In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)

The first reference to God in Scripture shows Him as an acting, creating God. (We will come back to the name Yahweh later in our readings.) The word “Elohim” in Genesis 1:1 is a fairly generic term for deity, used commonly in the ancient world of that which people conceive of as beyond the natural realm of the world, with super-human powers, that which controls the human and physical world. Often “elohim” was the tag used to imagine or believe there was some personal force behind the non-human controllable events of nature, such as weather. Every nation had its “elohim” (expressed of course in its own terminology). When wars were fought and won, the elohim of the victorious people was given the credit. The Hebrew word “elohim” was used for those so-called gods as well. For example, the second of the 10 commandments says, “I am the LORD your God (“Elohim”) who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods (“elohim”) before Me” (Ex 20:2-3).

But Elohim of Israel was not a limited territorial deity—He was Elohim over all creation. As John wrote in his gospel account, using the Greek equivalent, “… the Word was God [Theos]… All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (John 1:1, 3). The Elohim of Genesis 1:1 is not an abstract concept, like the Gnostics’ concept of the Absolute One, too distant or too holy to actually create that which is material. Nor was He a deity subject to human foibles and capricious behaviors. Since Elohim created all things, there is nothing before Him or above Him. He answers to no one. While some may charge Him with capriciousness, lacking any accountability, He is in fact accountable, but only to Himself.

At this juncture, we only suggest that if there is any goodness (or sense of goodness) in the world, then He is the author of it, and therefore must be good. Thus, He cannot be capricious. God is the Creator of all beauty and all that is good. In its original state, at every turn, His creation was declared to be “good” (Gen 1:4, 10, 12, etc.). And after completing His creation, including humans, He declared, “It was very good.”

Theologians point out that Elohim created “ex nihilo,” out of nothing. There was no pre-existent material, and creation is not an extension of God Himself (pantheism). He spoke it into existence. If anything exists, then it exists because He thought of it and created it.

Lord, my Creator, though You created everything that exists, You thought of me and created me personally. I look forward to knowing You more.