archē · beginning

What it means

archē (ἀρχή) is a Greek word of the Bible that means “beginning”.

Start; also authority, rule.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. The point where something starts: its first moment.
2. Authorities, human or spiritual forces.
3. Each of the ends of a large cloth, by which it is held.

From Abbott-Smith (1922) · Thayer (1889)

Word study

Beginning: what is first in time, the start of something. Since what is first is also what rules, it also means authority, power, and those who exercise it. Thayer also records the sense of ‘extremity’, the corner of a thing. It comes from ἄρχω, ‘be first, begin’ (G756).

• “In the beginning”, “from the beginning” John 1:1Matthew 19:41 John 1:1
• The beginning of something Mark 1:1John 2:11Mark 13:8
• “The beginning and the end”: a title Revelation 22:13Colossians 1:18
• Principalities and rulers: authorities Ephesians 6:12Colossians 1:16Titus 3:1
• The “four corners” of the sheet Acts 10:11

How we translate it

“Beginning” 39 times, above all in “in the beginning” and “from the beginning”. When the word designates powers it is rendered “principalities” (4) and “principality” (2), and when they are human authorities, “rulers” (Luke 12:11; Titus 3:1). In Mark 1:1 it opens the book: “The beginning of the good news”. Other forms depend on the context: the “four corners” of Peter’s sheet (Acts 10:11), “their own dignity” (Jude 6), or “It had its beginning” (Hebrews 2:3).

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• beginning ×39
• principalities ×4
• rulers ×3
• corners ×2
• principality ×2
• rule ×2
• dignity ×1
• elementary ×1
• first principles ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Matthew×4
• Mark×4
• Luke×3
• John×8
• Acts×4
• Romans×1
• 1 Corinthians×1
• Ephesians×3
• Philippians×1
• Colossians×4
• Titus×1
• Hebrews×6
• 2 Peter×1
• 1 John×8
• 2 John×2
• Jude×1
• Revelation×3

• Matthew 19:4

  But he answered and said, “Have you not read that the one who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

• Matthew 19:8

  He says to them, “Moses, because of your hardness of heart, permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.

• Matthew 24:8

  But all these things are the beginning of birth pains.

• Matthew 24:21

  For then there will be great affliction, such as has not happened from the beginning of the world until now, and never will.

• Mark 1:1

  The beginning of the good news of Jesus the Messiah, Son of God.

• Mark 10:6

  But from the beginning of creation, ‘male and female he made them.’

• Mark 13:8

  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These things are the beginning of birth pains.

• Mark 13:19

  For those days will be a time of affliction such as has not happened from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.

• Luke 1:2

  just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us,

• Luke 12:11

  And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry how or what you will say in your defense or what you will say;

• Luke 20:20

  And watching him closely, they sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they might catch him in a word, so as to hand him over to the rule and the authority of the governor.

• John 1:1

  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

• John 1:2

  He was in the beginning with God.

• John 2:11

  This Jesus did as the beginning of his signs in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

• John 6:64

  But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was who would hand him over.

• John 8:25

  So they were saying to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “What I have been telling you from the beginning.

• John 8:44

  You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of it.

• John 15:27

  And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

• John 16:4

  But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember them, that I told you. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.

• Acts 10:11

  and he sees heaven opened and an object coming down, like a great sheet, being let down by its four corners to the earth;

• Acts 11:5

  “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, an object coming down like a great sheet let down by its four corners from heaven, and it came right up to me.

• Acts 11:15

  And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as also on us at the beginning.

• Acts 26:4

  So then, my way of life from my youth, which from the beginning was spent among my nation and in Jerusalem, all Jews know,

• Romans 8:38

  For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor powers,

• 1 Corinthians 15:24

  then the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has done away with every rule and every authority and power.

• Ephesians 1:21

  far above every principality and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come;

• Ephesians 3:10

  so that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the authorities in the heavenly places through the assembly,

• Ephesians 6:12

  because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

• Philippians 4:15

  And you also know, Philippians, that in the beginning of the good news, when I left Macedonia, no assembly shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone;

• Colossians 1:16

  because in him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.

• Colossians 1:18

  And he is the head of the body, the assembly. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may come to be first in all things,

• Colossians 2:10

  and you are filled in him, who is the head of every principality and authority.

• Colossians 2:15

  Having stripped the principalities and the authorities, he exposed them openly, triumphing over them in it.

• Titus 3:1

  Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

• Hebrews 1:10

  And: You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of your hands;

• Hebrews 2:3

  how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It had its beginning in being spoken through the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard,

• Hebrews 3:14

  For we have become sharers in the Messiah, if indeed we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,

• Hebrews 5:12

  For indeed, though you ought to be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have become people needing milk, not solid food.

• Hebrews 6:1

  Therefore, leaving behind the elementary word about the Messiah, let us be carried on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of change of mind from dead works and of faith in God,

• Hebrews 7:3

  without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest for all time.

And 15 more times.