Creation of the heavens and earth
1
📚In the beginning 📖 God created the heaven 📖 and the earth. 2 📚And the earth 📖 was 📖 desolate and void 📖; and darkness 📖 was upon the surface of the deep 📖. And the Spirit of God moved 📖 upon the surface of the waters.3 📚And God said 📖 📖, “Let there be light”; and there was light 📖. 4 📚And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 📚And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day 📖 📖.
6 📚And God said, “Let there be an expanse 📖 between the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters”. 7 📚And God made 📖 the expanse, and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 📚And God called the expanse “heaven 📖”. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
9 📚And God said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear”. And it was so. 10 📚And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 📚And God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegetation, the plant bearing seed and the fruit tree on the earth bearing fruit according to its kind, with its seed in it”. And it was so. 12 📚And the earth brought forth vegetation, the plant bearing seed according to its kind, and the tree bearing fruit, with its seed in it, according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.
1:11-13 Ps 104:14. Vegetation came before animal life.⚜
14 📚And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heaven to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years, 15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth”. And it was so. 16 📚And God made two great lights: the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also 📖. 17 📚And God set them 📖 in the expanse of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 📚and to govern the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
1:14-18 Ps 74:16; 136:7-9; Isa 40:26. There are other sources of light than the sun, and the light in v 3 may have been from another source (clouds of ionized gas is one possibility). Or it might have been, as some think, that the earth was at first obscured by dense clouds of vapor. Some light from the sun was able to penetrate to the earth, but the sun itself could not have been seen. Here perhaps the meaning is that for the first time the sun and moon were made visible from the earth’s point of view. Or it may possibly mean that God put them in their present positions, or that He did something to them that resulted in their present condition. There is, perhaps, another possibility – see the additional note on all this at the end of the bible "The Creation".
In v 16 the word “created” is not used (as it is in v 1 – in Hebrew “bara”). The Hebrew word here (“asah”) has various meanings, such as “to work on”, “to produce”, “to make”, “to prepare” (see Ps 74:16), or even “to appoint”.
Observe that the sun and moon were given as signs to mark seasons and to govern day and night. They were not made that men might worship them (see Deut 4:19; 17:3-5; Ezek 8:16-18). We are to worship the Creator who made them, Him only (Ex 20:3; Matt 4:10). The sun and moon have no spiritual influence at all in the affairs of men. They do not govern men. They govern day and night by physically affecting activities on earth by their presence or absence. Seeing the sun, moon and stars we should realize something of God’s greatness, of how superior He is to man and to all other things He has made (Ps 8:3-4; 102:25-27; Isa 40:12-17, 25, 26; 44:24).⚜
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20 📚And God said, “Let the waters teem with living, moving creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven”. 21 📚And God created great sea monsters, and every living moving creature, according to its kind, with which the waters teem, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 📚And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful, and increase in number, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds increase in number on the earth”. 23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 📚And God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth according to its kind”. And it was so. 25 📚And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, and cattle according to their kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
1:20-25 Animal life was first created in the water, then on land.⚜
26 📚And God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth”.
1:24-26 There is a theory devised by men that tries to explain the development of life on earth from lifeless matter to man, leaving God out altogether. This theory is atheistic evolution. It is an unproved theory and there are still many unsolved scientific problems in connection with it – not to mention other kinds of problems.
For example, how did life originally arise spontaneously out of lifeless matter? How did lifeless matter itself originate? How can consciousness and intelligence, mind and personality, morality and ethics, religion and spirituality be explained if the development of man began originally from lifeless matter alone which have none of these? The teaching that these came about without God, from inanimate matter, is a mere theory, not scientific fact; and it is a theory greatly lacking in real evidence. And it is neither wise nor scientific to believe something without proper evidence. The Bible declares that atheism, that all denial of God, comes from a heart that is foolish and perverse (see Ps 14:1 and note).
Others, who believe in God, have thought that God used the process of evolution to bring all present forms of life into existence. From the evidence we have in the Bible, and the knowledge of the many defects in the theory of evolution, we can say that this seems very unlikely.
Let us always remember that any theory or hypothesis is based on partial knowledge. It is an attempt to explain matters without having all the facts. Often when more is known, theories must be either greatly modified or completely abandoned. This has happened again and again in the history of scientific investigation. As for us, let us be very careful in our statements so that we do not either oppose a teaching of the Bible, or unnecessarily add to what it says, or show that we are ignoring real evidence of any kind, scientific or otherwise.⚜
1:26 The language of this verse reveals, man is not a product of evolution, but a new creation, different from all that was created before. According to the Bible man is not a mere animal. And he is not God or a part of God. He is far above the animals. No one should think of calling animals the children of God. And the Bible does not say that animals were made in God’s image. But man, though far above animals, is far below God. He is a creature, God is the Creator. However, in certain ways he resembles God. He was made with personality. This indicates a very important truth – man’s Creator also has personality. God is not an impersonal power.
Man was given a mind to think about God’s revelation, a will to choose between good and evil, an ability to love and worship God. He was made in God’s image (Gen 5:1; 9:6; 1 Cor 11:7; Eph 4:24). This does not mean that God has a body like man’s. God is Spirit. See John 4:24.
Notice in this verse the words “us” and “our”. See also Gen 3:22. It seems that here is a hint of the mysterious and wonderful doctrine of the Trinity, which is gradually revealed in the Bible. To whom was God speaking in this verse? To angels? The Bible nowhere says that man was made in the image of angels or that angels joined with God in His work of making man. Then to whom was God speaking? To some gods or other? There is only one God and not many. This is a truth stated everywhere in the Bible – Deut 4:35, 39; Isa 43:10-12; 44:6-8; Rom 3:29-30; 1 Cor 8:4; 1 Tim 1:17; 6:15-16; Jude 25. So God was not speaking to another God or god.
But according to the Bible, in the one Godhead there are three persons, named the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – one God, three persons perfectly united with one will, one mind, one nature. All three were active in creation. The Father appears in v 1, the Spirit in v 2, and the Son was with the Father in the whole process of creation (John 1:1-3; Col 1:16-17; Heb 1:10-12). See notes on the Trinity at Matt 3:16. Here in Genesis in this verse it seems that God the Father is speaking to the other members of the Trinity.⚜
27 📚So 📖 God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him. He created them male and female.
28 📚And God blessed them and God said to them, “Be fruitful, and increase in number, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth”.
1:28 Ps 8:6-8; Jer 27:5. Notes on “bless” and “blessed” at Gen 12:1-3; Num 6:22-27; Deut 28:1; Ps 1:1; Matt 5:3-12.⚜
29 📚And God said, “Look 📖, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth, and every tree on which is the fruit of a seed-bearing tree. It will be food for you. 30 📚And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth that has life, I have given every green plant for food”. And it was so.
1:29-30 God gave new directions after the great flood described in chapters 7 and 8. See Gen 9:3-4.⚜
31 📚And God looked at everything that he had made, and saw that it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
1:31 Everything God made, including man, was very good. Man was sinless and able to have fellowship with God, and love Him and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
Note on creation and science
Is there any conflict between the account of creation in this chapter and the truths discovered by modern science? No. This first chapter of Genesis, as all the rest of the Bible, is a revelation from God Himself and so is absolutely true to the facts (see 2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:21). Scientific evidence is not lacking that the order of creation given here is correct – the heavens, and a desolate, empty earth, then light reaching earth, after that vegetation and animal life in water, and later on land, and finally man. Science is in agreement with this chapter that creation is real. It is not a mere dream in the mind of God.
However, this chapter is at odds with certain speculations and theories of science that some put forth to try to explain the origin of the universe apart from God. But the speculations and theories of science are not the facts of science, and we should not confuse these things. It is not scientific to say that the universe originated by itself out of nothing. No scientist was there to observe what happened then, and there is no evidence now that such things ever happen. When it comes to the origin of the universe scientists can only speculate, just as those who are not scientists. Or else they can believe the record God has given here in His Word.
Concerning the origin of things, Genesis chapter one gives the most logical and sensible and reasonable explanation in existence. It certainly has not been disproved by science, and many fine and brilliant scientists have believed this account and accepted it as God’s revelation.
And regarding the theories of some scientists which are contrary to the plain teachings of the Bible we should keep in mind the following: Scientists who have not believed in God and received the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour are fallen, sinful people just as the rest of mankind, and this will be revealed in their thoughts and theories as well as in their actions – see Gen 8:21; Ps 14:1-3; Jer 17:9; Matt 15:19; Rom 1:18-23; 3:17-19; Eph 2:1-3. So it is a dangerous and foolish thing to accept a theory of any unbelieving scientist (no matter how skilled and knowledgeable he is in his own field) when what he puts forth relates in any way to God or religion or the Bible or to ethics and morality.⚜