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The beginning of creation
We begin by exploring the first three chapters of Genesis, looking at the beginning of God’s creation.
These passages are rich in theology and worship. We also find in the passages some questions that have divided Christians, and questions that require us to understand the nature of the biblical literature. We shall therefore have to look at the disagreements between Christians and also issues of how we interpret God’s Word.
However, more importantly we shall see an overwhelming sense of the need to respond to our Creator God. These chapters breathe the astonishing nature of this God, the ugliness of our rejection of him and the invitation to worship him. They speak into many contemporary questions of modern science, human nature and what is wrong with the world.
They are the Bible’s introduction to the Lord of creation.
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1. Genesis 1:1–25
The Creator of heaven and earth
‘Let’s start at the very beginning’
Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music enthused that the very beginning was a very good place to start. It would seem an obvious thing to say about exploring the biblical doctrine of creation, as well as the basics of music for a family of Austrian children dressed in old curtains!
Yet Genesis 1 has become a minefield for evangelical Christians in recent years. Controversy over the dating of the Universe has caused at worst Christians questioning each other’s faith and at the very least a hesitancy amongst preachers to preach on the chapter. For some, a particular interpretation of the chapter has become a test of biblical orthodoxy. If you do not take a particular understanding of Genesis 1 then some will say you give up on the authority of the Bible itself.
In this there are three important dangers. The first is that it does not recognize that Christians equally committed to the authority of the Bible have followed a number of different interpretations as to the dating of the Universe and Genesis 1. The Appendix lists at least five, some of which have a long history and all of which have been advocated by leading evangelical Christians. The fact that there exist different interpretations should caution us against believing that our interpretation is the only one possible. There needs to be humility that allows us to talk to one another while respecting one another’s integrity.
Second, there is a danger of confusing a commitment to biblical authority with a commitment to a particular interpretation of a Bible passage. As we shall see throughout this book, each passage has to be understood in its own context and style of literature. A commitment to biblical authority encourages us to work harder at a more faithful interpretation of the biblical text, which does justice to its original setting while allowing it to speak into our own setting.
The third danger is much more subtle yet even more important. The controversy over the dating question often obscures for us the main points of Genesis 1. In the disagreement over the details we lose the very things that the writer inspired by the Holy Spirit wants to communicate.
Not so far from where I write this chapter is the magnificent Durham Cathedral. I still marvel at its simple beauty and the faith of those who built it. I remember the first time I visited it. There was so much to see on the walls that I spent most of my time reading the inscriptions and looking at the paintings. But then my friend said, ‘Look up.’ There above us was the most breathtaking roof, with those incredible stone arches. I had been spending my time on important details, but was missing the great sight.
Whether the Universe was made in seven days a few thousand years ago, or whether it was created over billions of years, is an important question. Yet it is not central to the message of Genesis 1. Here we have the overture to the Bible. The scene is being set by introducing some of the fundamental themes that will feature in more detail later in the book. And this is an overture about the central character. It is about the character who is introduced in the first verse, and who is central to the close of this overture (Gen. 2:1–3). This is not a passage about the ‘how’ of creation, nor even primarily about the ‘why’ of creation. Rather, it is a passage about the ‘who’ of creation, and is an overture that introduces us to the Creator God:
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
3And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. 4God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5God called the light ‘day,’ and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the first day.
6And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.’ 7So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8God called the expanse ‘sky.’ And there was evening, and there was morning – the second day.
9And God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.’ And it was so. 10God called the dry ground ‘land,’ and the gathered waters he called ‘seas.’ And God saw that it was good.
11Then 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.’ And it was so. 12The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13And there was evening, and there was morning – the third day.
14And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.’ And it was so. 16God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19And there was evening, and there was morning – the fourth day.
20And God said, ‘Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.’ 21So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22God blessed them and said, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.’ 23And there was evening, and there was morning – the fifth day.
24And God said, ‘Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.’ And it was so. 25God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
(Gen. 1:1–25)
This may be an artificial way to divide up the first chapter but many preachers and commentators move too quickly to verses 26–31 and look at the the Creator God in relation to human beings. Yet here in verses 1–25 are the majestic sights of the fundamental assertions in the Bible concerning the Creator God in relation to the Universe. They are themes that run throughout the Bible, but are highlighted in Genesis 1.1
Genesis 1:1 – 2:3 is framed by two sections that remind us what this is all about. Verses 1–3 of chapter 2 echo the opening verse. This is about the heavens and the earth and the God who created them. What then do we learn about this God?
1. No other creator!
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (1:1). The first thing we need to know is that God is the sole creator of the Universe. Everything in heaven and earth owes its existence to the sovereign will of God.
Now you may say that’s not too exciting! It’s a fairly obvious point and we need not have gone to all the trouble of reading a commentary to find out something that is so obvious that most readers assume it. However, before we move on too quickly it is worth seeing that the writer, no doubt facing similar assumptions, thinks that the point is so important that it needs to be developed and indeed reinforced very strongly indeed.
This happens a number of times in the text, in ways that can often be overlooked by the modern reader. The points are interwoven into the cultural setting of the writer. Look for example at the first part of verse 16: God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. What is the writer referring to? It is fairly clear that the reference is to the Sun and the Moon. Indeed, the Good News Bible unfortunately here changes the words in the translation to ‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’. However, in Hebrew, it is the greater and lesser lights. Why are the Sun and the Moon not called by their respective names? The most probable answer is that in many neighbouring cultures they were the names of gods. Genesis 1 seems to be attacking this false theological idea, by saying that they are not gods but simply lights created by the one true God. This is reinforced by the way the Sun and Moon are given the role of simply giving light to the earth, and ruling the day and the night under God. There is no suggestion that they have a life of their own or are divine in any way. They are not worthy of worship but are simply creations of God.
A similar point is made in the second half of verse 16 in the brief understatement He also made the stars. For some the stars would be gods, controlling human destiny, but here God is so great he simply made the stars also. They are so unimportant compared to God that they almost do not merit a mention.
This is a theological attack or a polemic. It is taking well-known concepts in popular culture and religion in the ancient Near East and arguing that they are misguided. The polemic continues in the use of the verb ‘create’ in verse 21: God created the great sea monsters (rsv). The verb is used only in relation to three acts in Genesis 1. First it is used in the creation of the heavens and the earth (1:1) and in the creation of humanity (1:21). Why should such a special verb be used of great sea monsters? Again the answer is in the background of the ancient Near East and the need to assert that there is no other creator. In other creation stories, the creator has first to subdue sea monsters. Genesis 1 is criticizing this false theological view and asserting that God created everything.
Other examples run through the ...
