archō

In the form that means ruling, archo carries the ancient idea of holding first place and exercising governing authority. This use of the verb appears only twice in the New Testament, both times describing rulers who wield power over the nations.

In Mark 10:42 Jesus contrasts the way gentile rulers exercise this authority (lording it over people) with the servant leadership he calls his disciples to. In Romans 15:12 Paul cites Isaiah's prophecy of the root of Jesse rising to rule the nations. Both uses carry the political, royal sense of rule that this form of the verb held throughout classical Greek.

In its other form, archo consistently means to make a beginning, to start an action. This sense dominates overwhelmingly in the New Testament: 84 of the verb's 86 occurrences take this form, and every one carries this meaning.

The verb typically introduces a new action by a person or group, paired with another verb: "he began to teach," "they began to say," "beginning from Moses." It functions as a narrative marker, often signaling a significant new turn in a scene or discourse. Luke and Mark favor it heavily as a storytelling device; Acts uses it to mark inaugurating moments such as the start of Christian proclamation (Acts 1:1, Acts 2:4, Acts 10:37). The 2 Corinthians 3:1 use ("Are we beginning again to commend ourselves?") shows the verb in a rhetorical question about restarting a practice.