The Story of Creation part 1

by John Thomas Lowe
(Woodruff, S.C.)

The Story of Creation
This summarizes the Biblical account of creation in the book of Genesis. The creation story begins before anything exists except for God Himself. In Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, we read how God created the earth in six days - light on the first Day, the sky and air on the second day, land and plants on the third Day, and the sun and moon on the fourth day, birds and water animals on the fifth day, animals and man on the sixth Day. God then called creation good, and on the seventh day, God rested.
Creation Story in the Bible
1. Date. The date of creation cannot be determined. The first statement of the book of Genesis places the time in remote and impenetrable antiquity.
2. Creator. The writer of Genesis offers no proof of the existence of Jehovah or of the fact that he made all things. (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:2; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:10; Hebrews 11:3).
3. Light. The process of creation had probably been going on for ages before the light was created by the fiat (sanction) of Jehovah (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:4).
4. Days of Creation. The phrase "evening and morning" occurs six times in the first account of creation, and it cannot be understood except in the light of the above statement. The fact that the creative work had been going on for unnumbered ages, leads the reverent student to the conclusion that the "days" were ordinary periods of twenty-four hours each, and that each product of Almighty power was finished and appointed to its sphere on its designated Day.
5. Order of Creation.
a. Light,
b. Firmament,
c. Vegetation,
d. Sun, moon, and stars,
e. Water animals and fowls,
f. Land animals, men, women,

Genesis 1:1, KJV: In the beginning God created Heaven and the earth.
Observe the steady march from the lower to the higher, from the unthinking to the intelligent, from the servant to the sovereign. See the universe by God's hand touched to harmony; see the march of creative power to its culmination in the making of the companion for man, pure and innocent, the highest image of God, and hear the stars sing together and the sons of God shout for joy over the completion of the mighty and glorious work!
Creation As Recorded in the Bible
The very first book of the Bible begins with two equally enormous claims: There was a "beginning," and God created everything. This immediately contradicts the view of an eternal or cyclical universe and any religious view that takes the universe as an accident, the product of many gods, or part of some other process. History shows that the idea of a "beginning" is so theologically loaded that secular science resisted it until it became impossible to deny.
Genesis 1 is a controversial chapter. Debates rage about the meanings and implications of many words. How long ago did God create? How exactly did He create? What were His methods? Much has been written to discuss, debate, and illuminate those questions. The primary debate is over the extent to which Genesis 1 is meant to be read as symbolism and poetry versus being read as an unvarnished narrative. To some extent, such arguments are beside the point of this passage.
Those who take the Scriptures as inspired must agree that God means for us to understand Him first and foremost as the Creator. Of course, everyone does not agree that the Bible is God's authoritative and inspired Word. This then produces even more controversies regarding Genesis. That, as well, is beyond the scope of this commentary.

For the most part, we will stick to the core, crucial, clear ideas. What is beyond debate is that the opening words of the Bible claim that God—whom we will come to know as the God of Israel—created the heavens and the earth. That is, He created everything in the natural world, from the heavens, the sky, and space, to our planet and everything on it.
Genesis 1:1, KJV: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The text begins by saying that God created "in the beginning." Even conservative Christian scholars come to slightly different conclusions based on that verse, depending on how they understand the original Hebrew language was intended to be read. Was this beginning the instant of "time zero," when there was no "before?" Or is this a reference to "the beginning of God's creative work " or the "season of creation"? However, we answer that question; it is an incredible thought that one being created all of our universes. Only God could do such a thing.
The following verses will add details to God's work as Creator, crediting Him with forming various aspects of the universe. This is crucial not only as a means of giving God due credit but also for dispelling suggestions that God was uninvolved or disinterested in these creations. Moreover, these words will counter claims that the stars, planets, plants, or animals are divine and worthy of worship.
Genesis 1:1 announced that God created everything: "the heavens and the earth." Verse 2 begins to describe the process of that creation.
According to this text, the earth was empty and literally in chaos. The Hebrew words are tōhu and bōhu, translated as "formless" and "void." Segments of Bible scholarship disagree about whether this "formlessness" was the state of the earth immediately after the initial creation or the result of some events between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. In either case, at this point in the story, the earth is covered with deep waters. Darkness was over the surface, and the Spirit of God was over the waters.
Why darkness? Light will not be created until the following verse. There can be only darkness at this point. Still, God's Spirit is moving in this darkness. God is preparing to speak, to act with great power to bring order and light to this chaos.

Genesis 1:3, KJV: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
This verse records God's first spoken words in the Bible: words of creation. God speaks light into existence in the universe. As used in this form in this passage, this is meant to be understood as natural light. While aspects of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are often debated, this is not intended as a metaphor for spiritual light or something else. Before this moment, light did not exist in the physical universe (Genesis 1:2). God intends for us to understand Him as the Creator, even of light itself. Without Him, there would be only darkness.
Some might object to light existing before stars or the sun. As an interesting scientific point, though, secular models such as the Big Bang themselves theorize that light—photons—existed before complex forms of matter. In other words, just as the Bible stated that there was "a beginning" long before secular science admitted the same, the Bible also said that light existed before stars, well in advance of secular science coming to the same conclusion.

Genesis 1:4, KJV: God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
This is the first of several times in the creation account where God will pronounce what He has just made as "good." He made light, and He approved of it. Pointedly, God did not call the darkness good. There is powerful symbolism in God's choice to create light among the darkness of the universe. In Hebrew philosophy, "light" was the ultimate ideal and a symbol of wisdom, goodness, and knowledge.
This verse begins a pattern repeated for the rest of the passage. In each of the following days of creation, God will speak something into existence, see its effect, declare it good, and then the text will declare the number of the Day.
Here, God is said to have separated darkness and light. The two would exist in the world separately, with light being the dominant force. To the extent that when light appears, darkness will permanently disappear. Darkness has no defense against light since "darkness" does not exist in and of itself. It is simply the absence of light.

DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS.

Genesis 1:5, KJV: And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.
Genesis is a book of firsts. In verse 3, we heard God's first recorded words in the Bible: "Let there be light." We saw God's first approval of something as "good." In verse 5, we see God name something for the first time.
Naming things is a significant act in the book of Genesis, as well as in the rest of the Bible. Naming something, in the ancient mindset, is a claim to ownership. Having the right to name something means claiming sovereignty over that thing. God named the light Day and the darkness "night." later, God will ask Adam to name the animals as part of his humanitarian work in ruling and subduing the earth.
In part, we see that God means to remain Lord over Night and Day. He created them. He intended for Day and Night to exist; they are not merely an accidental consequence of the natural world. Another way to apply this point is that God is not merely creating and allowing this creation to spin out of control. What He has created, He still maintains authority over.
Finally, the verse ends with the blueprint used to describe each of the six days of creation: There was evening, and there was morning, the first Day. From very early on, the people of Israel thought of a day beginning in the evening, at sunset, and continuing until the sun set the following Day. That may explain the wording in Genesis 1 of "evening and morning."
part 2