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 1:1-3; Acts 15:18) (which should read “from eternity”). Also to the eternity of Jehovah, “the beginning and the end” (Rev. 1:8; Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:13).
2. The creation, whether it was creating out of nothing or forming the heavens and the earth (Isa. 64:4; Heb. 1:10). Also the creation of man and woman (Matt. 19:4, 8; Mark 10:6).
3. The beginning of Christianity (John 15:27; John 16:4; 1 John 1:1; 1 John 3:11; 2 John 1:5-6).
4. It is used also with a moral sense as a foundation or source, as in Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 3:14.