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Some people say that since the same titles – Alpha and
Omega - are used for both God and Jesus, this proves that they one and the same.
It is further claimed that these expressions mean the eternity of the Father
and the Son. Upon analysis, we see that this notion raises several problems.
Isaiah 44:6 “This is what the Lord says - Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from
me there is no God.”
Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come,
the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:11 “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the
first and the last:”
Revelation 22:13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
First, the Book of Revelation is an unreliable
book. Early Christians and elders of the Church - Marcion, Caius of Rome,
Dionysius of Alexandria, Amphilocius of Iconium, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of
Jerusalem, Synod of Laodicea in 360 CE - disputed it.
The author of the Revelation identifies himself as some unknown John, but probably
not the apostle John because the style of the book is completely different from
the Gospel of John. Other than
his name, very little is known about him. Martin Luther criticized this book.
He wrote in the preface to Revelation,
About this
book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions.
I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment. I say what I feel. I
miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be
neither apostolic nor prophetic… Many of the fathers also rejected this book a
long time ago… For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ
is neither taught nor known in it.”
To this day, Lutheran scholars put
the Revelation of John in a separate category of disputed books.
Second, Alpha and Omega are the first and last
letters of the Greek alphabet. Biblical scholars are not completely sure what
the phrase “the Alpha and the Omega” means. It cannot be strictly
literal, because neither God nor Jesus is a Greek letter. It is like saying
God is ‘A’ and ‘Z’. Lenski concludes, “It is fruitless to search Jewish and
pagan literature for the source of something that resembles this name Alpha and
Omega. Nowhere is a person, to say nothing of a divine Person, called ‘Alpha
and Omega’, or in Hebrew, ‘Aleph and Tau’.”
Although there is no evidence from the historical sources that anyone is named
“the Alpha and Omega,” Bullinger says that the phrase “is a
Hebraism, in common use among the ancient Jewish Commentators to designate the
whole of anything from the beginning to the end; e.g., ‘Adam transgressed the
whole law from Aleph to Tau’.” The best
scholarly minds have concluded that the phrase has something to do with
starting and finishing something, or the entirety of something.
Third, the doctrine of Alpha and Omega is a sad
and unfortunate example of mankind’s tampering with the Word of God. It shows
how doctrine is contracted by men to justify false beliefs. The phrase “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the
last” (Revelation 1:11) which is found in the King James Version was not in
the original Greek texts. Therefore, the Alpha Omega phrase is not found in
virtually any ancient texts, nor is it mentioned, even as a footnote, in any
modern translation!
Revelation 1:10-11
KJV “and heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:”
NIV “and I heard behind me a loud voice like a
trumpet, which said: ‘Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven
churches’”
NASB and I heard behind me a loud voice like the
sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the
seven churches:”
ASV “and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a
trumpet saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven
churches:”
RSV “and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet
saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches”
NAB (Catholic) “and heard behind me a voice as loud
as a trumpet, which said, “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the
seven churches”
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