Page 19 - Advanced Genesis - Creationism - Student Textbook

Study Section 3: In the beginning, God

3.1 Connect

If you build a house, you must gather building materials to a location. You need cement,
sand, blocks, metal sheets for the roof, doors made from wood or metal, plastic pipes for
drainage, and so on. You can only create something out of materials already existing. You
cannot simply go to the job site and create a house out of NOTHING. That is what God did.
How is that possible? Today, we will see what a powerful Creator God is.

3.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to describe the first verse in Genesis and understand what every
word means.

2. The student should be able to list many of the Hebrew words in this verse and explain their
implications for understanding the verse.

3. The student should be able to write a paraphrase (in your own words) or an accurate sentence which
would help you best understand the full meaning of this text.

3.3 In the beginning, God created….
Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (ESV)

To fully appreciate the verse let’s take each word and consider its
addition to this all important declaration.

1. God – Let us start with the main focus of all of eternity. This is the first
occurrence of the divine name of God in Hebrew Elohim, the name of God that stresses His majesty and
omnipotence. This is the name that is used throughout the first chapter of Genesis. The “im” ending is
the Hebrew plural ending so that Elohim can actually mean “gods”, and is so translated in various
passages referring to the gods of the heathens (Psalm 96:5).

However it is clearly used here in the singular as the mighty name of the God the Creator, the first of
over 2,000 times that it is used that way. Thus Elohim is a plural name with a singular meaning, a “uni-
plural” noun, thereby suggesting the uniplurality of the Godhead. God is one yet more than one.

2. Created – This is the remarkable word bara, used always only of the work of God. Only God can
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create – that is, call into existence that which has no existence. (Romans 4:17, Hebrews 11:3). In Latin,
the word is ex nihilo which literally means, “out of nothing.” Man can “make” things or “form” things
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but they cannot create things. God also makes (asah) and forms (yatsar) things and do it much better

6 https://winebrenner.edu/2019/03/18/insights-bara-%D7%91%D6%BC%D6%B8%D7%A8%D6%B8%D7%90-he-
created-in-genesis-11/
7 https://www.ligonier.org/blog/what-does-ex-nihilo-mean/
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