Walking in Faith

The below are notes from an Intro to Theology class that really struck me and stood out to me. This will be part 1 of several parts.

• Naturalistic: all has existed without a beginning, has taken shape through random processes
• Deistic: a powerful, intelligent agent created all, but is not involved now
• Formative: God organized existing material (made order out of chaos)
• Creationist: God created all out of nothing for His purposes, and it exists and is sustained through His involvement

I don’t think I need to spend much time talking about these points but I fall squarely in the Creationist category. God created everything from nothing and is still involved today in directing man.

The Hebrew word used in Genesis 1:1, word 1 is b’reshith. The translation for this word can be slightly, if not greatly, controversial. An article in the Anglican Theological Review makes sure to muddy the waters on this topic:

A Closer Look at B’reshith

B’reshith has its share of problems. Advanced students of Hebrew have likely encountered “other” translations for this word than the run-of-the-mill “in the beginning.” Even among leading English translations of the Bible, there tends to be ample disagreement.8 In fact, an old joke has arisen in some circles: “Where is the first place that scholars disagree over the translation of a passage in the Bible?” The answer is a sobering: “Genesis one, verse one, word one!” But why?

Since the latter half of the tenth century B.C.E., scholars have recognized that Hebrew words are composed of triliteral roots-that is to say, every Hebrew word has a three-letter, consonantal root that is the “backbone” of its very essence.9 Given this, it seems plausible to suggest that b’reshith follows similar grammatical rules. The stock understanding of b’reshith is that its root is rosh (possibly reshith10), which often has the meaning of “head” or “first” once it is brought over from the Hebrew into the English.11 If the b of b’reshith is understood as a simple preposition-usually meaning “in”-then it would be reasonable to suggest that b’reshith means “in the first” or possibly “in/at the head of,”12 which of course would make better sense in English as the traditional “in the beginning.” Yet the Jewish scholar Nahum Sarna13 offers an alternative to this translation, based upon other ancient Near Eastern sources.

Sarna proposes translating Genesis 1:1 as “When God began to create.”14 This translation may seem rather mundane at first, but the subtle nuance created by this rendition has theological implications that are titanic. Briefly, if we stay with the traditional “in the beginning” we are forced to accept that prior to creation, there was nothing-nothing, save God.15 If we accept Sarna’s translation, however, then we might ponder whether there was something before the creation of the “heavens” and the “earth” as we now know them.16 Furthermore, Sarnas translation makes sense in light of other ancient Near Eastern creation myths.

There is a tendency among Near Eastern creation tales to begin their texts with “when” as opposed to “in the beginning.” For example, the Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish,17 begins with “when.” Enuma Elish means “when on high,” which is the first line of this mythic poem.18 Also, a number of scholars have noted that the root rosh for b’reshith is but a guess; the true meaning of the word is a mystery. Thus, we might agree with Sarna that b’reshith should be understood as “when” and not as “in”; but our agreement with this should go beyond the evidence from the Enuma Elish, for the Bible itself is aware of something being in existence prior to the creation of the “heavens and the earth.”

The implications of “When” v. “In” are fairly significant. Now, I am certainly no Greek scholar but it seems to me that there will never be a definitive answer to this question. At this point, I believe every person should stop and pray for discernment. If it is critical to your faith or understand of the Lord, He will make it clear. Whether something existed before and “When God began to create the heavens and the earth” is the accurate translation does not change the core doctrine of the Scriptures.