LESSON 2: CREATION
Genesis 1:1 through 2:4
Preparing for Lesson 2
Hello, Everyone! I hope you both enjoyed and learned from our first lesson: An Introduction to the Book of Genesis.
With this lesson, we actually get into the meat of the book by discussing creation. God started with a clean slate when He began the creation process: a really clean slate. There was nothing. It’s hard to imagine nothingness. John 1:1-3 tells us God created everything that exists, and without Him, nothing would exist that does exist. So He started with nothing at all, and with His voice, He called everything into existence. If God had not acted, there would still be nothing. Now, that’s really something!
Our lesson today covers the material in Genesis 1:1 through 2:4. Please read those verses before reading the lesson. And this is a good time to let you know that I use the New American Standard Version of the Bible for my study, so whenever I quote Scripture, that’s where it comes from unless I make a note to the contrary.
Finally, did you know it is commonly believed that Stephen Langton, the Archbishop of Canterbury around A.D. 1227, is the person who developed the chapter and verse division in the Bible? Just think how difficult it would be to study Scripture efficiently if those divisions did not exist. But I do have to wonder why he chose to start Chapter 2 with material that, to me, so clearly belongs at the end of Chapter 1. I’m fairly certain the Archbishop must have had a reason for making the division where he did, but I just find it strange. Another mystery.
In any case,I hope you enjoy this study on creation. Please send a message to let me know you stopped by.
Becky
Lesson 2: Creation
So, I am a Star Trek fan. Not to the extent that I dress up like a Klingon warrior princess and attend Trekkie conventions, mind you, but a fan nevertheless. And strangely enough, the sub-plot of the Star Trek II movie, The Wrath of Khan, actually has some relevance to our lesson on Creation. But, we’ll get to that later.
Perhaps the most well-known verse in all of Scripture is Genesis 1:1, which reads: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Wow! That sentence really packs a punch, and yet, it leaves us wanting more. For instance, when did creation occur? Was it a creation or a
re-creation? If it was a re-creation, what happened to make that necessary? What role, if any, did Satan and the angels play?
Although we would love to know the answers to these questions (after all, inquiring minds want to know), God did not think it necessary to tell us. And anything we could come up with concerning those matters is pure speculation. As students of the Bible, one of the first and most critical things we must learn is that we must never go beyond what Scripture actually says. As we shall see when we look at the six days of creation, it is interesting to consider the various theories and interpretations, but at the end of the day, this is what we are left with: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So, let’s get to it.
There are at least six views concerning the six days of creation. They are:
The “solar-day” view,in which creation occurred over a period of six literal, consecutive 24-hour days, a total of 144 hours.
The “punctuated activity” view, in which the 24-hours of creation activity were separated by indefinite periods of time: in other words, six literal 24-hour but not consecutive days.
The “gap” view, in which there is a gap of indeterminate length between verses 1 and 2; that a primeval rebellion took place and the original planet was destroyed. Thus, creation week is actually a description of the remaking, or recreation, of the earth after the rebellion.
The “day age” view, in which the word “days” actually refers to geological ages.
The “framework” view, in which days are used as a literary structuring device to convey the truth of creation, not to be thought of as literal 24-hour days.
The “analogical day” view, in which “days” refer to God’s workdays.
According to R. Kent Hughes, from whose book Preaching the Word – Genesis, the explanations on these views were taken, writes that godly, Scripture-loving people throughout the centuries who have given their lives to God’s Word, have differed over their interpretations of the opening verses of Genesis. Men such as John Calvin, William Henry Thornwell, Augustine, Aquinas, J. Vernon McGee and others, were not necessarily in agreement on this issue. But, he points out, there was no disagreement among them that the Genesis accounts are factual and historical, Adam and Eve were real human beings and the account of the fall was true and accurate.
Hughes writes, “Most probably the six days of creation are God’s workdays, which are not identical to ours but are analogous to ours…The six days are not solar days but God’s days because, (1) the first three days could not have been solar because God made the sun and moon on the fourth day, and (2) the seventh day has no end. The phrase “and there was evening and there was morning” does not appear with day seven. He also explains that although the word translated “day” should typically be considered to be a 24-hour solar day, it is the immediate context of the entire passage that determines the interpretation for that particular usage. In this context, the seventh day is not a 24-hour day; thus it indicates that the preceding six days should be similarly understood.
My take-away from all of this is that it is important for us to understand and agree that God could have created the entire universe in six literal 24-hour consecutive days. In fact He could have created everything in the twinkling of an eye. Perhaps He was ambiguous here just to give us something to debate.
In Lesson 1, Introduction to Genesis, I mentioned that Moses was a highly educated individual and his education was put to good use when he recorded Genesis for God. The way in which Moses arranged the six days of creation are perfectly divided, with the first three days describing the forming of the earth, and the last three days describing the filling of the earth. The first six days remedy the situation described in Genesis 1:2 where it is written, “The earth was formless and void…”
See how days 1 through 3 of creation correspond to days 4 through 6:
Forming Filling
Day 1 Light Day 4 Sun and moon
Day 2 Sky Day 5 Birds and fish
Day 3 Land (Plants) Day 6 Animals and Man (plants
for food)
The first three days solve the problem of formlessness, and the last three days solve the problem of emptiness.
Before Genesis 1:1, the earth was formless and empty. It was dark. There was water, lots of water. It was uninhabitable, unable at that time to support life of any kind.
God’s creation came through a series of three separations. On Day 1, He separated the light from the darkness (verse 4). On Day 2, He separated the waters from the sky (verse 7), and on Day 3, He separated the waters from the land (verse 9). No longer formless, the earth was ready to fill.
Day 3. Now that dry land has been separated from the waters, God caused the earth to sprout vegetation (verses 11 and 12). All kinds of plants and trees burst forth from the earth, each yielding seeds after their kind and bearing fruit with seeds in them. And God, the Master Gardener, knew that where there is a successful garden, there must be light, and so on Day 4, the sun was placed in its spot in the heavens. On Day 5, He filled the seas with living creatures and the sky with birds.
Day 6. A big day for mankind. Note that the account in verses 26 through 30 serve as an overview of the creation of man. Chapter 2 provides a detailed account of their creation, both male and female, and we’ll cover this in more detail in our next lesson.
Verses 29 and 30 make it clear that God intended all animals, including humans, to be vegetarians. Man was not given meat to eat until after the flood.
And at the end of Day 6, God declares His creation to be very good. We do not know how long the earth remained in this very good condition, but according to all speculation, it wasn’t very long.
And now for the Star Trek connection.
In the movie, a team of scientists has developed a technology called the “Genesis Device” which can turn dead matter into habitable planets. But a genetically superior bad guy named Khan tries to steal the device for his own evil purposes.
During a battle, the Genesis Device is accidentally deployed and a lifeless and uninhabitable planet is transformed into a living planet that is teeming with vegetation. But alas, because this was an act performed by corruptible men and not by our perfect God, the planet implodes (not before the team from the Enterprise starship are beamed up to safety however) and ends up in worse condition than it was before.
The reason I bring this up is that the trailer for the movie shows the Genesis Device in operation. Starting from the far side of the dead planet, we see a bright light, and the camera moves around the planet toward the light. As it does so, the audience can see that what was previously barren rock has been transformed into a lush and green planet with trees, other plants and water. Hollywood accidentally showed how the earth could have been transformed in the literal twinkling of an eye!
You can see the movie trailer online by going to Google and search for “Star Trek II Official Movie Trailer”. The scene showing the Genesis Device in operation is at the end of the trailer.
Live long and prosper, and please join me again for our next lesson: In the Image of God.
Think About It, Talk About It
Think about the various theories concerning the six days of creation. What are the strengths and weaknesses in each of these theories? Why does it seem so difficult for people to accept, by faith, what is written in the Bible? Doesn’t it also take faith to accept much of the scientific theory that exists today?
What are some important things for Christians to believe about the Genesis account?
What can we learn about God based on the order in which He created the earth and all that is on it?
Sources
Deffinbaugh, Bob, The Creation (www.bible.org)
Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible, NASB, AMG Publishers, Inc.
Hughes, R. Kent, Preaching the Word – Genesis
McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible – Genesis through Deuteronomy
Ryrie, Charles, NASB Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition