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All things came into being through Him, that is the primeval creation (John 1: 1-3).
Grace and truth, i.e. the new creation came into being (ginomai) through Him (John 1: 17).
This is the first great comparison. The second is found in John 8: 58 and the
recurring claims introduced by the words "I am".
"Before Abraham came into being (ginomai), I AM."
"I AM the bread of life . . . . . the light of the world . . . . . the good Shepherd . . . . . the
resurrection and the life."
The word `create' is not used in Heb. 1: There we read:
"And Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the
heavens are the works of Thine hands" (Heb. 1: 10),
and the strange fact is that, even though the earth and the heavens were thus brought into
being, "They shall perish . . . . . and wax old as doth a garment". This is revealed in order
that the Hebrews should be prepared to find that some things which had been given as
`foundations', were now to be `left' (Heb. 6: 1); that like the present heavens, the old
covenant "waxeth old (and) is ready to vanish away" (Heb. 8: 13) in favour of the New
Covenant, and that, just as the work of His `fingers', so the Tabernacle `made with hands'
(Heb. 9: 11, 24) was also to be done away. The word `create' is used in Col. 1: 16 and
3: 10 of both the old and the new creations, and this relationship is further enforced by
the repetition of the title "The Firstborn" in Col. 1: 15 in connection with the primeval
creation, and in Col. 1: 18 of the church of the Mystery.
It is evident that these three books, John, Hebrews and Colossians, use their terms
with precision, and the fact that inspiration has so pointed the way, makes it an
established fact and no longer a pleasant theory that "In the beginning" really does mean
in Gen. 1: 1 that the primeval creation was `a kind of firstfruits', pledging the attainment
of the goal of the ages.