IN THE BEGINNING, GOD
“In the beginning, God” are four of the most powerful words recorded in Scripture. It’s no accident that these are the first words we find in the Bible. In Genesis 1:1, we are introduced to the subject of Scripture: God Himself. If we’re not careful, we can read these four words too quickly and miss the magnitude of what Moses is saying in this opening phrase. Not only are we introduced to our omnipotent Creator, we are also confronted with the truth that there is a God. In a world that desperately seeks to erase God from the cultural narrative, we must grapple with the foundational truth of the Bible: There is a God who created us and He has every right to rule His creation in a way that brings all glory to Him and has every right to humankind accountable to His commandments.
“In the beginning, God” boldly declares there is only one true God, and in the process denies three common philosophies we see in our world. Let’s briefly consider the three worldviews Moses’s first few words deny.
First, Genesis 1:1 denies atheism. If God was in the beginning, there was and is a Creator who is self-existent, self-sufficient, omnipotent, unchanging, holy, and eternal. God is uncaused; God answers to no one, not even us. Generally speaking, sinful humanity demands that God answer for Himself, and until He does, they stubbornly refuse to believe or follow. Unlike humanity, God relies on no one. Without oxygen, gravity, light, and heat, humanity would die–along with every other living organism on Earth. God, however, isn’t reliant on any of these things. Denying God is foolishly refusing to submit our lives to the One who created us and sustains us. Refusing to trust God is choosing to believe that something or someone else is more trustworthy and more capable of caring for us. As A.W. Tozer writes in The Knowledge of the Holy, “Unbelief is actually perverted faith, for it puts its trust not in the living God but in dying men. The unbeliever denies the self-sufficiency of God and usurps attributes that are not his. This dual sin dishonors God and ultimately destroys the soul of the man.”[1] But as Genesis 1:1 points out, the eternal God who created us is the only one worthy of our trust and qualified to provide for our most basic needs.
Second, Genesis 1:1 denies materialism (i.e., naturalism). According to materialism, matter has always existed. But the obvious question remains, where did the matter come from? Who or what organized matter into what we see today? Where did personality originate? How did life, self-consciousness, intelligence, and rationality evolve from inanimate, inorganic matter? Is it simply the result of evolution? Or did a Creator with personality create us in His image? If God was present before the beginning of time as we know it, He is not subject to creation because He is separate from it; since God created matter, the world is not merely a materialistic place left to itself to operate by sheer fate and chance. According to a naturalistic view of the world, humans are merely one of many species that evolved from a common ancestry, making humanity a mere animal with no purpose, no destiny, no dignity, no value, and no likeness to our Creator. Evolutionary theory would have us believe that humankind doesn’t stand in a position of distinction from other species. Mother Earth is all that matters, not human beings who—unlike every other creature on earth—possess an eternal soul. As one naturalist said, “Phasing out the human race will solve every problem on earth, social and environmental.”[2] Naturalism is a worldview that dismisses the uniqueness and dignity of humanity. Under the materialistic understanding of the world, humankind is not merely the highest point of creation, he is the god of creation. To blaspheme against the humanistic philosophy of our time is to blaspheme against humanity, and there is no forgiveness for that transgression. The cry of our age is “glory to Man in the highest.” The basic premise of the religion of materialism is accepted by faith: there is no God. The idea of man being created in the image of God is awesome, but the idea of God being created in the image of man is comfortable. Thankfully, the opening chapters of Genesis paint a substantially different picture than the bleak one presented by naturalism.
Third, Genesis 1:1 denies polytheism. While polytheism is not as popular as it was when Moses penned the book of Genesis, a number of false gods abound. Even horoscopes, which many place their faith in, fall under the category of false religion. But according to Genesis 1:1, there is only one Creator God who does not share His glory with any other gods. As God reminds us in Isaiah 45:5, “I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.” Because God is self-sustaining and eternal, He doesn’t need humanity. God was under no obligation to create the universe and place people in it. But out of His love, He created the world and humanity for His glory. He alone is God, and He is inescapable. People may ignore and deny Him now, but there will come a day when all of humanity will stand before the Creator and be held accountable for rejecting Him. God is the Creator and Sustainer of the world; all of creation displays His majesty and declares His glory. Creation also reveals God’s sovereign rule. He holds the universe in His hands while fulfilling His plan for the world. Our glorious Creator is the only God, and He is the one who grants value to humanity as an act of His amazing grace. In a world filled with false gods, who regularly compete for our affection and allegiance, God stands as the only true sovereign Creator. Everything the pagans worshiped during the time of Moses—the sun, the moon, the animals, the rivers, the rocks—were created by God and under His sovereign care; therefore, these false gods pose no threat to God.
God’s awesome creative power and sovereignty are introduced in the very first verse of the Bible and it stands boldly against the world’s ideologies. As our Creator, He has every right to demand allegiance from humanity. Acknowledging God as our Creator naturally leads to submission to Him and to His commandments. As our Creator, God has every right to tell us how to live and to define what is right and what is wrong. “In the beginning, God!” May those glorious words bring hope to our hearts and obedience to our lives.
[1] A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy (New York, NY: HarperOne, 1961), 35.
[2] John MacArthur, The Battle for the Beginning (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2001), 34