Brother Bob Pellien: When Christ said, “I am the Alpha and Omega,” others allege that it’s His way of saying He Himself is God. But is that true?
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Brother Bob: The Bible, the basis of our faith in the Church Of Christ, which answers questions about proper worship, the right relationship with God, and most importantly, salvation. That’s in the Bible!
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Brother Bob: I’m Bob Pellien.
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob: Welcome to the program, That’s in the Bible! In this program, we respond and reply to questions and comments about biblical teachings, in hopes to clear up misconceptions of what is actually written in the Bible.
Our recent episode about John 10:30 received comments and questions about something else Jesus Christ said, specifically when he said, “I am the Alpha and Omega.” Here are some of the comments:
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honeykim589
Compare the verses in revelation and what’s written in Isaiah, it is clearly stated that Jesus is God, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. “When I saw Him (Jesus) placed His right hand on me, saying, “ Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last, and the Living One; and I was dead and behold, I am alive forever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.” (Revelation 1:17-18).
Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts: “I am the First and I am the Last, And there is no God besides me.” (Isaiah 44:6).
Brother Bob: A similar question was emailed in by Julius. He writes:
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Julius Capistrano
I am 24 years old and a Born Again. I could not take your word that Christ is man and not God. I do believe that he is both man and God as stated in other verses of the Bible. For example, Revelation 22:13 and 16 records that Christ is the Alpha and Omega and in chapter 1, verse 8 of the same book, it is stated that the Almighty God is Alpha and Omega. Is this not a strong proof that Christ is God?
Brother Bob: That’s from Julius Capistrano in Alabang, Metro Manila. Thank you, Julius, for your question.
So, to help us in our discussion, let’s break it down and answer these questions.
What is Alpha and Omega in the Bible?
In what way is God the Alpha and Omega?
In what way is Jesus the Alpha and Omega?
Is the Bible teaching that Jesus Christ is God?
Brother Bob: So, dear friends, to start our discussion today, let’s start with the question, What is the meaning of Alpha and Omega in the Bible?
Dear friends, Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. So the term simply means the first and the last or the beginning and the end of something. Therefore, depending on what we’re talking about, there can be multiple beginnings or alphas and multiple endings or omegas. The verses do not say that Jesus is God. Though, the verses do state that God is Alpha and Omega, and Christ was referred to as Alpha and Omega. But it would be wrong to conclude that, therefore, they are one in the same. It does not follow that since butterflies have wings and airplanes have wings, therefore, butterflies are airplanes.
The phrase “Alpha and Omega” appears three times in the book of Revelation in the Bible, and the Alpha and Omega reference to God is very different from the Alpha and Omega reference to Jesus. The commenter cited Revelation 1:8 and immediately concluded, therefore Jesus is God. So then let’s take a look at what the verse actually says in Revelation 1:8. Let’s take a look at it, and we can read it together. It says:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
[Revelation 1:8 New King James Version]
Brother Bob: Dear friends, we can notice here that, once again, the commenter has drawn a conclusion that Jesus is God because of this verse. However, this verse, as you can see, simply does not teach that nor say that. It’s so important, dear viewers, that we understand, first of all: In what way is God the Alpha and Omega?
To understand that, we turn to 1 Corinthians, chapter eight, and let’s read together verse six, which reads:
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
[1 Corinthians 8:6 New International Version]
Brother Bob: God is truly the beginning or the Alpha, because it is “God, the Father, from whom all things came.” The Father is the Creator of all things, which is why we call Him Father, and all things come from Him.
How then is God the Omega or the end? Well, for that, we return to the Holy Bible for the answer and turn to Acts 17: 31 and that reads:
For he has said a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
[Acts 17:31 New International Version]
Brother Bob: The Bible teaches here, dear friends, that God is the One who decides when everything that He has created on earth will end, and that will be on the Day of Judgment. As we read, “For he has set a day when he will judge the world.” So God is the Alpha and the Omega when it comes to who is the beginner and the ender of all things, the overall decision maker. Because all things come from God the Father, and He is also the One who decides when all things end on the Day of Judgment.
How about Jesus Christ? In what sense is He the Alpha and Omega? In what way is Christ the first, what is He the first, and or the beginning of? For that, we turn to Colossians 1:15, and let’s find out. It says:
This Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
[Colossians 1:15 New International Version]
Brother Bob: Jesus Christ is the firstborn of God when it comes to all creation. Now we want to make perfectly clear that Christ was not the first to be created by God, but rather the first that God thought of when planning all creation. If you ask, well, what’s the proof of that? Apostle Peter presents that here in 1 Peter 1:20, where it says:
Foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but manifested in the last times for you,
[1 Peter 1:20 Douay-Rheims Bible]
Brother Bob: So Christ is the Alpha or the first, because God planned for Him first, before anything else. And why, dear friends, did God think of Christ first, before creating all things? There is an important reason, and we can read that reason here in Hebrews 1: 1-2:
God, who had various times and in various ways spoke in time passed to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
[Hebrews 1:1-2 New King James Version]
Brother Bob: Why did God plan for Christ first, before creating anything else, and always had Christ in mind when He was creating? It is because Jesus Christ, as we just read, He will inherit, in the end, all that God creates. In what sense then is Jesus Christ the Omega or the end? If God had Jesus Christ in mind in the beginning, when planning creation, did He also have Him in mind when planning the end of creation?
If we go back to the verse we read earlier, in the book of Acts 17:31, well, we’ll get our answer. It reads this way:
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
[Acts 17:31 New International Version]
Brother Bob: We already learned, dear friends, that God is the One who “has set a day when he will judge the world.” But how will God judge the world? As we read here, “by the man he has appointed.” The man that God has appointed to carry out His judgment is none other than His son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
So because of this, what must everyone do in the end of it all? In another writing of Apostle Paul, this time to the Corinthians he writes in 2 Corinthians 5:10:
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
[2 Corinthians 5:10 New International Version]
Brother Bob: Dear friends, the biblical truth is that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” Why? Because Christ has been appointed by God, the Father, to be the judge—all will end with Him. Therefore, it’s very appropriate to consider Him, Jesus Christ, to be the Omega or the end of this world.
Is the Bible teaching that Jesus Christ is God, simply because they are both using Alpha and Omega references? Well, as we have just learned, the way that God is Alpha and Omega is different from the way Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega. And since God is the Creator, who rules over all, He is the One who decides all things, from when all will begin to when all things will end. And from within God’s plan of creation, Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, being at the beginning of God’s plan and at the end of God’s plan. This is the correct way to understand them, when they use the term Alpha and Omega or the beginning and the end. Why should we accept that? Why should we go with that explanation? Dear friends—because That’s in the Bible, and what is not in the Bible is the teaching that Jesus Christ is God.
Alright, we started this discussion with these main questions in mind. Let’s review what we’ve learned from the Holy Bible:
What is Alpha and Omega in the Bible? The term simply means the first and the last or the beginning and the end.
In what way is God the Alpha and Omega? He is the One who decides all things, from
when all will begin and when all will end.
In what way is Jesus the Alpha and Omega? From within God’s plan of creation, Jesus Christ is at the beginning of God’s plan and at the end of God’s plan.
Is the Bible teaching that Jesus Christ is God? No. The biblical truth is that Jesus Christ is not God, but rather the son of the One and only true God, the Father.
Brother Bob: Dear friends, we’d like you to continue learning about the teachings of the Bible, taught here inside the Iglesia Ni Cristo, the Church Of Christ.
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Visit incmedia.org
Brother Bob: Please visit us online and browse the different topics, or set up an appointment to meet with a minister of the gospel. And if you have any questions about the Bible, salvation, please email them to us.
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answers@incmedia.org
Brother Bob: I’m Bob Pellien.
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Brother Bob Pellien
Minister of the Gospel
Brother Bob: Thanks for watching. See you next time on That in the Bible.
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