Col 1:18 ARCH

GregStffrd at aol.com GregStffrd at aol.com
Fri May 18 13:04:01 EDT 2001


In a message dated 05/18/2001 1:21:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time, 
virgilsalvage1 at msn.com writes:

<< this....And He is the head of that which is characterized by the body, the
 assembly...who is " the one with whom we have to do(ARCH) >>


Virgil,

ARCH is used together with PRWTOTKOS and PRWTEUWN. All of these seem quite 
capable of relating to that which is *first*. In this case, the first raised 
from the dead to a new life of immortality. That is why he is the "head" of 
the congregation. 

However, I have no problem with the sense of "ruler" here. As I said before, 
ARCH does often mean "ruler" in the NT when used with terms denoting power 
and authority. In this case, the use of KEPHALH provides that same element. 
And, as I also said with respect to the meaning of ARCH, when it means 
"ruler" it is never followed by a genitive expression in the NT. 

There appear to be clearly unmarked uses for ARCH in the NT, with ARCWN being 
used to mean "ruler" when followed by a genitive, and ARCH meaning "ruler" 
when accompanied by other terms denoting power and authority. 

Still, the sense of "beginning" fits quite well in Col. 1:18, together with 
the temporal sense of PRWTOTOKOS and the idea of Christ being "first in all 
things."

Greg Stafford



More information about the B-Greek mailing list