<\/p>\n
Some people say that since the same titles \u2013 Alpha and Omega – are used for both God and Jesus, this proves that they one and the same.\u00a0 It is further claimed that these expressions mean the eternity of the Father and the Son.\u00a0 Upon analysis, we see that this notion raises several problems.<\/p>\n
Isaiah 44:6 \u201cThis is what the Lord says – Israel\u2019s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revelation 1:8 \u201cI am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revelation 1:11 \u201cSaying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:\u201d<\/p>\n
Revelation 22:13 \u201cI am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.\u201d<\/p>\n
First<\/b>, the Book of Revelation is an unreliable book.\u00a0 Early Christians and elders of the Church – Marcion, Caius of Rome, Dionysius of Alexandria, Amphilocius of Iconium, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Synod of Laodicea in 360 CE – disputed it.[1]<\/span>\u00a0 The author of the Revelation identifies himself as some unknown John, but probably not the apostle John because the style of the book is completely different from the Gospel of John.[2]<\/span>\u00a0 Other than his name, very little is known about him.\u00a0 Martin Luther criticized this book.\u00a0 He wrote in the preface to Revelation,<\/p>\n About this book of the Revelation of John, I leave everyone free to hold his own opinions.\u00a0 I would not have anyone bound to my opinion or judgment.\u00a0 I say what I feel.\u00a0 I miss more than one thing in this book, and it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic\u2026 Many of the fathers also rejected this book a long time ago\u2026 For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it.\u201d[3]<\/span><\/p>\n To this day, Lutheran scholars put the Revelation of John in a separate category of disputed books.<\/p>\n Second<\/b>, Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.\u00a0 Biblical scholars are not completely sure what the phrase \u201cthe Alpha and the Omega<\/b>\u201d means.\u00a0 It cannot be strictly literal, because neither God nor Jesus is a Greek letter.\u00a0 It is like saying God is \u2018A\u2019 and \u2018Z\u2019. \u00a0Lenski concludes, \u201cIt is fruitless to search Jewish and pagan literature for the source of something that resembles this name Alpha and Omega.\u00a0 Nowhere is a person, to say nothing of a divine Person, called \u2018Alpha and Omega<\/b>\u2019, or in Hebrew, \u2018Aleph and Tau<\/b>\u2019.\u201d[4]<\/span> \u00a0Although there is no evidence from the historical sources that anyone is named \u201cthe Alpha<\/b> and Omega<\/b>,\u201d Bullinger says that the phrase \u201cis a Hebraism, in common use among the ancient Jewish Commentators to designate the whole of anything from the beginning to the end; e.g., \u2018Adam transgressed the whole law from Aleph to Tau<\/b>\u2019.\u201d[5]<\/span> \u00a0The best scholarly minds have concluded that the phrase has something to do with starting and finishing something, or the entirety of something.<\/p>\n Third<\/b>, the doctrine of Alpha and Omega is a sad and unfortunate example of mankind\u2019s tampering with the Word of God.\u00a0 It shows how doctrine is contracted by men to justify false beliefs.\u00a0 The phrase \u201cSaying,<\/b> I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last<\/b>\u201d (Revelation 1:11) which is found in the King James Version was not in the original Greek texts.\u00a0 Therefore, the Alpha Omega phrase is not found in virtually any ancient texts, nor is it mentioned, even as a footnote, in any modern translation!<\/p>\n Revelation 1:10-11<\/p>\n KJV \u201cand heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last:\u201d<\/p>\n NIV \u201cand I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: \u2018Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n NASB and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, \u201cWrite in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches:\u201d<\/p>\n ASV \u201cand I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches:\u201d<\/p>\n RSV \u201cand I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, \u201cWrite what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches\u201d<\/p>\n NAB (Catholic) \u201cand heard behind me a voice as loud as a trumpet, which said, \u201cWrite on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches\u201d<\/p>\n \n [1]<\/span>Bible Research<\/i>, an internet resource by Michael D. Marlowe. (http:\/\/www.bible-researcher.com\/canon5.html)<\/p>\n [2]<\/span>A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on The Revelation of St. John<\/i> by R. H. Charles. T. & T. Clark, 1920<\/p>\n [3]<\/span>Luther\u2019s Works<\/i>, vol 35 (St. Louis: Concordia, 1963), pp. 395-399.<\/p>\n [4]<\/span>R.C.H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John\u2019s Revelation (Augsburg Pub. House, Minneapolis, MN 1963), p. 51.<\/p>\n [5]<\/span>E. W. Bullinger, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Pub., Grand Rapids, MI, 1984), pp. 147 and 148.<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some people say that since the same titles \u2013 Alpha and Omega – are used for both God and Jesus, this proves that they one and the same.\u00a0 It is further claimed that these expressions mean the eternity of the Father and the Son.\u00a0 Upon analysis, we see that this notion raises several problems. Isaiah […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-3885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3885"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whyislam.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}