Genesis
1 - God creates the universe and the earth and by his word light came forth that was
good and pleasing to God, not the light of the sun, for that is created later,
on day four; not the light that physically gives us the experience of day and
night—that too is not the focus.
The light that is created in the very beginning is a light that simply
is with God in the beginning of his creation—a presence, perhaps a power that
is brought forth to be a presence in and
through the creation.
God divides the waters—He places a great dome
to divide them. The waters above
from the waters beneath. The dome
is the sky (day 2).
The waters under the dome are gathered
together and the dry land appears—and the seas. Then the earth brings forth vegetation sufficient to provide for
all the life God intends to create on the earth (day 3).
The lights of the heavens – the sun and moon
and stars – are created and with them the means for calculating time set in
place (day 4).
Then the waters are ordered to teem with life
and birds are sent forth to dwell beneath the dome of heaven. And they are told to increase and
multiply (day 5).
The earth is filled with “all kinds of living
creatures” and finally man is created
(both male and female) in the divine image (1:27). They too are told to be
fertile and to multiply to fill the earth and “subdue” it, bringing it under
their care. Everything was very
good and all was created by the end of the sixth day. Then God rests.
What are we to take from this creation story? First of
all that the entire creation is the product of God’s transcendent power—a power
that brings order and good out of chaos or nothingness, a power that is
fundamentally “other” from everything we can see – not created, not contingent.
The universe and all of the life and non-life in it are his
work. And we human beings – male
and female were created “in his image and likeness”—that God reveals himself to us first and foremost in and through our
humanity. Man has a great dignity in this story, for it is in knowing and
understanding ourselves that we come to an understanding of our creator.
Karl Marx – someone who meant a lot
to me early in my adult life - would say that in religion man simply projects his human nature out onto the universe. But this is mysteriously a biblical truth. By projecting ourselves, God’s image
and likeness, out into the universe, we begin to know what God’s nature
is. The difficulty comes when we
realize that not everything in us is in the image and likeness of God. We are not God – we are his “likeness”
but with our own separate existence as well – an existent being with our own
will and freedom in the exercise of that will.
Man, in this creation story is the culmination of the creation—it’s
pinnacle. A number of things pop out of the
story when we get to the creation of man—first the way God speaks of
himself. “Let us make man in our image,” he says. Now God is one, so you will read and learn many approaches
to this apparent mystery. To whom
is God referring? One explanation
I have read is that God is addressing a host of heavenly, spiritual presences—speaking
for them in a sense. Another is
that God is using a kind of royal “we” – so as to emphasize his infinite
transcendence. A third, more
modern explanation, is that God is speaking out of a spiritual reality that is
only captured in the flesh by a human creation that is both male and
female—hence both are created simultaneously and reflect the divine nature only in their complimentarity and their
unity. As an Catholic
Christian, I myself tend to see the "us" as referring to the
Trinitarian reality of the divine nature.
The Light is with God, having been begotten by God’s creative word even
before the physical creation; and with the two in being, the Holy Spirit too is
given forth and made present, so that the “us” refers to the Trinitarian,
divine being from whom all things flow. I
love the simultaneity of male and female creation in this story and am thankful
for it.
When you consider how ancient the writing is, it is a
wonder that it is so profoundly even-handed. As a modern person who has been
raised on evolution and anti-religious attitudes of all kinds, it strikes me as
interesting that while the creation
story outlined here does not make a pretense of being scientific, it does seem to follow in a general way
what scientists tell us was the evolutionary order of creation-- the
gathering of waters and the creation of living things to inhabit the waters;
then the teeming forth of life from the waters, the birds and life on the land.
The cosmology is earth-centered, but other than that, there is not much to
complain of.
The first story of
creation is very important. It sets forth for us a view of man in
the creation that is not easily caricatured. It claims for man a dignity and goodness that defies all
that we know of man in the history that will unfold for him; but it shows us God’s divine intention, the impetus and
engine of the divine determination to redeem what he has created, a
determination we will see played out in the biblical narrative.
I love the fact that all the complicating factors that
come in the 2nd version are absent: complimentarity for men and
women, dignity, God’s intention that all be good.
First Epistle of Clement of Rome to the Corinthians (96/97
AD) Sections 16-20
Section 16
“Christ belongs to the
lowly of heart, and not to those who would exalt themselves over His flock”
(29).
Again quoting scripture, he
writes, “we proclaimed before the Lord
that he resembles a babe in arms, or a root in waterless soil; there is not a
trace of shapeliness or splendor about him. We saw him, and he had neither
comeliness nor beauty; his appearance was mean, and inferior to that of other
men. He was familiar with hard labor and the lash, and schooled to endure
weakness . . . Yet this is he who carries the burden of our sins, and suffers
pain on our behalf . . . he was led away like a sheep to be slaughtered, and
like a lamb that is mute before its shearer he never opened his lips. His
sentence was to be humiliated; no one will ever recount his descendants, for
his life was destroyed from off the earth” (29).
“Elsewhere, too, it says, I am a worm, and no man; a public reproach,
and an object of contempt to the people. All who saw me derided me; they spoke
with their lips, nodding their heads and saying, He set his hopes on the Lord;
let him deliver him, let him save him, since he has such a liking for him.
You see, dear friend, what an example we have been given. If the Lord humbled
Himself in this way, what ought we to do, who through Him have come under the
yoke of His grace?” (29)
Section 17
We need to follow the
example of Old Testament heroes like Elijah and Elisha, Ezekiel and Abraham,
“Friend of God,” (30) or Moses, who when he encountered God in the Burning
Bush, said “Who am I, that you should
send me? My voice is feeble, and my tongue is slow” (30).
Section 18
Then Clement turns to the
figure of David: “Thought God says of him, I
have found a man after my own heart, even David the son of Jesse, and I have
anointed him with everlasting mercy, yet this is how he addresses God: O God, in your great mercy have mercy on me;
in the fullness of your compassion blot out my transgressions . . . I know my
own disobedience; my sin is always before my eyes. It was against you alone
that I sinned, and did what was wrong in your sight . . . But you loved truth,
and showed me the hidden secrets of your wisdom. You will sprinkle me with
hyssop, and I shall be made clean; you will wash me, and I shall be made whiter
than snow” (30).
“Create a clean heart in me, O God; set a new spirit of uprightness in
me. Do not send me away from your presence, or withdraw your holy spirit from
me . . . Then I will teach your ways
to the lawless, and the wicked will turn back to you once more” (30-31).
Section 19
This “ethic” of
self-effacement is one that has inspired people for generations. “Thus there
exists a vast heritage of glorious achievements for us to share in. Let us then
make haste and get back to the state of tranquility which was set before us in
the beginning as the mark for us to aim at” (31).
“Let us turn our eyes to
the Father and Creator of the universe, and when we consider how precious and
peerless are His gifts of peace, let us embrace them eagerly for ourselves. Let
us contemplate Him with understanding, noting with the eyes of the spirit the
patient forbearance that is everywhere will by Him, and the total absence of
any friction that marks the ordering of His whole creation” (31). ??
Section 20
“The heavens, as they
revolve beneath His government, do so in quiet submission to Him. The day and
the night run the course He has laid down for them, and neither of them
interferes with the other. Sun, moon, and the starry choirs roll on in harmony
at His command, none swerving from its appointed orbit. Season by season the
teeming earth, obedient to His will, causes a wealth of nourishment to spring
forth for man and beast and every living thing upon its surface” (31).
“Laws of the same kind
sustain the fathomless deeps of the abyss and the untold regions of the
underworld” (31).
“The impassable Ocean and
all the worlds that lie beyond it are themselves ruled by the like ordinances
of the Lord. Spring, summer, autumn and winter succeed one another peaceably;
the winds fulfill their punctual duties, each from its own quarter, and give no
offence; the ever-flowing streams, created for our well-being and enjoyment,
offer their breasts unfailingly for the life of man, and even the minutest of
living creatures mingle together in peaceful accord” (31).
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