Genesis 1: In the Beginning
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
The Bible begins with these famous words in Genesis 1, laying the foundation for the rest of the Bible. Genesis 1:1–2:4a is the first of two creation accounts in Genesis, and it focuses on God’s creation of the cosmos.
The Bible’s creation account is the source of a lot of debate. Some modern readers strip away the cultural and theological significance of Genesis, and instead mine it for scientific details about how God created the heavens and the earth. Others suggest it is simply one of many ancient accounts of creation—a myth.
To help us understand this ancient Scripture, we’re drawing from the expertise of Tremper Longman III, a renowned Old Testament scholar. In his online course on the book of Genesis, Longman reveals the cultural and theological implications…
Genesis 1 – An Excerpt from South Asia Bible Commentary
Now available! The South Asia Bible Commentary is a one-volume commentary, written and edited by South Asian Biblical scholars on all the books of the Bible. Interact with these excerpts below from Genesis and discover how the editors overlay cultural insights throughout the commentary.
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1:1-11:32 God, Humankind and Nature
What people believe about creation has important consequences for how they live. For example, the religious practices of those who believe that the universe arose from the sexual union of male and female deities often involve fertility rites similar to those of the Canaanite cult of Baal described in the OT. Thus it is appropriate that the Bible begins with chapters that assert that God created and controls the world and that he has…