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Week 2 (9/9)

The Transcendent Artist

Genesis 1:2-1:31

Review of week 1
1. There is a connection between the Hebrew account of the creation of
the world in Genesis 1 and the other ancient creation accounts of the
peoples around the Hebrews. The importance of this will be fully
explored in week 3.

2. Genesis 1 is not a scientific account of how the world came into being.
The descriptions we have in Genesis 1 are better understood along the
same lines as using the word “sunrise.” The purpose of Genesis is
much greater than a scientific account. In this account we learn about
God, about man, and something profound about this universe.

3. Verse 1 serves as a kind of thesis statement that reveals to the reader

what the rest of the chapter is about.

4. Chapter 1 boldly declares that this world was designed by God and God
alone. This verse might read: “In the first phase of God’s work, he
designed the world (see verses 1:2-2:1).”

5. Chapter 1 emphasizes that everything was given purpose and function

and form by God so that everything was good.

Outline
1. Condition __________________________ (1:2)

2. The design _________________________ (1:3-1:30)

3. Condition __________________________ (1:31)

Condition before Design (1:2)

Now the earth . . .

1.

2.

3.

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4.

but . . .

a) Now the earth

b) Without shape and empty

Without Shape Empty

Day 1: Day 4:

Day 2: Day 5:

Day 3: Day 6:

Day 7:

c) Darkness

d) Surface of the watery deep

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e) Spirit of God

Summary: All that exists is a huge body of water with a giant shapeless mass of
earth beneath it. All is in darkness. Yet, God’s power is there. It is a scene of
anticipation and hope, yet a scene of quietness. Perhaps the only sound is the
subtle movement of the waters. There is no life, no function, no purpose, nothing
but raw material and God’s power.

Pattern

Each day has the following components repeated

Title Recurring words

a. God Said:

b. Let there be:

c. There was:

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d. It was good:

e. Evening and morning, day X:

“Day 1 – Light” (1:3-5)

1. What is light? What did God create/design?

2. God calls the light _________

3. God designs _____________________________

What do evening and morning refer to? How long is a day in Genesis 1?

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Arguments for a longer than 24 hour period

(1) Psalm 90:4; 2 Peter 3:8. (2) The word can be used like in the phrase “in
that day” (Is 2:20) which does not take the word day in a literal 24 hour
sense. (3) It fits better with modern science

Arguments for a literal 24 hour period

(1) Any time the Hebrew word “yom” or day is used with a number
elsewhere it means a 24 hour period (Gen 22:4; Exo 12:16; Lev 19:7). (2)
The Decalogue bases the teaching of the Sabbath on the six days of creation.
(3) From the 4th day on there are seasons and years, normal reckoning of
time. (4) If the point of the evening and morning reckoning is accurate as I
have argued, then there is no room for more than a normal day because the
evening, morning indicator speaks of the alternating periods of dark and light
as they transition from sunset to sunrise. In this case, to read anything
about a million years per day would be utterly foreign to the text itself. (5)
There is only one reason this is even a debate. If one assumes that Genesis
records a scientific account of how God created the universe, then one must
also attempt to correlate what is said in Genesis with what is known through
science. However, if that is not the purpose of Genesis 1, then it does not
matter and we can read the text as it most naturally reads.

“Day 2 – Sky” (1:6-8)

What is the Expanse?

Sky:

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No evaluation:

“Day 3 – Land” (1:9-13)

Regions of Life

Vegetation

“Day 4 – Filling light and dark” (1:14-19)

The Function

Filling the light

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The Polemic

“Day 5 – Filling the expanse and the seas” (1:20-23)

Swarms

Create

First Times

“Day 6 – Filling the land” (1:24-31)

Land Dwellers

Who is the “us” in this passage?

There are a number of things that make this particular creation stand out
from the rest.

a. Image of God

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b. Male and female:

c. Blessing

d. Commands

e. Very good.

Summary: In six days God designed a world from a shapeless mass and
filled a world that was once empty. With everything God did, he gave it
purpose. God is the one alone who designed and set up this universe.

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