There is no crisis in Genesis 1:1. No cry for help. No enemy at the gate. No desperate people calling out for a God they do not yet know.
There is nothing at all.
And then, without preamble, without introduction, without a single word of explanation about who He is or where He came from, the Bible opens with a statement so massive that we have spent thousands of years examining it and have not reached the bottom:
No defense of His existence. No argument for why you should believe in Him. No autobiography. The text does not pause to establish credentials. It simply assumes the one thing that everything else depends on — God was already there — and moves forward.
Every other name in this book will be revealed in a moment of crisis or need. A slave woman alone in a wilderness. A father holding a knife over his son. A nation trapped between an army and a sea. But this name — the first name — is revealed in the moment before all moments, in the silence before the first word was spoken, in the nothing before there was anything at all.
And the name the text uses for the God who was already there is Elohim.
The Name
The Hebrew word Elohim is the very first name for God in Scripture. It appears in the first sentence of the first verse of the first book. Before any other name is given — before Yahweh, before El Shaddai, before any of the compound names that will fill the pages of this book — the reader meets Elohim.
The word is related to the Hebrew root El, which carries the sense of might, power, and strength. El is the most basic word for God in the Old Testament — short, strong, foundational. Elohim builds on that root, but with a feature that has drawn the attention of Hebrew students for centuries.
Elohim is plural in form.
The -im ending in Hebrew is the standard masculine plural. Seraph becomes seraphim. Cherub becomes cherubim. And Eloah — the singular form of the word for God — becomes Elohim. The form is unmistakably plural.
But in Genesis 1:1, this plural noun takes a singular verb. The Hebrew word translated "created" is bara — and it is third person masculine singular. Not "Gods created." God — plural in form — created, singular in action. The grammar itself holds a tension: a plural name doing a singular thing.
This is a grammatical fact, not an interpretation we are imposing. The Hebrew text simply does this. And it does it consistently — throughout Genesis 1 and throughout the Old Testament, Elohim regularly takes singular verbs, singular adjectives, and singular pronouns when referring to the God of Israel.
What does this mean? We should be honest about what the text does and does not tell us. The plural form of Elohim does not, by itself, fully explain the nature of God. His nature is so far above us that we can only know what He has chosen to reveal — and He chose to reveal it progressively. The Spirit hovers over the waters in Genesis 1:2. God says "Let Us make man in Our image" in Genesis 1:26. The Angel of the Lord speaks as God throughout the Old Testament. And in the fullness of time, the Son comes in the flesh and the Spirit is poured out on the church. Scripture reveals the Father, the Son, and the Spirit — one God — not through a single proof text but through the unfolding of the entire biblical story.
But the grammar is suggestive. The very first name Scripture uses for God carries a plurality within it — a plurality that is never polytheism, because the verbs are always singular. One God, but something within His nature that a simple singular word could not contain. The text plants a seed in its very first sentence that will not fully bloom for centuries. And it does so without commentary, without explanation, as if to say: you will understand this later. For now, know that the God who was there before the beginning is greater and more complex than any single word can hold.
What Bara Tells Us
There is another word in Genesis 1:1 that deserves careful attention — the verb bara, translated "created."
Bara is used in the Old Testament exclusively of God. Human beings make, build, form, and fashion. But they do not bara. This verb is reserved throughout the Hebrew Scriptures for divine creative action — bringing into existence something that did not exist before. It is used in Genesis 1:1 for the creation of the heavens and the earth. It is used in Genesis 1:21 for the creation of living creatures. It is used in Genesis 1:27 — three times in a single verse — for the creation of human beings in God's image.
The word itself communicates something about the nature of Elohim: this is a God who does not work with pre-existing material someone else provided. He does not reshape what was already there. He originates. He brings forth. He creates from nothing — or more precisely, from Himself, by His own will and power.
When the reader meets God for the first time in Scripture, this is the first thing they learn about Him: He creates. He is the origin of everything. Whatever exists, exists because Elohim made it so.
Before All Things
The opening phrase of Genesis 1:1 — "In the beginning" — is itself a statement about the nature of God, though it can be easy to read past it.
"In the beginning" marks the beginning of time, space, and matter. It is the starting point of the created order. But notice carefully: God is not described as beginning in that moment. He is described as already present in it. "In the beginning, God..." He did not come into existence when creation began. He was there when it started — and the necessary implication is that He was there before it started.
The rest of Scripture confirms this in language that leaves no room for ambiguity. Moses — the same Moses who will later stand before the burning bush and hear the name Yahweh for the first time — writes in Psalm 90:
"Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
— Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains. Before the earth. From everlasting to everlasting. The God who appears in Genesis 1:1 has no origin story because He has no origin. He does not begin. He simply is.
Isaiah, centuries later, puts it this way:
"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable."
— Isaiah 40:28
The "Everlasting God" — El Olam — is a name we will return to in the "For Further Study" section of this chapter. But the point Isaiah makes here is the same point Genesis 1:1 makes without saying it directly: this God does not begin, does not end, does not tire, and does not depend on anything outside Himself. He simply was, and is, and will be.
And if that is who He is, then everything else in this book follows from it. The God who will later provide for Abraham, heal the waters at Marah, fight the battle at Rephidim, and speak peace to Gideon is not a God scrambling to respond to crises He did not foresee. He is the God who was already there — before the crisis, before the need, before the question was asked.
The God Who Needed Nothing
There is something else Genesis 1:1 establishes that is easy to miss but essential to everything this book is about: Elohim created, but He did not need to.
Nothing in the text suggests that God created because He was lonely, or incomplete, or lacking something that creation would supply. The heavens and the earth are not a solution to a divine problem. They are the overflow of a God who is, in Himself, entirely sufficient.
This matters for a specific reason. Every name of God that follows in this book is a name revealed in relationship — God responding to human need, meeting human crisis, providing what human beings lacked. And every one of those responses is voluntary. He heals because He chooses to, not because He must. He provides because He wills it, not because His nature requires it. He shows up because He is good, not because He is compelled.
A God who needed creation would be a God whose goodness toward us was ultimately self-serving — He would provide for us because He needs us, and that would make every act of provision merely transactional. But a God who needed nothing and created anyway — who entered into relationship with beings He did not require — is a God whose every act of provision, healing, protection, and presence is pure grace. He did not need Hagar, but He saw her. He did not need Abraham, but He provided for him. He did not need Israel, but He delivered them.
Elohim is the name that establishes this. The God who was already there, who existed before all things, who created from His own sufficiency, is the God who will choose — freely, voluntarily, at great cost — to show up for people who have nothing to offer Him in return.
The New Testament Witness
The New Testament reaches back to Genesis 1:1 repeatedly, and every time it does, it deepens what the opening verse of Scripture reveals.
John's Gospel opens with deliberate echoes of Genesis:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
— John 1:1–3
John is doing something remarkable here. He takes the opening phrase of Genesis — "In the beginning" — and applies it not only to the Father but to the Word, who is Christ. The Word was not created in the beginning. The Word was already there, with God, and was God. And through Him, all things were made. The Elohim of Genesis 1:1, John tells us, includes the One who would later be born in Bethlehem and named Immanuel. The last chapter of this book was present in the first verse of Scripture.
Paul makes the same point in Colossians:
"For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
— Colossians 1:16–17
Before all things. All things created through Him and for Him. And in Him all things hold together — present tense. The Elohim who created in Genesis 1 is not a God who set things in motion and stepped away. He is the God in whom the entire created order currently holds together. He is sustaining it right now, in this moment, as you read this sentence.
The writer of Hebrews adds one more layer:
"You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain."
— Hebrews 1:10–11a
The heavens and the earth — the very things Elohim created in Genesis 1:1 — will perish. But He remains. The creation is temporary. The Creator is not. The first name in Scripture is also the most enduring reality in the universe.
The Shadow
Every other chapter in this book will apply the shadow framework we laid out in the Introduction — Egypt as our bondage, the wilderness as our life of faith, the Promised Land as the life God calls us into. But this chapter stands before the shadow begins, because Elohim stands before the story begins.
This is the name for the person whose story has not started yet.
Before you knew you needed God — before the crisis, before the diagnosis, before the loss, before the sin that sent you running — Elohim was already there. Not waiting to see if you would call on Him. Not coming into existence the moment you needed a higher power. Already there. Already sufficient. Already creating, sustaining, and holding together the world you were about to be born into.
Your story has a first verse, just as the Bible does. And the God who was present in the first verse of Scripture is the God who was present in the first verse of yours. He was there before you drew your first breath. He was there before your parents met. He was there before the foundations of the world — and Ephesians 1:4 tells us that He chose you in Christ "before the foundation of the world." The God who created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 had you in mind before He spoke the first word.
That is the kind of God Elohim is. Not a God who reacts. A God who was already there.
And if He was already there — before everything, before anything, before you — then nothing you will face in this life will catch Him by surprise. Nothing will arrive before He does. Whatever mountain you will climb, whatever wilderness you will walk, whatever sea will stand before you with no way through — He was there first. He is there now. And He will be there still when the story is finished.
Praying His Name
If you have ever opened your mouth to pray and not known where to begin — if you have felt the weight of a need so large or a situation so tangled that the words would not come — there is a starting point.
Start with Elohim.
Not because you have figured out what to say. Not because you have organized your thoughts or cleaned up your life or found the right formula. Start with the God who was there before the beginning, who is before all things, in whom all things hold together. Start with the simple, staggering reality that the God you are speaking to is not new to your situation. He is not hearing about it for the first time. He has been there since before there was a "there" to be in.
You do not have to bring God up to speed. You do not have to explain the context. He was there before the context existed. Begin where Scripture begins — with the God who was already there — and let everything else flow from that.
For Further Study
Genesis 1:1–2:3 — The full creation account
Psalm 90:1–2 — From everlasting to everlasting
Isaiah 40:28–31 — The Everlasting God does not grow weary
John 1:1–3 — In the beginning was the Word
Colossians 1:15–17 — By Him all things were created
Hebrews 1:10–12 — You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth
Ephesians 1:3–4 — Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world
Related names:
El Elyon — God Most High (Genesis 14:18–20). When Melchizedek blesses Abraham, he calls God "God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth." The Most High God is the God above all — above every power, every authority, every rival claim. This title appears throughout the Psalms (Psalm 7:17, 47:2, 57:2, 78:35) and in Daniel's visions of the Ancient of Days.
El Olam — The Everlasting God (Genesis 21:33). After making a covenant with Abimelech at Beersheba, Abraham plants a tamarisk tree and calls on the name of the Lord, the Everlasting God. This name emphasizes what Genesis 1:1 assumes — God is not bound by time. He does not begin and He does not end.
One Question to Sit With
If Elohim was already there before your story began, what does that change about how you see the chapter of your life you are currently living?
One Thing to Do
Open your Bible to Genesis 1:1. Read the verse aloud, slowly. Then sit with it for sixty seconds — not analyzing it, not studying it, just letting the weight of it settle. The God who created the heavens and the earth is the God you are about to talk to. Let that be enough to begin.
"Before the mountains were born or You gave birth to the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."
— Psalm 90:2