Who is God: Genesis 1.1

The Bible has been used as many things throughout history. Some have tired to use it as a historical narrative, trying to piece together a time line or world history. Others have looked to it for answers to science, looking for keys to the origins of life. Still others seek it as a moral code, seeking instructions and guidance for life. Others seek comfort in the promises that it offers. While none of these things is inherently bad, all of them miss the point of the Bible. The Bible is not history or science, moral law or comforting promises. Above all, the Bible is theology, it is the source of our knowledge of who God is.

The very first line of the Bible makes this fact evidently clear.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

This opening statement introduces the main character of the story and tells us some essential things about Him that we need to know as we move forward.

When: In the beginning

Who: God

What: created the heavens and the earth.

The opening phrase tells us that in the beginning, whenever that was, a few billion years ago or a couple thousand, God was there. Before time began, God existed, and it was God who set everything in motion at the beginning. In the beginning, maybe at the beginning is better, God created everything. God made the heavens and the earth, all that exists came from God. This opening sentence tells us that God is eternal, all powerful, outside of time, and identifies Him as the subject of Scripture.

The Bible is the story of God. It tells of His nature, His creation, and His redemptive work to reconcile His creation to His nature. The story begins by introducing the main character, and giving us the first essential details about Him, but like any good story we aren't given everything at once. We get enough to catch our attention, but we have to keep reading in order to learn more.

The Bible is God's gift to us so that we might come to know Him for who He is, not who we would have Him be. When we learn about who God is, we come to see ourselves as we truly are. God is the eternal creator and we are finite humans created by Him (more on this soon). This alone means He is deserves our worship. But this is simply the beginning the first information we are given. Let's keep reading...


Fight the lion, 1 Peter 5.1-11

TO GOD ALONE BE THE GLORY!