Genesis 1:1 Commentary
What is the meaning of Genesis 1:1?
J. N. Darby writes:
J. N. Darby"The fact is stated that God created all things, all man sees, all the material universe. 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' What may have taken place between that time and the moment when the earth (for it only is then spoken of) was without form and void, is left in entire obscurity."
William Kelly emphasizes the unique dignity of this opening:
William Kelly"The highest, the holiest, the only suitable way, once it is laid before us, evidently is what God Himself has employed in His word. — 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.' Not only is the method the most worthy, but the truth with which the book opens is one that nobody ever did really discover before it was revealed."
"'In the beginning God created.' In the beginning matter did not co-exist with God. I warn every person solemnly against a notion found in both ancient and modern times, that there was in the beginning a quantity of what may be called crude matter for God to work on."
L. M. Grant notes:
L. M. Grant"This was the beginning of God's activity in creation. John 1:1 also uses the expression, 'In the beginning,' but does not speak of what was done, rather that 'In the beginning was the Word.' Christ, the Word of God, had no beginning: He was in the beginning."
"Verse 1 stands alone in its solitary grandeur."
F. A. Hughes draws attention to the Hebrew:
F. A. Hughes"'In the beginning God created.' These first 'five words' of the Bible reveal a glory which is peculiar to God — He is the Creator. He alone has 'brought into existence' (created) all that does exist. The word used in Genesis 1 — Elohim — is a plural word and indicates that the Godhead was engaged in the mighty act of creation."
Genesis 1:1 stands as the foundation of all Scripture. It declares three things at once: that there was a beginning (time is not eternal), that God was already there before it (He is eternal), and that everything that exists was created by Him (matter is not self-existent). As Kelly insists, matter did not co-exist with God — creation was ex nihilo, out of nothing. And as Grant observes, while Genesis speaks of a beginning of God's works, John 1:1 takes us behind the beginning to the eternal Word who was already there. The verse stands, in Grant's words, in its "solitary grandeur."