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Beginning

From: Concise Bible Dictionary: B

By: George A. Morrish

Narrator: Chris Genthree

• 1 min. read • grade level: 9

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Besides the common use of this word in many connections, it is used in a special sense to carry the mind back into—

1. Eternity, when the Word was with God, and was God, by whom all things were made (John 1:1-3¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:1‑3); Acts 15:18¹⁸Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. (Acts 15:18)) (which should read “from eternity”). Also to the eternity of Jehovah, “the beginning and the end” (Rev. 1:8⁸I 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 1:8); Rev. 21:6⁶And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6); Rev. 22:13¹³I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. (Revelation 22:13)).

2. The creation, whether it was creating out of nothing or forming the heavens and the earth (Isa. 64:4⁴For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. (Isaiah 64:4); Heb. 1:10¹⁰And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: (Hebrews 1:10)). Also the creation of man and woman (Matt. 19:4, 8⁴And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, (Matthew 19:4)
⁸He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:8); Mark 10:6⁶But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female. (Mark 10:6)).

3. The beginning of Christianity (John 15:27²⁷And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:27); John 16:4⁴But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. (John 16:4); 1 John 1:1¹That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (1 John 1:1); 1 John 3:11¹¹For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (1 John 3:11); 2 John 1:5-6⁵And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. ⁶And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. (2 John 5‑6)).

4. It is used also with a moral sense as a foundation or source, as in Colossians 1:18¹⁸And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:18) and Revelation 3:14¹⁴And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; (Revelation 3:14).

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Concise Bible Dictionary: B

• Beelzebub (βεελζεβύλ)

• Beer-lahai-roi

• Beesh-terah

• Beetle (Chargol)

• Beeves (Baqar)

• Beginning

• Belteshazzar