Genesis 1:1... - by Don Neuendorf
Wow... this could be a whole huge discussion of creation versus evolution. We could go over some of the questions people have raised about "how" God created, the differences between the accounts in chapter 1 and chapter 2. There are layers of symbolical connections in the order of the 6 days and meaning in the existence of the Garden.
But it feels like we've discussed all this stuff 100 times. And that's a dilemma for me. Is it just me that has talked this to death, and you still have lots of questions? (After all, I've talked this through with umpteen different Bible classes in 3 congregations, but you might not have been there.) What do we really need to talk about here?...
I like to focus on just those first few verses. "The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep."
Just think of it. The world poised on the brink of creation. All is lifeless, dull matter. And then God, the great partnership of persons the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, operate in harmony to shape and create and call into being.
Light bursts forth and is separated from darkness - the watery earth is separated from the heavens above it - the land rises in continents and islands, hills and plains and mountains, and the water streams from the surface of the rising land, carving streams and rivers and canyons - out of the soil bursts green plants, growing, stretching, blooming, and bearing fruit - the sky is filled with stars and moon and sun - the surface of the sea is broken by leaping fish as the new creatures explore their surging environment - the brand new yellow sun blazes down upon the jungle of plants as animals awake and lift their eyes to the sky - and then, in the Garden, God appears in human form and bends to the damp earth and, taking soil in his hands, he forms man and calls him Adam. Bending down, with the angels watching, with the new creation all around, God breathes into man the breath of life.