Creation
We begin at Genesis 1.1 and will read the entire chapter, infallible and inerrant. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.[1] (Read the text.)
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20 And God said, 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. 21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Here endeth the first chapter of the first book of the Old Testament, “Genesis.” This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The very first proclamation in the Bible was “In the beginning, God created…” (1.1)
Three words and three central affirmations that set the Bible against all forms of atheism, naturalism, polytheism, Marxism, Freudianism, Fruerbachianism, Nietzschianism, (false) humanism, secularism, pragmatism, relativism, and narcissism. This alone is the most controversial phrase in the entire Old Testament. “Beginning.” This is where “Genesis” gets its name…the beginning, the starting point. As we proceed, we have a “start,” but the New Testament has an “end” and, hence, what is the governing theme from start to finish?
We say God’s glory to God’s glory with man’s redemption by God Himself sandwiched in the middle. This question will recur time and again.
Time has a beginning, but we take that for granted. Other systems of thought do not take that for granted; for them, it is axiomatic that there is no beginning. For the orthodox Jew and Christian, here is where “history” starts.
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote his doctoral dissertation on the ancient Greek concept of recurrence, to wit, and its corollary the myth of the eternal creating something of nothing. For him, there was no starting point. Everything goes “round and round,” cyclically and endlessly. The sun sets and the sun rises. There is no purposeful beginning. No purposeful end. All is vanity. The theme of Solomon’s Ecclesiastes comes to mind. More on that later. The cosmic sense is we’re running around and around in circles. Genesis, however, is the biblical cosmology.
Steady state views have formed a consensus that the universe began 15-18 billion years ago by way of one giant explosion. On a certain Thursday afternoon, as it were, KABOOM! This was the beginning. All matter and all energy had it’s origins here. Yet, the “why” and “how” remains elusive.
The theologians, e.g. Thomas Aquinas, etc., have argued that everything in an inertial state requires an outside force for activation, a “First Cause,” if you prefer. Everything, then, is from God and His exterior action. There is a radical difference between the Created and the Creator, the Creation and the Author.
“In the beginning, God created…” is a bold declaration that God is the Author. If anything exists, there was a Someone before it making it in space and time.
We cite John Calvin that touches upon creation. Book 1.5.2 from The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
"The divine wisdom is displayed for all to see. In attestation of his wondrous wisdom, both the heavens and the earth present us with innumerable proofs not only those more recondite proofs which astronomy, medicine, and all the natural sciences, are designed to illustrate, but proofs which force themselves on the notice of the most illiterate peasant, who cannot open his eyes without beholding them. It is true, indeed, that those who are more or less intimately acquainted with those liberal studies are thereby assisted and enabled to obtain a deeper insight into the secret workings of divine wisdom. No man, however, though he be ignorant of these, is incapacitated for discerning such proofs of creative wisdom as may well cause him to break forth in admiration of the Creator. To investigate the motions of the heavenly bodies, to determine their positions, measure their distances, and ascertain their properties, demands skill, and a more careful examination; and where these are so employed, as the Providence of God is thereby more fully unfolded, so it is reasonable to suppose that the mind takes a loftier flight, and obtains brighter views of his glory. Still, none who have the use of their eyes can be ignorant of the divine skill manifested so conspicuously in the endless variety, yet distinct and well ordered array, of the heavenly host; and, therefore, it is plain that the Lord has furnished every man with abundant proofs of his wisdom. The same is true in regard to the structure of the human frame. To determine the connection of its parts, its symmetry and beauty, with the skill of a Galen, (Lib. De Usu Partium,) requires singular acuteness; and yet all men acknowledge that the human body bears on its face such proofs of ingenious contrivance as are sufficient to proclaim the admirable wisdom of its Maker." [emphasis added]
Astronomy, medicine and all the natural sciences are proofs of God’s existence, which even the “most illiterate peasant” discerns. Students in the sciences have a wonderful and unique opportunity to study the “theatre of God’s glory.” (Ps.19.1ff.) Science degrees are often said to be more difficult than courses in the humanities and arts; my organic chemistry courses were much more difficult than the course in Western Civilization. However one views that, science is a theological study for the justified and redeemed saint; it is also a theological study, albeit unknown, for the scientist under divine wrath and condemnation (Jn.3.36). Having majored in chemistry (and philosophy), there were believers and unbelievers who studied the same phenomena. God's revelation in nature is an active, dynamic, and continuuing witness. Election made and makes the scientists to differ on the revealed phenomena, one being "blind but sensing His Majesty's Presence occasionally" and the other “seeing dimly, but truly.” The facts manifest His glory, down every molecule in every blade of grass in every field of every nation throughout the earth; there is not one corner of this universe that Christ does not own. Calvins says, classically to him, “that the human body bears on its face such proofs of ingenious contrivance as are sufficient to proclaim the admirable wisdom of its Maker.”
We close with a General Thanksgiving from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, which includes the confession of creation.[2]
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we, thine unworthy servants, do give thee most humble and hearty thanks for all thy goodness and lovingkindness to us, and to all men; We bless thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all, for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we beseech thee, give us that due sense of all thy mercies that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful; and that we show forth thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to thy service, and by walking before thee in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end. Amen.
To be continued
[1] We read the entire text, as is done in class lectures. The Word of God is the means of grace. This was rarely done in seminary classes; it should have been different.
[2] http://www.commonprayer.org/offices/morpry_n.cfm of date 19 Jul 2009. We close our lectures with liturgical prayers that have been used for decades and, in some cases, for centuries. In some instances, for over a millenium.
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