(This sermon was first delivered on September 5, 2011 at Look to the Cross. For a further study of the ideas within this sermon, see the previous week's posts in this blog)
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Revelation 4:6-11
6 Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.
In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. 8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying:
“Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.”
9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and who lives for ever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:
11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
God is worthy of glory . . . because God created all things . . . according to his will . . . and by God’s will all things have their being.
God is the creator of all things, and all things are sustained by his power. Without God, everything would cease to exist.
Though we may pay lip service to it, in practice we modern Western Christians are often tempted with an idea of God that is functionally Deistic. Though we may not say it, we often live as though we imagine that God placed everything into motion at the beginning, and since then everything pretty much runs on its own. We hold God responsible for the unexplained and mysterious. We pray for miracles when all our own efforts have run out. We infrequently give God credit for those provisions, healings, and fortunate events that happen according to our own expectations, and especially when they happen according to our own plan and effort.
A dichotomy between sacred and secular, natural and supernatural is a Western and new idea. Immanuel Kant popularized the notion of God’s primary creations and secondary creations. These ideas lead us to a God that exists in the gaps. As our understanding of the natural world gets larger, the gaps get smaller, and God’s work is relegated to a smaller and smaller piece of our reality. This view is not biblical. According to Genesis, it is God who created everything, and it is by God’s will that everything continues to exist and have purpose, all according to God’s will, and God’s will alone.
INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 1
Science and the scientific method is new and narrow in human experience. To expect the Old Testament to fit our narrow worldview is arrogant. We approach the text as the authority. We also approach the text as ancient.
We must consider the culture and worldview of the original writers and readers of these Creation accounts.
-Ancient Middle East thought put community before individuals.
-Function (rather than material or structure) proved existence.
-Function sprung from purpose, not structure.
-The natural and supernatural world were the same, and all part of the domain of God.
-The cultures surrounding the earliest Israelites were idolatrous, polytheistic, and urban. They worshiped their many gods in temples, gave sacrifices of food to feed their gods, and engaged in ritual sex to participate in the divine. By contrast, the Israelites were nomadic, worshiped only one God, and celebrated Yahweh through seasonal festivals and liturgy based on the days and weeks. Their sacrifices were a response to what Yahweh did for them, not a duty or service that a god needed from them.
-The cultures surrounding the Israelites had their own origin myths that described the nature of their gods, their world, and themselves. These stories would have been very familiar to the Israelites.
Genesis is not concerned with showing how God created matter. Though Colossians 1 (and Revelation, Hebrews, John, and elsewhere) tell us that God did create everything from nothing, that isn't the point of Genesis. The doctrine of ex nihilo, (creation from nothing) is a New Testament idea, a Greek idea. It simply isn’t in this text. Genesis isn't firstly and exclusively about the creation of the material world. It's about what God is like. Genesis one and two are Creation Theology, not Creation Science.
GENESIS CREATION AS NARRATIVE THEOLOGY
Though Western thought is most familiar with a linear and systematic outline of truth. Genesis one and two do not afford us this linear structure. These Creation Accounts are Narrative Theology. The truths about God, the world, and humanity emerge from the story organically and holistically. Each truth is woven amongst all the others as a tapestry that creates the whole. To go through and pick out the details of these truths causes the whole thing to fall apart.
For the benefit of our Western understanding, here is an example of one way the main themes of these Creation accounts can be understood if they were taught systematically. After presenting them, we will explore the story as a story, as close to the context of the original culture and worldview as we are able in a brief survey. As we tell the story, we will see these themes emerge in the details.
1. God is Sovereign
God is the highest authority
-with no predecessor or successor
-with no equal
-with no opposition
Creation is sustained by God
-God has no needs
2. Creation is God’s Temple
God Created all things
God gives PURPOSE and FORM to VOID
All Creation exists for God’s glory.
3. Man and Woman are God’s Priests
We are made in God’s Image (which remains after the Fall)
-Created from community
-Created for community
Our work in the world reflects God’s nature
-We rule Creation according to God’s authority.
We represent God in the world
-As ambassadors we rule as God does
-As priests we point Creation to God
-In relationship we cooperate with his continued work in the world
The Stories of Creation (Genesis 1 and 2)
The First Story of Creation (Genesis 1:1-2:4a)
Genesis 1:1-2
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Beginning
Here is the beginning of the creation process. The material substance is already there. Of course, the assumption is made that some time before this beginning, the substance from which the Creator will form the world was also made by him. But this beginning is later. We do not know how much later, and we need not ask. The text does not consider this important to its message. The substance of creation is already present with the Creator, and that is all we need to know.
This understanding of the word “beginning” is consistent with the original Hebrew. The beginning need not be the absolute beginning of all time, but the commencement of the event. Just as the audience, instruments, and musicians (and sheet music) all exist before an orchestra begins to play, and weeks or years of preparation may have preceded the performance; it is not until the conductor’s wand first falls after the expectant hush that the concert has “begun”.
Void
In what state does the substance of creation exist? It is formless. It is void. The answer to what the text means when it describes the natural world as void exists in the context of the chapter and the cultural context from which the book emerged.
In my bedroom is a chest that Kate affectionately refers to as the “void”. I am a bit of a collector. Kate and I have an understanding. If something is in our room, small, mine, and gathering dust, it goes in the void. To a person from the Ancient Near East, the time and culture of Genesis, we could not have given this chest a better name. Though we unquestioningly assign existence and nonexistence to the material world, not every culture does the same. To this ancient person, if something does not have a function or a purpose, it does not exist. If they were to go to a desert, a garbage dumpster, or even a pick-your-part, they would see a formless void. Not until a greasy car restorer, dumpster diver, or casino operator arrives to redeem or use the physical pieces in these empty spaces would any of the material substance be seen as existing.
At the commencement of Creation, God hovers over a world without purpose
The wand falls . . .
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
God speaks, and from his words he gives direction to the natural world. Time, energy and matter are given their proper place and design under the authority and for the intentions of Sovereign God.
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.
On Day One, God functionally creates time.
6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
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.
On Day Two, God functionally creates weather.
9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.
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.
In contrast to the Babylonian and Egyptian epics from the same time, God does not ask permission of any other gods, consult any pantheon, or conquer any opposition in order to accomplish the Creation. God acts alone, and all Creation is effortlessly formed at God’s command.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.
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.
20 And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” 23 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
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.
24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
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, 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.
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 the second part of Day six, God creates humans. Humans are created in the image of God. Humans are created male and female.
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.
Day Seven of Creation is the climax of both Genesis Creation accounts. In it, we see the Creator God Heaven and Earth take his place at his throne, within the temple that he himself built. His temple is in time. His temple is in all of space.
Genesis 2:1-3
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.
DAY 7
God rests.
In the Ancient Near East, rest for gods had a very specific understanding. Gods rest only happens in a temple, and always happens in a temple.
At the end of creation in the Babylonian Epic Enuma Elish, a temple is built for Marduk, and he is crowned king of the gods. Almost every other creation epic from the ancient world ends in a similar way. After the creation of humanity, the gods put their new people to work to serve and feed them. A temple is built by the hands of humans for the gods who created them. Sacrifices are made from the food the humans produce so the gods can eat. Humans are servants for the gods needs and subjects to worship them to fulfill the needs of their egos.
But the Creator in Genesis has no needs. He builds his own temple. Mankind does not serve his needs, because he has none. Male and female are created, not to produce for God, but to rule on earth as God’s representatives, in his image, for his glory. Man and woman are priests of Sovereign God to all of Creation.
GENESIS 1 IS A TEMPLE TEXT, GIVING PURPOSE AND FUNCTION FOR ALL OF CREATION TO GLORIFY THEIR CREATOR
GOD IS ALIVE AND ACTIVE IN OUR WORLD, IN OUR EVERY BREATH, IN OUR EVERY MOVEMENT.
IN THE EXPLAINED AND THE MYSTERIOUS, ALL IS THE CREATOR’S, AND ALL THINGS ARE HELD TOGETHER BY THE CREATOR.
Where did God rest? In all of space, in everything that he created. Creation is the story of God creating for himself the sacred space. Within his temple, the cosmos which he created, he takes his rest.
This could only exist in a religious understanding where Yahweh God is the highest being of ultimate sovereign authority. In a polytheistic framework of many gods vying for authority, all of Creation could not be a temple, because there were too many gods to inhabit it. Each needs their own temple, their own centre of operations from which to govern in their realm of authority. In Genesis, any temple built for any other god would only be trespassing in the only true temple of the only true authority.
The tabernacle and temple of ancient Israel was understood by the Israelites as formed to reflect the cosmos, to be a reflection on earth of God's true temple in heaven. Hebrews 8 and 9 articulates this Jewish idea very clearly.
1 Kings 8:27
“But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!
Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
The seven days of creation can be understood as seven literal 24 hour days in which God blesses and then fills the temple he has constructed. A close example in scripture to this is Exodus 40, where Moses examines and blesses the temple, and then the temple is filled by God's presence. The construction of the material of the temple occurred in Exodus 35-39. Genesis 1 does not concern itself with the material creation, only the inauguration.
THE SEVENTH DAY IS GOD’S TEMPLE IN TIME, CREATED BY GOD FOR GOD
THE COSMOS IS GOD’S TEMPLE IN ALL OF CREATION, MADE BY GOD, FOR GOD.
Genesis 2:4 – The Collision of Two Creation Stories
Here is my proposal for a unified approach to the messages of the two Creation accounts:
First Creation Account
Chapter 1
God's Sovereignty
Second Creation Account
Chapter 2
Man's Cooperation
Chapter 3
Man's Choice
Here is the verse where the two stories meet:
Genesis 2:4
This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—
I love the poetry here. Notice how the sentences mirror each other. The first story ends by describing it as the heavens and earth created, and the second as the creation of earth and heavens. I believe this is the beginning of our understanding of the difference between the two accounts.
The first Genesis Creation account regards the cosmos, begins with God, and ends with humanity.
(Cosmocentric)
The second Genesis Creation account regards earth, and humanity’s relationship with God and the cosmos.
(Anthropocentric)
The Second Story of Creation (Genesis 2:4b-25)
The first Creation account begins with God in the heavens creating the cosmos, earth, and finally humanity. God takes his rest in his temple at the end of the first Creation account. The second creation account begins on earth, and specifically regards God’s relationship with Man and Woman (unnamed until chapter 3), and their relationship with each other.
The connection to the first Creation account remains in the idea of Creation as God’s temple. The compiler of these two stories places them beside one another to continue an idea as it affects the humans in God’s Creation.
Outside the temples of the Ancient Near East were the temple gardens. The gardeners were the priests, the highest lauded of the servants of their god. They worked the garden to produce food for the god, which would be offered by the people as sacrifices. The garden would be a place of preparation to enter the temple. The garden would be well maintained to reflect the glory of whatever god it represented.
In Genesis 2, God plants his own garden. He plants his own trees, and gives them as food to Man. The idea of a God who would feed humans would have been shocking to the ancient readers. This God had no needs. This Creator provides for the needs of his Creation. Therefore, Man does not serve in the garden as a slave to his God. His priestly duties flow outward, in an ambassador role. To all of Creation he serves as God’s representative in God’s world.
Genesis 2:4b-25
When the LORD God made the earth and the heavens— 5 and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground, 6 but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground— 7 the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
8 Now the LORD God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
MORTALITY AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD
Two details of Man’s creation are of note here.
First, man is made of dust. As in the first Creation account, material Creation is not of importance to the original authors and readers in this culture. This is still an account of Creation of function. When it says that man is made of dust, it shows that from the beginning, man was made mortal. Genesis 3:19 shows clearly the connection between Man’s creation from dust, and his mortality. This symbol is also used of the snake (eating dust), throughout scripture, and is common to the time period.
Secondly, God breathes into Man his breath. This is the same word as the spirit hovering over the waters at the beginning of chapter one. No matter how the form of man came to be before this moment, on this day humanity became a unique part of God’s Creation, the only beings with this direct connection to their Creator.
10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Ancient literature usually describes the rivers and springs surrounding the temple and garden.
15 The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
THE TREE OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL
Knowledge here is closely connected to intimacy and possession. It is a neutral word, often meaning sexuality (to KNOW in the Biblical sense). Here it connotes taking for oneself the right to judge what is good or evil. This is the realm of God, the Sovereign Creator.
18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field.
MAN’S COOPERATION
God is cooperating with Man in his creation. He breathed his breath into him. In the first Creation account we see God create humans in his image, and ordaining them as priests. Here we see this in practice.
God gives authority to Man as he watches him name the animals. To name something can only be done by someone with authority over it. As God watches, he approves of Adam walking in this authority, still within the realm of God’s sovereignty and according to his direction.
But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
CREATION OF WOMAN – THE SUITABLE HELPER
Helper - working with
Suitable - perfect fit/opposite/counterpart
Woman is created from man’s side (another interpretation of the unclear word translated “rib”).
Like Man’s creation, this creation describes function, not material. Woman was not made of the material of man’s bones or flesh, but from his being. She is the same as him (as opposed to the animals, who were not).
Much has been said about these verses concerning gender roles. I will not attempt in this article to engage all of them. I will simply say that the text does not suggest by this creation that Woman is somehow inferior. To be created from Man’s side and of Man’s substance implies equality, similar nature, and intimacy.
Man and Woman had a vocation. They worked the garden. They did this as stewards, in service of their God, in his holy temple. They were priests in the world. They had function and purpose, together. Each of us has a purpose and a role that we fulfill in our work and service on earth. It is all for God. There is no "secular" work.
23 The man said,
“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.
Adam’s naming of “woman” in this verse is different than his naming of the animals. With the animals, a clear understanding of authority was illustrated. Here, Adam is simply recognizing that Woman is of his substance, and calls her that.
Man and Woman had not yet eaten from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. There was no sin in the garden. They had not deigned to take the role of judge upon themselves. Without judgment, there is no shame. Without sin, intimacy is perfect.
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We are God's sacred space. God’s garden is us. Our time is his. The cultivation of our inner life creates an environment within us of worship and rest in which God dwells. Our faithful routines and patterns are the sacred time in which God creates purpose and function from our lives for his kingdom.
Our lives are not compartmentalized into "God time" or "sacred time" and "secular time". The routine and practical times we set aside (like church on Sunday morning, or reading the Bible every day) should serve to remind us that all our time and everything we have is God's.
APPLICATIONS
1. Personal Applications
Is your life balanced? Social, mental, physical, spiritual, sexual?
Is the sacred space of your heart pure?
Do you depend on God for all things?
Today, we recognize God’s sovereignty as we balance our life, our TIME and our THINGS, according to God’s purpose, and recognizing God’s good intention. Our TIME and our THINGS belong to God.
There is no sacred work and secular work. All we do and all we are is sacred unto God, our vocation as priests of God in his temple, in the world.
Our lives and everything in them are sustained by God’s good will and pleasure. We give the firstfruits as a symbol of the dedication of all we are as God’s priests in the world.
SABBATH dedicates our time. We cease our work for one day a week. Through this, we remember that God is the one who works and provides, so we do not need to strive by our own hands. God has taken rest on the throne, so we can rest.
TITHE dedicates our things. We give the first of our material income as a symbol that we recognize that all we have comes from God, and all we have will be given back to God, used for the glory of God and the growth of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.
2. Practical Applications
Genesis 1 and 2 developed from its own cultural context, in a world with its own creation myths and origin stories. Our dominant origin story is scientific evolutionary theory.
According to this interpretation, we do not need to argue against evolution on a scientific basis. Evolution, or any of the natural sciences, can be explored as a legitimate study of the nature and origins of God’s Creation. As Christians, we are free to explore and study God’s Creation with our methods and mind, and come to whatever conclusions we think are most likely, just as human beings have likely done for as long as we’ve had sentient thought.
All science may be put in its proper place as an empirical study of the measurable world. As such, it should remain teleologically neutral. Empirical Science, by definition, does not concern itself with the metaphysical or with meaning. Teleology, or the discovery of purpose and meaning, is the in the realm of philosophy and theology, not science. When evolution or any other science begins to draw conclusions as to the existence of the metaphysical world or the purpose of life, it has ceased to be science. Therefore, we may support the study and teaching of evolution, but if someone concludes that God does not exist because of evolution, they are no longer speaking of science. They have entered the realm of theology, and it is in that realm that we can engage them.
(The Big Bang is compatible with Genesis 1 and the rest of the biblical account of creation theologically.
1. Creation ex nihilo (from nothing) – this isn’t in Genesis, but it is in Colossians and elsewhere.
2. A beginning necessitates a cause – in our case, God
3. The Big Bang does not have to lead to any other theory that one may consider contrary to scripture.)
Here are four examples of (fallacious) teleological conclusions that are based on science. Evolution does not necessarily lead to these conclusions. IF it does, we may engage them as theology with the theology of Genesis.
1. Life is meaningless, based only upon randomness and chance rather than purpose, form, and design.
2. Sovereignty of self (humans as God) rather than sovereignty of God.
3. Social Darwinism/Eugenics (humans as animals) rather than Imago Dei, mankind in God’s image
see the racism of Darwin and Aldous Huxley.
4. The process of evolution may be seen as cruel and violent, based solely on the death and extinction of unfit specimens repeatedly over time without reason. One may conclude that a God responsible for such a process is malevolent. However, Christians who live in a world filled with natural disasters, war, and famine that causes death to millions of innocents already wrestle with these questions outside of evolution.
CONCLUSION
True or not, Intelligent Design theories or apologetics based on the science of creation alone will not lead people to Jesus. Intelligent Design based science does not reasonably lead people to Christian theism any more than naturalistic evolution should reasonably lead someone to atheism.
Christians who do not live their life as though God is sovereign, life has purpose, and Jesus is Saviour are far more damaging to Christianity than the theory of evolution. In John 17, Jesus prays to the Father that his disciples would be one, as he and the Father are one, so that the world may know that he is in us and we in him. The heavens display the glory of God, but Jesus followers are the witnesses to the gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Though well intentioned, many of our attempts to prove God through science and apologetics can potentially distract from the things that are most important in what we believe and practice. Let us live our lives according to the theology we see in Genesis one and two, on purpose, with balance, and in submission to Sovereign God. Let’s keep Jesus on our lips and in our actions before all else. This will be a greater witness to the existence of the Good Creator than any other argument.
God alone creates his own temple.
He has no predecessor.
He has no successor.
None oppose him.
All of Creation heeds his word.
He assigns purpose, and his purpose is good.
From that which has no form, he creates function and design.
Man and Woman serve the Creator as his ambassadors to Creation.
Revelation 4:11
“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”
(I am deeply indebted to the theological and practical commentaries of John H. Walton and the scholarly work of Gary Rendsberg for the content of this sermon.)
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