Gen. 1:1 בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים
אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃
John 1:1
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος
In (the) beginning was the Word.
It is interesting that the first word of the Bible is בראשימ (bere'shit) which means, "In beginning..." The definite article 'the' is absent in this word; otherwise, if it is there, it would have been 'bare'shit'.
It is interesting that the first word of the Bible is בראשימ (bere'shit) which means, "In beginning..." The definite article 'the' is absent in this word; otherwise, if it is there, it would have been 'bare'shit'.
The absence of the definite article has significant
meaning to the Jewish mind. It means that the story of creation in Genesis
begins at no specific point in time. We call this in theology the 'eternity
past'. Time had not been put into place until the first day of creation, when
God defined evening and morning.
Therefore, when John started his book
with this verse, he wrote it with a Jewish mindset intentionally omitting the
definite article 'the':
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος
In beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God (John 1:1).
It is done intentionally to show that he
was referring to the 'eternity time' which was not confined to time.
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