What do I see when I read Genesis 1:1–3a “again, for the first time?”
1. Note various translations
a. Friedman: “In the beginning of God’s creating, the skies and the earth––when the earth was shapeless and formless, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and God’s spirit was hovering on the face of the water—God said, “Let there be light.”
b. Alter: “When God began to create heaven and earth, and the earth then was welter and waste and darkness over the deep and God’s breath hovering over the waters, God said, “Let there be light.”
c. NRSV: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, 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. Then God said, ‘Let there be light.’”
2. What I see in the opening words to Genesis is that before God began creating the “earth was formless and void and darkness was over the face of the deep.” In other words, when God said, “Let there be light,” there wasn’t “nothing” but rather the “earth” existed in a state of chaos. This is not creatio ex nihilo (i.e., creation from nothing), but rather creation from something, the watery chaos that was the formless and shapeless earth!
a. Note, please 2 Peter 3:4b–5, “For ever since our ancestors died, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation!” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water.”
b. The author of 2 Peter wrote that “earth was formed out of water…”! That’s exactly what Gen 1:1–3a says.
3. But what about Hebrews 11:3, doesn’t it say that the universe was created out of nothing? Actually, no it doesn’t.
a. Hebrews 11:3 reads, “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.”
b. This verse does not teach that “the worlds” were created out of nothing, but that which is visible was created out of that which was not visible. Since “darkness was over the face of the deep” and there was no light yet, obviously the formless and shapeless earth was not visible.
c. What can you see, when there is absolutely no light? Nothing…absolutely nothing. But just because you cannot see anything does not mean that something does not exist.
4. Bottom line, the beginning of the creation story in Genesis 1, is consistent with all other ancient Near East creation stories, where the gods (or a god) does not create the world out of nothing, but rather he creates by turning what exists in chaos (usually immersed in water) into that which is ordered and structured. For the ancients, the seas represented chaos, so taming/defeated/stilling the seas demonstrated the power of the god/gods.
5. The authors/editors of Genesis wanted its readers to know that it was Elohim (God) who created order out of chaos. Compare Job 26:12–13.
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