# G0746 - arche

<!-- type: lexicon | created: 2026-04-26 | updated: 2026-04-26 -->

**Strong's:** [G0746](https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g746/) · BLB lookup
**Pronunciation:** ar-khay′
**Part of speech:** feminine noun
**Root:** from G0756 - archomai (ἄρχομαι, "to begin")

## Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG)

1. **Beginning, origin**, absolute commencement; that which marks the start of a thing in time.
2. **First person or thing in a series**, the *first* of a sequence, ordinal sense.
3. **Active cause / origin**, that *by which* something begins to be; agency.
4. **Extremity, corner**, physical extreme (e.g. corners of a sail in [Acts 10:11](/codex/acts-10-11/)).
5. **Rule, authority, principality, magistracy**, a position or sphere of dominion; in Pauline usage often of angelic / demonic powers.

## Theological force

The word's range is what makes it loaded: in clause 1 of [John 1.1](/codex/john-1-1/) (*ἐν ἀρχῇ*, "in the beginning") it carries the absolute-temporal sense, deliberately echoing [Genesis 1:1](/codex/genesis-1-1/) LXX. The ambiguity with the "rule / principality" sense gets exploited elsewhere (e.g. [Colossians 1:18](/codex/colossians-1-18/), "Christ is the *archē*, the firstborn from the dead", both temporal-priority and rule-over-the-new-creation).

## Notable verses

- **[John 1.1](/codex/john-1-1/)**, *ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος*, temporal/absolute; pre-creational
- **[Genesis 1:1](/codex/genesis-1-1/)** (LXX), *ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός*, the parallel John deliberately invokes
- **[Mark 1:1](/codex/mark-1-1/)**, "the beginning of the gospel"
- **[Matthew 19:4](/codex/matthew-19-4/)**, "from the beginning" (creation order)
- **[Colossians 1.18](/codex/colossians-1-18/)**, Christ as *archē*, "firstborn from the dead"
- **[John 1.1-3](/codex/john-1-1-3/)**, same word, same opening
- **[Revelation 3:14](/codex/revelation-3-14/)**, "the *archē* of the creation of God" (Christ)
- **[Revelation 21:6](/codex/revelation-21-6/), [22](/codex/revelation-21-22/):13**, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the *archē* and the end"
- **[Acts 10:11](/codex/acts-10-11/)**, corners of the sheet (extremity sense)
- **[Romans 8:38](/codex/romans-8-38/)**, "*archai*" (principalities) (rule sense, plural)
- **[Ephesians 1:21](/codex/ephesians-1-21/)**, "above all rule (*archē*) and authority"
- **[Colossians 2:10](/codex/colossians-2-10/)**, "head over all rule (*archē*) and authority"

## Verses in this codex

_See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page that links here. Top-cited references that use ἀρχή include:_ [John 1.1](/codex/john-1-1/), [John 1.1-3](/codex/john-1-1-3/), [Colossians 1.18](/codex/colossians-1-18/).

## See also

- [G3056 - logos](/codex/g3056-logos/)
- [G2316 - theos](/codex/g2316-theos/)
- [G4314 - pros](/codex/g4314-pros/)