Jesus Christ makes all things new. This applies not only to the personal implications of a life surrendered to his lordship but also to how we understand and relate to the theology of creation today. First, redemption rests on creation. If there is no creation, there is no redemption. The statement sounds silly, but it’s nonetheless true. It’s true first of all because, of course, Yahweh had to create in order to redeem. There can be no new heavens and new earth if there’s no old heavens and old earth. If there’s no one for whom to die, then of course Christ doesn’t die. But it’s also true because Yahweh’s power to create is the same power to redeem.
Do you ever wonder if God is faithful to save those who call upon his name in faith? You only have to look out your window (or maybe walk through park if you live in an urban area) to see he’s powerful to save. That tree and that grass and that flower and that bird and that squirrel—Yahweh created those. Their presence in this world declares God’s faithfulness and goodness toward us, the crowning of his work in creation.1
Creation affirms that God is powerful enough to enact the gospel.2 We may think for a moment that maybe God can’t forgive us, that maybe our sins are too great, or we’re just out of his reach. We may think—if only briefly—that the grip of sin or the world or the old man is too great for God to overcome. If we think such thoughts, we only have to observe the mountains, the rivers, the seas to know our doubts are unfounded. These most powerful things in the world—waves that engulf, rivers that run wild, mountains that tower above us—God created them. He’s more powerful than the sturdiest mountain, the wildest sea, the fastest river. When we look around and behold the world’s natural wonders, we can know that God is more powerful than them because God created them. And if he’s more powerful than the strongest created things, then surely he’s powerful enough to save us frail humans.
Creation makes us without excuse. With Paul in Romans we can look at creation and affirm that “his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Rom 1:20 ESV). And because of that we, like Paul says, are without excuse. So creation does three things (and probably a lot more): it quells our doubts if we wonder about God’s faithfulness; it denies our concern that God is not powerful enough to rescue us; and it makes us all without excuse on that day.
Analysis of Genesis 1:1—2:4
Genesis 1–2 contains two accounts of creation. The first (1:1—2:4) broadly overviews Yahweh’s creative activity in first six days (seven if we count the first Sabbath). The second (2:5–25) narrows its focus to the jewel of Yahweh’s creation: man and woman. These two accounts have much to say about Yahweh, his character, his creation, humans, and human purpose.
A Few Important Differences
The Bible opens with the simple statement that “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”3 This is most certainly a faith statement, a polemical stance taken against the “gods” of Israel’s neighbors.4 Other ancient Near Eastern cultures had their own creation stories, stories that narrated the beginning quite a bit differently.5 First, our creation account has only one protagonist: God himself. There’s no other god Yahweh must battle. He goes about his creative work alone. That the Bible does not even mention rival gods highlights the fact that God has no rivals. He is a singular God, the only God who creates, the only God in existence.
Second, creation doesn’t result from a battle between God and his enemies. Verse 2 paints a dim picture of universe before Yahweh sets things in order—it’s formless, void, and dark—but there’s not even a hint at a cosmological struggle between Yahweh and the waters or chaos or any other god.6 Other ancient Near Eastern creation stories, such as Enuma Elish, portray the epic struggle to create vividly, with one god winning out over others and ascending to the top of the pantheon. In Yahweh’s case, though, there is no such struggle because there are no rival gods to fight.7
A Crucial Similarity
One key similarity exists between the Genesis creation account and the other ancient Near Eastern creation accounts: all of the texts presuppose the existence of deity. Those in the ancient Near East would think it absurd even to consider that there could be an explanation for creation that excluded God/gods. The ancient Near Eastern audience, whether followers of Yahweh or not, would agree with the psalmist that “a fool says in his ‘there is no God’” (Ps 14:1). Likewise, the creation accounts contain no speculation about God’s/gods’ origin because such speculation would be foolishness.8
This crucial similarity between the creation accounts is important for Christian theology in the West today because we are so interested in the origins debate. We of course hold firmly that Yahweh created the entire universe just like Genesis testifies that he did. But, in an increasingly post-Christian West, rather than arguing over the how of creation—this author holds to a literal seven-day creation—perhaps we should emphasize the who of creation, just as the biblical account does. Yahweh himself, the same God who sent his son Jesus to die for our sins, created the entire universe.
Yahweh’s Word and Work
Rather than creation resulting from a cosmological battle, creation results from the “word and work” of the creator God.9 He speaks, and existence happens. Yahweh creates by divine command for the first five days of creation. He simply speaks to bring into existence another piece of the puzzle: light, the heavens, dry land, vegetation, the sun and moon, fish and birds. On each of these days Yahweh created by his very word. He only had to speak and all of the world came forth. As Dyrness has stated, God displayed “creative power that is completely without analogy.”10 And perhaps this is why the Hebrew term bārā’ only appears in the Old Testament with God as its subject, with the “creative endeavors of human beings being expressed by other verbs.”11
Finally, on the sixth day God creates by work. Rather than speaking humanity into existence, he “makes” man in his image (Gen 1:26). The overview of creation in Gen 1:1–2:4 gives only the scantest details about this creative work, but the more focused account of humanity’s creation in Gen 2:5–25 completes the picture. Here we learn that Yahweh “formed” man from the dust (Gen 2:7) and later fashioned the woman out of his rib. Yahweh took a personal interest in creating humans, stooping to form us from the earth. Yahweh created humans in his own image. Yahweh breathed life into humans. And Yahweh gave humans dominion over the earth. Each these aspects of the creation of humanity has enormous implications for the Christian life specifically and the human life more generally.
Humans, crafted in God’s image, are God’s image bearers in the earth. That means we participate in the same type of work Yahweh participates in—creative rule. As Goldingay has stated, “Genesis 1–2 imply that humanity’s chief and highest end is to work for God in the world.”12 That work certainly involves creation care—humans are stewards of the rest of creation. And since the fall that work also involves priestly work, or mediating between God and other humans as Yahweh’s image bearers. Of course, Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5), and yet Christians today must also boldly proclaim the gospel so that humans may be reconciled to God. These two roles—mediator and ruler—are entrusted to us at the very beginning of time.