In the beginning, God.
The first four words of the Bible decide everything that follows.
The episode in a glance.
- 01The Bible opens with God already there — no origin story for him.
- 02'Created' (bara) is a verb only used of God in the Old Testament.
- 03The universe is made, not eternal — which means it has a purpose.
- 04Everything downstream of verse 1 hangs on whether you accept verse 1.
Read along.
'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.' Ten words in English, seven in Hebrew. They are the load-bearing wall of the entire Bible.
Notice what is not said. There is no argument for God's existence, no defense, no proof. He is simply there — before the beginning, before time, before matter.
The verb 'created' is the Hebrew word bara. In the Old Testament it is only ever used with God as the subject. Humans make things; God bara things. There is no shared category.
And the object of that verb is everything. The heavens — outer space, the unseen. The earth — the ground under your feet. All of it begins here, on purpose, by him.
If you can accept Genesis 1:1, the rest of the Bible follows. If you cannot, no other verse will land. That is why the Bible starts here, and not anywhere else.