genesis 1:1 commentary

For in the new age, according to Isaiah, Peter, and John, there is to be a new earth, which shall appear out of the fires which shall yet consume the present world; and for this and the physical changes which shall thus be brought about, we know not what forces may not even now silently be working beneath our very feet. The word Pentateuch comes from the Greek words penta (five) and teuchos (scroll), and is related to the fact that Genesis through Deuteronomy constitute the first five books (scrolls) of the … Here action is concentrated on the earth and its environs. One may not depend on another, and therefore both may be ultimate ends; but yet the obtaining his beloved bride may be his chief end, and the benefit of the optic glass his inferior end. Were his knowledge already perfect, there would be no need that he should study to increase it. Secondly, the alternative theory derives no support from experience. This appears to be clear from the context. By His love, which led Him to move out of Himself in creation at the first, He travels with the slow, onward movement of the world and of humanity, and His Incarnation in time, when demanded by the needs of the creatures of His hand, is in a line with that first of mysteries, His deigning to create at all. THERE IS A SPECIAL GRANDEUR IN THE ACCOUNT WHICH IS HERE GIVEN OF THE ORIGIN OF MAN. Finally, God creates, but for what purpose? As the Psalmist says, ‘by the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all their host by the breath of His mouth’ (Psalms 33:6). Now, the origination or bringing into existence of all these things I call a creation. It is never used in connection with creative material, and there is no suggestion in the account of any such material. The creation and revelation of life from God. This is the result of the action of perfect mind in the direction of perfection itself, it is easy to perceive that perfect bliss, happiness, or delight midst inhere in, or constitute a part of such action--and this, not merely in the sense of art effect, but that it must be woven into its very texture, so as to form a part of its web and woof. The reader’s attention cannot be too carefully directed to this fact, for, in scientific language, law is habitually used as the equivalent of force, and the greatest confusion of thought has been the result; nay, more, it is frequently personified even by those who refuse to allow that we have any means of knowing that the First Cause of the universe is a personal Being. Let this, then be maintained in the first place, (39) that the world is not eternal but was created by God. In proof of this his eternal power and Godhead, see Genesis 21:33; Psalms 90:2; Deuteronomy 33:27; Isaiah 44:6; Revelation 1:8; Rev_1:17, etc. In our valiant attempts to read the entire Bible in a specified period of time, we confidently zip through this passage. (1) In the beginning.—Not, as in John 1:1, “from eternity,” but in the beginning of this sidereal system, of which our sun, with its attendant planets, forms a part. Biblical Commentary Genesis 1:1—2:4a EXEGESIS: INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH AND GENESIS: See the companion article regarding the authorship of the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy). The other form of dualism is: (a) by all the arguments for the unity, omnipotence, sovereignty, and blessedness of God; (b) by the Scripture representations of the prince of evil as the creature of God and as subject to God’s control. THE CREATION STORY. The first could not have been His end, for the increase of attributes already infinite is impossible. However, there are problems that discourage dividing Genesis 2:4 in this way. The first cause of man (i.e., God) And this verse, as the whole creation narrative, confirms the admission of science as to design. Why then, I ask, should the contemplation of the one piece of mechanism afford unquestionable evidence of the presence of an intelligent contriver, and the contemplation of that of which it is the copy, only far more elaborate and perfect, afford none? So also, according to the same revelation, shall it prove to be as regards the whole great age of the natural man. Then again, in the second place, let it be observed that THE ESSENTIAL FACTS IN THIS DIVINE RECORD are,--the recent date assigned to the existence of man on the earth, the previous preparation of the earth for his habitation, the gradual nature of the work, and the distinction and succession of days during its progress. 2. The true God is the Author of the Bible, and He used His sovereign authority to determine the revelations it contains and the sequence in which they are given. . Day 4: Sun and moon (separating day and night). When the day breaks, the same Scriptures teach us, shall be seen a new and magnificent display of the creative might of God, introducing “a new heavens and a new earth,” and bringing in also the sons of the resurrection with their spiritual bodies to inherit the glory. This being so, the following important consequences follow. We can see how the benevolence of God could lead Him to purpose from all eternity to create the universe at a certain time,--in which case, the universe would not exist until that time arrived. Strange to say, unbelief is now compelled to live by faith. All must work for Him. Hebrew. But he would scorn the idea, if it were suggested to him, that these arrangements were the result of the concurrence of a number of unintelligent forces, and would without a moment’s hesitation draw the conclusion that they were due to the agency of intelligence. Learn to appreciate this clear, refreshing, and authoritative declaration that the origin of the universe and of man is a personal, all-wise, almighty, and loving God. It was not perfect even when originally constituted. For we are told that a day is coming when “the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” The day for which the present heavens and earth are “reserved into fire,” shall also be a “day of the perdition of ungodly men.” 2 Peter 3:7). No attempt made to prepare mind of reader for idea of God; as though every human being had this naturally; and so they all have. God’s own happiness could not be His ultimate end in creation. all New American Commentary authors affirm the divine inspiration, inerrancy, complete truthfulness, and full authority of the Bible. On the other hand, God’s creational work exhibits a certain messiness, with the wind sweeping across the face of the waters. All present experience is against this major premise which Huxley has so quietly taken for granted. ], [Note: George Bush, Notes on Genesis; Edward J. (E. The truth is, that while the forces of nature effect much, the laws of nature can effect nothing. If the earliest vertebrates of geological history were types of man and preparations for his coming, then pain and death among those same vertebrates may equally have been a type of man’s sin and its results of misery. First, those adaptations which denote plan, or the realization of an idea through a gradual course of evolution; and, secondly, those adaptations by which a particular result is produced, and which alone render its production possible. 2 Samuel 22:31. Genesis 1:7, ESV: "And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.And it was so." Creation is not “production out of nothing,” as if “nothing” were a substance out of which “something” could be formed. We accept Bushnell’s idea of “anticipative consequences,” and would illustrate it by the building of a hospital room while yet no member of the family is sick, and by the salvation of the patriarchs through a Christ yet to come. In either case, the ultimate end is to be found in himself, and in both the idea of defect on the part of the agent is prominent. Before creation, there was no shape to anything and everything was empty. God created ONLY “the heaven and the earth.” He provided a heaven, but He did not provide a hell. Primary creation, as I have said, is that grand act whereby God called into being the finite world. The difficulties which have been raised in modern times against this cardinal doctrine have been very great, and in dealing with them I do not well know how to make myself intelligible to some of you. This name represents the Creator"s transcendent relationship to His creation. Secondly, that the production of all the phenomena of the universe by the unintelligent forces of nature, acting in conformity with laws from which they are incapable of varying, is an adequate account of these orderly arrangements. To expound the term "beginning", of Christ, is altogether frivolous. (Calmet) --- The first cause of all things must be God, who, in a moment, spoke, and heaven and earth were made, heaven with all the Angels; and the whole mass of the elements, in a state of confusion, and blended together, out of which the beautiful order, which was afterwards so admirable, arose in the space of six days: thus God was pleased to manifest his free choice in opposition to those Pagans who attributed all to blind chance or fate. The material universe began to be. But if you will think over the matter, you will see that this could not be; for time only came into existence when the creative process was completed. This theory is called the theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest in the struggle for existence; and modern atheistic unbelief propounds it, aided by another theory, viz., that of sexual selection, and a third, viz., that of the accumulation of habits through a long succession of transmissions from remote ancestors, which have gradually become fixed, as an adequate account of the origin of all the adaptations and correlations which are presented in the existing forms of animal and vegetable life. In the beginning a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages; and so the phrase is used in Pr 8:22, 23. … It may, however, be said that this goes a very little way in making the act of creation conceivable to us, for we have no experience of the immediate and unconditioned externalization of a mere mental idea, and we cannot imagine how it could be possible. God Creates The Heaven And The Earth And All That Is In Them (Genesis 1:1-31; Genesis 2:1-4 a). Genesis 1:1, ESV: "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." For all that is good and holy, let us ascribe the glory to God; for what is evil let us accuse ourselves. His language therefore may be thus explained. The manner how this work was effected; God created, that is, made it out of nothing. Exodus 33:4-6. Genesis 1:1 — In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Calmet) --- The Jews being a carnal people and prone to idolatry, might have been in danger of misapplying this great mystery, and therefore an explicit belief of it was not required of them in general. Its subject is not creation, but the Creator. We object to it upon the following grounds: 3. Spontaneous generation. It was content to reveal spiritual truth, but left men to find out scientific truth for themselves. Let me tell myself: ‘They came from God, and they are meant to be employed for God; for His pleasure they are, and were created.’ I move through a world mystic, wonderful.’, (2) The keynote of the whole chapter is struck in its first verse: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ As Professor Elmslie well says, ‘The concern of the chapter is not creation, but the character, being and glory of the Almighty Maker. More point above referred to indirectly in Genesis 1:2 or Genesis 1:3 no one word in language, human angelic. All we have not the result of the Supreme being, signifying in Hebrew genesis 1:1 commentary `` universe ''. We witness it under ordinary circumstances, we come to that which was! To both acted, and creation leads up to Redemption have absolute power, and makes it fruitful phenomena! That a certain school of matter composing this material universe, that it is also certain this! 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