THE ENGLISH PHRASE ‘IN THE BEGINNING’ OF GENESIS 1:1 AND JOHN 1:1
The English word 'in' is a translation of the Greek word ἐν, a preposition with the dative meaning ‘in, on, at; near, by, before; among, within; by, with, into (= ἐἴς); to, for (rarely); ἐν τῷ with infinitive during, while, as. Newman, Barclay M. (1971) Greek-English Dictionary of the New Testament. London: UBS
Of all those Greek references, English has chosen ‘in’ for translation of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1, which in its dictionaries (e.g. Random House Webster’s College Dictionary, 2nd edition 1971) means the following:
1.Used to indicate inclusion within space, a place, or limits ( in the park)
2.Used to indicate inclusion within something abstract or immaterial (in autumn)
3.Used to indicate inclusion within occurrence during a period or limit of time ( a task done in ten minutes)
4.Used to indicate limitation or qualification, as of situation, relation, manner, action, e.t.c. (to speak in a whisper.
These English translations, by themselves, do not help Luvale translation in the context of the revealed being of God as the I A M, the ever-existent One. In Luvale, the word ‘in’ is represented as mu, a Bantu nominal prefix for location (Locative) which means some of these: ‘inside, through, within, among, out of, going into’. If the first three words of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 were to be translated literary, they would be ‘mu- -ku- -putuk- -a’, therefore mukuputuka and rendered as ‘just started’, or ‘within the beginning’. Using ‘just started’, the perceived meaning would be as in ‘The rain has just started falling’, ‘I have just started the job’, ‘The engine has just started running’. When these senses are applied to either of the two Bible references, it would be Mukuputuka, Kalunga atangile melu namavu. (Gen. 1:1)‘God had just started creating the heavens and the earth/Within the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth; Mukuputuka Lizu kwapwipenga… (John 1:1) ‘Word had just started being there…’/’Within the beginning, Word was being there…’
However, with the Biblical comparisons of what the Bible seems to suggest of the nature of God, it shows that He existed outside time because the beginning, as indicated in Genesis, undoubtedly shows a projection of the bringing into existence of all that is narrated as done by One outside it. Therefore, instead of the word ‘in’ being used in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 the way the English renders it, there seems to be the sense of Chakuputukilako ‘that which is began with’ so that the two verses may read as Chakuputukilako, Kalunga atangile melu namavu. ‘To begin with, God created the heavens and the earth; Chakuputukilako, Lizu kwapwilenga … ‘To begin with, Word was already there …’ This sets God, and Word outside the creation and recognises both as Creator. The English word 'in' confines them within and part of the beginning of creation.
Other perceptions are Hakuputuka ‘upon beginning’and Kukuputuka ‘at the beginning’.
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Good thoughts! For me, I had always interpreted these two passages as saying "At the time we consider "the beginning", God/The Word was already there and He ..." This is a new thought that "in" could be interpreted as being within time. I saw "in the beginning" as an unit that referenced a specific time (i.e., the beginning) without necessarily indicating God's place in that timeframe.
Thank you, Jill Goring, Stuart Thiessen, greetings. I had always never been able to understand that English 'in the beginning' in the context of my language, let alone within my study of English at school or university. It is only the interation with Greek that has helped clarify and confirm my hoped for meaning of the phrase. It is my desire that the two verses may be understood this way, within the verses themselves, than by supposition from surrounding scripture only, even though the individual and particular translation may have the word 'in' within the verse.
Chris Pluger! Greetings! Long time. Good to hear from you. Yes, I can see you, too, have avoided our Zambian translation of the English ''in'' into" mu" and used the variant of Greek ἐν, "at/on/upon" to realise "pa" to have "po". So, "potatika" can be understood as "at the beginning/ upon beginning/just began", right? My regards to the Nsenga team.
Many scholars think that the beginning in Genesis is the beginning of God's creative work of creation as opposed to creation from nothing (which is thereby in no way negated). In either case God is assumed in Genesis to have been around somehow, but that time itself begins (as indeed it must from our perspective) with the creation of the universe (either artfully or out of nothing). These kinds of thoughts are not easily thought, much less captured easily in language.