Genesis 1
“Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created” (Rev. 4:11).
1:1. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This is the consistent testimony of the Bible from its first verse to its last book, and is the foundation of all between. Questions about the beginning are like the questions little children stump their parents with. “Thinking cannot answer its own last ‘why,’ because an answer would again produce a ‘why.’ ” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Creation and Fall, SCM Press, 1959, p. 14.) Grasping at the devil’s lie, many men are ready to believe that the world begins and ends with them. But only One can speak of the beginning. As God said to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth! Tell Me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4).
“Luther was once asked what God was doing before the creation of the world. His answer was that he was cutting canes for people who ask such useless questions…. No question can penetrate behind God creating, because it is impossible to go behind the beginning.” (Bonhoeffer, p. 17.) One can always go behind a temporal beginning. But God is eternal, and in complete freedom he chose to create out of nothing all that exists that is other than himself. Bonhoeffer says “from the beginning [the beginning out of nothing but the freedom of God] the world is placed in the sign of the resurrection of Christ from the dead…. The fact that Christ was dead did not mean the possibility of the resurrection, but its impossibility; it was the void itself…. There is absolutely no transition or continuity between the dead and the resurrected Christ except the freedom of God, which, in the beginning created his work out of nothing…. He who is the beginning lived, destroyed the void and created the new creation in his resurrection” (ibid., p. 19). God has testified of himself that he is the beginning and the end, standing at both ends of time, the great I AM.
The Bible gives us no information about when God created, but there was a real historical beginning. And Genesis 1:1 makes one thing very clear; that is the absolute distinction between the Creator and the creature. “This boundary line can never be crossed. Even in Christ — who as God is the Creator and as man is a creature — the boundary line remains sharp and distinct” (J. G. Vos, Genesis, Crown and Covenant Publication, 2006, pp. 15-16).
Both Eastern religions and modern man, in an attempt to wipe out the boundary line and any ultimate distinction between creature and Creator, claim that at some point everything arose from something, and that something was impersonal. In the philosophy of beginnings that likes to flatter itself with the name of modern science, this is “embodied in the notion of the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system” (Francis A. Schaeffer, Genesis in Space and Time, InterVarsity Press, 1972. p.20). How neatly the words “in a closed system” exclude any possibility of a governing personal God, or an existence that has any ultimate meaning for the creature. Purpose, reason, and true science are left hanging in the air, a mere illusion. Man is reduced to a series of accidents and chemical reactions that somehow organized into life, conscious thought, and personality, all with no better explanation than chance plus time. A series of unguided train wrecks that eventually produced the organized complexity of — Darwin! This is as wrong as explaining everything wonderful that happens in God’s ordered creation as a miracle. There is a uniformity of natural causes that not only teaches us much about our world, but also much about the God who made the world by wisdom (see Ps. 104:24; Jer. 10:12). It is a mistake to dismiss even an atheist’s true observations of the natural world. He also was created in God’s image. What God reveals to us in his word can never when rightly understood contradict what God has said to us in his works. His works declare his glory (Ps. 19:1). His works, even apart from his special revelation in his word, speak clearly enough to leave all unrighteous men without excuse, whether such men be theologians who seek to defend their understanding of God’s words by denying the clear evidence of what he has done as displayed in his works, or scientists who suppress the truth of God’s very existence by denying the evidence found within themselves. All such men “suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Ro. 1:18-20).
Genesis 1:1 begins with a personal God who was there before the beginning, an axiom that is self-evident by the nature of the creation. “Something existed before creation and that something was personal and not static; the Father loved the Son; there was a plan; there was communication; and promises were made prior to the creation of the heavens and the earth.
“This whole conception is rooted in the reality of the Trinity” (ibid., p. 18). Cf. John 1:1-3, 14.
The Scriptures make very clear that even before the beginning, when nothing other than God existed, he was never alone. Jesus prayed: “And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:7).
“For by Him [God the Son] all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Col. 1:16-17). Cf. 1 Cor. 8:6.
Heb. 11:3 says: “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.”
Remember, the faith commended by the Bible is not a leap in the dark, but comes from the weight of evidence and the credibility of the one who speaks. Thus the Lord reminded Israel not to be like their fathers, who tested God in the wilderness though they had seen his works for forty years (quoted here in Heb. 3:7-11 from Ps. 95:7-11 as the words of the Holy Spirit).
1:2. The beginning has been made. Out of this beginning of all things in the heavens and the earth, our attention is now focused on the earth. It is a formless, empty, and dark world; but the Spirit of God is over it, moving over the face of the waters. God is still Creator, but what is now to be described is the creation of an ordered functioning world out of the formless void. The dark abyss cannot make meaningful form or consciousness arise out of itself. But God’s creative Holy Spirit moves over it.
“When thou didst first hover over chaos, order came to birth, beauty robed the world, fruitfulness sprang forth. Move, I pray thee, upon my disordered heart….” The Valley of Vision, Puritan Devotions edited by Arthur Bennett, The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975, p. 56.
1:3-31. These verses focus on the earth being formed into a suitable habitat for life, for man in particular (28). The Word of God does all this by his command (John 1:1 ff.;
Heb. 1:2). Six times God speaks, and the work God decrees is done, each creative command being accomplished in one day. I am very cautious about dogmatic opinions about how long six of God’s days were in human terms. This is not the question over which I would separate the brethren. I am content to let God have some secrets, and to me there is undeniable mystery here no matter what view one takes of the age of the world. For my part, in rocks or in Scripture, if God said it, I believe it. The problems arise with fallen man’s interpretations of both, so that natural and special revelation are seen to be in conflict. In fact they are two witnesses testifying to the same truth. They both leave unrighteous men without excuse when they suppress the truth in unrighteousness and fail to believe God and to give him glory.
It seems to me God’s work witnessed to in the rocks makes undeniable testimony to a very ancient earth where many now extinct creatures once lived, struggled, ate each other, and died, all long before man was placed on the scene. I believe there is no reason to doubt the uniformity of natural causes in all this, but not in a closed system that excludes God or his freedom to act. I do not believe that just because the world can be depended on to obey laws that seem natural and random to us that God is in any way excluded or limited by his own creation and the laws that govern it.
I also believe in an infallible special revelation, that the God of truth has truly spoken to us of things necessary for our redemption and communion with him. This revelation is always an accommodation to our finite capacities, which are in no way infallible. Even in these last days when God has spoken to us in his Son, we have not yet known as we ought to know (cf. Heb. 1:1-3; 1 Cor. 8:2). Where the mysteries of God are spoken of, a little humility and forbearance is called for in dealing with one another. For example, J. G. Vos, whose book I have cited above, argues strongly for a creation week of 24-hour days, yet he is in no way dismissive of those who disagree. “Both views have been held by orthodox Bible scholars who believe in the plenary inspiration and infallibility of the Bible. …neither view is without its difficulties….” (P.22 f.).
I certainly do not presume to be dismissive of Dr. Vos, but I think his argument is not nearly as strong as he believes. He has a heavy reliance on a 24 hour first Sabbath, which he projects back on the other six days. Man’s Sabbath is 24 hours, but not the Sabbath God began in 2:1-3 when he rested from his work of creation. He is still in that rest, inviting us to join him in it (see Heb. 4:1-11). How long is the day of salvation? (2 Cor. 6:2). How long is “today” in Heb. 3:13, 15? We know how God established the rhythm of seasons and days and years to govern a world being prepared for man on day four (Gen. 1:14-19). But what is a day to God? (See 2 Pet. 3:8). For Adam, his first full 24-hour day following the day he was created was in length like all his days. But it was also a memorial of God’s Sabbath rest, which still remains for the people of God to enter (Heb. 4:9). If God yet remains in his seventh day rest, the length of the first six days was also however long or short God chose to make them. When Dr. Vos mentions that God provided the coal and oil deposits in the earth as he prepared it for man (Genesis, p. 24), his literal view of this chapter assumes that God did this in less than six literal days. There are giant fern fossils in the coal beds, not to mention such evidence for great age in many other places. I’m sure he would never have tried to tell people, as some have, that the devil salted the rocks with fossils to tempt us to unbelief. They should move us instead to praise God for the wonders he has done. The creation out of nothing on the first day had to be done the instant God commanded it, for matter cannot half exist. As Hamlet knew, a thing must either be or not be. As to the rest of God’s works, what he purposes surely comes, but God decrees many things that take lots of time (cf. Hab. 2:3).
Genesis 1 is poetic, a praise hymn to the Creator, the first Cause of all things visible and invisible, including this world God especially prepared for man, and man himself. Then God pronounced it very good. This is a true account, but was never intended to answer all the questions of the curious, nor to describe all the second cause processes involved after God in his wisdom freely and unchangeably ordained it all to come to pass. See WCF 3:1; 5:2 (The Westminster Confession of Faith).
The following observations owe much to the views of Meredith G. Kline (The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Eerdmans, l970, pp. 81-83). Kline states that this prologue (Gen. 1:1-2:3) “presents those historical truths which are the necessary presuppositions for the valid pursuit of human knowledge,” such as God’s creation of all things out of nothing, and “of a specific, terminated creation era within which appeared all the significant variety of earth’s hosts.” He does not think it is intended or very useful for “constructing scientific models.” He points out its poetic quality, saying that “creation week itself is a poetic figure and that the several pictures of creation history are set within the six work-day frames not chronologically but topically.”
As I interpret him in part, Kline would see this prologue as poetic praise to the triune Creator using a repeat of a triad of days (the number three being the symbolic number for God). Much like the progressive parallelism of Revelation that repeats gospel age history in a seven fold deepening recapitulation, here, days one, two, and three are recapitulated and further developed in days four, five, and six. Then God rested and sanctified the seventh day (seven being the number for completion, 2:1-3). Read days one and four, days two and five, days three and six together as corresponding pairs to see the reasoning. The night and day of day one are revisited and developed in day four. The seas and heavens of day two are filled with life in day five. The dry land created in day three is not only filled with plants, but also the animals of day six, culminating in the creation of man, who was to rule over the living creatures of the three kingdoms of sea, sky, and dry land (28).
As form, order, and life were gradually given to the world by God’s decrees, he saw that it was good. At the end of the sixth day he saw all that he had made, including man, “and behold, it was very good.” Thus God not only creates, but also actively nourishes and preserves his creation by his own will.
1:26-27. The one God, singular (27), speaks to himself in the plural (26) as he creates man in his own image. The triune God is not an impersonal force, nor did he need to create any personal being, angel or man, to fill any lack or need within himself. His creation is according to the good pleasure of his will (cf. Eph. 1:4-5), and no other reason.
The image of God in man is now badly marred by sin, but is not destroyed. Distorted mirrors still reflect. Furthermore, sin is never the creation of a new thing, but the corruption and misuse of something created good, such as the misuse of a drug, or the turning of lawful sex into lust, fornication, homosexuality, or bestiality. Intelligence is good, but evil is multiplied by it. A bad man is worse than a bad dog, a bad angel worse than a bad man. The higher the gift, the greater the responsibility. Only in the man Christ Jesus, the new Adam, is the holy image reflected faithfully (2 Cor. 3:18, 4:4; Col. 1:15).
Even now, we see man as the image of God in several ways: 1. God is One God, but he is never alone. Unlike the creature, God exists in and for himself, yet as three persons he is ever in relationship. He created man male and female not only for procreation of the race, but to reflect the oneness of God in relationship. God created both the man and the woman in his own image (27; cf. 5:1-2), because it was not good for the man to be alone (2:18). Man alone was not complete either in himself or as God’s image bearer. 2. Man reflects something of God’s rational nature. He can think and reason. 3. Man has a moral nature with a capacity to know right from wrong. Even in his sin-ruined state, it is the rare man indeed who does not know how he wishes to be treated, or who does not know it when he is wronged. To this extent at least, fallen man still reflects the image of a just God, and knows his Law (cf. Mt. 7:12). 4. “As created, man was to have dominion over all other creatures in this world. This also marks man as the bearer of the image of God” (Vos, Genesis, p. 29).
1:28-31. As was his intention from the beginning, God blessed man and gave him the kingdom rule. He was to multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. He was given dominion over all other living things on the earth (26, 28; cf. Ps. 8:3-8; Ps. 115:16). The next two chapters are the place to discuss it, but note here in passing that the earth needed to be subdued. This was to be a conquest. In man’s original nature of moral uprightness and close communion with God, this would not have been a difficult thing. Perhaps in token of this, God provided man with seeds and fruits of the earth for food, and to the animals, every green plant (29-30; cf. 9:3). With this blessing, God saw all that he had made, and saw that it was very good. That is, it conformed exactly to the good purpose of his eternal plan (31).