About the Book

Table of Contents

Part I

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

     

Vol.6: Time and Eternity

BETWEEN THE LINES:
AN ANALYSIS OF GENESIS 1:1-2

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1.  Analysis of Genesis 1:1

Chapter 2.  Analysis of Genesis 1:2

Chapter 3.  The Continuity of Tradition

Appendixes:

1. The Meaning of the Word "Day"

2. The Meaning of the Verb "Make" by Contrast with the Verb "Create"

3. The Meaning of the Phrase "The Foundation of the World"

Publishing History:
1957: Doorway paper No. 11, published privately by Arthur C. Custance
1977: Part III in Time and Eternity, vol.6 in The Doorway Papers Series, Zondervan Publishing Company.
1997: Arthur Custance Online Library (HTML)
2001: 2nd Online Edition (design revisions)

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In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

 

     THIS PAPER is admittedly somewhat "difficult." Every effort was made to clothe the content as far as possible in some kind of garment so that it would not appear altogether as dry bones. However, it is impossible to deal with such a subject from the linguistic point of view without becoming involved in questions of grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, which for most people are not exactly inspiring!
     Yet such a study seemed essential. One does not have the beautiful precision in such matters that is found, for example, in chemistry. But still there must be some attempt to approach exactitude even in the interpretation of an ancient language, and this can become very involved.
     In spite of its difficulties, the Paper is perhaps worthy of careful study: it does not seem that anything comparable has been undertaken previously. Manifestly there will be errors of judgment and failure to interpret the Hebrew correctly. On the whole, however, we believe the Paper takes the essentials of the question into account in one way or another with reasonable objectivity. More could have been said -- but it would have been largely opinion. Somewhere (at least in heaven, hopefully on earth) there is a correct interpretation of these opening verses; this study may be a step in the right direction -- until something more exact and satisfying appears.

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