And God Said...

Every time I dive into studying the creation narrative in Genesis 1, I am always blown away. This passage is glossed over so often, and yet, it is probably one of the most profound pericopes in all of Scripture. There are two reasons why this passage does not get the recognition it deserves. First, everyone who grew up in the church has been taught the creation story since they were in diapers. However, this child-like understanding of what God created misses what that narrative tells us about who the Creator is. The second reason we miss the profound nature of the narrative is that we try to explain how God created. We get locked into scientific debate with evolutionists about the methods God may or may not have used to bring about this creation. I will get into the reasons why we should not waste our efforts on this pursuit in a later post, but suffice it to say, "The Bible is not a science book" (Bruce Waltke, An Old Testament Theology). These arguments cause us to miss what God is trying to tell us about himself. So, today I want to focus, with the help of Bruce Waltke's An Old Testament Theology, on a couple of key elements in the structure of the creation narrative that reveal some elements of who God is. 

One of the key differences between the Biblical narrative and the other creation myths of the Ancient Near East is creation by word. The Canaanite, Babylonian, and Egyptian mythologies were all influential to the people of Israel. I include the Babylonian myth because even though it was probably Moses who wrote the creation narrative, it probably did not reach its final form until sometime during the Babylonian captivity. These three mythologies all have creation narratives. In these narratives, the gods fight against a force of chaos, usually represented by the sea or a sea monster. In order to defeat chaos, they create order, and the deities become the god of whatever they created to drive away chaos. The Biblical writers borrowed imagery, not theology, from these myths. In this narrative, we see God triumphing over the chaos (Gen. 1:2) not through a battle royale, but rather through the spoken word. This is what separates the God of Israel from every other god. He is one God, and yet, as the psalmist says, "But at your rebuke [the waters] fled, at the sound of your thunder they took flight" (Ps. 104:7). The notion that one God rules over everything is further emphasized when god names the cosmic elements. In the Ancient Near East, naming something represented having power over that thing. When a king conquered another king, he would change that kings name (2 Kings 23:34). When God names the cosmic elements ("day", "night", "land", "seas", "sun", "moon", "stars"), he is declaring his power over them. This eliminates the notion of a sun god, or a moon god. Instead, it boldly proclaims that the God of Israel is in control of all things. 

God's control is also emphasized in the syntax of the narrative. The announcement of each creative act ("And God said...") precedes the action. This announcement "by putting word before event, implies that the cosmos is created according to the plan of one God" (Bruce Waltke). Those three simple words show that everything in the universe is under a divine plan. It rejects the notion of an impersonal God. Rather, it shows that God planned every detail of creation. It also reinforces the notion of God's control over everything. While creation is not part of God, it depends on him, and is bound to him by His word. In John 1, John reveals that Jesus is the Word of God, and that all things are created through him (John 1:1-4). Paul also echoes this and adds that through him all things hold together (Col. 1:16-17). So, at the very beginning of scripture, we see that God has a plan, and that all creation is bound to him through Jesus. This plan will reach its full fruition when one day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. Then, God and His creation will be brought physically together through the sacrifice of His Son. 

Thank you for reading what God was teaching me in my quiet time this morning. My hope is that God will use it to speak to you too.