On the Beginning

As a teenager, one of my biggest objections to Christianity was Christians' insistence on believing their seven-day creation story, based on Genesis 1, instead of the theory of evolution that science has so obviously shown to be true. As a college student grappling with the truths of Christianity, I struggled off and on to reconcile my faith in God with my understanding of the scientific method. In my mind, believing the Bible is not as simple as saying “God said it, therefore it must be true.” Don't get me wrong, Scripture is true, but to fully understand that truth we need to put it in context.

In the case of Genesis 1, my solution has too often been to say “it's symbolic” and leave it at that.

More recently, I read a book called The Explicit Gospel by Matt Chandler, which includes a fairly extensive discussion of Biblical creationism. I certainly don't agree with a lot of what Chandler has to say about creation, but I did appreciate reading his views both because they challenged mine and because of one particular statement. As Christians, he pointed out, we look to the Bible first for truth. If we're going to try to reconcile Scripture with science, we start with Scripture and then adjust our views on science accordingly.

If we just say, as I did, that Genesis 1 is symbolic and dive straight into a scientific explanation for the diversity of life on Earth, we're missing the point. Instead of using the symbolism as an excuse to effectively ignore the text, we ought to embrace it and see what it actually has to say.

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Besides being home to the greatest opening line in the history of literature, the first verse of the Bible tells us something fundamental about the Creator. The story begins with God, but God does not begin with the story. The first verse implies that, at the beginning of time, God was already present.*

*This is why I'm comfortable saying that the Genesis 1 account does not refer to six twenty-four hour days. The story isn't told from a human observer's perspective; it's told from God's perspective, and God is not constrained by time.

Moreover, the language of Genesis 1:1-2 makes it clear that God is separate from the Earth, that the Creator is separate from the creation. This stands in stark contrast to other ancient creation stories, which generally involved some goddess literally giving birth to the world, and that distinction has significant implications for our role in creation and the way we relate to God.

Reading on, we have one of the most famous texts in the whole Bible:

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

As the first section tells us about God's eternal nature, the second tells us how He operates. When God decides to do something, it's done, inevitably. That's a pretty good definition of omnipotence.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that something God decides to do happens instantaneously, at least not from a human perspective. The Genesis account makes it clear that God's creation happened over a period of time. What it does mean is that if God says that something will happen, it's absolutely guaranteed to happen. The battle may not be over, but it's already won.

Moving along through the narrative, we see the next three days of creation:

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

There are a few familiar refrains in each of these sections. One is the phrase “and it was so,” which further reinforces the idea that when God decides that something will happen, it happens. That will appear in the next section as well.

Another is the phrase “God saw that it was good,” which we also saw in the previous section and will see again in the next section. This is one of the most critical statements in the whole story because it affirms that everything God created is innately good.* Of course, sin will enter the system in the very next chapter, but in a pre-Fall reality, good is everywhere. This informs our reading of other passages; for instance, when we examine the Levitical food laws and see that eating cows is permitted while eating pigs is forbidden, we can't conclude that cows are innately good and pigs are innately bad. According to Genesis 1, both are good.

*The constant refrain that God saw that everything was good also builds up to Genesis 2, where God will proclaim that it is “not good” that Adam is alone.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds[g] fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its 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 birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

The passage tells us that God created all of the living organisms, whether plant, fish, bird or beast, according to their kinds. In other words, God ordained and accounted for every species on Earth. Could He have done so in a manner that looks very similar to the scientific theory of evolution? Sure, that's possible. God works through natural processes much more frequently than He works through overt miracles, after all. Regardless of the mechanism used, though, we know that God has planned for every plant, bird, fish and beast that has ever lived, and He is sovereign over all of them.

In the next verse, we get to the climax of creation, the creation of man.

26 Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

Let's clear one thing up right off the bat. The Hebrew word rendered in English as “man” is “adam,” which means “man” in the sense of all humans, not a particular man or even men in general. It's translated as “man” to preserve the poetry of the text, but “mankind” and “humanity” would be equally valid. The word “him” in the second part of verse 27 is likewise “adam.” If you're looking for proof that God is sexist, look elsewhere. Genesis 1:27 clearly states that both men and women are made in God's image.

Speaking of which, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? It certainly doesn't mean that we physically look like God; after all, He doesn't have a physical body. Rather, to be an image-bearer is to reflect some of God's attributes, such as mercy, justice and love. Certainly humans do not reflect all of God's attributes; we are not omniscient, for instance. However, we are endowed with some capacity to bring God's light into the world.

At this point, God has created everything He set out to create, but there remain some instructions for His creation:

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Once God creates human beings, He immediately gives them (that is, us) dominion over the Earth. This is the first of many instances in which God gives a gift that hasn't been earned. Adam and Eve haven't done anything yet, they've only existed for a few moments, and already God entrusts them with the entire world! Throughout the Bible, this is a familiar refrain: God gives freely and generously, not as a payment or reward, but simply out of grace.

It's also instructive to look at God's command to humanity: “Fill the earth and subdue it.” Yes, human beings have dominion over all other beings on the planet. This does not mean, as some claim, that we have free license to pillage, exploit and rape the Earth to our heart's content. No, Christians are called to be environmentally conscious, but we do so to honor God by carrying out a divinely-appointed task, not because we worship or honor the Earth for its own sake.

Moreover, the last section indicates that there is a God-given order to creation. Plants are created to serve as food. Animals are permitted to eat the plants. Human beings are given dominion over the entire world, to steward it in God's name. God, of course, is sovereign over all.

The final verse repeats that familiar refrain, but adds that, once all creation has hit its climax, God sees that it is “very good.”

No matter where you stand on the literal truth of the creation story, there are, as best I can tell, at least* six truths to glean from it:

God created the world, but He precedes, is separate from and is sovereign over the creation.

God is all-powerful; when He says something will be done, it's as good as done.

God's creation is good (again, prior to the Fall).

God has planned for and ordained every creature and every species on Earth.

God created human beings, both male and female, in His own image.

God created an order for His creation; humans, as stewards of the Earth, are at the top of that order.

*I say “at least” because there is undoubtedly more to take from Genesis 1 than those six points.

There's plenty of room for disagreement among believers regarding the literal truth of the creation story, and while those debates can be interesting and informative, they're almost beside the point. The purpose of the Bible isn't to present science or even history, but to present truth about God, and in particular, how He relates to human beings.

In that sense, few things are more instructive than going back and looking at what God did in the very beginning.

(All Scriptures ESV)