In the beginning, God — the first four words of the Bible.
The opening line of Scripture and the foundation of everything else. What these four words actually claim.
The episode in a glance.
- 01Four words: 'In the beginning, God.'
- 02Before there was anything, there was Someone.
- 03'Created' implies intention, not accident.
- 04Everything that follows in the Bible rests on this sentence.
Read along.
'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' If you only ever read one verse of the Bible, this would not be a bad one to pick. Every page that follows rests on it.
Start with the first four words: 'In the beginning, God.' Before there was matter, time, light, or sound, there was Someone. Not something — Someone.
'Created.' The Hebrew word is bara. It's only ever used of God in the Old Testament. It means a kind of making only he can do — from nothing, by speech, on purpose.
'The heavens and the earth.' A Hebrew way of saying 'everything.' Sky, ground, stars, dirt, oceans, atoms — all of it.
If this sentence is true, then the universe is not an accident, you are not an accident, and there is Someone who has the first and last word on what everything is for. The rest of the Bible is just unpacking that.