Kent P. Jackson on the Use of Elohim/God in Genesis 1:1

  

GENESIS 1 ¹In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Kent P. Jackson, Genesis: A New English Translation with The Joseph Smith Translation and Commentary [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2025], 3)

 

 

1:1 God Hebrew ‘elohim, which serves, just as does the English word god, as a common noun referring to any god (for example, 1 Kings 11:33) and as a name-title for the true God, as in this verse. To distinguish God the Father from his Son, Jesus Christ, Latter-day Saints typically use Elohim as the name of the Father and Jehovah as the name of his Son. In the Old Testament, both names refer to Jehovah. (Kent P. Jackson, Genesis: A New English Translation with The Joseph Smith Translation and Commentary [Provo, Utah: BYU Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2025], 6)