The First Creation Story: a Discussion Guide

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{1:1} In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, {2} the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.

{John 1:1} In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. {2} He was in the beginning with God. {3} All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

{Gen 1:3} Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. {4} And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. {5} God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

{John 3b} What has come into being, {4} in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. {5} The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

1. God does not create darkness, but light. It was dark.

2. Light is created before sun and moon.

3. Evening is the beginning of the day.

{Gen 1:6} And God said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." {7} So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. {8} God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

1. The earth is initially without atmosphere, yet covered with water.

2. The sky is formed by seperating water from water by a dome. Evaporation caused by the sun?

{Gen 1:9} And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." And it was so. {10} God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. {11} Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. {12} The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. {13} And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

1. Waters are gathered into oceans (or "one place").

2. Plants do not grow from seeds, but yield seeds; the earth brings it all forth.

SUN, MOON, AND STARS ON THE FOURTH

{Gen 1:14} And God said, "Let there be lights in the dome of the sky 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 lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth." And it was so. {16} God made the two great lights--the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night--and the stars. {17} God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, {18} to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. {19} And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

1. Lights are within the dome.

2. The purposes of these lights are to reckon signs, demark seasons, and provide the calendar. The lights "rule" and overcome the darkness.

{Gen 1:20} And God said, "Let the waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky." {21} So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good. {22} God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters

in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." {23} And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

1. Creation is now above and beneath the earth.

{Phil 2:9-11} Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, {10} so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, {11} and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

2. Fish spring from the water; we assume birds did also.

3. The creatures are blessed: "Be fruitful...."

{Gen 1:24} And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and wild animals of the earth of every kind." And it was so. {25} God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

1. Notice that the earth brought animals forth on command.

2. Notice the ranks of animals: cattle, creeping things, wild creatures. What is missing?

{26} Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." {27} So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. {28} God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

{John 1:12} But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, {13} who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. {14} And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth.

1. The first humans did not spring from the earth, but were created in the likeness of "us."

2. Male and femle were created equal.

3. Humans have authority and responsibility over all that on earth do dwell.

FOOD

{29} God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree

with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. {30} And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food." And it was so. {31} God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

1. Initially, plants were for food, not animals. This was a time before both evil and "badness" (as Capon describes).

2. Everything was good. There was harmony, and no suffering.

{Gen 2:1} Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. {2} And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. {3} So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

1. What day is the seventh day?

Capon, The Third Peacock, 9ff. A fanciful, trinitarian creation story.
Moltmann, The Trinity and the Kingdom, 108ff. How the Trinity fits in.
Ruether, Gaia & God, 15-60. Other creation stories and scientific theory.
McFague, The Body of God, 38ff. The "Common Creation Story."
Stott, Understanding the Bible, 47ff. The historical perspective.

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