Understanding Genesis 1:1

[DJT_47]

Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning" - what does this really mean?

"1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

God says exactly what he means and means exactly what he says, and his use of even the simplest of words cannot be overlooked, assumed, or taken for granted without careful consideration.

Having said that, and to provide clarification of the aforementioned subject verse, Gen 1:1, consider this analogy: If someone were to say, "in the kitchen I made the table and chairs". What is this saying and what does it imply? It's saying that within the kitchen the table and chairs were made (created) by the individual. This implies that the kitchen was already there, and inside of it was made the table and chairs (not created along with or at the same time that they were).

If you superimpose the word God in this analogy and said, "in the kitchen God made (created) the table and chairs", this would imply that God made or created the table and chairs inside of, or within the kitchen, meaning that the kitchen was already there, and he simply made the items within it.

Extrapolating this logic further to the biblical verse Gen 1:1, it becomes clear that "the beginning", which equates to 'the kitchen', was already in existence, and God simply made or created the heaven and the earth within or during it, and not that they all were created at the same time; it does not say that nor does it infer that, when you look closely at the words. It doesn't say "at the beginning", but rather says "in the beginning". The beginning had already begun and at some point in or within it, the heaven and the earth were created. The next verse then goes on to describe the nature of the newly formed earth at that point in time.

This is not 'gap theory', nor theory at all, but rather clarifies 'gap theory' by simply looking closely at the very minute word "in", and applying its proper meaning and intent within the scriptural context.

"In" is used in virtually all biblical translations

"in", a few definitions

1. expressing the situation of something that is or appears to be enclosed or surrounded by something else.
"dressed in their Sunday best"

2. expressing a period of time during which an event takes place or a situation remains the case.

3. "they met in 1885"—used as a function word to indicate inclusion, location, or position within limits

 

[JohnDB]

Things you left out:

Right off this is poetry...but with a purpose. Not explicitly explaining every last detail but just that Who is responsible and Why.

The opening sentence is also presumptive of belief in God.

There would also have been no beginning without God creating it. Time itself is a creation of God.

Then let's go to the Hebrew word "bara".
This verb for "make/create" is prepositional somewhat for a verb in that it requires a material for the object created to be made out of.
You can "Bara" a stone table, a wooden table or straw table....but a material is demanded by the use of this verb. An implied "out of" for English translations is needed but usually not included in the translations. It's an incomplete sentence....always has been. But people claim it is a complete sentence....including the Jews. The license is that it is poetry and doesn't need to be a complete sentence to be one. But this literary device is used again in scripture elsewhere. (A prophecy)

The implied meaning is that God made even His home out of nothing as well as the other heavens on earth. (Atmosphere and outer space)

A lot of this is explained in the next verse where "Tehovm" is used to explain that God caused order out of chaos. The "hovering" is also shaking/trembling or exerting power, choosing, and defining the natural laws which govern the universe. The why God did this is immediately preceding....
AND
More importantly sets up the use of symbolism of the element water being used to mean "law". Also that the sea is always chaos.

 

[DJT_47]

Things you left out:

Right off this is poetry...but with a purpose. Not explicitly explaining every last detail but just that Who is responsible and Why.

The opening sentence is also presumptive of belief in God.

There would also have been no beginning without God creating it. Time itself is a creation of God.

Then let's go to the Hebrew word "bara".
This verb for "make/create" is prepositional somewhat for a verb in that it requires a material for the object created to be made out of.
You can "Bara" a stone table, a wooden table or straw table....but a material is demanded by the use of this verb. An implied "out of" for English translations is needed but usually not included in the translations. It's an incomplete sentence....always has been. But people claim it is a complete sentence....including the Jews. The license is that it is poetry and doesn't need to be a complete sentence to be one. But this literary device is used again in scripture elsewhere. (A prophecy)

The implied meaning is that God made even His home out of nothing as well as the other heavens on earth. (Atmosphere and outer space)

A lot of this is explained in the next verse where "Tehovm" is used to explain that God caused order out of chaos. The "hovering" is also shaking/trembling or exerting power, choosing, and defining the natural laws which govern the universe. The why God did this is immediately preceding....
AND
More importantly sets up the use of symbolism of the element water being used to mean "law". Also that the sea is always chaos.

You're missing the entire point which is that the 1st day and the beginning didn't happen simultaneously which most tend to believe. The beginning which OBVIOUSLY God created was a separate event in advance of the 1st day. Poetry? I don't think so nor does that make sense. Your comments are irrelevant relative to the topic and are off on a different tangent.

 

[Eternally Grateful]

I think alot of people get confused.

Hebrew has a form of language they use.

1. state a fact

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. a statement of fact to show how the first statement occurred

2 Repeat the fact, but go into greater details

day 1 through 6

3. Go even deeper on some details
The creation of mankind

 

[Davy]

God's creation of Genesis 1 cannot be understood using secularist intellectualism, which is about the attempt to assign it as poetry, philosophy, metaphor, allegory, or any such class of man's speculative thinking. The events of Genesis 1 are literal. It's those who cannot understand it that resort to categorizing it as poetry, philosophy, etc.

The Holy Spirit must... be Who reveals the meaning of Genesis 1, and it is not what tradition teaches about Genesis 1.

In the beginning God created the 'heavens' plural, and the earth. The word for 'heaven' in the Hebrew is plural. By later Bible study, we come to understand that there are 2 ideas in God's Word using the word 'heaven'. One heaven is put for the sky atmosphere around the earth, and the other Heaven is put for God's Abode that exist behind a veil that we cannot see (unless He allows it, like Isaiah 6, or Revelation with John).

That Genesis 1:1 creation in the beginning is about God's ORIGINAL PERFECT creation of the old world before Satan rebelled.

The earth's fossil record reveals that this ancient earth was once a tropical Paradise over all of it, even at the North and South Poles, as fossils of tropical plant and animal life have been found there, as also in desert regions near the earth's equator.

God ended that old world because Satan rebelled against Him, coveting God's throne. The result was the wasted condition of the earth in ruin with waters spread over it at Genesis 1:2.

This is why we read in places like Isaiah 11 that carnivores like bears and lions will eat straw in God's future Kingdom of the world to come. This is why God showed in Ezekiel 47 and Revelation 22 that His River of the Waters of Life will flow out from His sanctuary to feed other waters upon this earth healing them, and with the Tree of Life on either side of His River. It is a return... of His River of Genesis 2 that was once upon this earth.

Sorry, but old TV shows like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom which went into the wilds of Africa to show how carnivores attack other animals for meat, and making us think that was wondrous with revealing God's beautiful creation of this present world, cannot even compare to God's original 'perfect' creation in the beginning, nor God's bringing the glory of the world to come when those things will be no more. We have been lied to with thinking today's creation is perfect. This present state of the creation for this present world is preserved unto destruction by God's consuming fire (2 Peter 3).

Everything during this 2nd world earth age that began at Gen.1:2 decays and perishes. This present state of the creation is in an 'imperfect' state. Apostle Paul in Romans 8:18-25 used the idea of God having placed today's world in "bondage to corruption".