The First Six Days of Creation (Genesis 1)

In the first six days we see a sovereign God of highest authority, who has no equal and no opposition, who creates purpose and function from formlessness and void.

Considering the six days of creation in Genesis 1 as God’s creation of function, here is an overview of the first creation account.

The first thing we notice at the beginning of Genesis is that God is acting alone. He does not discuss his ideas or ask permission from a pantheon, or any other being. Neither is there any opposition to his word or his creation. Genesis is unique on both accounts.

DAY 1

On day one, God separates light from darkness. He gives them both names, calling the light, “day”, and the darkness “night”. There is evening and morning, the first “day”.

It is important to notice a few things in the word usage here.
First of all, the English word day used both for the name of light and the period of time is without a doubt, a twenty-four hour period of time. This is the only way that the word is ever used in scripture.
Secondly, if “light” is named “day”, then it follows that when he creates light by his word in verse three, it is day that he is creating. “Light” in this case is the period of light that we call “day”. “Darkness” is the period of darkness that we call “night”.
Thirdly, we remember that we are reading this text as God’s creation of function, not material. We can assume that both day and light existed before this moment. In naming them, God has by his authority given them a purpose, and claimed them as part of his design.

In conclusion, on Day One, God functionally creates time.

DAY 2

On the second day, God creates what some translations call “firmament” and other translations call “sky”. To be quite literal in our translation, we must understand that the Hebrew words are specifically referring to the ancient understanding of the formation of the sky. The “firmament” is a large solid dome over the flat earth, held up by the furthest mountains. Beyond the dome are the waters of heaven. In the dome are windows or floodgates from which the rain falls. If it rained or was dry, the ancients believed that whatever water they received came from the firmament.

Modern translations interpret this for us with the word “sky”, but I would like to suggest that this literal interpretation is actually more correct. We obviously do not believe that such a firmament exists, but this is not a problem if we read the text as creation of function, rather than material. In language and imagery that the ancients would understand, Genesis communicates that God has created the systems by which weather is created. By his word, he names weather, and directs it according to his design.

In conclusion, on Day Two, God functionally creates weather.

DAY 3

Day Three is a little different from the first two days, because it has two parts.
In the first part of day three, God separates land and seas. Notice that the word used is “seas”, a plural form, rather than “sea”. I’ll suggest a reason why when I describe Day Four.
On the second part of Day Three, he says “Let the land produce vegetation”. This is so beautiful. By phrasing it this way, Genesis calls to our attention that the process of plant growth and multiplication is a work of God’s creation. This begins to suggest that we should seriously consider what we give God credit for. There is no separation between “natural” or “supernatural” creation in Genesis. All creation is God’s creation. Whether miraculous or completely expected, explained and understood, or entirely mysterious, God is behind it all.
Also, notice that God specifically creates within the being and purpose of his created living things the ability to reproduce. God intends for his Creation to be fruitful. This is a major theme throughout Genesis.

Remembering that we interpret Genesis as God’s creation of function, we see in this passage the ability for the earth to produce food in abundance.

On Day Three, God functionally creates food.

Before I move on, I would like to point out another pattern that emerges as we read this creation account. On each day, God speaks. After God speaks, the text tells us “and it was so”. Finally, on every day except the second, God sees that his creation is good. We are reminded in every case that when God speaks, what he says will come to pass. We also see that God’s purposes are good.

So on the first three days, we see God creating purpose for the functions of time (day and night), weather, and food. Notice that each of these follow the one before it, and are dependent upon it for their existence.

After the flood, God’s un-Creation and re-Creation of the world, again from water, God speaks to Noah about these same three phenomena.

Genesis 8:22
“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

In reverse order from the first three days of Creation, God promises Noah that he has ordained food, weather, and time for his creation, and he will not destroy them as long as the earth endures.

After day three, we see creation leap back to Day One again with the creation of “lights” for day and night. In fact, days four, five, and six each reflect days one, two, and three in turn. Where the first three days create functions in time and space, the last three days create functionaries to rule within these times and spaces.

DAY 4

Within day and night, God creates lights, a greater light for the day, and a lesser light for the night. He also creates stars.
The reader has no doubt, of course, that the greater and lesser lights are the Sun and Moon. The author’s denial of their names sends a message. The Hebrew words for “Sun” and “Moon” were exactly the same as the Canaanite names for the deities that ruled them. By denying their names, the author gives absolutely no opportunity for the reader to confuse the creation story as an account of God’s creation of other deities. God created the great light, and that’s all it is. This brings us back to the author’s use of the word “seas” instead of “sea” on day three. The Hebrew word “sea” is also the name of a Canaanite god. In God’s story, these deities don’t get a mention.
Finally, the importance of the marking of the passage of time cannot be overstated for the Hebrew people. For the Jewish people, their faith was practiced in sacred time. The stars marked “seasons”. For the Hebrews, this very specifically meant the seasons that guided their practices of worship, their festivals and feasts. The Creator was placing in time the markings that would direct humanity’s worship of him.

DAY 5

On Day Five, God creates the animals that will fill the sky and waters that he created on Day Two. Like the plants, he creates them with the power to reproduce themselves.
Like the Sun, Moon, and sea, the author again does some demythologizing on this day as well. In other culture’s creation stories, great creatures of the deep were frightening creatures of great evil that caused great fear in humanity and threatened the gods. In Genesis, they are just another one of God’s created things. He does not ask permission of the Sun, and he is not opposed by great seas creatures. All creation goes according to his plan and by his word.

DAY 6

Like Day Three, the sixth day also has two parts. In part one, God directs the land to produce living creatures. Like the animals and plants before them, he makes them to be fruitful.
(In this passage there is an opportunity to give an example of how this account does not fit our modern scientific ideas, whatever they may be. Modern scientific theory did not exist at the time this book was written, and both of the scientific interpretations that arise from this passage are unnecessary and incorrect. First, we cannot suggest that the text supports evolution because the land produces animals. The original Hebrew is not suggesting the animals were materially produced from previously inorganic matter. The passage should be more correctly understood as describing where the different kinds of animals come from. Mountain land will have mountain animals, and plains will have plains animals, etcetera. Staunch Creationists cannot insist from this passage that the animals will only produce according to their own species, and cannot evolve into another. The Hebrew word translated “kind” here does not connote “species” either by definition, or in its usage in this passage. This simply isn’t a scientific text, and attempts to interpret it to fit any scientific paradigm stretches it dangerously past its intention.)

In the second part of Day six, God creates humans. Humans are created in the image of God. Humans are created male and female.

After a brief summary of the first six days, we will explore the creation of humanity in greater depth.

Days of Creation Survey

First 3 - functions
Day 1 - time
Day 2 - weather
Day 3 - food
See Genesis 8:22 - food, weather, and time will never cease

Second 3 - functionaries
Day 4 - two lights and stars - govern the days and seasons, marking worship. Hebrew religion places God in time before placing him in space.
Day 5 - creatures of sky and sea inhabit the water and sky. They are created to be fruitful and commanded to do so.
Great creatures of the deep were beings of great power and calamity that opposed the gods. In Genesis, God simply tell them what to do, and they just exist as part of God's ordered space. They do not oppose his authority.
Day 6 - the land animal functionaries are made and commanded to be fruitful and fill the earth, just as the sea and sky animals of Day 5. They are brought forth from the earth because it is where they come from (the mountain animals, plains animals, desert animals, etc.), not what they are produced from (suggesting evolution).

Humanity’s Role in Creation

Genesis 1:26-31

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,[b] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

When we compare the creation of humanity to the rest of creation, we can discern God’s intention for humanity's special function.

- Fruitful and filling – This is the same as the animals. Everything after this is unique.
- Ruling - Since humans are made in God’s image, we assume that this rule reflects God’s rule.
- Let “Us” – Humans are created from community.
- Made in God's image (also showing a relationship with God).
The image of God remains with humans after the fall (Genesis 9:6).
- Created Male and Female (relationship to each other as humans, and sexuality).

All creation has a function that serves man, but man has a function that serves God, by serving the earth and each other on behalf of God.

Other Ancient Near East cultures represented humans as being employees in a factory for the gods, serving their needs and making things happen. In Genesis, humans are in management and sales, representing and fulfilling God's intentions on his behalf

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In the first six days we see a sovereign God of highest authority, who has no equal and no opposition, who creates purpose and function from formlessness and void.

(next - Day Seven - God's Temple in Time)