Even Deeper (14 years later)
In the beginning, God created . . . Genesis 1:1 NASB
The – Of course, by now you know that the word here is bere’shiyt. There is no definite article. That means there is no “the” in this text. Try reading the text without the “the” and things change – dramatically. We have already learned (cf. Nahum Sarna) that re’shiyt should not be taken in an absolute temporal sense. This is a word that signifies the highest in quality, the best, the first (as in first fruits) and the head (compare the noun ro’sh). The translation “in the beginning” imports the idea of a “point” where everything started. But we know that the idea of a starting point already has some really deep conceptual problems. Of course, creation ex nihilo is fundamental to understanding this word as “the” beginning. Eliminating the “the” changes a lot. Or maybe it doesn’t.
Sarna chooses to translate the verse, “When God created.” Many conservative theologians would object. Translated like this, the idea that God created time along with the material universe is less tenable. Of course, there are a lot of other issues associated with the idea of the creation of time, but generally evangelical theologians have retained the inclusion of the definite article because they wanted this verse to speak about God’s transcendent majesty. They wanted a God who was “outside” of time in order to insulate Him from change. Maybe they didn’t see just how amazing bere’shiyt is by itself.
What does this word tell us if we don’t add the definite article? Well, first it tells us that nothing that came into existence was self-generating. God brought all the material universe into existence when He decided to do so. He wasn’t compelled to do so. Frankly, He created everything because He wanted to. He is absolute master over it all. So, the first thing we learn is that the entire created order is unnecessary apart from the benevolent will of the Creator. This is vitally important. You and I exist (along with everything else) because God wants us to. We matter to Him so much that He is willing to bring everything, including us, into existence. With the first word of the Bible, we learn something critically important about God and about us. He deliberately decided to have us around! This might even be a synonym for love. If God didn’t need to create and if nothing comes about without His decision, then I suppose it would be correct to say that bere’shiyt implies that God loves what He makes. In this sense, bere’shiyt carries the idea of the source of everything. God is the loving source (the head) of all that is.
What else does this tell us? It tells us that we aren’t the center of everything. We are not gods. We are created just like everything else. We are not self-sufficient. On this scale, we are the same as every other dependent existing thing. But God still loves us. A lot. So, when we feel our insignificance, God’s decision to create reminds us that we are still extremely valuable to Him. Here bere’shiyt reminds us that for all creation God comes first.
Finally, reflection on bere’shiyt is important because the apostle John deliberately copies this opening verse in his gospel. “In the beginning was the Word,” says our translation of the Greek. But if you look carefully at the Greek text, you find that there is no definite article here as well. The end of the verse in Greek reads theos en ho logos, that is, “God was the word,” not “the Word was God’. God is recognized in own breath, the active work of God in creation, just as we have in Genesis 1. En arche en ho logos carries the same temporal perspective. What is true of Genesis 1:1 is most likely true of John 1:1 since John was a Hebrew thinker. Once again we see that we cannot understand what the New Testament is saying without first understanding what the Tanakh says. But this much is clear: The logos of God has always been God and was fully involved in the creation of everything else. As Messiah, Yeshua demonstrates the depth of God’s love for His creation. Yeshua is bere’shiyt in flesh and blood: the first, the head, the highest, the source. John is just being Jewish, not Greek, reminding us that God had a plan for us all the time.
Topical Index: bere’shiyt, beginning, logos, John 1:1, Genesis 1:1
I don’t know Skip. This is a tough one. A certain well-known Rabbi lays out the case that God created because he needed. He needs something from us or he cannot be “In search of Man. Why would he? He already has the heavenly host to worship and adore him in an absolute environment of perfection. If creation is just a capricious act of will, that seems to me to be the act of a transcendent god and any motivations of love we assign to that act may be just hopeful speculation on our part. These are very deep waters. I don’t know.
We need to distinguish between “compelled” and “desired.” God is not compelled to create. He is the ultimate and final decision maker, but once He decides to create, then there are consequences. Heschel’s idea is after the decision to create. After that decision, God does in fact need something from us but what He needs comes about because he decides to create. His need is not the basis of His choice. It is the consequence of His choice.
WAIT. What? Are you suddenly going all Trinitarian on us? Are you quietly “coming out” of the cloistered Catholic closet with this claim?…“But this much is clear: The logos of God has always been God and was fully involved in the creation of everything else. As Messiah, Yeshua demonstrates the depth of God’s love for His creation. Yeshua is bere’shiyt in flesh and blood: the first, the head, the highest, the source.”
It’s only Trinitarian if you think logos is a substitute for the person of Yeshua. It’s not. The Greek logos is the equivalent of the Hebrew idea of the animating breath of God. I Genesis we see this when we read that God spoke everything into existence. But that isn’t the same as declaring that there was another “person” involved in creation. We must read John 1 as Hebrew, not Greek. Yeshua is the full human representative of the divine YHVH, and everything we see in him is what God wants us to know about Himself as He acts in the world. That is not the same as saying Yeshua is God. The authorized agent is the full representative, but even so he is not the ontological identical.