In the opening scene of the narrative, God creates the heavens and the earth. The theological thrust of both creation narratives (Genesis 1 and 2), is the sovereignty of God, as Creator. There are clues in the text that highlight this. One of the most obvious clues is the smooth and formulaic process of God’s act in creating. The formula goes like this: “And God said…and it was. And God said…and it was.” In other words, God gets what he wants without resistance. More so than this, he’s able to take darkness and watery chaos and effortlessly make beautiful order out of it.
God’s sovereignty is further accentuated when we compare the creation account with other, non-Israelite creation accounts from a similar time and space. The Enuma Elish, the Babylonian creation myth, is the most similar to the creation story we find in Genesis. However, one of the most dramatic differences between the two (and there are many) is that in the Enuma Elish, unlike Genesis, the physical creation comes about as the result of battling deities. There is a constant struggle that goes on between the gods in the Enuma Elish. This is vehemently not the case Genesis. God creates without resistance. He is sovereign and he rules over the creation without resistance (that is, until Genesis 3, where with great intrigue, we find that God has placed humanity in such a place in the hierarchy of creation that God himself willingly places limits on his own sovereignty by way of creating human beings with the power to will (more on this below)).
It becomes apparent in the creation accounts that creation needs managed, it needs led. Where do we see this? Most obviously, we see this in God’s command to humanity to have dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:28). We also see this when God places Adam in the Garden an instructs him to “work it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). There are other elements in the creation narrative that point to the reality that the creation needs tended, but we don’t have time to detail those here. The bottom-line is that God creates the cosmos in such a way that there is hierarchy, he creates with a need for rule and governance—and this is precisely why he creates humanity, to rule over the creation. This is what God means when he tells humanity to “have dominion” over the creation in Genesis 1:28. He does not mean for humanity to use and abuse the creation as it sees fit. No, he means for creation to be managed, to be cared for. But in what way shall they manage it? They shall manage it according to God’s will. And this is precisely where the role of the image of God comes into the story.
To be continued…
(This is an excerpt from a working book manuscript Holiness in Fresh Perspective: Covenant, Cross, and Kingdom. All rights reserved)
I will be starting a presentation on Genesis 1, God’s Love Story. I would like it if you would follow my blog as I write. My beloved died 6 weeks ago and we were working on a book about Genesis. I put one piece under the tab, God’s Love Story…the Mystery of Intimacy. It is a bible study he wrote. I need to tweak it to make it easier to follow, but it is beginning. I have written an intro to start Genesis 1. It is written from the perspective of Eretz (Earth) as the feminine and God as the masculine in context of the Ish and Isha (spiritual man and spiritual woman) and the pattern God set from the beginning, which Yeshua will emulate and the spiritual man and woman will also emulate in marriage. Hope you’ll check in.
Hi friend! I’ll be delighted to check-in. Thank you for the invite! Blessings to you.