Genesis 1:1a
Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Having previously discussed the Geocreationist history of Genesis 1:1, let us now discuss who was there. This is important, because it will help us interpret the rest of Genesis 1.
“In the beginning, God…”, or Elohim as it is renderred in the Hebrew. There is much commentary on what Elohim means, and so I will only summarize it here. The Jewish perspective is that Elohim, a plural form of God’s name, is an expression of His majesty and unequaled greatness. This view is in fact true. However, the Christian view is true as well, that Elohim is written as a plurarity because of God’s plural nature: the trinity.
In other words, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit were all present and accounted for in this single word, Elohim. In fact scripture records Jesus’ presence elsewhere in scripture, too. According to John 1:1-3…
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.”
So, we know from John 1:1-3 that in the beginning, God and Jesus were there, and that world was created through Jesus. Wait a minute, is this really saying God created the world through Jesus, and that Jesus was there even before God said “Let there be light”? Well, as it often turns out, before it was written in the New Testament, it was first written in the Old. According to Proverbs 8:22-26 (emphasis added)…
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, from the beginning, before there was ever an earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world.
Clearly, Jesus Himself believes He was there “in the beginning”, and according to John’s gospel, all things were made through Him. Therefore, we know that when God created the celestial bodies and the planet Earth, He did so through Jesus. Spoken as Wisdom personified in Proverbs 8:27-30a, Jesus even explains His presence and His role, lest there remain any doubt (emphasis added)…
When He prepared the heavens, I was there, when He drew a circle on the face of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, when He assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters would not transgress His command, when He marked out the foundations of the earth, then I was beside Him as a master craftsman;
The significance of Jesus’ presence “in the beginning” is that after the events of verse 1 were over, Jesus didn’t go anywhere. In fact we know exactly where He was… according to verse 2, the Holy Spirit was hovering over the deep. Given Jesus’ propensity for appearing with Him throughout scripture, not to mention the manner in which the creation narrative unfolds, it seems reasonable to conclude that Jesus may well have been right there with Him.
December 17th, 2006 at 10:18 am
[…] We know that in Genesis 1:1 the entire terrestrial body and the earth were initially created; scientifically, we know this to be 4.5 billion years ago (Ga). We know that in Genesis 1:2, the earth had not yet undergone the formation of succeeding verses, and the earth had no life. We know that in fact the earth was covered in water, that the water was covered in darkness, and that Jesus was with the Holy Spirit, hovering over those waters; scientifically, we know this to be 3.9 billion years ago, and that conditions existed that prevented the darkness from permanently leaving, large meteors, to be specific. We know that in Genesis 1:3, at God’s command, Jesus stopped the meteor onslaught and “let there be light”. As outgassing resumed, and sunlight hitting the earth started scattering throughout a new atmosphere, finally causing slowly brightening sky, God saw that light, and saw that it was good. Finally, we know scientifically that only half the earth was in the sun’s view at any one time, and in fact Genesis 1:4 records there was a separation between the light side of the earth and the dark. And then we come Genesis 1:5. […]
November 3rd, 2007 at 8:37 am
[…] Agreed. However, Theistic Evolutionists agree there is a well-defined beginning in Genesis 1:1, though they would ascribe it to the Big Bang. The total duration of creation was six days (Exodus 20:11). […]