As iconic opening statements go, Genesis’ “In the beginning,” is up there with “Once upon a time” and “A long time ago.”
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
— Genesis 1:1
Not only is this first verse simple and understated, it’s also brilliantly profound. This is an origin story but not of the God who does the creating. This God has no beginning and needs no introduction.
Verse 1 then informs us that what immediately follows is going to explain the origins of our world. It’s one of twelve such verses spread throughout the book of Genesis that act as single-verse summaries of what follows.
The problem is, we make a dangerous assumption at this point. We assume we’re going to be reading a material origin story. We don’t even consider there could be another way to read it.
Since the dawn of modern science nearly 500 years ago, people have sought to discover the material building blocks of our universe. Everyone born into this worldview—including you and I—inherits an understanding of creation as a process that gives material properties to something.
But Genesis 1 does not tell that type of story and here are eight reasons why.
