The Actions of God: Creation

Thinking Theology

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Episode Intro

What does God do? In the last few episodes of Thinking Theology we’ve been thinking about what God is like: what is his nature and what is his character. But in this and the next few episodes we’re moving on to think about what God has done and what he continues to do.

In this episode we’re thinking about what God has done in creating the world. What does the Bible tell us about creation and, importantly, how does that shape our life?

That’s what we’re thinking about in this episode of Thinking Theology.

Podcast Intro

Hi. My name is Karl Deenick. I’m a pastor, theologian, writer, and Bible college lecturer. Welcome to Thinking Theology, a podcast where we think about theology, the Bible and the Christian life, not just for the sake of it, but so we can love God more, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

Creation in Genesis

Creation is the first act of God in the Bible. We find it on the very first page of the Bible. We’re told,

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. (Genesis 1:1–2 NIV)

It seems that what those first verses describe is an initial act of God in creating the initial matter from which creation would be organised. So God brings matter into existence but it is formless.

Before God created the world, then, there was nothing. God created the world “out of nothing”. Or as theologians sometimes say, ex nihilo, which is Latin for out of nothing. God didn’t use pre-existing material but he created everything that is.

We find that same idea in other parts of the Bible. So Hebrews 11:3 says,

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3 NIV)

Of course, that might simply mean that the matter God used to create the world was merely invisible and he made it visible. However, other places are more explicit. So Revelation 4:11 says,

“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” (Revelation 4:11 NIV)

If God created all things, then nothing exists that he didn’t make.

In fact, as the theologian John Frame points out, not only did God create out of nothing, he created into nothing. Not only did God create the matter out of which the universe was made, but he also created the space into which it went.[1]

The rest of chapter 1 then describes God’s organisation of that matter. And it follows a very structured pattern to show the logic and order that God imposes on his world. So pattern is more or less:[2]

1. Announcement: “And God said,”

2. Command: “Let there be X.”

3. Separation and Structure: God orders the items he has brought into existence.[3]

4. Report: “And there was X.” (or equiv.)

5. Evaluation: “God saw that X was good.”

6. Chronological marker: “And there was evening and there was morning—the nth day.”

So there is a careful structure within each day, but there is also a careful structure between the days.

There is a pattern in the order in which things are created, such that day 1 pairs with day 4, day 2 with day 5, and day 3 with day 6.

So on day 1 light is created but on day 4 the light bearers—the sun, moon, and stars are created.

On day 2 the sky and the waters are separated. While on day 5 the sea and sky creatures are created.

And on day 3 the dry land and the plants are created, while on day 6 animals and humans are created.

Within that pattern, too, the seventh day stand on its own as special. The seventh day is a day of rest for God. Genesis 2:1–2 says,

Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. (Genesis 2:1–2 NIV)

The seventh day is a kind of capstone on the days that have gone before.

The climax of the creation event, however, is the creation of human beings. God says in 1:26,

“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” (Genesis 1:26 NIV)

A number of things in Genesis 1 highlight the special significance of human beings. First, when God comes to create human beings the pace of the chapter slows down. For the creation of everything else, even big things like the sun and the moon, they’re passed over pretty quickly, but when it comes to human beings Genesis 1 says a lot.

Second, human beings are created as the result of a divine counsel. God says among himself, “Let us make man” (Gen 1:26). Nowhere else in the chapter is there such an obvious and significant deliberation by God.

Third, human beings are the only thing in creation made in the image of God. Human beings are intended to reflect God and represent him. Strikingly, the same term used here to describe the image of God is the same one used later in the Bible to describe idols. Idols were intended to be images of gods. And, of course, God commanded not to make idols. But whereas idols are dead and lifeless objects that we make to represent what we think God should look like, God himself has created an image to represent and reflect him and that is human beings.

Fourth, human beings are given the task of ruling over the rest of creation (Gen 1:28).

And fifth, chapter 2 of Genesis contains a special parallel account that focusses in on the creation of Adam and Eve. If Genesis 1 is the wide-angle shot of the whole of creation. Genesis 2 is the zoom lens that narrows down to the creation of human beings.

Lessons from Creation

Creation is actually a really foundational doctrine in Christianity and underpins the whole of the Christian life.

But what does God’s creation of the world teach us about God and ourselves and the world in which we live?

There’s a few things that can be said.

God Created on His Own

First, in Genesis 1, God creates entirely on his own. God doesn’t get help from anyone else. He does it by himself. And he does it for his own reasons. It was entirely his decision to create the world and to create it as he did. The world is an expression of God’s purposeful creativity.

God Created by Speaking

Second, God creates simply by speaking. God says, “Let there be…” and it happens. And as it has been pointed out, when God says, “Let there be…” he is not speaking to things that have in them the power to respond but his word itself carries the power. That is, when God says, “Let the water be gathered to one place,” the water doesn’t hear those words and respond with its own power, but God’s word makes it happen.

As Psalm 33:6 s...