 21:6 the phrase is still applied in the purely Jewish sense to God the Father alone, is placed beyond all doubt by the connected ascriptions, especially ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος (not = ἐσόμενος) connecting &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 with &nbsp;Revelation 1:4. </p> <p> Why, and in what sense, the term [[Α–Ω]] is applied in &nbsp;Revelation 22:12 by the glorified Christ to Himself, is the problem remaining; and this independently of the question of composite authorship; for to the final redactor, whose date can scarcely be later than a.d. 95, there was no incompatibility. </p> <p> ( <i> c </i> ) Besides the metaphysical or <i> cosmological </i> development, which we have traced in connexion with the Divine title [[Α–Ω]] from Deutero-Isaiah through Wisdom and pseudo-Aristeas to its bifurcation in Jewish and Christian theology contemporary with the Book of Revelation, we have a parallel development of <i> eschatological </i> character. [[Jehovah]] is contrasted with the gods of the heathen in &nbsp;Isaiah 41:26-27; &nbsp;Isaiah 42:9; &nbsp;Isaiah 43:9-10; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:6-7; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:26; &nbsp;Isaiah 45:21; &nbsp;Isaiah 46:9-10; &nbsp;Isaiah 48:3; &nbsp;Isaiah 48:5; &nbsp;Isaiah 48:12, also, and indeed primarily, as ‘ <b> first and last </b> ’ in the sense of director of all things to the fulfilment of His predeclared purpose, <i> i.c. confirmer and fulfiller of His promise of redemption </i> (&nbsp;Isaiah 44:7). And [[I]] manifestly the development of this idea of Jehovah as ‘first and last’ in the redemptive or soteriological sense, would be more congenial to Hebrew thought than the metaphysical, although cosmology plays a great and increasing part in apocalyptic literature. In the substitution of ὁ ἐρχόμενος for the anticipated ὁ ἐσόμενος in &nbsp;Revelation 1:4; &nbsp;Revelation 4:8 (cf. &nbsp;Revelation 11:17, &nbsp;Revelation 16:5) recalling &nbsp;Matthew 11:3 and &nbsp;Hebrews 10:37, we have evidence of the apocalyptic tendency to conceive of God by preference soteriologically. </p> <p> But the final redemptive intervention of Jehovah is necessarily conceived as through some personal, human, or at least angelic (&nbsp;Malachi 3:1, &nbsp;2 Esdras 5:56) agency, even when creative and cosmological functions are still attributed to Jehovah directly, without any, or with no more than an impersonal, intermediate agency. Hence, while in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 as in &nbsp;Revelation 1:4 and &nbsp;Revelation 21:6 Jehovah Himself, ‘the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end,’ is also ὁ ἐρχόμενος, there is no escape for any believer in Jesus from transferring the title in this soteriological sense to Him as Messiah. This will be the case whether his cosmology requires a Logos-doctrine for demiurgic functions, as with St. Paul, the [[Epistle]] to the Hebrews, and the Fourth Evangelist, or not. (The only trace of a true Logos-doctrine is the very superficial touch &nbsp;Revelation 19:13 b). Thus in &nbsp;Revelation 1:17; &nbsp;Revelation 2:8 the Isaian title ‘the first and the last’ is applied to Christ, and in &nbsp;Revelation 3:14 He is called ‘the Amen … the beginning of the creation of God.’ The titles are combined in &nbsp;Revelation 22:13, where we should perhaps render (Benson, <i> [[Apocalypse]] </i> , 1900, p. 26), [[‘I,]] the Alpha and the [[Omega]] (am coming), the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ As [[Hengstenberg]] maintained (on &nbsp;Revelation 1:8), ‘In this declaration the Omega is to be regarded as emphatic. It is equivalent to saying, As [[I]] am the Alpha, so am [[I]] also the Omega. The beginning is surety for the end’ (cf. &nbsp;Philippians 1:6). For this reason it is perhaps also better to connect the words Ναί, Ἀμήν of &nbsp;Revelation 1:7 with &nbsp;Revelation 1:8 ‘Verily, verily, [[I]] am the Alpha and the Omega’ (Terry, <i> Bibl. Apocalyptics </i> , 1898, p. 281). </p> <p> The true sense, and at the same time the origin and explanation of this application of the Divine title, is to be found, as before, in the [[Epistles]] of St. Paul. In &nbsp;2 Corinthians 1:20 the promises of God, howsoever many they be, are said all to have their [[Yea]] in Christ. And, because this is so, it is further declared, ‘the Amen is also through him.’ The conception that Christ is the Amen or fulfilment of all the promises of God, as ‘heir of all things’ and we ‘joint heirs with him’ (&nbsp;Romans 4:13; &nbsp;Romans 8:17, &nbsp;1 Corinthians 3:22, &nbsp;Hebrews 1:2, &nbsp;Revelation 21:7), is comparatively familiar to us. It represents the significance of the term [[Ω]] in the eschatological application. We are much less familiar with the idea expressed in the [[A,]] though it is equally well attested in primitive Christian and contemporary Jewish thought. In [[Pauline]] language it represents that the people of [[Messiah]] were ‘blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, inasmuch as God chose them in his person before the foundation of the world … and foreordained them to be an adoption of sons,’ &nbsp;Ephesians 1:4-5; cf. &nbsp;Isaiah 44:1-2; &nbsp;Isaiah 44:7, &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 18:13, &nbsp;Hebrews 2:5-10, &nbsp;Revelation 21:7, and the doctrine of the apocalyptic writers, Jewish and Christian, that ‘the world was created for the sake of man’—resp. ‘Israel,’ ‘the righteous,’ ‘the Church’ ( <i> Assump. Mos </i> . 1:12–14: &nbsp;2 Esdras 6:55-59; &nbsp;2 Esdras 7:10-11; &nbsp;2 Esdras 9:13; Hermas, <i> Vis. </i> ii. 4:1 etc. The doctrine rests on &nbsp;Genesis 1:26 f., &nbsp;Psalms 8:4-8, &nbsp;Exodus 4:22 etc.). Harnack has shown ( <i> History of [[Dogma]] </i> , vol. i. Appendix 1, ‘The [[Conception]] of Pre-existence’) how pre-existence is for the Jewish mind in some sense involved in that of ultimate persistence. The heir ‘for whom’ all things were created was in a more or less real sense (according to the disposition of the thinker) conceived as present to the mind of the [[Creator]] before all things. Thus in Rabbinic phrase Messiah is one of the ‘seven pre-existent things,’ or His ‘soul is laid up in [[Paradise]] before the foundation of the world.’ [[Apocalyptic]] eschatology demanded a representative ‘Son,’ the ‘Beloved,’ chosen ‘in the beginning’ to be head of the ‘Beloved’ people of ‘sons’ in the end, with at least as much logical urgency as speculative cosmology demanded an agent of the creation itself. It is this which is meant when St. Paul says that ‘however many be the promises of God, they are in Christ Yea.’ This is ‘the mystery which from all ages hath been hid in God who created all things … according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.’ In Pauline language, Christ ‘the Beloved,’ the ‘Son of his love,’ is the Yea and the Amen of the promises of God. Cosmologically, He is the precreative Wisdom, ‘the firstborn of all creation, in whom all things were created’ (cf. &nbsp;Revelation 3:14, &nbsp;Proverbs 8:22). But it is not only that ‘he is before all things, and in him all things consist’ (cf. &nbsp;Sirach 24:9, &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 1:7), not only that ‘all things have been created <i> through </i> him,’ but also eschatologically ‘ <i> unto </i> him’ (&nbsp;Colossians 1:15-17; cf. &nbsp;Hebrews 1:2-3 and &nbsp;Wisdom of Solomon 7:22-27), logically subsequent to Him because made for His sake. In Revelation we have only the latter. The cosmological ‘through’ Him practically disappears. It is only in the eschatological sense that Christ becomes the original object and the ultimate fulfilment of the Divine purpose and promises, ‘the Yea, the Amen,’ ‘the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.’ </p> <p> <b> 2. </b> <i> The Later History </i> .—It is doubtless from Revelation that the use of the term in Patristic literature and Christian epigraphy is mainly derived, though its popularity may well have been partly due to oral currency in Jewish-Christian circles before the publication of Revelation. The eschatological interest is still apparent in the hymn of Prudentius ( <i> Cathem </i> . ix. 10–12), wherein the first line contains a reference to &nbsp;Psalms 45:1 [[Vulgate]] (‘Eructavit cor meum Verbum bonum’), treated as Messianic by the Fathers— </p> <p> ‘Corde natus ex Parentis </p> <p> Ante mundi exordium </p> <p> Alpha et [[Ω]] cognominatus </p> <p> Ipse fons et clausula </p> <p> Omnium quae sunt, fuerunt </p> <p> Quaeque post futura sunt.’ </p> <p> But in Clem. Alex. [Note: Alexandrian.] ( <i> Strom </i> . iv. 25 and vi. 16) and Tertullian ( <i> de Monog </i> . 5) the cosmological predominates. [[Ambrose]] ( <i> Expositio in [[Vii]] visiones </i> , i. 8) presents a different interpretation. In [[Gnostic]] circles speculative and cosmological interpretations are unbridled. Thus [[Marcus]] ( <i> ap. </i> Irenaeus, <i> Haer. </i> i. xiv. 6, xv. 1) maintained that Christ designated Himself [[Α]] [[Ω]] to set forth His own descent as the [[Holy]] Ghost on Jesus at His baptism, because by [[Gematria]] [[Α]] [[Ω]] (= 800 +1) and περιστερά (= 80+5+100+10+200+300+5+100+1) are equivalent. </p> <p> Literature.—For the great mass of later epigraphic material the reader is referred to [[N.]] Muller in Herzog-Hauck’s <i> Realencykl. </i> i. pp. 1–12, and the article ‘Monogram’ in Smith and Cheetham’s <i> Dict. of Christian [[Antiquities]] </i> . Besides the works already cited, articles on [[Α]] and [[Ω]] may be found in the various Bible [[Dictionaries]] and Encyclopaedias. Its use in &nbsp;Revelation 1:8; &nbsp;Revelation 21:8; &nbsp;Revelation 22:13 should be studied in the critical commentaries. On Divine epithets and the doctrine of hypostases see Bousset, <i> [[Religion]] des Judenthums </i> , iv. chs. 2 and 5 (1903). Older monographs in [[J.]] [[C.]] Wolfe, <i> [[Curae]] Philolog. et Crit </i> . on &nbsp;Revelation 1:8. </p> <p> [[B.]] [[W.]] Bacon. </p>
       
 
<ref name="term_49212"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-bible/alpha+and+omega Alpha And Omega from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible]</ref>
== References ==
       
<references>
<ref name="term_38296"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/holman-bible-dictionary/alpha+and+omega Alpha And Omega from Holman Bible Dictionary]</ref>
<ref name="term_54974"> [https://bibleportal.com/dictionary/hastings-dictionary-of-the-new-testament/alpha+and+omega+(2) Alpha And Omega from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament]</ref>
       
<ref name="term_949"> [https://bibleportal.com/encyclopedia/international-standard-bible-encyclopedia/alpha+and+omega Alpha And Omega from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]</ref>
       
</references>
</references>

Latest revision as of 16:11, 14 October 2021

Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]

These are the first and last letters of the Gr. alphabet; cf. Heb. ‘ Aleph to Tau ’; Eng. ‘A to Z.’ The title is applied to God the Father in  Revelation 1:8;  Revelation 21:5, and to Christ in  Revelation 22:13 (cf.  Revelation 2:8). The ancient Heb. name for God, יהוה, has been very variously derived, but its most probable meaning is the ‘Eternal’ One-‘I am that I am’ ( Exodus 3:14). This idea of the Deity, further emphasized in  Isaiah 41:4;  Isaiah 43:10;  Isaiah 44:6, is expressed in the language of the Apocalypse by the Greek phrase ‘Α and Ω,’ which corresponds to a common Heb. expression ‘ Aleph to Tau ,’ of which the Talmud and other Rabbinic writings furnish many examples. R. H. Charles adduces similar phrases in Latin (Martial, v. 26) and Greek (Theodoret, HE [Note: E Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius, etc.).]iv. 8) to express completeness. To those who believe in a Jewish original for the NT Apocalypse, its presence there will cause no surprise, and its application to Christ will constitute an instance of the Christian remodelling which that book has undergone. Moreover, Jewish writers ( e.g. Kohler) have given another explanation of its use as a title for God, calling it the hellenized form of a well-known saying, ‘The Seal of God is Emeth (אֱמֶת = ‘truth’), a word containing first, middle, and last letters of the Heb, alphabet (cf. Gen. Rab . lxxxi.; Jerus. Sanh . i. 18 a  ; Sanh , 64 a  ; Yoma 69 b ). Josephus ( c. Apion .) probably refers to this saying (cf. also  Daniel 10:21 בִּכְתִב אֱמֶח, ‘the writing of truth’). Similar is the use of Justin ( Address to Greeks , xxv.). Whatever may be the origin of the phrase, its chief significance for Christians lies in its constant application to Christ, of which this passage in the Apocalypse supplies the first of countless instances. Charles and Müller agree that Patristic commentators invariably referred all these passages to the Son, and in so doing they plainly claimed the Divine privilege of eternity for the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and established the claim set forth in the later creeds that the Word of God was equal with God.’

Not only was this the universal opinion of the earliest commentators, as of the Christian author or editor of the Apocalypse; it was an opinion deeply rooted in the convictions of the Christian congregations. We hear of no attempt to dispute it; and, relying on this as an established fact, the Gnostic teachers sought to deduce by various means and numerical quibbles the essential identity of all the Persona of the Trinity (cf. Iven. adv. Hœr , I. xiv. 6, xv. 1). Among others, Tertullian ( Monog . v.), Cyprian ( Testimon . ii, 1, 6), Clem. Alex. ( Strom . iv. 25, vi. 16), Ambrose ( Exp. [Note: Expositor.] in septem Vis . i. 8), emphasized this view of the matter; and, before the last persecution of Diocletian was over, many inscriptions had been put up on tombstones, walls of catacombs, etc., in which these two letters stood for the name of Christ, At a subsequent period the practice became universal all over the Christian world, and countless examples are still extant to prove the general popularity of this custom.

In most cases the letters are accompanied by other symbols and titles of the Master, e.g. ⳩; in a few examples they stand alone as a reverent way of representing the presence of the Redeemer. Most numerous in the period from a.d. 300-500, they decline in number and importance during the early Middle Ages, and are rare, at least in the West, after the 7th and 8th centuries. It is significant to note that in none of those hundreds of examples do the letters (often rudely scrawled by poor peasants) refer to any one but Jesus Christ. It is hard to conceive of any fact more suited to emphasize the deep-rooted belief of the early Christians in the true Divinity of their Lord and Master, who had created the world, existed from the beginning, and was still alive and ready to succour His faithful followers.

Literature.-R. H. Charles, articlein Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols)  ; B. W. Bacon, articleIn Dict. of Christ and the Gospels  ; K. Kohler, articlein Jewish Encyclopedia  ; W. Müller in Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche 3 (full account of extant inscriptions); C. Schoettgen, Hor. Heb. , Leipzig, 1733.

L. St. Alban Wells.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible [2]

Alpha And Omega . A title of God in   Revelation 1:8;   Revelation 21:6 , of Jesus in   Revelation 22:13 [its presence in   Revelation 1:11 AV [Note: Authorized Version.] is not Justified by the MSS]. Alpha was the first, and Omega the last letter of the Greek, as Aleph and Taw were the first and the last of the Hebrew alphabet. In the Talmud, ‘From Aleph to Taw’ meant ‘From first to last,’ including all between. Cf. Shabb . 51. 1 (on   Ezekiel 9:6 ): ‘Do not read “My Sanctuary,” but “My saints,” who are the sons of men who have kept the whole Law from Aleph to Taw.’

This explains the title. In each instance St. John defines It.  Revelation 1:8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ‘the beginning and the ending’ is an interpolation from   Revelation 21:6 ,   Revelation 22:13 ), i.e. the Eternal, the Contemporary of every generation.   Revelation 21:6 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end’;   Revelation 22:13 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last (cf.   Isaiah 44:6;   Isaiah 48:12 ), the beginning and the end,’ i.e. He who comprehends and embraces all things, from whom all come and to whom all return, the fons et clausula , the starting-point and the goal of history (cf.   Colossians 1:17 ). The ascription of this title to Jesus as well as to God in a writing so early as the Apocalypse strikingly attests the view of our Lord’s Person which prevailed in the primitive Church.

Aurelius Prudentius makes fine use of the title in his hymn on The Lord’s Nativity (‘Corde natus ex parentis’), thus rendered by Neale:

‘Of the Father’s love begotten

Ere the worlds began to be,

He is Alpha and Omega,

He the source, the ending He,

Of the things that are, that have been,

And that future years shall see,

Evermore and evermore.’

David Smith.

Holman Bible Dictionary [3]

 Revelation 1:8 1:17 Revelation 21:6 Revelation 22:13 Revelation 22:13

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [4]

al´fa , ō´me - ga , o - mē´ga (Alpha and Omega = A and O): The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, hence, symbolically, "beginning and end"; in Revelation "The Eternal One" in   Revelation 1:8 of the Father, in   Revelation 21:6 and   Revelation 22:13 of the Son. Compare Theodoret, Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica , iv. 8: "We used alpha down to omega, i.e. all ." A similar expression is found in Latin (Martial, v.26). Compare Aretas (Cramer's Catenae Graecae in New Testament ) on  Revelation 1:8 and Tertullian ( Monog , 5): "So also two Greek letters, the first and last, did the Lord put on Himself, symbols of the beginning and the end meeting in Him, in order that just as alpha rolls on to omega and omega returns again to alpha, so He might show that both the evolution of the beginning to the end is in Him and again the return of the end to the beginning." Cyprian, Testim , ii.1; vi.22, iii.100, Paulinus of Nola Carm. xix.645; xxx.89; Prudentius, Cathem ., ix.10-12. In Patristic and later literature the phrase is regularly applied to the Son. God blesses Israel from 'ālēph to taw ( Leviticus 26:3-13 ), but curses from waw to mem (Lev 26:14-43). So Abraham observed the whole law from 'ālēph to taw . Consequently, "Alpha and Omega" may be a Greek rendering of the Hebrew phrase, which expressed among the later Jews the whole extent of a thing.

References

  1. ↑ Alpha And Omega from Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
  2. ↑ Alpha And Omega from Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
  3. ↑ Alpha And Omega from Holman Bible Dictionary
  4. ↑ Alpha And Omega from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
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