In the Beginning

Did you know that both the book of Genesis and the Gospel of John start with the same three words? They both start with “In the beginning . . .” I recently started a Bible reading plan by reading Genesis and the Gospel of John. This made the parallels between these two accounts really jump off the page! It’s clear that John echoes the creation account in Genesis as he reflects on the eternality of the Word. Not only was the Word “in the beginning,” but he is also the creator and source of life, the light that shines in the darkness. Let’s see what we can learn about these parallels by using Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words.

In the Beginning . . . God Created

Let’s start by looking at the opening verse of Genesis 1. Genesis opens with these words, “In the beginning”. The Hebrew word translated here as beginning is רֵאשִׁית (rēʼšît). You can access the entry for this word in Mounce’s Dictionary by long-tapping beginning, tapping Lookup, and then tapping the entry for the dictionary. Interestingly, he says this about רֵאשִׁית in Genesis 1:

Rarely is rēʼšît used by itself with no other noun. The two most common passages are Gen. 1:1, which simply says “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The other passage is a description of God in Isa. 46:9-10: “I am God, and there is none like me. I make the end known from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.” The uniqueness of this construction seems to point to the uniqueness of the event: in the beginning; God created, but he did so with the end in view. Furthermore, the beginning of creation is characterised elsewhere in Scripture as ex nihilo; in other words, God created at the beginning of time out of nothing, by his sheer power alone (cf. Ps. 33:6, 9; Heb. 11:3).

Notice, as well, the relationship between רֵאִשׂית and רֹאשׂ. Both words can be used to designate the beginning of something, but the primary meaning of רֹאשׂ is head, the literal heads of people or more metaphorically for a leader of the people. We’ll see that the Greek counterpart of רֵאִשׂית shares this same relationship in common.

In the Beginning . . . was the Word

If you followed the steps above to the article in Mounce’s Dictionary on the English word beginning, you can scroll down to read the entries for the Greek words associated with this idea in the New Testament. Or you can Lookup beginning from John 1:1 to access the article. Here’s a screenshot from the NT entry with John 1:1 in the Main Window.

Notice how the Greek word for beginning (ἀρχή, archē) expresses both the concept of beginning and ruler. This is how Mounce describes it in the first paragraph:

Similar to the verb archō, archē means both “beginning” and “ruler”. The double meaning of this Gk. word is derived from the idea that something long ago put the world into motion and established the rules by which the world itself is obligated to obey. This philosophy explains why archē is used in the NT to denote both the beginning of something (Jn. 1:1, “In the “beginning” was the Word”; cf. 1:2; 1 Jn. 1:1; 2:7, 13, 14, 24) and the person or thing that exercises authority over others (“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and the authorities, do not worry,” Lk. 12:11; cf. 20:20).

The Word was “In the Beginning” and is “the Beginning.”

It’s clear that John describes the Word as present with God in the beginning of the creation account contained in Genesis 1. John is clearly pointing back to the beginning. But he also seems to be pointing forward. We see this in his description of the Word as the light that shines in the darkness (Jn. 1:5) and the true light which was coming into the world (Jn. 1:9). He also uses ἀρχή later in his Gospel to refer to the beginning of Jesus’ miracles and ministry (2:11; 6:64; 8:25; 15:27; 16:4). If we add in how he uses the same word in his first epistle (1 Jn. 1:1; 2:7, 13, 14, 24; 3:8, 11), then this further reinforces the point. Jesus, the eternal Word, was in the beginning with God when he created the heavens and the earth. And he is the beginning of a new creation, the founder and ruler of a new world.

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