Creation, Part 2

^{Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from Warren Vanhetloo’s newsletter “Cogitation.”}

Read Part 1.
Compared to some scientific explanations, God’s revelation about the beginning of the world in which we live is simple enough for all to understand. We cannot fully comprehend everything He says, but what He tells us makes good sense, and since He was the One reporting what He Himself did, His account has unique validity.

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Gen 1:1).

1. There was a beginning of the universe we inhabit. Matter was not eternal. Space was not eternal, Everything other than God was brought into existence by divine activity. Only God was and is eternally self-existent.

2. God was always active and “in beginning” chose to act in a new and different fashion. The eternal God (three Persons) existed prior to the existence of anything in our universe. The godhead remained unchanged following creation of “stuff” other than the eternal Three.

3. It was not necessary for God to create in order to be complete or to have something over which to rule. In no sense did He “need” to create. His creation of real things and genuine persons other than Himself was an act of free choice and true grace.

4. The name of God in this verse is plural, a hint at least of the Trinity, reinforced by the plural pronoun in verse 26. The verb “created” is singular to stress the unity of the godhead. This combination of a plural word for God and a singular form of the verb is regular through Scripture.

5. God’s creation of all that exists did not involve modifying anything previously in existence. He brought into being everything other than Himself that is real. None of the universe existed prior to His creative act. Creating activity ceased after the sixth day (Gen 2:2).

6. The created universe consisted of all that we now recognize as the heavens and the earth. Through succeeding days, there was restructuring and reorganization of this “stuff” in completion of divine creative activity. This verse is a statement of “creation in the rough.” That is, at this point God created the substance of what will be (that is, what we will recognize as) the ‘heavens and earth’ once the six days of creative activity are over.

7. The combination “heaven and earth” is a brief manner of speaking of the creation in totality—the universe.

“And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2a).

1. The earth when first created was formless and without differentiation. Nothing was discernible. God describes it as a vast, formless void. It was real, but no aspect of it was distinct from the rest. It was a “mass” as yet unstructured.

2. The totality of created “stuff,” earlier spoken of as heaven and earth, is here referred to by just the one word “earth.” It had “boundaries” and was held together as a unit with a force similar to what we know as gravity today. This earth was not omnipresent, as God is. It was an undifferentiated “glob” awaiting “artistic formation.”

3. This initial undifferentiated mass in some sense had a “surface” (face), boundaries or differentiation of some sort. It also could be characterized, though in a limited way, using the word “deep,” which generally refers to raging, surging water in Scripture; thus, in motion, not still. Creation at this point was in a perfect but unfinished state, as yet unformed and unfilled, possibly even a vast turbulent turmoil.

4. There was no light. All was darkness. Darkness permeated this created totality. All through the expanse of that first created “mass,” there was total darkness (which was, of course, no problem for an all-seeing God). All was indistinct “stuff.”

“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Gen 1:2b).

1. There was differentiated divine activity. The Spirit of God was, throughout creation, actively functioning, busily performing His assigned work from the first coming into being of this indiscernible mass called heaven and earth and during all further modifications. Since God is spirit, a separate reference to activity by a Spirit of God points toward the Trinity.

2. During the six creative days, the Spirit of God was performing the task of “moving,” a word which in Deuteronomy 32:11 refers to an eagle fluttering over its young, thus indicative of protection and superintendence. The Holy Spirit was in control from first formation; everything was proceeding just as intended.

3. The “moving” of the Holy Spirit consisted of oversight and completion throughout the six days of creation. This was a continuing adjustment and alignment, often characterized as “beautifying” that which had been previously been brought into existence (cf. Job 26:13, “By His Spirit He hath garnished [i.e., beautified] the heavens.”)

4. That which was totally without form and void, utter darkness, was here characterized as “waters,” an element possible of rapid change from ice to liquid to steam, mist, or fog, as well as sometimes turbulent.

5. These first two verses together identify the new, other-than-God mass and the One supervising further modification of that newly created mass, the Holy Spirit. The additions, modifications, and divisions thereafter were by divine order, not by happenstance.

Warren Vanhetloo has A.B., B.D., Th.M., Th.D., and D.D. degrees. He served three pastorates in Michigan, taught 20 years at Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN), taught 23 years at Calvary Baptist Theological Seminary (Lansdale, PA), and is listed as adjunct faculty at Calvary. Retired, he lives in Holland, Michigan. Since the death of his wife a year ago, at the urging of fellow faculty and former students, he sends an email newsletter called “Cogitations” to those who request it.