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Gen.1:1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Many believe (as, for example, it is written in the dispute between Jason and Papiscus, as Tertullian argues in his book against Praxeus, and also as Hilary argues in the explanation of one psalm) that the Hebrew text says: “In the Son God created heaven and earth.” This is fiction, as evidenced by the essence of the subject itself. After all, the Seventy Interpreters, and Symmachus, and Theodotion translated “in the beginning.” And the Hebrew text says bresith (בְּרֵאשִׁית) (which Aquila translated “at the head”), and not baben (בבן), which corresponds to “in the son.” Therefore this expression may be taken as referring to Christ rather by its meaning than by its literal translation. Certification is given twice that Christ is the Creator of heaven and earth: both at the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, which is the head of all books, and at the beginning of the Gospel of John. Therefore, in the Psalter (Ps. 39:8) He speaks about Himself: “At the head of the book it is written about Me,” that is, at the beginning of the Book of Genesis. And in the Gospel: “All things came into being through Him, and without Him nothing came into being” (John 1:3). You should also know that among the Jews this book is called bresith. It is their custom to name books after their first words. Gen.1:2. “And the Spirit of God moved over the waters.” Instead of what is written in our books as “carried,” the Hebrew text says merefeth ( מְרַחֶ ֖ פֶת ), which can be rendered as “hatched” or “warmed.” It is like a bird reviving the eggs of its chicks with its warmth. From this it becomes clear that we are not talking about the “spirit of the world,” as some believe, but about the Holy Spirit. He is also called the Reviver of everything from the beginning. And if He is the Reviver, then, therefore, He is the Creator. And if the Creator, then God. After all, it is said: “Send Your Spirit, and they will be created” (Ps. 103:30). Gen.1:10. “And He called the gatherings of waters seas.” It should be noted that any body of water, whether salt or fresh, may, according to the peculiarity of the Hebrew language, be called a sea. Therefore, in vain does Porphyry slander that the evangelists called Gennesaret a sea instead of a lake, in order to make the miracle [more striking] before the ignorant by mentioning that the Lord walked “on the sea.” Because any lake and, in general, any accumulation of water can be called a sea.