Many of the Christological heresies in the past focus on the humanity of Jesus and assume that he is simply a created being. When John wrote the book of Revelation he included a brief letter to the church at Laodicea which was struggling with heretical issues itself. Jesus instructs John to write to them and address the message as being from himself. Revelation 3:14 says, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.’” The Greek word translated “beginning” here also means “ruler.” It’s a title which intends to put Jesus in charge of the creation, not a part of it. That’s why the Lexham English Bible translates the phrase as “the originator of God’s creation…” The same is true of the New English Translation (NET), the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), and The Good News Bible (GN) says that Jesus is the “origin of all that God created.” The Complete Jewish Bible says, “The Ruler of God’s creation.” I would argue that this verse does not present Jesus as being part of God’s creation but a partaker in that creation, the creator himself. That’s why Jesus can say things like he says in John 17:5, when he prays, “And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” He isn’t part of the creation but the creator with the Father at the very beginning. That’s what John means when he begins his Gospel saying, “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” “In the beginning” is the phrase that opens the Bible in Genesis 1:1. John 1:1 refers to Jesus’ presence at the “beginning” and then with the book of Revelation presents Jesus as the creator, not the created.

My favorite commentaries of late have been the various Handbooks for Bible Translators prepared by the United Bible Society. It was prepared to help those who are tasked with translating the Bible in various languages around the world. It’s first task is to clarify the original language to aid the workers to give an accurate rendering of the text. At the expense of being too academic let me show you what they say. Regarding this phrase from the Book of Revelations, the handbook says, “The beginning of God’s creation: in English this could be understood to mean that Christ is the first being created by God; this, however, is not what the text means. As translated by TEV , ‘the origin of all that God has created’ (note REB ‘the source of God’s creation’), the meaning is that Christ is the one by means of whom God created all things, and in many languages it will be translated this way (see John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb 1:2). The same Greek word for beginning is used also in Colossians 1:18 in the sense of ‘source.’ As the TEV footnote indicates, the word may mean ‘ruler’ (so NIV ), but the other meaning is preferred by the large majority of commentaries and translations. Most translations use ‘origin’; a few use ‘source.’ The phrase God’s creation means ‘what God has created’; in this context it includes everything that God has created.”1

Jesus shares all the “glory” with God the Father for all of creation. He is the “source” of all things. When we think of Jesus in this way, we can truly worship him. Rolls helps is when he writes, “If we examine the vaster things we must admit that the whole earth is full of His glory, whether this glory be reflected from the sublimity of the sky which is so measureless, the splendors of the stars which are so countless, the shining of the sun which is so exhaustless, the spaciousness of the heavens which are so trackless, the surging of the ocean which is so ceaseless, the spectrum of light which is so matchless, the designs of the snowflakes which are so numberless, the springs of fountains which are so traceless, the superiority of mountains which are so ageless or the fragrance of flowers which are so taintless. These few features in themselves introduce a range of wonders that are indescribable.”2

1 Robert G. Bratcher and Howard Hatton, A Handbook on the Revelation to John, UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1993), 78–79.

2Charles J. Rolls, The Indescribable Christ: Names and Titles of Jesus Christ: A-G (Loizeaux Brothers, 1984).