ORIGIN, birth, coming-into-being — from ginomai, 'to become, to come to be'; the noun that titles the first book of the Bible. ⚠ Matthew opens his Gospel with it twice over: 'the book of the genesis (bíblou geneseōs) of Jesus Christ' (1:1) and 'the genesis of Jesus Christ was like this' (1:18) — the first framing the genealogy, the second the birth, so that the two together are one 'genesis'. The phrase is a deliberate echo of the Greek Old Testament, which uses the identical words at Genesis 2:4 ('the book of the genesis of heaven and earth') and Genesis 5:1 ('the book of the genesis of Adam'). Matthew begins the New Testament with the word that begins the Old — a new creation reckoned from Abraham. KJV renders 1:1 'the book of the generation', modern versions 'genealogy' or 'origin'; all lose the audible tie to Genesis that the Greek makes on purpose. → first discussed at Matt 1:1