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.
And the thing is, reading the ancient origin story found in Genesis as a modern material narrative is an awful fit. Not only does it fail to make sense of the text, it leaves important aspects of our faith optional, while also putting the Church at odds with a scientific community that’s been warning us about climate change for almost five decades.
In a moment, I’ll reveal seven reasons a material reading of Genesis 1 doesn’t fit the text. But, before I do so, I want to state that I believe God created the physical world. To affirm this belief, however, I don’t need to quote from Genesis 1 because other verses in Scripture proclaim God to be the creator of everything physical.
For example, in Nehemiah and Colossians.
And Ezra said: “You are the LORD, you alone; you have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. To all of them you give life, and the host of heaven worships you.”
— Nehemiah 9:6 NRSV
For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through him and for him.
— Colossians 1:16 CSB
So, while I appreciate the premise of this first article in our Creation series may concern you, the existence of these other verses saying God did it! means it isn’t essential for Genesis to narrate a material origin.
Accepting how Genesis 1 may tell a different kind of creation story will not risk or diminish your faith in God as creator, but it may make your faith fuller and wider and more expansive than it’s ever been before.
And who knows? After reading the following seven reasons, perhaps you’ll even agree with me that a different story is definitely being told in Genesis 1.
