`In Him' therefore, all things were created (Col. 1:16); He Himself is

`the beginning' in the New Creation (Col. 1:18) even as He is `the beginning

of the Creation of God' (Rev. 3:14).  We therefore return to Genesis 1:1 and

read with fuller insight and meaning `In the Beginning God created the heaven

and the earth'.  When dealing with the word pleroma, this passage in

Colossians will naturally come up for a more detailed examination.

Christ is `the Beginning' of Genesis 1:1, although at the time of Moses

such a truth was not clearly perceived, just as the significance of the name

Jehovah was not realized before the revelation given in the days of Moses.

What was known as the Creation of the Almighty, is subsequently revealed to

have been the work of Jehovah, the God of Redemption.  In Genesis 1:1 we

learn that Elohim `God' created the heaven and the earth, and subsequently we

learn in John 1, Colossians 1 and Hebrews 1 that all was the work of Him Who

is `The Word', `The Image', the `One Mediator'.  From the beginning, creation

had in view the redemptive purpose of the ages, but just as it would have

been impolitic to have answered the question of the apostles in Acts 1:6

before the time, so the true purpose of Creation was not revealed until man

had sinned and Christ had died for his redemption.

Bara, the word translated create, must now be given

a consideration.  Metaphysics, `the science of things transcending what is

physical or natural', attempts to deal with the question of `being' and in

that department of thought the question of creating `something out of

nothing' naturally arises.  Scripture, however, never discusses this

metaphysical problem.  Even in Genesis 1:1 it does not say, `in the beginning

God created the basic matter of the Universe', it commences with a highly

organized and differentiated universe `heaven and earth'.  The Hebrew word

bara in its primary meaning of `create' is reserved only for the work of God,

not being used of man, except in a secondary sense, and that in five passages

only, out of fifty -four occurrences.  (Josh. 17:15,18; 1 Sam. 2:29; Ezek.

21:19 and 23:47).

Adam is said to be `created', although the `dust of the ground' from

which he was made was in existence long before.  God is said to be the

Creator of Israel (Isa. 43:1,7,15), yet Israel descended from Abraham.  Bara

gives us the Chaldaic word bar `son', which but perpetuates the idea already

recognized in bara.  The Septuagint translates Joshua 17:15 and 18, `thou

shalt clear it', which the A.V. renders `cut down', thereby revealing, as the

lexicographers point out, that bara primarily means `to cut, to carve out, to

form by cutting'.  When we remember that the word `the world' kosmos is

derived from the word kosmeo `to adorn', as with `goodly stones', with `gold'

and `to garnish' as with all manner of precious stones (Luke 21:5; 1 Tim.

2:9; Rev. 21:2,19) we perceive a richer reason for the choice of bara.

The words with which revelation opens, `in the beginning God created

the heavens and the earth' begin to bear deeper significance.

`In Him Who is the beginning of the Creation of God, Elohim, Who was

subsequently known as Jehovah, the God of Redemption, fashioned as one

would a precious stone, the heavens and the earth'.

Creation was dual, from the start.  Not heaven only, but heaven and

earth.  Man was created male and female, and before we read of the

generations of Adam, namely of his descendants, we read of the `generations

of the heavens and the earth' (Gen. 2:4).  Heaven is intimately concerned

with the earth; in the heavens God is `All' (`the Heavens do rule', `as it is