Genesis 1: 1 Commentary

188 thoughts on “Genesis 1: 1”

1. Samuel May 19, 2013 at 3:14 pm

   Did God have a purpose when het started creating ‘in the beginning’?

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2. M Winn March 13, 2013 at 12:15 am

   “In the beginning, God…..” If there was God, then it is not the beginning. If God existed from all time, then there was no beginning. If God created the heaven and the earth, where did he dwell before, when there was nothing? A lovely myth, at best.

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3. Tractorman February 1, 2013 at 2:13 pm

   @sophia – in regards to your question commonly called the ‘gap theory’ – that there is an indeterminate amount of time between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2, the ‘problem’ stems around the phrase “and the earth WAS without form and void”.

   I would recommend you simply GOOGLE ‘gap theory’ to gain a clearer picture of the debate…

   The Hebrew word for “WAS” is HAYAH which can also be translated as the following (I have also included how many times it is found as well):

   Became 85, Become 230, Been 98, Came 526, Come 141, Happen 13, Happened 59, Has 19, Have 97, Remain 9, and Remained 6 times

   The above is from: http://godandscience.org/apologetics/gap.html

   This is NOT my area of expertise, but proponents of the ‘gap theory’ use it to explain the disparity between young-earth creationists who espouse an earth between 6000-10,000 yrs old and old-earth creationists who espouse one more in line with secular science of around 4.6 billion years old.

   I believe the challenge for the ‘gap theorists’ in the area of YOUR question is to show through SCRIPTURE incontrovertible PROOF (not theory) that LUCIFER was given the AUTHORITY and ABILITY to destroy God’s first-creation causing Him to have to re-create the earth again at which time He THEN created Adam and Eve…

   Hope this helped…

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4. sophia January 31, 2013 at 6:22 pm

   Hi,
   Thank you so much for this great work. Please was this the first creation? I have heard some pastors say the state of the earth (chaotic)was as a result of a the destruction of the first when Lucifer rebelled against God.
   Thank you for helping me out with this question.

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6. J. Clontz February 13, 2012 at 4:49 am

   Below I’ve listed some of the cross references to this verse that are cited in the Comprehensive New Testament to aid your research.

   John 1:1
   Pseudepigrapha[3Enoch 26:9]
   Pseudepigrapha[Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers 3:1]
   Pseudepigrapha[Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers 12:18]
   Pseudepigrapha[Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers 15:3]
   Pseudepigrapha[Sibylline Oracles 1.5]
   Pseudepigrapha[Testament of Abraham 11:9]
   Philo[Appendices A Treatise Concerning the World (1)]
   Philo[On Dreams That they Are God-Sent (1.215)]
   Philo[Who is the Heir of Divine Things (122)]
   Ambrose[Of the Holy Spirit - Book 2.1]
   Ambrose[Of the Holy Spirit - Book 2.35]
   Athanasius[Defence of the Nicene Definition - 13]
   Athanasius[Discourse 2 - 57]
   Athanasius[Incarnation of the Word - 3.1]
   Basil[The Hexaemeron - Homily 1.2]
   Gregory of Nyssa[Answer To Eunomius Second Book]
   Gregory of Nyssa[On the Making of Man - 1.2]
   Hilary of Poitiers[On the Trinity - Book 2.14]
   Jerome[Letter 057 - To Pammachius.11]
   John of Damascus[Exposition of the Orthodox Faith - Book 2.10]
   Clement of Alexandria[Exhortation to the Heathen 8]
   Clement of Alexandria[Stromata Book 6.7]
   Clement[Homily 16.8]
   Clement[Recognitions Book 1.27]
   Constitutions of the Holy Apostles[Book 5.7]
   Constitutions of the Holy Apostles[Book 6.11]
   Hippolytus[Refutation of all Heresies Book 8.2]
   Irenaeus[Against Heresies Book 2.2.5]
   Justin[Hortatory Address to the Greeks 28]
   Methodius[Fragments Extracts from the Work on Things Created]
   Origen[Commentary on the Gospel of John Book 1.17]
   Origen[De Principiis Book 2.9.1]
   Origen[De Principiis Book 3.6.8]
   Tertullian[Against Hermogenes 3]
   Tertullian[Against Hermogenes 19]
   Tertullian[Against Hermogenes 20]
   Tertullian[Against Hermogenes 22]
   Tertullian[Against Hermogenes 29]
   Theodotus[Excerpts 3]
   Egyptian Book of the Dead[Oration 17]
   Egyptian Book of the Dead[Oration 79]
   Leiden Hymn[100]

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7. angel January 27, 2012 at 5:21 am

   Genesis 1:1
   1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

   lets begin:

   genesis 1:1:
   1. in the vastness of nothing and in all existence; there lived; our one true GOD and all his glory. GOD’S glory being all that was, is, and shall always be before the very foundations.

   and here GOD begins to create his story of REDEMPTION; by the first two creations; being the very heaven in which GOD lives in and the earth in which GOD’S creations shall fulfill his story in all its glory.

   and from heaven; GOD; watches his story of LOVE unfold on earth.

   for this is also a shadow/ a type of the church; split apart; for one shall be a bride/ a predestined/ a chosen/ and a called out body of the church before the very foundations as the other shall be the church which knows the truth but is mingled in with the dogmas of man.

   for a supernatural church ( heaven ); is a called out and chosen pure word of GOD and the other part of the body of the church shall be a natural church; the word of GOD mingled in with dogmas ( earth. )

   also we see the beginnings of the the great battle between the kingdom of GOD ( heaven ) verses the kingdoms of a fallen satan ( earth. )

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8. TIUCHE July 9, 2011 at 4:34 pm

   CHECK THIS OUT IT WILL INCREASE YOUR APPRECIATION OF THE BIBLE

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV0hUldrYp4&feature=related.

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9. Samuel Owusu May 9, 2011 at 2:47 pm

   When the world was started by God he made the roof and the base.

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10. Dolf May 9, 2011 at 12:58 am

    Some humor:

    “Where should I begin? Um… How about the beginning? Although I suppose I could tell you what happened before the beginning. But then again, I don’t want to take all the mystery out of it. I mean, in this business, if you just put all of your cards on the table, odds are you’re not going to end up with a bestseller.

    So let’s just start with the beginning. In the beginning, there was nothing. Kind of like a dark empty region in outer space.

    Although there wasn’t any darkness at all.

    Or space.

    Or time. Wait—maybe there was time. don’t remember—it was such a long time ago.

    Anyways, the point is, from nothing, I created something. Why? Uh… just listen to the story and keep your mouth shut.

    And from nothing, I created something—as in light, a sky, water, land, plants, a sun, a moon, stars, birds, fish, insects, and animals. (I like variety.) And finally, I made human beings in my own image. (Well—pretty much in my own image. Aside from the fact that I don’t have any toenails. And I’m invisible.)

    And that was it. An entire universe. It took me less than a week. In fact, I finished a day early and spent Sunday watching football. —By the way, I started on Monday—) (I’m God—no big deal.)”

    (credits: Rodney Ohebsion)

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11. Nukwa Yeshua April 27, 2011 at 2:37 am

    Thanks Sonam, (post #174)The account mentions the creation of the heavenS (plural) and the earth (our earth) in the beginning. Very often we take it to mean our One heaven and earth. The Genesis 1- then proceeds with some details on the creation of the earth. Nothing more on the heavens and particularly nothing more on our heaven. That there was further creative activity in the heavens (including our heaven) that were created at the time our earth was created is evident from descriptions of our heaven. To dwell on the other heavens. 1.) there is at least one other heaven in addition to ours. 2.) This heaven is similar to ours in the sense that it has a characteristic that defines it as “heaven”. 3.)The time and what GOD created in that other heaven (or in those heavens) is not mentioned and may not be of concern to us. 4.) TIME (concept) applies only to the earth and Time was created for the earth (there was evening and morning- the first day). TIME does not apply even to our heaven not to mention the other heavens.

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12. TIUCHE April 24, 2011 at 3:12 am

    Thoughts:

    ‘Theologians always try to turn the BOOK into a book

    WITHOUT COMMON SENSE!”

    -G.S. lICHTENBEG, German Physicist, writer
    (1742-1799)

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13. paul Golembiewski April 23, 2011 at 11:15 pm

    we humans, as great as we are, can not creat ANYTHING! Not even “between our ears”! Just try it sometime, and you’ll soon appreciate the power of true creation from nothing!

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