Does Jesus have a beginning?
In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), so does this mean that Jesus, being God, the second person of the Trinity, has a beginning?
John 1:1
ESV - 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Clarify
•
Share
•
Report
•
Asked December 26 2014
•
Tito Dulay Lim
Supporter
For follow-up discussion and general commentary on the topic. Comments are sorted chronologically.
Galen Smith
In answering any question it is important to define terms, so that all parties are referring to the same thing by using the same term. I am in essential agreement with the answers given at the time I read them (two of them), but it occurs to me that the questioner twice used the name "Jesus" to refer to the Lord Jesus Christ. It occurred to me that perhaps he was intending to refer to the human Jesus, despite his apparently clear reference to "God, the second person of the Trinity.
Naturally, the divine second person of the Trinity, being eternal, did not have a beginning. His pre-existence is clearly taught in such passages as John 1:1-3, 14-15, 30, John 8:56-58, John 17:4-5, 24, Colossians 1:16-17, Hebrews 1:2, 1 Peter 1:10-11, 1 John 2:14, Revelation 13:8, and Revelation 22:13. There are also several Theophanies in the Old Testament, and the possible identification of the Son as the Angel of Yahweh as the second person of the Trinity.
When the Son of God was incarnated in Mary's womb, he took on an additional nature, a human nature. This human nature was not something he had prior to the incarnation. So, as far as his humanity is concerned, he did have a beginning. Thus, we read of him: "The Word became flesh" (John 1:14), "but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness" (Philippians 2:7), and "he had to be made like his brothers in every way" (Hebrews 2:17).
So as God he had no beginning, but as man he did.
Galen Smith
Some skeptics have argued that since Jesus several times refers to himself in Revelation as "the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," he must have had a beginning. This fails to recognize the meaning of this idiom. Although written in Greek, Jews used the extremes of a spectrum to express the entire continuum. Thus "when rising and when lying down" means "all day long." Psalm 139 uses this several times. Verse eight says, "If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there," meaning from the highest to the lowest, including all between. Verse nine reads, “If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,” meaning “from the distant east to the distant west, and everywhere between.”
Thus the phrase, “the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” means that Jesus has always existed and always will. Alpha was not created first, then some time later beta, then gamma and so on until finally (chronologically) omega was invented. The entire alphabet was created, and alpha is the first (not chronologically, but in placement), and omega is last (not timewise or in importance, but in placement). Similarly, Jesus had no beginning chronologically, nor will he have an end in that sense. He is, however first, last, and everything in between as the one who created the universe and holds it together.
vanessa pannuti
I agree with you and thank you for the above explanation. I understand that "Alpha and Omega" are a figurative speech and it reminds me of what was said in Isaiah 44:6 "I am the first and I am the last and beside me there is no God.".