Genesis 1:1 Not Introduction

Most of the time books will start off with an introduction. Some books will even use the introduction to help tell you what is going to happen throughout the book. Movies start with dialogue that might set the stage for you. In Genesis there are introductory statements for the main sections of the book. I am not a commentator on the entire book of Genesis. Nor have I read more than a handful of Commentaries on Genesis. But I am very frustrated with anyone who calls verse one an Introduction to Genesis or the Bible.

Introductions to the various sections of Genesis: Look in Chapter 2 verse 4. "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth …" "This is the book of the generations of Adam." "These are the generation of Noah." "Now these are the generations of Terah." "These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham's Son: …" "These are the generations of Esau …" One of the struggles you may find in Genesis is dating when Benjamin is born with reference to Joseph and Pharaoh. But these introductions help you with that, because the generations of Esau split the Jacob story from the Joseph story. These become the introductions to the break down of Genesis.

Now not all of you will agree with this, but in anything they are a continuation from the Chapter 2 Creation Account not the beginning of Chapter one. Chapter one may give a glimpse of the beginning of all things which John 1 reflects back on reminding us that Jesus is eternal. Hopefully you can see why I find it difficult to think of Genesis 1:1 as an introduction. Therefore, in order to put it in a different class my first thought is a separate creation account. Thank you.

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