What do the introductory words of the Book of Genesis mean: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”?

The expression “in the beginning” (Gen. 1:1) cannot signify a certain point in time, for time had not yet come into being. Rather, this phrase is meant to indicate that the physical world has a beginning and is not — as some philosophers claimed — beginningless, sharing in God’s eternity.

This is what St. Basil affirms in his book The Hexaemeron ( The Six Days of Creation for he says that the expression “in the beginning” does not refer to a point in time, or else the “beginning” would itself have begun, and must have its own beginning and end; and this beginning of the “beginning” would have its own beginning; and thus we would be lost in an infinite regression of beginnings. Rather, “the beginning” here means the First Cause, and not a quantity of time, as in the verse: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov. 9:10).¹¹⁴⁵

He says, “Do not then imagine, O man! That the visible world is without a beginning; and because the celestial bodies move in a circular course, and it is difficult for our senses to define the point where the circle begins, do not believe that bodies impelled by a circular movement are, from their nature, without a beginning.”¹¹⁴⁶ He again says, “That which was begun in time is condemned to come to an end in time.”¹¹⁴⁷ Here he is not talking about a point in time at the start of the chain of causation; rather, he is refuting the idea that the world is beginningless. Even in the absence of time, there was a Beginning outside of time, when the world was still non-existent. Science has come to confirm the non-eternity of matter.¹¹⁴⁸

Besides this literal or historical interpretation of “in the beginning,” many Fathers espouse an allegorical or spiritual interpretation. In their view, “in Christ Jesus” or “in the Word of God” the heavens and the earth were created. Here are some of their words about this topic:

1145 See St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.6 (NPNF II/8:55).

1146 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.3 (NPNF II/8:53).

1147 St. Basil of Caesarea, Hexaemeron 1.3 (NPNF II/8:53).

1148 See Fawzy Elias, The Six Days of Creation (sitat 'ayaam alkhaliqa, Arabic) (Sporting, Alexandria: St. George’s Coptic Orthodox Church, 1995): pp. 11–14.

St. Augustine says, “The Son Himself is the Beginning. When the Jews asked Him: Who are you? He answered them, ‘I am from the beginning’ (John 8:25). Likewise in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”¹¹⁴⁹

The scholar Origen says, “What is the beginning of all things except our Lord and ‘Savior of all,’ Jesus Christ ‘the firstborn of every creature’ (1 Tim. 4:10; Col. 1:15)? In this beginning, therefore, that is, in His Word, ‘God made heaven and earth’ as the evangelist John also says in the beginning of his Gospel: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made’ (John 1:1–3). Scripture is not speaking here of any temporal beginning, but it says that the heaven and the earth and all things which were made were made ‘in the beginning,’ that is, in the Savior.”¹¹⁵⁰

St. Didymus the Blind says, “If you were to think that the beginning is a particular time, on examination you would find it presupposes time; the word beginning has not one meaning, but many. In fact, sometimes it means the cause, as in this case: heaven and earth exist in the cause … everything was made by the Word, remember, and in Christ Jesus ‘there were created things on earth and things in heaven, things visible and invisible.’”¹¹⁵¹

In short, we can say that God created the world, and that this creation is its beginning, and the world is not co-eternal with God. Further, the Word of God is He who is necessarily without beginning, the Creator of all.