Genesis 1 - Creation

In this episode of the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast, the host delves into Genesis chapter one, highlighting the creation of the world in six days and the introduction of God as the main character. Discussions range from the nature of God to the purpose of human creation, with implications drawn to the Trinity and the image of God reflected in humanity.

Transcript:

Welcome to the Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. I am your host, Dan Snyder, and today we will be going through the book of Genesis chapter one.

First of all, we will start with an overview of the chapter. The chapter introduces the main character of the Bible, who is, of course, God. God is introduced in the very first sentence of the Bible. He is the main character beginning to end. Genesis to Revelation, God is the main character of the Bible.

So as we go through this chapter, we see that God created the heavens and the earth in six days. The first three days is marked by separation. So we see separation of light from dark. We see separation of water from water. And we see separation of land from water. And then in the last three days, we see that creation is filled with inhabitants. So we see the creation of stars, sea and sky creatures, land creatures, and of course, humans.

Then at the end of the chapter, humans are given a blessing, and that blessing involves being fruitful and multiplying to fill the earth, to subdue the earth, and to have a dominion over every living thing. And then they are also given plants for food. It's interesting to note they were not given animals for food, only plants.

So let's dive deeper into the chapter.

Very first verse. Chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God. So this word God in Hebrew is Elohim, which is a plural word, yet the verbs and pronouns around this word are singular. Many people use this as support for a Trinitarian doctrine. Very first sentence of the Bible, God is showing us that he is three in one. Many use this as support for that because again, the word Elohim is plural but the verbs and pronouns are singular. If you speak a language such as Spanish, you would recognize this in other languages that use this same sort of sentence construction where if a noun is plural, all the verbs also have to be plural. If a noun is singular, all the verbs have to be singular. Again, many will say that this is proof that God is three in one.

However, there are a couple counterpoints I would like to point out and that is that the same word is used for pagan gods in the Bible. In Judges 16 verse 23: Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, "Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand."

So they're referring to one god Dagon but the word Elohim which is a plural word is used to describe a singular god.

The 11th century Jewish commentator Rashi tells us that a plural word like this means it refers to all authority. So this is saying God Elohim has all authority rather than that it is a word that refers to plural gods.

Charles John Ellicott who is an 18th century theologian says thus in the name Elohim it included in one person all the powers, mights and influences by which the world was first created and is now governed and maintained. In the Bible alone, Elohim is one. Christians may also well see in this a foreshadowing of the plurality of persons in the Divine Trinity, but its primary lesson is that, however diverse may seem the working of the powers of nature, the worker is one and his work is one.

So whether or not this word Elohim tells us that God is three and one, I don't know. I don't know Hebrew well enough to know that. There's a lot of people that know Hebrew a lot more than I do that don't know that. So I'm not going to say that this sentence here right now is proof that God is three and one. However, what it is saying without a doubt is that God has all authority over all other gods, over the power of nature, over anything we could think of or create or conceive of. God has all authority and He is the sole creator of heaven and earth. That's what this is saying.

And again, just as importantly, we do see that God is introduced as the main character of the Bible. He's the first person, the first personality. The Bible is all about God.

So moving on, God created. Now this brings us to, especially in our modern western mindset, at least that is the perspective that I'm coming from, many will look to the Bible as scientific proof that evolution is false, that creationism is true. But we need to be careful. We need to take some time and find out is that the question that the Bible is actually answering? Is that even a question that the authors were asking?

Now obviously evolution was not a theory at the time that the Bible was written. Evolution did not come into the public existence until the 19th century. However, pagan myths were in existence at this time. And so when reading the creation account, we need to remember that the Bible is not answering the question of whether or not evolution is true. Obviously, we do not want to be disturbed by godless theories of creation, but we also can't force the Bible to answer questions that the authors weren't asking. We need to be open to figure out what questions the authors were asking. And as mentioned already by the use of the word Elohim, the authors were asking who has all authority over all creation. And that is Elohim, that is God. It was not Dagon of the Philistines or Baal of the Canaanites. It was God, Yahweh.

Now, the question is always going to arise: Are the seven days of creation literal seven days or are they not? Many people will interpret these days as not being literal days, but that they are extended epochs of many, many millions of years over which God performed his creation. Others believe that there are seven literal 24-hour periods in which God created all things.

Personally, because I believe that the scripture is literal, unless indicated otherwise, I believe that these are seven literal 24-hour days. However, I wouldn't be offended if it turns out to be not the case because God is God and he can do whatever he wants. My view of these seven days of creation does not change how I view God. Either way, he is all powerful. Either way, he created everything. Either way, he has all authority over creation. Whether these are literal days or not. So to me, it doesn't matter. My personal belief is that these are literal 24-hour days, but really, when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter to me.

Moving on to verse two. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. Now this word can also refer to a sea or an ocean, and the entire picture that it gives us implies confusion or chaos. And this is going to be important. This is going to be a theme that we're going to be tracking throughout the scriptures. The sea is representative of chaos. So keep track of that as we go through the Bible.

It says, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Now, this word spirit is ruach means breath. This is the breath of life. And this is the first time that we see the Spirit of God. I think what the text is telling us that the primary function of the Spirit of God is to breathe life. It is to bring what is dead to life and to bring order out of chaos. That is the primary function of the Holy Spirit. And so as we read about the Holy Spirit throughout the rest of the Bible, we're going to see him doing those things. That is his function, to bring what is dead to life and to bring order out of chaos.

So now we have six days of creation and I'm not going to read each one word for word. But in the first three days, and I want you to notice this, and if you purchase the study notes on my website you can see I have these highlighted in different colors for you so you can see how they line up. If you want to do this in your own bible you can you can highlight them in different colors as well.

So the first three days Creation is ordered. On day one we have light separated from darkness. On day two we have the waters above separated from the waters below. And on day three, we have water separated from land and the plants and trees sprout up.

Then in the last three days, that space that was created, that order that was created out of chaos, that space is inhabited. So on day four, lights were created in the heavens, the stars, the sun, the moon. In day five we see creatures in the water below and the water above. And then in day six, we see creatures on land and God creates humans. So that space is filled with creatures or in the case of the heavens, it's filled with lights.

So again, to recap, day one, light is separated from darkness and day four, lights are created in the heavens. In day two, the waters above are separated from the waters below. And in day five, the creatures are created in the waters below and in the waters above. So that's the sea creatures and the birds of the air. And then in day three, the water is separated from the land, plants and trees sprout up. And in day six, we see land creatures created as well as humans.

So these six days of creation are going to provide several themes and images that are going to be explored throughout the rest of scripture. Some of them we've already mentioned. We mentioned the spirit, which is the breath of life. The spirit brings life. The spirit brings order. We mentioned already waters and darkness, which represents death and chaos.

Another theme that we're going to explore is dry land and light, which represents life and refuge. So we'll track that as we go through the Bible.

We see the theme of God splitting the waters, which points to God overcoming evil. I think of, obviously, the most instantly recognizable example is going to be Moses splitting the Red Sea, right? God is splitting the waters of the Red Sea, freeing Israel from oppression in Egypt, and destroying Egypt, overcoming the evil world power that Egypt had become. So that's gonna be a theme that we can track throughout the Bible.

Another theme that we will see is the number seven, which signifies completeness. The completion of creation, the completion of work. That's what the number seven refers to. And we're gonna see seven all over the place in the Bible.

Now moving down to verse 26, we find this interesting phrase where it says: then God said, "Let us make man in our image."

Once again, many will use this as evidence of the Trinity, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Three and One. Right now, I tend to agree with that. However, there is also another school of thought here that believes this is a reference to the Divine Council.

Now, the Divine Council is something that I am not real familiar with, or at least not familiar enough with to speak extensively on the topic. But it is a concept that is shared by many ancient Near East cultures. It is essentially a council of gods headed up by one god. So in the case of the Bible we would see Yahweh at the head of this divine council made up of other gods or we would think of them as angels or other spiritual beings.

Now there is evidence of this in scripture. We see evidence in the book of Job, in the Psalms, that this could be the case. We see in the first chapter of Job it says: Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.

This could be a reference to the divine council. And so, when we see that word us, in Genesis 1, verse 26, it could be a reference to God speaking to the divine council saying, "Let us create man in our image," the image of the divine council.

Now again, this is not something I understand well. It is not something that is even well developed in scripture. It is not something that I am qualified to speak on extensively. But I do feel it is my duty to at least present to you that that is a possibility. Again, I tend to lean towards this word referring to the Trinity, but I don't know.

In that same verse, God says, "Let us make man in our image."

In what sense was man made in God's image? That's the question. God is invisible, at least to us. God is spirit, not flesh. We are flesh. How were we made in God's image? I believe this word image refers to receiving God's attributes, his character. We were made with the character of God. We were made with his attributes. We were made as emotional beings. We were made as beings that have the ability to relate to him and be in a relationship with him and with each other. We have the ability to love and to relate to one another. This is what this word image refers to.

David Guzik says in reference to this word, he says, "This means the incarnation was truly possible. God, in the second person of the Trinity, could really become man because although deity and humanity are not the same, they are compatible."

In other words, what he's saying is that if humans were not created in the image of God, God could not have become human. Humans had to be made in the image of God in order for Jesus to appear as human because by being made in the image of God we are compatible with God. Paul tells us that just as food is for the stomach and stomach is for the food, we are for we are made for God. We are made in the image of God.

Verse 28, God says, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it."

This is the first job given to humans. Adam's job, his first job was to partner with God to subdue the earth. To be fruitful, to continue in the work of creation, to multiply and to subdue the earth.

Now I believe that this is implying that creation was unfinished on the earth. That God intentionally left creation unfinished. God made Eden as a beautiful garden. The rest of the world was not like that. The rest of the world was wilderness, potentially dangerous, if it needed to be subdued.

Moving on to verse 29. 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."

So God gave plants to humans for food. Meat was not introduced as food until after the flood. And so I believe that this is the ideal for the human body. Now that does not mean that I practice that ideal because meat is delicious and I enjoy it. But I do believe that for humans to achieve their peak health and vitality, I believe this is the proper diet to do so. We have permission to eat meat, but I don't believe it's something that God intended for us. I think that's clear here in verse 29.

So how does this point to Jesus? How does this, why are we even doing this? Why are we reading this? Well, we we want to find out how this points to Jesus.

First of all, we see that God spoke the world into existence and those words that he spoke were also the word. In John chapter one, it says: in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.

And in verse 14: the word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only son from the father, full of grace and truth.

That word that God spoke, the word through which all creation came, when God said, let there be light, that word was God. That word was God and that word became flesh. That word of creation, that word of let there be light, became flesh. That's Jesus. Jesus is that word.

Colossians 1:16 says: all things were created through Jesus. It says, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were created through him and for him.

Again, he is the word. The word that was spoken was the means of creation. That was Jesus. All things were created by him, through him, and for him. He is the center of all creation. This is Jesus. And we even see here in this verse in Colossians the complete authority that Jesus has that is expressed in that word Elohim that we talked about at the very beginning of this podcast. Whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him. Jesus is Elohim. He has all authority over all creation.

Second Corinthians 4 verses 3-6 says: and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

So what that section of 2 Corinthians is saying is that new creation begins in us the same way it began in Genesis 1. When we receive the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is new creation that is happening and it happens in the same exact way. God speaks, "Let light shine out of darkness," and light shines in our hearts through Jesus Christ. It's the same story. Genesis 1 happens in our own hearts. Every time somebody receives and hears and obeys the gospel of Jesus, Genesis 1 happens all over again.

We also see in that section of scripture, it says that Christ is the image of God. Now we were made in the image of God, Christ is the image of God. And in Hebrews 1 verse 3, it says: he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Jesus is the image of God. Jesus is the image that God intended at creation.

Okay, so what questions should we ask ourselves? What should we reflect on? I'm going to ask these questions. I'm going to let you answer them on your own. I'm not going to answer them. I'll clarify them as as we go through.

First question: what does Genesis 1 1 teach us about God? What do we learn about God here in that very first verse? What do we learn about who he is?

Next question. How is there light present before the sun was created? What is this true source of physical light? If you remember in verse 3 God said, let there be light and there was light. Currently in our universe, we think of light as coming from the sun, because that's what we see every single morning when we wake up. The sun shining light on the planet. But here, God created light before the sun existed. How is that possible? What is the source of that light?

Next question. What are some ways that we reflect the image of God? I mentioned a few of these earlier in the podcast. What are some more? What are some other things that you can think of or that you might see in the Bible that tell us how we reflect the image of God? Why did God even create humans in his image? What is the purpose?

Next question, why did God see the need to create seasons? What was the purpose of seasons?

Why did God create the earth in six days, instead of speaking everything into existence in an instant? If you believe in an all-powerful God like I do, you believe that God could speak everything into existence with the snap of a finger. He could be like the anti-Thanos, right? Instead of removing half of existence with the snap of a finger, he can snap everything into existence with just the snap of a finger. Why didn't he? Why did he take six days? Why did he take, really, why did he take seven days to do it? Why did he use six days and a day of rest to create the earth? What is he trying to tell us by creating the earth in that way?

Thank you very much for listening to this very first episode of Beyond the Basics Bible Study Podcast. This is the first step in many, many, many steps that we're going to take on this journey together. I hope you enjoyed it. Again, I would love it if you would leave a comment on my website, www.beyondthebasics.blog. Tell me what you think. I want to make sure that I am releasing podcasts that you enjoy listening to. Thank you and I'll see you next time.

Sources:

Sigal, Gerald. “Oneness of God - the Meaning of 'Elohim.” Jews for Judaism, https://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/oneness-of-god-the-meaning-of-elohim.

Ellicott, Charles J. “The Creative Week.” Ellicott's Commentary For English Readers, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/ellicott/genesis/1.htm.

Mackie, Tim. “Visual Commentary: Genesis 1.” Bible Project, https://d1bsmz3sdihplr.cloudfront.net/media/Study%20Notes/VC_Genesis-1_Study%20Notes_final.pdf.

Guzik, David. “Study Guide For Genesis 1.” Blue Letter Bible, 2018, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/genesis/genesis-1.cfm.