Introduction

So far in consideration of Genesis we have covered a Christian philosophy of science and the extraordinary days of creation. We have noted that Genesis gives us a sacred worldview by placing all things in perspective as creations of God. God reveals Himself in relation to everyday earthly things and through them. The created world is the product of what He said. The world was spoken into existence; therefore, every aspect of creation is God's speech (the biblical meaning of theology). Thus all scientists even unbelieving scientists do theology when they do biology, zoology, chemistry, etc.

Since every aspect of the creation is God's speech then Genesis opens a wide door to natural science. But of course the door must not be thrown off its hinges. God's speech is found both in Scripture and in the natural world but Scripture revelation must have priority over natural revelation. This must be the case because of three things: a) God's speech in creation is indirect through what is made whereas His speech in Scripture is direct in words. b) Scripture is a saving revelation from God whereas natural revelation does not save. Thus Scripture must have priority because it fits fallen man for his the fulfillment of his task on earth; it fits man for engagement in the sciences of whatever type. c) Scripture gives the framework for all aspects of science about which it speaks. Though not a science textbook, the Bible does give us a framework of truth for science.

Thus what is needed for you to do science in a wise and godly way is to have a new heart and to apply the principles of Scripture that are relevant to your work. Remember how broad this is. This pertains to any work that you do in life at home or away from home. To speak of the sciences is simply to speak about all forms of knowledge that pertain to work in general in any field. On one hand, the sciences are specialized forms of work. On the other hand, all forms of work are generalized sciences. Chemistry is a science but so is cement finishing. Both have distinct terms, tools, tests, and procedures.

Wisdom in doing any science means that you have the right motive, standard, and goal. The fool does science without the motive of love for God, without the standard of Scripture as his guiding light, and without the goal of glorifying God. That is how every scientist ought to take up his work. That is how each of us ought to take up our work in life: with love for God, with knowledge of Scripture, and for the glory of God.

All that we have emphasized so far does not yet get to the heart of what is revealed in the opening chapters of Genesis. At the heart is the revelation given here of God Himself. To direct our thoughts along this path, I will cover two main things that we are to believe about God: a) we are to believe that God is triune Creator and b) and that He is loving Creator. What God requires of us derives from the fact that He is triune and living Creator.

1A. The Creator is the triune God

The very first thing that strikes us in reading the opening lines of Genesis has to be that God is triune. I know that we might want to say that being the Creator is the first truth here. After all this is the Genesis creation account. But when we read, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" we need to know who is being talked about as the Creator.

This need to know who is being talked about is precisely the point being made by Moses in writing the book of Genesis. To see how this is so, consider the time frame and purpose of the Mosaic writings. The time frame stretches from Sinai through the wilderness and to the edge of Canaan (it’s the edge because Moses does not enter the land). That is the period of time in which Moses wrote the five books of the law (the Pentateuch, literally the five scrolls; also called the Torah, which means the law or law teachings and directives).

So what is the purpose of the writing of Genesis, the first book of the law? It is to explain who it is that has brought Israel to the edge of the promised rest in Canaan. To identify God and define Him, Moses (by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit) reaches back to the very beginning. Hence, the marvelous opening words: "in the beginning." What is being discussed here is so profound that we are on the brink of a loss of words to speak about it. "In the beginning" speaks of the first moment of time and history. But it is hard to find the right words to describe it because this is history initiated before the existence of man on the earth. We have to speak of cosmic history and of earth history. It is not until the sixth day that we can speak of human history. Moses is so penetrating here that he goes back to the ultimate beginning. He goes so far back that if he went a moment further back he would take us right out of the universe, out of time and space, to the state of affairs where God exists without anything else. One more step back and Moses would take us beyond and before history, before the history of the cosmos, the earth, and man.

Moses goes back to the very beginning and moves forward in time to scan redemptive history that lies behind the entry into the Promised Land. He takes us back to the very beginning to tell us who it is that brought the descendents of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the River Jordan opposite Canaan (cf. a redeemed people under the law seizing the promise of God).

This ultimate transition point between nothing existing besides God and the beginning of all things that exist by God's creative work, makes us think about God in a setting where there is no universe and human beings (we are taken back to the edge of space and time). That thought of God is suggested by the fact that He creates "into nothing," that is, into nothing existing other than Himself. There is only God and then He brings the universe, earth, and man into existence.

Contemplation of this ultimate beginning leads to the thought that before the foundation of the world God is alone. After being astounded at the idea of this unique and amazing transition point, we may be troubled at the fact that God was alone. First only God exists, then He creates everything else in the universe. Yes, we have to conclude that only God exists before the foundation of the world. However, with words failing us, we have to say that in some rich sense God was not alone before the foundation of the world because the Spirit of God was there as a co-Creator.

In Genesis 1:2, the divine Spirit is spoken of in distinction from God. When God creates the heavens, the earth, and water the Spirit of God (the divine Spirit) was there. This is the Spirit that creates (Ps. 104:30, "when you send forth your Spirit, they [heavens, earth, sun, moon, etc. per the whole Psalm] are created"). So when we hear God say, "Let us make man" (Gen.1:26) we know that the plurality of God consists, at least, in God and the Holy Spirit.

We must remember that these words of Genesis one give us the background for the classic OT text on the oneness of God written by Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4 ("Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one"). From eternity past, a distinction exists within the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is one essence but exists as a plurality of persons. And they exist in a special bond with a unique closeness. God refers to the Spirit as "my Spirit" (Gen. 6:3). There is a co-operation in the creating of man (Gen. 1:26, Let us make man in our image). God creates by the Spirit (Ps. 104:30) and when the initial and most primitive form of original creation is accomplished early in day one, the Holy Spirit is there "hovering over the face of the deep" (1:2). This is truly phenomenal.

We can fill out the "Let us" of creation by noting that God's creation in the beginning by His word (cf. "God said" with Ps. 33:6) includes the marvelous truth that our Lord Jesus is His Word personalized. Thus, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made" (Jn. 1:1-3).

So we have to sit here looking back beyond the beginning in a state of contemplative awe. The one who created in the beginning is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Therefore, we should never think of God before the foundation of the world as being alone and in need of fellowship. We should not think that God created man to satisfy such a need. The one God (Deut. 6:4) being identified by Moses is the triune God (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit). Grammar fails us here in saying, "God is three persons with one essence" (the one God is three persons). He exists with self-distinction where personal pronouns apply (I, You, He, My, His, Our, and Us).

The members of the one God exist in mutual love and cooperation in bringing to pass an agreement or covenant ("Let us make" reveals inter-Trinitarian communication that is realized that the narrator says God brought to pass: "so God created). This is one fundamental reason why the notion of covenant carries so much weight in Scripture. It is first of all an agreement between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that is realized in the creation of the world. All things that exist besides the triune God have their existence because of His counsel, covenant, creative action, and governance. Hence the dependence of the cosmos, the earth, and man on God is absolute (ultimate, irrevocable, profound, deep, great, and final). And notably, God was not alone; He did not need to create the world! The Creator is the triune God. This is a marvelous truth and there is more to come.

2A. The Creator is the loving God

Although God did not need to create the world, nonetheless, in the beginning He created the heavens and the earth; He did the work of creation. What He did and how He did it places an accent on the love of God. I am saying that when we meditate on the days of creation (the creating process) it becomes evident that the overall message does not center on what is created; nor does it center on the creating action of God. The overall message centers on the triune God as loving Creator. Let's consider some ways that this comes out in the creation account of the first two chapters of Genesis.

1) First, consider the nature and impact of the creation narrative. To me it is another striking fact about the creation account that there is interplay between narrator and narrated events, between the words of the narrator and the words of God, and between commentary and God's speech-acts. The commentary is found in the phrases attached to what God said. Note that much of the chapter is in quotation marks. To get this point on the table consider the following questions. Who is speaking in the phrase, "And God said, 'Let there be light'"? The entire phrase is the report of the narrator; the words that were said, "Let there be light," are the words of God. Who is the narrator? It is the writer, Moses. But Moses was not an eyewitness to the events. The words of Moses are the words of the ultimate writer of Scripture, the Holy Spirit. This account is a report with commentary by one member of the trinity regarding the speech of another member of the trinity.

The commentary does different things. a) First the stage is set. The initial condition of things early in day one is narrated (1:1-2). The entire account fittingly begins with narrative to set the stage for creation by the divine word. b) Comment is given about each of the seven days in what is called the grand march of days. It identifies each successive workday of God with the evening and morning refrain (1:3, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). And the commentary explains the blessing of the seventh day. c) It states that what God said "was so" (was accomplished) and it sometimes virtually repeats what God said when it expresses what in fact occurred (i.e. 1:11-12, "God said, "Let the land produce…it was so…the land produced…). d) God names things He creates such as night, day, sky, land and seas (1:5-9). e) Purpose is stated for the sun and moon: to rule night and day and to serve as signs for seasons, days, and years (1:14, 18). f) Finally, comment is given with regard to what God saw when He observed what He created: He saw that it was good (1:10, etc.).

Doesn't it make sense to say that the narrated commentary dispersed throughout the passage is our best or first guide into what is being emphasized? What we have is stage setting, the grand march of days, accomplishment, naming, purpose, approval regarding the work of the six days (approving evaluation: it was very good, 1:31), and blessing of the seventh day. For short, we have accent on the initial "bland" condition of the earth, and the grand march of days in which there we have accomplishment, naming, purpose, and approval. Thus we can say that the narrator, who is the Holy Spirit through Moses, accents the initial formless and empty earth as the first product of the very first stage of creation. Then the grand march forward in daily stage by stage accomplishment is accented.

Now we are in position to see the love of God presented here. God's power is everywhere presupposed and is seen in His creative fiat; He says it and it is so. But the narrator directs us to the original bland state of affairs and the completion of the "vast array" of things that make up the world system. At the end of the days the earth is no longer bland, formless, and empty. When finished it is rich, tasty, shaped, beautiful, and full.

So what is the bottom line? The Creator is the loving God. His work of the six days is a process by which He serves man! We have to stop and take a deep breath here. God serves man by fashioning a wonderfully habitable place for man to live. I am amazed at the thought that the triune God and almighty Creator serves man from the very beginning. This is the love of God. He created the universe, the earth, and all its vast array for you and me. We have to personalize this. It is for man and that means it is for you and me. All the beauty, variety, sustenance, and pleasure that we have at our finger tips is there for our enjoyment as we live out our days on the earth under the authority of the triune God.

2) This love is the point of the somewhat difficult "rain" text of Genesis 2:5. There is much debate on some details here as they relate to the days of creation. However, if we make a long story short, the crucial point here is the reason given for having no vegetation at all on the earth. It is because there is no rain and no man. Thus, the very existence of vegetation on the earth depends (absolutely depends) on the rain cycle and man. Note that this cannot be a dependence of a scientific or natural/causal sense. You might say that about the rain cycle (but cf. the fact of mists or springs of water) but that cannot be said of man. It is the case pure and simple that vegetation can exist on the earth without man as a cultivator. So what is the point here? It is that the very existence of vegetation of every type depends on God's purpose for man. It is the love of God that established the rain cycle for man (since the fall, it is His love for just and unjust alike). It is the love of God that interfaced the rain cycle with plant life on the earth for man. The tree outside your bedroom window is there for you. Its very existence depends on you; that is, its very existence depends on God's purpose of providing you with shade, beauty, taste, food, and enjoyment. When God says, "it is good" and "very good," He is saying that it is good for man. It is good for you and me. It serves His purpose for us. It is for our good, our blessing, our life, and our joy! (cf. Matt. 5:45; Acts 14:17; 17:25)

Amazingly, this is a geocentric universe; it is earth centered. Of course, the earth is not the center of our solar system in an astronomical sense. But the earth is not only the center of our solar system but it is the center of the entire universe theologically. That means that man is the center of the entire universe in terms of the loving purpose of the triune God, the Creator and Maker of all things.

Human dignity is found precisely here in our place as creatures of God. We are not on a par with the plant or animal kingdoms in some kind of continuous but unified evolutionary process. Here fallen man talks about the human animal. Here fallen man wants to ask if man has the right to have dominion over the animals using them for his own purposes (as stated in introductory films at the Detroit Zoo). We are taught about our dignity by the fact that all things exist for us. The triune God creates them independently, freely, and autonomously for us!

Conclusion

1) First, I would like to encourage you to read Genesis 1-2 with prayerful meditation. Read Genesis 1 with an eye that distinguishes between the quoted material and what the narrator says about it.

2) Second, read it looking for God by taking note of the fact that the entire account is inter-Trinitarian (not just 1:2). Look for an explanation here of the God who brought His people to Sinai and the Promised Land as His redeemed family (Israel then and the new Israel now under the law as the redeemed inheriting the promises).

Thereby take note that the God of creation is the triune God that we now know as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is a dimly lit room in the OT. The NT throws on the switch and dispels the darkness so that what is seen in a shadowy way there is now brought into the clear light. This is our God. This is our covenant keeping God. Covenant is a transcendent reality. The almighty Creator is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We are thus cast to our knees to worship the one who cannot be known fully but who is known truly and savingly through the work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

3) Third, taste and see that the Lord is good in providing a very good world system that is full, rich, tasty, beautiful, and sustaining for man, for you and me. Taste here of the love of God. In that light, note here how ugly the disobedience of the fall is. It is not only disobedient and rebellious; it is also a profound example of ingratitude.

4) So finally, worship and serve the triune God who brought you and me to Sinai by redemption and to the edge of the promised Sabbath rest to which Canaan points us. Worship God with praise and thanksgiving as you live within the vast array of things in this world that exist here on this planet for you as a creature and child of God. The rich diversity of the contours of the earth, the rich diversity of the vegetation, the rich diversity of animal life is all here as a token of your heavenly Father's loving embrace by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So serve Him as a redeemed child under the law and in hope of the glory about to come. It is so close that we are in the morning of the new day that is dawning and our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. So wake up from your slumber and put on the armor of light and fight as children of the light (Rom. 13:11-14).

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all" (2 Cor. 13:14).

So what then is the causal relation of vegetation to man such that it does not exist because there is no man? And how should we understand the parallel point that vegetation does not exist because there is no rain? On the latter, from the reference point of the time before any vegetation existed (before day 3), the normal pattern of the created order did not yet obtain because God's purpose, His mind in the matter, was not yet implemented (ie, there was no vegetation because the God designed normal order of things experienced by Moses was not yet put in place; we are back before the existing rain and irrigation cycles experienced in Egypt and the whole Mesopotamian Valley at the time of the Exodus.). So the existence of vegetation is the result of God's design of a normal and natural relation between things. It did not exist because God's purpose was not yet realized. The order of things Moses experienced is due to God's design, the point of reference is before that design was realized, and when that order of things came into being is not addressed: the beginning of the rain cycle that is normal to Moses' experience is not given. We can only guess, perhaps plausibly, that it began as soon as vegetation began assuming that the natural order of things experienced by Moses reach back to the very beginning of vegetation on the earth. But this assumption is the one that needs to be demonstrated in the Kline/Futato interpretation. The text is plausibly interpreted as directing us not so much expressive of a solution to a problem but expressive of design contemplated but unrealized then realized.