The Old Testament begins with the assertion, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The first three words in most English translations are “In the beginning.” These three words represent one word from the Hebrew text, Bereshit! The Books of the Law; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are all named according to the first words in their text. Thus, Genesis in a Hebrew text is named “In the Beginning.” Exodus is named “These are the names.” Exodus begins with a list of the names of the Israelites who left Canaan to join Joseph in Egypt. Leviticus is “And God called.” God called Moses to hear the laws he was to pass on to Israel. Numbers is called “the Lord Spoke” referring to God’s words to Moses to count the Israelites. Deuteronomy in the Hebrew bible is “These are the Words” referring to the beginning of the recitation of the commandments God gave Moses to pass on to Israel.
There is much discussion on the phrase which translates one Hebrew word, “In the Beginning.” But a strong consensus among biblical scholars is that it is referring to a time (if you will) before time. The ticking of the clock had not yet begun. Nothing existed at all. E did not equal MC squared. The concepts we gleaned through studying the way things are did not exist yet. There was no such thing as science of any kind; no math, no physics, no chemistry, no biology and no discipline of any kind. “In the Beginning” refers to a time before anything that we know or can understand existed. I named this section, “God started the ball rolling” but that’s not right. God existed before there was a ball to roll. The phrase “in the beginning” is simply intended to put God at the head of absolutely everything. Without God there is no ball, there is no science, there is no life.
Now let me move on to the first words in the Gospel of John where the eternal story of Jesus is told. It begins, “In the beginning” was the Word. The word was with God and the word was God.” Then John clarifies for us what he means by “Logos,” the Word. “The Word became flesh and lived among us.” There is universal agreement that this is referring to Jesus. John writes, “All things were made by him, and nothing was made without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.”[1] John makes it clear that the very first phrase in the Bible is about Jesus!
[1] The Everyday Bible: New Century Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2005), Jn 1:3–5.