That dreaded word 'very'

One of the first things any sub editor learns is to avoid using the word 'very'.

Sometimes there are occasions when it is difficult not to use the word but its use in the following sentence is jarring, to say the least: "In the very first book of the Bible, the Book of Genesis we read that God made man and woman in his own image and likeness."

It would be interesting to know what added value the word 'very' gives to the meaning in the sentence. Or is it that it gives the sentence a ring of some sort of phoney holiness?

Indeed, a good example of the spoof that is part of so much of silly 'pious' writing.