Today’s reading covers the opening of Scripture. To give a bit of background, the typically accepted view of Genesis in Baptist life is that it was written by Moses as part of the Pentateuch (which Jesus said came from Moses, so unless you want to dismiss what Jesus said or try to explain it away, I’d say we can trust Him). That makes Genesis part of the oldest section of the Bible.
(We tend to think Job may be as old, but that’s it.)
Genesis covers the beginnings, starting with Creation. The first chapter starts with nothing present but God. There is no discussion of the origin of God because God transcends creation, being the One who is always.
That’s the key here: Genesis 1 and 2 are not out to explain the origin of God. The goal is to explain the origin of humanity, more specifically the origin of the Israelites.
The other quick thing to note is that these 2 chapters are the only 2 chapters in the Old Testament where everything is alright. They form, with Revelation 21 and 22, the only 4 chapters to record creation and humanity as we ought to see it. It’s worth noting that the slice of time that we live in will pale in comparison to the amount of time where we need no revealed words from God because we will be in His presence, just as it is immeasurable what was happening before we turn the page to Genesis 3—presence is better than text. But for now, what we have is text and the presence of the Spirit, who we have trouble sometimes heeding, to guide us in the text.
Further reading: the ESV Study Bible and the CSB Study Bible have good notes on this, the Creation Ministries International website is also good. There are blog posts here and here that deal with these chapters of Genesis.
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