Unearthing Genesis 1:1 | Part 3

The Sapphire Review Vol. 2 | No. 16 • April 18, 2025

Apr 18, 2025

Summary Statement

A concise overview of our understanding of Genesis 1:1 will now be presented. In the succeeding parts of this series — “Unearthing Genesis 1:1” — the interpretation will be more thoroughly explored.

Key Definitions

Before we begin, the key words of the Genesis creation account must be defined. How shall we define them? We will acknowledge no other definitions except those which the context itself assigns to its own terms.

The first and foremost of all definitions in the creation account are those things which God specifically gave names to. Of the names given by God, there are five:

“Day” is the name of the light1
“Night” is the name of the darkness2
“Heaven” is the name of the firmament3
“Earth” is the name of the dry-land4
“Seas” is the name of the gathering together of the waters5

Secondly, there are also those definitions in the form of parallelisms, which, although not formally given names as those aforementioned, are nonetheless proper definitions. Such parallelisms are different words or phrases that hold the same or nearly the same meaning, otherwise known as a synonym.

There are three such definitions:

“Without form, and void” is synonymous with darkness6
“The face of the deep” is synonymous with the face of the waters7
Each “day” is synonymous with the evening and the morning8

The first definition of “without form, and void” as darkness is not identical, but nearly identical in meaning. The former informs our understanding of darkness in this particular context, and the latter further qualifies what is meant by “without form, and void.”

The second definition is as identical of a synonym as you can get while still importing additional value.

The third definition is somewhat a combination of the prior two examples. It has an identical meaning, but in the form of a description, which, like the first, attributes greater detail and qualification to what is precisely meant by “day.”

Genesis 1:1 is the Summary (Introduction)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

Herein the first verse, Moses succinctly introduces to the reader what God created and made in the whole beginning (the six days of the creation and the generations thereof) in the form of a summary statement and introduction (or title). “The heaven” and “the earth” are the primary subjects of the narrative which will be explicitly defined within the narrative that follows. Each of these subjects have only one definition as given to them in-context.

As a summary statement and introduction, the first verse must necessarily use the same terms employed in the narrative that it is summarizing and introducing. The heaven must be the firmament called “Heaven”9 and the earth must be the dry-land called “Earth”.10 Therefore, because the firmament had its beginning (forming) on the second day,11 and the dry-land had its beginning (appearing) on the third day,12 the only way to understand Genesis 1:1 is as a summary statement and introduction.

“Appear” is the Antithesis of “Without Form, and Void”

When JEHOVAH commanded the earth to APPEAR on the third day, the earth, at that time, ceased to be without form, and void (unformed; unbegun; unseen) and was then formed, begun, and seen. These are antitheses of “without form, and void.”

The earth cannot be said to have been “formed without form” or “formed unformed”. This would be the same as saying that the earth was “created uncreated”, “made unmade”, or “established unestablished” — as formed is biblically synonymous with created,13 made,14 and established.15 Thus, “formed without form” (or formed unformed) is an oxymoron. Therefore, not only is “appear” the biblical antithesis of “without form, and void”, but “appear” is also biblically synonymous with “formed” (and by extension, created, made, etc.) in this context.

The earth was FORMED (created) and first seen at no time prior to its appearing on the third day when GOD SPOKE, and commanded it into existence — at which time it was no longer “without form, and void”. But surely some will point out that only the earth is recorded as having “appeared” (not the firmament). This is true, but it is also true that the dry-land called Earth is the only thing that is recorded as “without form, and void”, which is to be expected given that these two conditions are biblically antithetical to one another. In this context, without form, and void is non-existence, whereas appeared is existence from non-existence by the word of God.

Recall from Part 1 and Part 2 that those “things which are seen” (that is, visible), “were not made of things which do appear”16 (or, which have a beginning). Why? Because all things were FRAMED (formed and made) by the word of God, and God, the Father, did not appear because He is without beginning). So although not explicitly stated, it is also true that the firmament called Heaven was “WITHOUT FORM, and VOID” (unformed and unseen; i.e. nonexistent and darkness) BEFORE it FIRST APPEARED (when it was created from non-existence to existence) and was thus SEEN on the second day.

Modern vs. Classical Usage/Definition of “Summary”

Now it must be admitted that to call Genesis 1:1 a “summary” statement according to the modern definition of the word “summary” would be a misnomer, since in contemporary use it is representative of a brief abstract that recapitulates some previously stated account.

However, our employment of the word summary follows its classical, etymological usage as “an abridged account; an abstract, abridgement or compendium, containing the sum or substance of a fuller account.”17 The word summary comes from the Medieval Latin summarius meaning “of or pertaining to the sum or substance,” which itself is from the Latin summa meaning “whole, totality, gist.”18

Genesis 1:2 is the Start of the “Narrative Proper”

And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Genesis 1:2

The second verse records the start of “the narrative proper” in which the earth is introduced to the reader as yet nonexistent and vacant; uncreated and empty; unformed and unseen — it is MISSING from the scene, for the dry-land called Earth is WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID until its APPEARING and BEGINNING on the third day.

WITHOUT FORM, AND VOID, and DARKNESS — that is, nothingness, emptiness, and absence of light, is upon the face of the deep (the undivided, ungathered waters), and therefore, in-context, the environment wherein the earth has yet to appear (begin) may rightly be considered the deep, dark watery abyss.

This deep, dark watery abyss is already present when it is introduced to the reader, for no record is given of its creation by the word of God. Therefore, its creation (beginning) is necessarily outside of the context of the creation account of this world. Hence, there was, as yet at that time, NOTHING that God had created that pertains to our creation (in six days).

Time necessarily begins in this verse when the Spirit of God enters the darkness (Night) that pervades the (undivided and ungathered) deep, watery abyss. This darkness, in conjunction with the presence of God’s Spirit, marks the start of the evening of the first day. The darkness is nothing in itself but the absence of light and creation, but through the triumph of God’s word over the darkness of non-creation, JEHOVAH establishes the Day (evening/morning) cycle.

Therefore, in-context,19 the second verse marks the start of “the beginning” (of the creation in six days) AND the start of the first day (or first light), which consists of “the evening and the morning”. The Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters is the first event recorded in the narrative.

Impossibility of a “Gap” Interpretation

In this understanding, a gap hypothesis is impossible between verses one and two because there is no time elapsing between verses one and two. The narrative cannot commence in the first verse when “the heaven” and “the earth” are properly understood as the firmament and the dry-land, as defined and qualified within the narrative itself. Thus, it is herein the second verse that the narrative starts, in which the evening-morning [day] cycle commences.

Creation (as pertaining to this world) cannot have occurred before the start of the evening herein verse two, otherwise, the first creative act comes BEFORE the start of the beginning and is consequently placed OUTSIDE of the narrative proper. This is such an error that does, in fact, inevitably result in the possibility of a gap hypothesis. But by simply abiding to the terms that actually qualify the start of the first day, as defined by the narrative itself, this problem has been entirely avoided.

Genesis 1:3 is the First Creative Act

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:3

Following what we have just learned from the preceding verse, little needs to be said concerning this point. The foundational principle of Creation by the word of God has already been established in Part 1, and therefore, we can be confident that this third verse records the first creative act at God’s [first spoken] word in the Genesis 1 account.

Creation does not precede THE WORD OF GOD — be it the spoken word or the only begotten of the Father,20 for without [the Word] was not any thing made that was made.21 Therefore, LIGHT is the first created thing, and that light is called the Day. Therefore, the first act of creation is the triumphant command of JEHOVAH’s Word OVERCOMING the darkness (absence of light and creation) that previously enveloped the deep, watery abyss.