1:1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
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When asked what the first chapter of Genesis is about, most people will say that it is about the creation of the world. While the chapter does say much about the creation of the world, it is a grave mistake to think that that is what the chapter is about. Gen 1 is about God. He is the subject of every important sentence in the chapter, while the 'world'—or whatever parts of it is in view—is merely the object. We conveniently call Gen 1 the "first creation account." This convenience, however, should never detract us from the fact that it is first and foremost about God. It is crucial that we remember this if we are to get a proper sense of this vital chapter in the Bible.
Genesis opens with a bold, confident, doxological assertion that grips our attention and silences all objection: God created everything that we know that exists. He created them all. By virtue of this simple fact, He is Lord of all and all things answer to Him. Claus Westermann is surely right in asserting that:
The sentence in 1:1 is not the beginning of an account of creation, but a heading that takes in everything in the narrative in one single sentence—and it is much more than a mere heading. It speaks of the creation of heaven and earth in the same way as do the hymns of the praise of God. One could say that the formular which is predicted of God, "Creator of heaven and earth," has been reshaped into a verbal sentence. It has often been said that Gen 1 has echoes of a hymn or that as a whole it is very like the praise of God. The reason for this is that the first sentence itself is really a cry of praise.1
"The beginning" is left unqualified — it is not some time at the beginning of something else. It is "THE beginning" of all that matters.2 Then He "created the heavens and the earth." Now while the verb "create," on its own, does not imply He created out of nothing (what theologians call creatio ex nihilo), taken together with the nouns that follow, the sentence can be understood confidently as such. You see, "the heaven and the earth" is what we call a merism. It does not say that God created the two great spheres. Rather, the two nouns are locked together in this figure of speech to mean "everything," "the entire cosmos." Now creatio ex nihilo is a very Greek way of thinking. But supposing the author did intend to say such a thing, "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" would be just the way to say it.3
But what does creatio ex nihilo matter?
Now, supposing the God of Genesis, the God of Israel, did not create ex nihilo, and He heard the Israelites cry for help and He genuinely wanted to help. Could He? Perhaps. But what if what was troubling them was something He did not create? Something, say, that was part of what many modern scholars of Genesis call the "pre-existent matter"? There is no telling if it would be outside and beyond His control or He may have no say over it. Now Yahweh may wish as much as He wanted to help them but, in such a situation, there would be no guarantee that He would be able to. For, if He was not the Lord of All, there can be no certainty that He could be Lord at all. A god who has not created ex nihilo cannot promise to keep his word or keep the words he promised; he can't. There is always the possibility that he has to say to the Israelites, "Sorry, but it is beyond my control." Millions of people pray to gods who lack this majestirium; they fear the darkness of the night or what creeps about in the shadows of the trees. Only Yahweh who has created the heavens and the earth ex nihilo can keep His promise. It is the underlining theological assumption that Yahweh created ex nihilo that permits Israel to make sense of His sovereignty: He made the heavens and the earth. He is the Lord of all, and those who abide in Him have nothing to fear at all. Everything in this chapter makes the unmistakeable point that there is no such fear for those who walk with He who is the Maker of heaven and earth.
Only Yahweh who has created
the heavens and the earth
can keep His promise because
if He is not the Lord of All,
there can be no certainty that
He can be Lord at all.
While Gen 1 has a great deal to say about creation, and is often referred to as a "creation account," notice that this introductory verse makes God the subject. Whatever other elements of creation get mentioned, God is the subject who governs them all. Remember then, this chapter is about the great God, not the great and wonderful creation. Derek Kidner wisely reminds us that "It is no accident that God is the subject of the first sentence of the Bible, for this word dominates the whole chapter and catches the eye at every point of the page: it is used some thirty-five times in as many verses of the story. The passage, indeed the Book, is about Him first of all; to read it with any other primary interest (which is all too possible) is to misread it."4 In like vein McKeown reminds us, "The opening words of Genesis are dramatic and dynamic: a fitting introduction to the book that describes the origins of the universe and of God's dealings with humankind. It introduces God as the main character of the book and lays a good foundation for understanding the remainder of Genesis; even when the other characters are not aware of him, this divine presence pervades every narrative."5 This God is simply God, 'elohim:
It does not use a title for God of the kind Israel shared with its neighbors, such as Melchizedek's term El Elyon, God Most High. Nor does it use Israel's own distinctive name for God, Yhwh. It uses the ordinary Hebrew word for deity, 'elohim. Elsewhere the plural can be a numerical plural, referring to gods. But applied to the one God, it is an honorific or intensive plural suggesting that this God embodies all the deity there is. So the creator God is very deity itself."6
This means also that, while Christians can and should take an active interest in creation—and all the sciences that have to do with it—the Christian interest is embedded in worship. To think of creation in any other way is to miss the point of this chapter. The account ends not with the sixth day but with the seventh. This also cautions us against taking this chapter of Scripture (and the next two) as a definitive historical record of the events of God's creation of the world. It points us to Him, not to the process of His work. To confuse the one for the other is as silly as you stopping at a junction in the road and sending home a photograph showing you standing under the sign "Bangkok, 500Km" and telling your loved ones you have arrived in the Thai capital.
The expression with which the Bible opens, "in the beginning," is a common enough expression found in many cultures. In essence all talks about "in the beginning" imply that what is being said belongs to the foundation of what is about to be discussed. The expression says, in effect, everything that shall be discussed must be viewed and understood in the light of what had happened in the beginning. In so opening the Bible, Genesis affirms that it was the gracious initiative of God that made life—all life—possible. The obverse expression "in the end God" does not appear in Scriptures but it sums up powerfully also everything that the Bible says about the Christian hope. And so the book of Revelation ends with in the end God. When we have messed things up so badly and our life is shattered like a Humpty Dumpty fallen off the wall and no one can put it together again, it is God alone who makes new beginnings possible. When all our friends have abandoned us or we are left to our own useless resources it is God who will be there standing with open arms for us. As we read through the book of Genesis we will discover repeatedly that the book is as much about the grace of "new beginnings" as it is about the wonder of "the beginning." Reading Genesis is indeed a Feasting on the Grace of New Beginnings. Genesis and the story of the return of the prodigal son are cut from the same cloth.
You may wish to read the following commentaries-expositions:
John Calvin
Matthew Henry
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch
Bob Utley
StudyLight.org provides access to a long list of commentaries on this and other books of the Bible, if you are interested. Be careful, however, not to be distracted.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2016