What are the first three words of the book of Genesis?

Answer 1

A:First of all, we should consider Genesis as consisting of theological and moral truths, rather than historical truths. Theological truths differ from scientific truths because they are unproven and unprovable, and from historical truths because there is no corroborating evidence for those truths. They are truths because they are believed.

On this definition of truth, Genesis tells us that God created Adam and Eve around 6000 years ago, that there was a Great Flood that almost wiped out all of humanity, that Abraham was the father of many nations and that his descendant, Joseph, called all the Israelites into Egypt to escape a famine. It even tells us why there are many strange languages in the world. These are not historical or scientific truths, but they are theological truths.

According to many scholars and experts in the Hebrew language, Genesis does not tell us that God created the world, either in the first creation story or the second, although this translation of Genesis 1:1 has long been assumed. However, the first creation story does tell us that he created the sun, moon and stars in the firmament above the earth.

Answer 2

Leon R. Kass (The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis) says that the first creation account (Genesis 1:1-2:4a) is not historical, but ontological, ethical and theological. It therefore can not be refuted or affirmed on the basis of historical or scinetific evidence. It neither refutes nor is refuted by the findings of science and evolution. The truths of the story are metaphysical and ethical, mainly about the status and human meaning of the world, rather than its actual creation. Much the same is true of the second creation story (Genesis 2;4b-20), which portrays Adam and Eve living a child-like existence before the fall.

In the first creation story, man (both male and female) is made in the image of God and is given dominion over all living creatures. In the second creation story, the animals are created only as possible companions for man, who only becomes godlike after eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The two creation stories are truly independent of each other. In spite of attempts to read the second story as the fuller, more detailed account of the creation of man that the first story simply reported, we must scrupulously avoid reading into the second story any facts or notions taken from the first, and vice versa. Thus, in reading about the origin of man in the story of the Garden of Eden, we must not say or even think that man is here created in God's image or that man is to be the ruler over the animals.

Neither author attempted to portray God as all-powerful. In neither story is the earth created ex nihilo. In the first story, the waters already exist and a wind (spirit) blows across the surface of the deep; the dry land appears on day 3 when God separates the waters. In the second story, the land is pre-existing, but plants have not grown because God has yet to make it rain. Even Adam could not be made out of nothing - God needed to use dirt to create him. And God needed to take a rib from Adam in order to create Eve. This is consistent with the sequel, the story of the Flood, where God could not just destroy mankind by wishing it to be so, but must use the forces of nature to achieve his ends.

For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/theology/the-story-of-creation

Answer 3

In summary, there is a great and perfect physical creation (Genesis 1:1) followed somewhere in time by a great destruction (gap between verse 1 and 2) which led God to renew the planet for the flora and fauna and mankind as we know it. Understanding the time differences between these 2 verses is critical for our understanding. As "The Genesis prologue presents those historical truths which are the necessary presuppositions for the valid pursuit of human knowledge" ( The New Bible Commentary: Revised, p. 81).

Our God created the Earth with exquisite perfection (see Job 38:6-8 for example), but a cataclysm brought destruction - many here point to Isaiah 14:12-17 and Ezekiel 28:13-18 as being Satan's doings. However, we do not know how many years there were between the time of God's creation and that cataclysm, nor do we know how many years there might have been between that cataclysm and the re-creation described in Genesis 1 - and this unspecified period encompassing and untold period of years, perhaps accounting for 'deep time' discovered by scientists/geologists in the past 200 years. Some disparagingly refer to the time between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 as the 'gap theory.'. Consider Psalm 104:30: "You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; and You renew the face of the earth." So what most all consider the first 'creation' is actually described as a 'renewal' beginning with Genesis 1:3 - as God's renewal of the earth and its creatures.

In my humble opinion, Genesis 1 and 2 should be understood as literally true. Our planet is indeed very old, but most of the flora and fauna we have today, as referred to in Genesis 1, was created about 6,000 years ago - the 'age of mankind' when human beings began at that time with God's creation of Adam and Eve.

Interestingly, some have attempted to put the verses of Scripture in a chronological order for readers to better understand the 'jigsaw' puzzle The Bible is. There is 'The Reese Chronological Bible' which begins with John 1:1-2 followed by Psalm 90:2, then Genesis 1:1, followed by the destruction alluded to in Isaiah 14:12-17 and next Ezekiel 28:13-18. Then Genesis 1:2 comes in chronologic order.

Answer 4

There is an infantry sovereign God who made all things out of nothing.

We are to blame for our fall into sin.

God is omnipotent.

Answer 5

Bereisheet bara Elohim (In the beginning, God created).