Creation Story or Origin Story

Revisiting Day One (Genesis 1:1-5)

Abstract

This article revisits Genesis 1:1 by closely examining how the opening Hebrew word בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית (b’reshit) and its initial letter bet should be translated. This return to Genesis 1:1 is prompted by the shift in the NRSVue from “In the beginning God created” to “When God began to create.” Through grammatical, syntactical, and historical analysis—drawing on Deutero-Isaiah, the Septuagint, Second Temple texts, rabbinic interpretation, and modern biblical scholarship—the author argues that Genesis 1:1 is best read as an independent declaration of God’s creation of all that is: matter, space, and time. This reading supports creatio ex nihilo as a viable and ancient Jewish interpretation rather than a later Christian imposition. The article concludes that preserving Genesis 1 as a creation story, rather than merely an origin story, is theologically important to affirm the sole sovereignty of the Triune God and the coherence of Christian claims about resurrection, new creation, and the Spirit’s work of creating faith.