What does Genesis 1:1 mean when it says God created heaven and earth?
Genesis 1:1 means that in the beginning God called heaven and earth out of nothing. It describes creation from nothing, and John’s Gospel connects that same beginning to the Word, who was with God and was God, the Son who became flesh.
Les teaches that Genesis 1:1 is to be fitted together with John 1:1: “In the beginning, God called out of nothing, heaven and earth,” and “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” He explains that the Father and the Spirit never became flesh, so the Word made flesh is God the Son, Christ. Moving to Colossians 1, Les shows Paul speaking of the Son as the image, the one in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
More Questions
Why does Genesis 1:1 mention both heaven and earth?
Way back in Genesis 1:1, before Israel or Abraham is mentioned, God gives a clue that throughout all His dealings with the human race He is going to constantly divide things between heaven and earth.