Deus criou

Growing up in Brazil, this was the first Bible verse I ever memorised, and my grandmother taught it to me in Portuguese: no princípio, Deus criou os céus e a terra. No matter how much theology I have studied since then, no matter how many commentaries I have read or lectures I have attended, I always return here. This is the foundation on which everything else stands. Before the law, before the prophets, before the gospel narratives, before the epistles — there is this: God exists, and He made all of this. Every other claim Scripture makes depends on this one being true. If God created the heavens and the earth, then He has the authority and the love to redeem them. And if He can redeem creation, He can redeem me. That is not a small thing to say before breakfast.