beginning'?  At first, nothing would seem simpler.  Yet 'in' the preposition,

like nearly all prepositions, is related primarily to space, as 'in the

room', 'in the earth'.  Then what is 'the beginning'?  The beginning of what?

It cannot mean the beginning of time, for that belongs to the realm of

philosophy and could not be so baldly introduced here.  The passage may

indicate that 'as a beginning' (there is no article 'the') God thus created

the heaven and the earth, with the implied sequel, that this creation was but

a preface to something greater.  In the light of Revelation 3:14, where

Christ Himself is said to be 'the beginning of the creation of God', and in

the light of Colossians 1:16, 'For in (en) Him were all things created', the

words of Genesis 1 may point to the Person of the Lord Himself rather than to

some moment of time.  Many of these baffling problems yield their precious

message to the humbler seeker, but when all is done, the wisest and the most

learned, together with the ignorant and the dull, still confess:

'For now we see by means of a mirror, in an enigma'.

Subsequently we hope to explore this necessary limitation of revealed truth

that uses the language of men to speak of heavenly and invisible realities,

so that we may learn to speak with becoming humility of things that are

confessedly beyond our reach and ken.

When in a subject like this we use the term 'idea', we run the risk of

being dubbed Platonists and Hegelians or what other school of philosophy has

conjured with the relation of the 'idea' to the visible world.  We must

therefore ask the reader to believe that while Plato, Descartes, Locke and

Hegel have all dealt with the meaning of the 'idea', and consequently have

left their mark on the minds of men, yet a man who has never heard of these

philosophers, has ideas and has some conception of what is intended by the

term.  One of the definitions given by the Oxford Dictionary is:

'Any product of mental apprehension or activity, existing in the mind

as an object of knowledge or thought'.

In Hegelianism an idea is 'The absolute truth of which

all phenomenal existence is the expression'.  Without endorsing, or even

pretending to follow Hegel, let the reader ponder for a moment what is

implied in this second definition.  Absolute truth, supposes a realm of being

or at least of thought, which is but partly realised in the limited realm of

sense and matter, known as 'phenomenal existence'.  Philo, who flourished

about the middle of the first century, transformed the Platonic ideas into

Divine thoughts, having their seat in the Logos, and says 'This is the

doctrine of Moses, not mine'.

Let us be clear concerning the meaning of the word 'phenomenon'.  In

popular language, anything that is extra -ordinary is described as

'phenomenal', but this is a secondary and figurative use of the word.  Most

readers are aware that the word epiphany which is used of the Second Coming

of our Lord, means 'appearing' or 'manifestation', and the term phenomena in

philosophy refers to the subjects of the visible world of which the senses

take note.  Phaino is used in Hebrews 11:3:

'Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of

God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do