Revelation 1:8

{6} I am {f} Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (6) A confirmation of the greeting earlier, taken from the words of God himself: in which he affirms his operation in every single creature, the immutable eternity that is in himself, and his omnipotence in all things: and concludes in the unity of his own essence, that Trinity of persons which was spoken of before. (f) I am he before whom there was nothing, indeed, by whom everything that is made, was made: and I shall remain though everything else should perish.

Alpha and Omega (τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω) Rev., rightly, gives the article, "the Alpha," etc. The words are explained by the gloss, properly omitted from the text, the beginning and the ending. The Rabbinical writers used the phrase from Aleph to Tav, to signify completely, from beginning to end. Thus one says, "Adam transgressed the whole law from Aleph even to Tav." Compare Isaiah 41:4; Isaiah 43:10; Isaiah 44:6. The Lord (ὁ Κύριος) See on Matthew 21:3. The best texts read Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς the Lord the God. Rev., the Lord God. Which is, etc. See on Revelation 1:4. "God, as the old tradition declares, holding in His hand the beginning, middle, and end of all that is" (Plato, "Laws," 715). The Almighty (ὁ παντοκράτωρ) Used only once outside of Revelation, in 2 Corinthians 6:18, where it is a quotation. Constantly in the Septuagint.

Revelation 1:8. I am Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord — Alpha is the first, Omega the last letter in the Greek alphabet. Let his enemies boast and rage ever so much in the intermediate time, yet he is both the Alpha, or beginning, and the Omega, or end, of all things. Grotius and Bengelius read, λεγει Κυριος ο θεος , saith the Lord God a reading with which the Vulgate accords, having, it seems, understood the verse as spoken by the Father. Accordingly Bengelius’s note is, “God is the beginning, as he is the Author and Creator of all things, and as he proposes, declares, and promises such great things. He is the end, as he brings all the things which are here revealed to a complete and glorious conclusion. Again, the beginning and end of a thing is, in Scripture, styled the whole thing. Therefore, God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; that is, one who is all things, and always the same.” See Wesley. It will, however, as Doddridge observes, be difficult to give sufficient proof that the words of this verse were spoken by the Father. “Most of the phrases which are here used concerning this glorious Person, are afterward used concerning our Lord Jesus Christ; and παντοκρατωρ , almighty, though in ecclesiastical writers of the earliest ages it is generally appropriated to the Father, may, according to the Syriac version, be rendered, He who holds; that is, superintends, supports, and governs all; and then it is applied to Christ, Colossians 1:17 ; Hebrews 1:3

. But if, after all, the words should be understood as spoken by the Father, our Lord’s applying so many of these titles afterward to himself, plainly proves his partaking with the Father in the glory peculiar to the divine nature, and incommunicable to any creature.” See Bishop Pearson on the Creed, p. 175.

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet, as Aleph and Tau are in the Hebrew alphabet: the meaning of these is expounded, the beginning and the ending; he who was before all, and shall continue to exist when all creatures shall cease to be; the first and the last, as the same terms are expounded, Revelation 22:13 : so Isaiah 41:4 43:13 . Which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty: see Revelation 1:4 : He addeth the Almighty, to show that he was able to make his words good. Thus in this verse, omnipotency, eternity, and immutability, are all applied to God, and particularly predicated of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

8 . Alpha and Omega ] The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet used, as in Rabbinical proverbs the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet were, as symbols of “the beginning and the end.” These latter words are not here a part of the genuine text; they come from Revelation 22:13 . Lord ] Should be followed by “God;” the group of titles represents “the Lord, Jehovah the God of Hosts” of the O. T. The word we render “Almighty”—perhaps rather meaning “of all might”—is the usual representative in the LXX. of the word [Lord of] Sabaoth . So in the Athanasian Creed, “Almighty” is coupled with the divine names “God” and “Lord,” not with the divine attributes “eternal, incomprehensible, uncreated.”

Revelation 1:8 . Τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ω ) We ought not here to read and pronounce Ω as ω μέγα ; for ω μέγα is opposed to ο μικρῷ . Ω , as the last letter of the Greek alphabet, is here opposed to the alpha . John wrote in Greek. This passage is one of great solemnity: in which a few, with Apringius , add ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος ,[15] for the sake of explanation, as is thought, in the Notes assigned to Vatablus, namely, from the parallel passages. But let us look to the parallel passages. They are four (not reckoning the 11th verse, on which we shall speak below). [15] ABC omit these words. Rec. Text adds them, with Vulg. and Memph.—E. I.) Τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ω , Alpha and O : ch. Revelation 1:8 . II.) Ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος , The First and the Last : ch. Revelation 1:17 , Revelation 2:8 . III.) Τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ω , ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος , Alpha and O, The Beginning and the End : ch. Revelation 21:6 . IV.) Τὀ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ω , πρῶτος καὶ ἔσχατος , ἡ ἀρχὴ καὶ τὸ τέλος , Alpha and O, The First and the Last, The Beginning and the End : ch. Revelation 22:13 . Therefore, in the beginning of the book, one clause is used, first concerning the Father, ch. Revelation 1:8 , comp. with ch. Revelation 4:8 , then concerning Christ, ch. Revelation 1:17 . At the end of the book the language becomes more copious, and two clauses are used concerning the Father, sitting upon the throne, ch. Revelation 21:6 , and three concerning Christ, as coming , ch. Revelation 22:13 .

We shall presently see, that one sentiment is frequently expressed in this book in Greek and Hebrew. And that is the case here also. The Father is called τὸ ἄλφα καὶ τὸ Ω , in Greek. He also, in the mind of John, who thinks, as we shall presently see, in Hebrew, is The Beginning and The End , which is expressed in Hebrew by א and ת , the first and the last letter of the Hebrews. And the same takes place with respect to Christ. The fourth passage, consisting of three clauses, affords us a remarkable handle [argument]. Its third clause is never used without the first; therefore its use is to explain the first. The second is sometimes used without the first; therefore, as in Isaiah, so in the Apocalypse, it has its own signification by itself. The first and the third are applied to the Father also, ch. 21; the second, to Christ alone, ch. Revelation 1:17 . Alpha and the Beginning is God; as He Himself, the Creator and Author of all things, proposes, declares, and promises such great things. Ω and the End is the Same; as He brings the Apocalypse, especially in the trumpet of the seventh angel, to its accomplishment, completion, and most desired and glorious end . And thus also is Christ. The first and last of anything, in Scripture phraseology, is the thing itself, or the very whole. See 1 Samuel 3:12 ; Ecclesiastes 10:13 ; 2 Chronicles 35:27 . The Greeks say in a proverb, prow and stern .