The word ‘in’ has me intrigued.
I looked the word up on my Dictionary.com app and did a quick search. Here are a few of my findings.
In-as a preposition, it is used to indicate inclusion within, indicate limitation or qualification, situation or condition, relation, means, direction, motion or purpose.
So, what does inclusion mean? According to the dictionary app: the act of including, state of including.
Include/including: to be made up of, contain.
What does ‘indicate’ mean? As a verb it means to be a sign of, to point to or out, to show, to state or express. When used as a verb, to be or give a sign, to point out or show.
When I put these together I can rephrase Genesis 1:1 as to point to the beginning, or included in the beginning, a sign that is included in the beginning. The act or state of pointing out, showing. What about ‘point out the purpose’ of the beginning.
So much nuance in a little word. Why does it matter? I am a word geek at times. I don’t know why certain words grab my attention. When I am intrigued I try to pause and consider the what, the why and maybe even the how.
The picture I have in my mind when I hear the word “in” is being surrounded by something. Whether it be me being ‘in my shirt’, or when baking I put flour ‘in the recipe’, or maybe placing something ‘in the cabinet’. There are so many pictures that come to mind when I try to picture the word ‘in’. Using this word as the very first word in the Bible must be important.
Some questions that come to mind are:
What or who is in?
What or who is in where?
Could the wording just as easily be “God, in the beginning”, or “God, the beginning in”? Does it matter? Why am I so intrigued by these questions?
Maybe the new year has me thinking of new beginnings and what they mean in my life. I know I won’t figure them out today, or any day soon. I do know thinking stretches my mind and heart.
A Net of Hope 