The Hebrew Bible begins with the word bereshit, commonly translated as “in the beginning.” The Greek form of bereshit is γένησις—Genesis. The root of the Hebrew word is a verb, three letters, ברא—beht, resh, aleph—b, r, a—it means “to create.”[1] In the Hebrew Bible this word in its many forms is used only of God and God’s creative power, that is, of God’s ability to bring about something new. The word doesn’t explain how God does this; it’s not about God creating something from nothing. It is about “God’s extraordinary, sovereign, . . . effortless and fully free”[2] creative power.
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