On Tue, 10 Apr 2001, Bill Payne wrote:
> Matthew 19:4 - " 'Haven't you read', he replied, 'that at the beginning
> the Creator made them male and female...?' "
>
> Just how long do you think "the beginning" was anyway? :-)
Bill,
It seems relevant to ask `the beginning of what?'. The NASB translation
says, "He who created them from the beginning made them male and female."
There seems to have been some question in the translators' minds
concerning the proper placement of the phrase `in the beginning'. The
parallel passage in Mark 10:10 says, "But from the beginning of creation
God made them male and female." Both here and in II Peter 3:4 the
beginning of creation obviously refers to the end of the creation period.
The word ktisis is often translated as creature, and usually (perhaps
always?) refers to the finished product of creation, which would be timed
as being at the end of the creation process.
Genesis 1:1 uses the word reshith for beginning. This word means the first
part of something and this first part may include a considerable area or
period of time as it does, for example, in Gen. 10:10, Job 42:12, and Jer.
28:1.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
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