Greek · Strong's G1
Ἄλφα
Álpha (AL-fah)
noun, neuter (indeclinable)
The first letter of the Greek alphabet, used symbolically by Christ in Revelation to declare Himself the beginning and origin of all things.
Alpha (Α) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the New Testament it appears exclusively in the book of Revelation, where the risen Christ pairs it with omega (Ω), the last letter, to identify Himself as "the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end" (Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13). The pairing is a Greek idiom equivalent to the Hebrew use of aleph and tav, which the rabbis sometimes used to denote totality and completeness.
The title is a divine self-designation. In Isaiah 41:4, 44:6, and 48:12 Yahweh declares Himself the first and the last; Revelation places this same claim on the lips of Jesus, identifying Him with the eternal God who stands outside time and brackets all history. To call Christ the Alpha is to confess that all things originate in Him, are upheld by Him, and find their goal in Him (Colossians 1:16-17).
For early Christian readers facing Roman persecution, the Alpha-Omega title was both worship and assurance: the One who began the story will personally finish it, and no power in between can change the ending.
Common English renderings
- Alpha
- the first
Key verses
"I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
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"And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely."
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"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
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Related words