Genesis

John Calvin, Alister McGrath, J. I. Packer

• Publisher: Crossway
• Year: 2001
• ISBN:
  9781433517396
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

The wisdom of the ages can still be read in the Crossway Classic Commentaries, which present the very best all-time commentaries on individual books of the Bible. In this newest release, John Calvin explores key passages of Genesis—a book of important beginnings and memorable accounts that lays the foundation of Christianity. Carefully abridged and stylistically adapted for today's reader, Calvin's insights are an excellent guide for every student interested in fathoming the depths of the Bible's first book.

Genesis
Chapter 1

1. In the beginning. To expound the term beginning of Christ is altogether frivolous. Moses simply intends to assert that the world was not complete at its commencement, as it now is, but that it was created an empty chaos of heavens and earth. His language therefore may be explained in this way: When God in the beginning created the heavens and the earth, the earth was empty and waste. He moreover teaches by the word created that what before did not exist was now made; he did not use the term yatsar, which signifies “to frame or form,” but bara, which signifies “to create.” Therefore, his meaning is that the world was made out of nothing. Thus he refutes the folly of those who imagine that unformed matter existed from eternity and who gather nothing else from the narration of Moses than that the world was furnished with new ornaments and received a form of which it was before destitute. This indeed was formerly a common fable among heathens, who had received only an obscure report of the creation and who, according to custom, adulterated the truth of God with strange figments. But for Christian men to labor in maintaining this gross error is absurd and intolerable. Let this then be maintained in the first place—that the world is not eternal but was created by God. There is no doubt that Moses gives the name of heavens and earth to that confused mass that he shortly afterwards (verse 2) calls waters. The reason for this is that this matter was to be the seed of the whole world. Besides, this is the generally recognized division of the world.

God. Moses used the word Elohim, a plural noun. From this the inference is drawn that the three Persons of the Godhead are here noted; but since, as a proof of so great a matter, it appears to me to have little solidity, I will not insist upon this but rather caution readers to beware of uncertain interpretations of this kind. Some think they have testimony against the Arians here, to prove the deity of the Son and of the Spirit, but in the meantime they involve themselves in the error of Sabellius because Moses afterwards says that Elohim had spoken and that the Spirit of the Elohim rested upon the waters. If we suppose three persons are here denoted, there will be no distinction between them. For it will follow both that the Son is begotten by himself and that the Spirit is not of the Father, but of himself. For me it is sufficient that the plural number expresses those powers that God exercised in creating the world. Moreover, I acknowledge that the Scripture, although it recites many powers of the Godhead, yet always recalls us to the Father, and his Word, and his Spirit, as we will shortly see. But those absurdities to which I have alluded forbid us to distort with subtlety what Moses simply declares concerning God himself by applying it to the separate Persons of the Godhead. This, however, I regard as beyond controversy—that from the peculiar circumstance of the passage itself, a title is here ascribed to God, expressing that power that was previously in some way included in his eternal essence.

2. Now the earth was formless and empty. The Hebrews use tohu and bohu when they designate anything empty and confused, or vain and worth nothing. Undoubtedly Moses placed them both in opposition to all created objects that pertain to the form, the ornament, and the perfection of the world. Were we now to take away from the earth all that God added after the time alluded to here, we would have this rude and unpolished, or rather shapeless, chaos. Therefore I regard what he immediately adds— that darkness was over the surface of the deep—as a part of that confused emptiness: The light began to give some external appearance to the world. For the same reason he calls it the deep and waters, since in that mass of matter nothing was solid or stable, nothing distinct.

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. Interpreters have misinterpreted this passage in various ways. The opinion of some that Spirit here means the wind is too weak to require refutation. Those who understand it to mean the Eternal Spirit of God are correct. I now state, in the first place, what (in my judgment) Moses intended. We have already heard that before God had perfected the world, it was a formless mass; he now teaches that the power of the Spirit was necessary in order to sustain it. There are two meanings of the Hebrew word for hovering over that suit the present place—either that the Spirit moved and agitated over the waters in order to change them, or that he brooded over them to cherish them. It makes little difference which of these explanations is preferred; so the reader is left to judge for himself. But if that chaos required the secret work of God to prevent its speedy dissolution, how could this order, so fair and distinct, subsist by itself unless it derived strength from somewhere else? Therefore, the following Scripture was fulfilled: “When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth” (Psalm 104:30). On the other hand, as soon as the Lord takes away his Spirit, all things return to dust and vanish away (Psalm 104:29).

3. And God said. Moses now, for the first time, introduces God in the act of speaking, as if he had created the mass of heaven and earth without a word. Yet John testifies that “without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). It is certain that the world had been begun by the same efficacy of the word by which it was completed. God, however, did not put forth his word until he proceeded to originate light; in the act of distinguishing between light and darkness, his wisdom begins to be conspicuous.

“Let there be light.” It was proper that the light, by means of which the world was to be adorned with such excellent beauty, should be first created. It was not, however, by thoughtlessness or accident that the light preceded the sun and the moon. To nothing are we more prone than to tie down the power of God to those instruments that he uses. The sun and moon supply us with light. And according to our thinking we say that they give light, so that if they were taken away from the world, it would be impossible for any light to remain. But the Lord, by the very order of the creation, bears witness that he holds in his hand the light, which he is able to impart to us without the sun and moon.

4. God saw that the light was good. Here God is introduced by Moses as surveying his work, that he might take pleasure in it. But Moses does this for our sake, to teach us that God has made nothing without a certain reason and design. We should not understand the words of Moses as if God did not know that his work was good until it was finished. Rather, the meaning of the passage is that the work, such as we now see it, was approved by God. Therefore, nothing remains for us but to acquiesce in this judgment of God. This admonition is very useful, for while man ought to apply all his senses in admiring contemplation of the deeds of God, we see what license he allows himself in detracting from them.

5. God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” That is, God willed that there should be a regular vicissitude of days and nights; this followed immediately when the first day ended. God removed the light from view, that night might be the start of another day. What Moses says, however, admits a double interpretation; either this was the evening and morning belonging to the first day, or the first day consisted of the evening and the morning. Whichever interpretation is chosen, it makes no difference in the sense, for he simply understands the day to have been made up of two parts. Further, he begins the day, according to the custom of his nation, with the evening.

The first day. Here the error of those who maintain that the world was made in a moment is manifestly refuted. For it is too violent a cavil to contend that Moses distributes the work that God perfected at once into six days for the mere purpose of conveying instruction. Let us rather conclude that God himself took the space of six days for the purpose of accommodating his works to the capacity of men. God distributed the creation of the world into successive portions, that he might fix our attention and compel us, as if he had laid his hand upon us, to pause and to reflect.

6. And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” The work of the second day was to provide an empty space around the circumference of the earth, that heaven and earth might not be mixed together. The proverb, “to mingle heaven and earth” denotes extreme disorder, and this distinction ought to be regarded as of great importance. If anyone should inquire whether this vacuity did not previously exist, I answer: However true it may be that all parts of the earth were not overflowed by the waters, yet now, for the first time, a separation was ordained, and it replaced the previous confused mixture. Moses describes the special use of this expanse: to divide water from water. This appears to contradict common sense, for it seems quite incredible that there should be water above the heavens. So some people resort to allegory. But to my mind this is a certain principle—namely, that nothing is here mentioned that is not visible in the world. We see the clouds suspended in the air, threatening to fall upon our heads, yet leaving us space to breathe. Those who deny that this is effected by the wonderful providence of God are vainly inflated with the folly of their own minds. We know, indeed, that the rain is naturally produced; but the Great Flood sufficiently shows how speedily we could be overwhelmed by the bursting of the clouds unless the cataracts of heaven were closed by the hand of God. Since, therefore, God created the clouds and placed them above us, we should not forgot that they are restrained by the power of God.

9. And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. It also is an illustrious miracle that the waters by their departure have given place for people to live. Let us, therefore, know that we are dwelling on dry ground because God, by his command, has removed the waters, so they do not flood the whole earth.

11. “Let the land produce vegetation.” Hitherto the earth was naked and barren; now the Lord fructifies it by his word. For though it was already destined to bring forth fruit, yet until new virtue proceeded from the mouth of God, it remained dry and empty. Neither was it naturally fit to produce anything, nor had it a germinating principle from any other source until the mouth of the Lord was opened. What David declares concerning the heavens ought also to be extended to the earth: “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made” (Psalm 33:6). Moreover, it did not happen by chance that herbs and trees were created before the sun and moon. We now see, indeed, that the earth is quickened by the sun to enable it to bring forth its fruits, and God was not ignorant of this law of nature that he has since ordained. But in order that we might learn to refer all things to him, he did not then make use of the sun or moon. He permits us to perceive the efficacy that he infuses into them, so far as he uses their instrumentality; but because we tend to regard as part of their nature properties that they derive from elsewhere, it was necessary that the vigor that they now seem to impart to the earth should be manifest before they were created. We know that the First Cause is self-sufficient, and that intermediate and secondary causes have only what they borrow from this First Cause; but in practice we picture God as poor or imperfect unless he is assisted by second causes. What therefore we declare God to have done by design was indispensably necessary, so that we should learn from the order of the creation itself that God acts through the creatures not as if he needed external help but because it was his pleasure.

When Moses tells us that God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds,” he signifies not only that herbs and trees were then created, but that at the same time both were endued with the power of propagation, in order that their several species might be perpetuated. Since, therefore, we daily see the earth pouring forth to us such riches from its lap, since we see the herbs producing seed, and this seed received and cherished in the heart of the earth until it springs forth, and since we see trees shooting from other trees—all this flows from the same word. If therefore we inquire how it happens that the earth is fruitful, that the germ is produced from the seed, that fruits come to maturity, and that their various kinds are annually reproduced, no other cause will be found but that God has once spoken—that is, has issued his eternal decree—and that the earth and all things proceeding from it are obedient to God’s command, which they always hear.

14. And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky.” Moses passes on to the fourth day, on which the stars were made. God had before created the light, but he now institutes a new order in nature—that the sun should be the dispenser of daytime light, and that the moon and stars should shine by night. And he assigns them this office: to teach us that all creatures are subject to his will and must do what he tells them.

“To separate the day from the night.” He means the artificial day, which begins at the rising of the sun and ends at its setting, for the natural day (which Moses mentions earlier) includes in itself the night. From this we infer that the interchange of days and nights will be continual because the Word of God, who determined that the days should be distinct from the nights, directs the course of the sun to this end.

15. “Let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years.” It must be remembered that Moses does not speak with philosophical acuteness on hidden mysteries but relates those things that are everywhere observed, even by the uneducated, and that are in common use. A twofold advantage is chiefly perceived from the course of the sun and moon. The one is natural; the other applies to civil institutions. Under the term nature, I also comprise agriculture. For although sowing and reaping require human art and industry, it is, nevertheless, natural that the sun, by its nearer approach, warms our earth, introduces the vernal season, and is the cause of summer and autumn. But for the sake of assisting their memory, men number among themselves years and months; this is peculiar to civil polity. Both of these are mentioned here. I must, however, in a few words, state the reason why Moses calls the sun and moon signs, because certain inquisitive persons abuse this passage to give color to their frivolous predictions. I call those men Chaldeans and fanatics who divine everything from the aspects of the stars. Because Moses declares that the sun and moon were appointed for signs, they think themselves entitled to elicit from them anything they please. But this is easy to refute, for they are called signs of certain things, not signs to denote whatever is according to our fancy. What indeed does Moses assert they denote except things belonging to the order of nature? Finally, Moses commemorates the unbounded goodness of God in causing the sun and moon not only to enlighten us, but to provide us with various other advantages for our daily lives. It is obvious that we, simply enjoying the countless bounties of God, should learn not to profane such excellent gifts by our preposterous abuse of them. In the meantime, let us admire this wonderful Artificer who has so beautifully arranged all things above and beneath that they may respond to each other in most harmonious concert.

16.God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. Regarding the greater light, Moses is not analyzing acutely, like the philosophers, the secrets of nature, and these words show that. First he sets the planets and stars in the expanse of the heaven. Astronomers distinguish a number of spheres in the firmament and teach that the fixed stars have their own places in it. Moses mentions two great luminaries. The astronomers prove with strong arguments that the star Saturn, which seems small because of its distance, is larger than the moon.

All this shows that Moses described in popular style what all ordinary men without training and education perceive with their ordinary senses. Astronomers, on the other hand, investigate with great labor whatever the keenness of man’s intellect is able to discover. Such study is certainly not to be disapproved, nor science condemned with the insolence of some fanatics who habitually reject whatever is unknown to them. The study of astronomy not only gives pleasure but is also extremely useful. And no one can deny that it admirably reveals the wisdom of God. Therefore, clever men who expend their labor upon it are to be praised, and those who have ability and leisure ought not to neglect work of that kind.

Moses did not wish to keep us from such study when he omitted the scientific details. But since he had been appointed a guide of unlearned men rather than of the learned, he could not fulfill his duty except by coming down to their level. If he had spoken of matters unknown to the crowd, the unlearned could say that his teaching was over their heads. In fact, when the Spirit of God opens a common school for all, it is not strange that he chooses to teach especially what can be understood by all.

When the astronomer seeks the true size of stars and finds the moon smaller than Saturn, he gives us specialized knowledge. But the eye sees things differently, and Moses adapts himself to the ordinary view.

God has stretched out his hand to us to give us the splendor of the sun and moon to enjoy. Great would be our ingratitude if we shut our eyes to this experience of beauty! There is no reason why clever men should jeer at Moses’ ignorance. He is not explaining the heavens to us but is describing what is before our eyes. Let the astronomers possess their own deeper knowledge. Meanwhile, those who see the nightly splendor of the moon are possessed by perverse ingratitude if they do not recognize the goodness of God.

20. And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” On the fifth day the birds and fishes were created. The blessing of God is added, so that they themselves may produce offspring. Here is a different kind of propagation from that of herbs and trees. There the power of fructifying is in the plants, and that of germinating is in the seed; but here generation takes place. It seems unreasonable that Moses declares birds to have come from the waters [Editor’s note: This verse in the King James Version reads: “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven”]; and therefore this is seized upon by skeptical men who desire to slander the Scripture. But although there should appear no other reason but that it pleased God, would it not be becoming for us to acquiesce in his judgment? Why should not God, who created the world out of nothing, bring the birds out of water? And what greater absurdity has the origin of birds from the water than that of the light from darkness? Therefore, those who so arrogantly assail their Creator will face the Judge who will reduce them to nothing. Moses ought to be listened to as our teacher who would transport us with admiration of God through the consideration of his works. And truly the Lord, although he is the Author of nature, yet by no means has followed nature as his guide in the creation of the world but has rather chosen to put forth such demonstrations of his power as would make us have awe before him.

21.So God created. A question here arises concerning the word created. We h...