The Story of Creation
This summarizes the Biblical account of creation in the book of Genesis. The creation story begins before anything exists except for God Himself. In Genesis 1, the very first chapter of the Bible, we read how God created the earth in six days - light on the first Day, the sky and air on the second day, land and plants on the third Day, and the sun and moon on the fourth day, birds and water animals on the fifth day, animals and man on the sixth Day. God then called creation good, and on the seventh day, God rested.
Creation Story in the Bible
1. Date. The date of creation cannot be determined. The first statement of the book of Genesis places the time in remote and impenetrable antiquity.
2. Creator. The writer of Genesis offers no proof of the existence of Jehovah or of the fact that he made all things. (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:2; John 1:1-3; Colossians 1:15-17; Hebrews 1:10; Hebrews 11:3).
3. Light. The process of creation had probably been going on for ages before the light was created by the fiat (sanction) of Jehovah (Genesis 1:1, Genesis 1:3; 2 Corinthians 4:4).
4. Days of Creation. The phrase "evening and morning" occurs six times in the first account of creation, and it cannot be understood except in the light of the above statement. The fact that the creative work had been going on for unnumbered ages, leads the reverent student to the conclusion that the "days" were ordinary periods of twenty-four hours each, and that each product of Almighty power was finished and appointed to its sphere on its designated Day.
5. Order of Creation.
a. Light,
b. Firmament,
c. Vegetation,
d. Sun, moon, and stars,
e. Water animals and fowls,
f. Land animals, men, women,
Genesis 1:1, KJV: In the beginning God created Heaven and the earth.
Observe the steady march from the lower to the higher, from the unthinking to the intelligent, from the servant to the sovereign. See the universe by God's hand touched to harmony; see the march of creative power to its culmination in the making of the companion for man, pure and innocent, the highest image of God, and hear the stars sing together and the sons of God shout for joy over the completion of the mighty and glorious work!
Creation As Recorded in the Bible
The very first book of the Bible begins with two equally enormous claims: There was a "beginning," and God created everything. This immediately contradicts the view of an eternal or cyclical universe and any religious view that takes the universe as an accident, the product of many gods, or part of some other process. History shows that the idea of a "beginning" is so theologically loaded that secular science resisted it until it became impossible to deny.
Genesis 1 is a controversial chapter. Debates rage about the meanings and implications of many words. How long ago did God create? How exactly did He create? What were His methods? Much has been written to discuss, debate, and illuminate those questions. The primary debate is over the extent to which Genesis 1 is meant to be read as symbolism and poetry versus being read as an unvarnished narrative. To some extent, such arguments are beside the point of this passage.
Those who take the Scriptures as inspired must agree that God means for us to understand Him first and foremost as the Creator. Of course, everyone does not agree that the Bible is God's authoritative and inspired Word. This then produces even more controversies regarding Genesis. That, as well, is beyond the scope of this commentary.
For the most part, we will stick to the core, crucial, clear ideas. What is beyond debate is that the opening words of the Bible claim that God—whom we will come to know as the God of Israel—created the heavens and the earth. That is, He created everything in the natural world, from the heavens, the sky, and space, to our planet and everything on it.
Genesis 1:1, KJV: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The text begins by saying that God created "in the beginning." Even conservative Christian scholars come to slightly different conclusions based on that verse, depending on how they understand the original Hebrew language was intended to be read. Was this beginning the instant of "time zero," when there was no "before?" Or is this a reference to "the beginning [of God's creative work] " or the "season of creation"? However, we answer that question; it is an incredible thought that one being created all of our universes. Only God could do such a thing.
The following verses will add details to God's work as Creator, crediting Him with forming various aspects of the universe. This is crucial not only as a means of giving God due credit but also for dispelling suggestions that God was uninvolved or disinterested in these creations. Moreover, these words will counter claims that the stars, planets, plants, or animals are divine and worthy of worship.
Genesis 1:1 announced that God created everything: "the heavens and the earth." Verse 2 begins to describe the process of that creation.
According to this text, the earth was empty and literally in chaos. The Hebrew words are tohu and bohu, translated as "formless" and "void." Segments of Bible scholarship disagree about whether this "formlessness" was the state of the earth immediately after the initial creation or the result of some events between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. In either case, at this point in the story, the earth is covered with deep waters. Darkness was over the surface, and the Spirit of God was over the waters.
Why darkness? Light will not be created until the following verse. There can be only darkness at this point. Still, God's Spirit is moving in this darkness. God is preparing to speak, to act with great power to bring order and light to this chaos.
Genesis 1:3, KJV: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
This verse records God's first spoken words in the Bible: words of creation. God speaks light into existence in the universe. As used in this form in this passage, this is meant to be understood as natural light. While aspects of Genesis chapters 1 and 2 are often debated, this is not intended as a metaphor for spiritual light or something else. Before this moment, light did not exist in the physical universe (Genesis 1:2). God intends for us to understand Him as the Creator, even of light itself. Without Him, there would be only darkness.
Some might object to light existing before stars or the sun. As an interesting scientific point, though, secular models such as the Big Bang themselves theorize that light—photons—existed before complex forms of matter. In other words, just as the Bible stated that there was "a beginning" long before secular science admitted the same, the Bible also said that light existed before stars, well in advance of secular science coming to the same conclusion.
Genesis 1:4, KJV: God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness.
This is the first of several times in the creation account where God will pronounce what He has just made as "good." He made light, and He approved of it. Pointedly, God did not call the darkness good. There is powerful symbolism in God's choice to create light among the darkness of the universe. In Hebrew philosophy, "light" was the ultimate ideal and a symbol of wisdom, goodness, and knowledge.
This verse begins a pattern repeated for the rest of the passage. In each of the following days of creation, God will speak something into existence, see its effect, declare it good, and then the text will declare the number of the Day.
Here, God is said to have separated darkness and light. The two would exist in the world separately, with light being the dominant force. To the extent that when light appears, darkness will permanently disappear. Darkness has no defense against light since "darkness" does not exist in and of itself. It is simply the absence of light.
DIVIDED THE LIGHT FROM THE DARKNESS.
Genesis 1:5, KJV: And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.
Genesis is a book of firsts. In verse 3, we heard God's first recorded words in the Bible: "Let there be light." We saw God's first approval of something as "good." In verse 5, we see God name something for the first time.
Naming things is a significant act in the book of Genesis, as well as in the rest of the Bible. Naming something, in the ancient mindset, is a claim to ownership. Having the right to name something means claiming sovereignty over that thing. God named the light Day and the darkness "night." later, God will ask Adam to name the animals as part of his humanitarian work in ruling and subduing the earth.
In part, we see that God means to remain Lord over Night and Day. He created them. He intended for Day and Night to exist; they are not merely an accidental consequence of the natural world. Another way to apply this point is that God is not merely creating and allowing this creation to spin out of control. What He has created, He still maintains authority over.
Finally, the verse ends with the blueprint used to describe each of the six days of creation: There was evening, and there was morning, the first Day. From very early on, the people of Israel thought of a day beginning in the evening, at sunset, and continuing until the sun set the following Day. That may explain the wording in Genesis 1 of "evening and morning."
Some scholars suggested that these days need not have been strict 24-hour days in the sense that we think of them. As noted, there is nothing explicit in the text to dispute or support this claim. Nor is there anything that explicitly proves or disproves that they are most undoubtedly 24-hour days. The God capable of speaking light into the world is certainly capable of creating as much as He would choose to in 24 hours or of creating using a longer process. The essential details are those which God has given: He created light and called it "good."
Genesis 1:6, KJV: And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.
Genesis chapter 1 follows a rigid structure according to a specific pattern. God will create something through His words, observe it, declare it good, and then Scripture will indicate the number of that creative Day. The first half of these moments—days one, two, and three—prepare creation for some future component. The corresponding days in the second half—days four, five, and six—show the creation of that new thing.
In the prior verses, God completed the first day of creation, making light, Day and Night. Here, God turns to the waters. Verse 2 indicated that the earth was formless, void, and covered by deep waters. Now God issues a command about those waters: separate them.
The Hebrew term is ra'qi'a, which implies something solid and supportive. More specifically, God calls for something to be placed between the waters: a space, firmament, vault, sky, or Heaven (depending on the translation). The word picture offered here seems to be of raising the top part of the waters and inserting an open area: what we would usually think of as the "air" above the sea or land.
But what about the top layer, the "waters" above the sky? Some scholars suggest those are the upper atmosphere clouds or simply the atmosphere itself. Others have speculated that a water "canopy" once existed in the upper atmosphere that is no longer there in our Day. In any case, the more significant point of the verse is that God's power includes the ability to order even the oceans to do His bidding and breathable air to come into existence on the earth. Once again, God and God alone are credited with creating the world as we know it.
Genesis 1:7, KJV: And God made the firmament, and divided the waters under the firmament from those above the firmament: and it was so.
n the previous verse, God spoke words of creation, and He fulfills those words exactly in this verse. Throughout the Bible, God speaking a thing and doing a thing are inseparable. In this case, that created thing is the atmosphere, sky, vault, or Heaven, depending on the translation, which is placed between the seas below and some layer of "waters" above. The Hebrew term used in both verses is ra'qi'a, implying something which lifts or supports. The image of Hebrew thinking was watered below and waters above, separated by the "firmament" of the sky. Scholars have offered various interpretations of what the waters above the firmament represent.
The ability of God to create is understated here using the Hebrew phrase wa yehi ken, literally meaning, "and it was so." As much as God's existence is treated as obvious and necessary (Exodus 3:14), His power and ability is also not given much detail. Instead, the focus is simply on the basic fact: God intended to create, stated His intention, and then what He intended to occur. Regardless of interpretation, this basic idea cannot be separated from the biblical text
Genesis 1:8, KJV: And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second Day.
The description of creation given in Genesis follows a poetic but substantial pattern. For each of the first three days of creation, God modifies the world in preparation for something new. Then, in each of the corresponding second three days, He creates that new thing and places it in the world. In each case, God observes His work and declares it "good," The Day is given a number.
The previous two verses detail the creation of an expanse between the waters of the sea and some upper layer of waters. Now, in verse 8, God names that space. In Hebrew, the name He gives to it is sa'ma'yim. Bible scholars translate this term as "sky," "heaven," or "air." In Hebrew, the Word can be applied to any of these based on context. It is not likely that the Word means Heaven because we usually think of it in our Day. This Heaven is likely "the heavens," or the atmosphere: the "empty" space above the sea.
The primary message is that, on creative Day two, God formed an open space and named it. As with other aspects of creation, this counters any claim that the air, wind, or skies are divine. Even the sky and atmosphere around us are an intentional part of God's creation of the earth.
Genesis 1:9, KJV: And God said, Let the waters under the Heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
Verse 9 begins the third Day of God's creation week. On this Day, God continues to refine His creation by adding more detail and order to the earth. On Day one, God created light and separated Day from Night. On Day two, He created a "firmament," which we would think of as the sky. These follow the rigid structure of Genesis chapter 1: God speaks, creates, observes, declares His creation "good," and then numbers the Day. Each of the first three days prepares for something God will create on a corresponding day in the second half of this creation week.
Here, in verse 9, God separates land from the ocean. More specifically, He commands the earth's waters to be gathered into "one place" and that the dry land appear. This does not necessarily mean God created one ocean, as we would understand. However, looking at the earth as seen today, all the "oceans" are connected into one single, massive, continuous body of water. The word picture is a global body of water punctuated by one or more land masses. In the next verse, these waters are called "seas."
Once again, the emphasis is not on minute details but on the "big picture." The point of this verse, as with the rest of Genesis chapter one, is crediting God—and God alone—with the power and authority to create all we see.
As with verse 7, God's ability to create is understated, using the Hebrew phrase wa yehi ken: "and it was so." For God, this act of creation is no more or less complex than this: He commands, and it is so. We stand in awe at the power being described here. With a sentence, God brings dry, habitable land to the earth, ready to support the abundance of life that He is about to create
Genesis 1:10, KJV: And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
This account of day 3 of creation follows the pattern of the previous two days. God speaks something into existence, names it, and then observes that it is good. This is then followed by a numbering of the Day. According to Hebrew thinking, naming something implies the namer's responsibility for and rule over that thing. To name something is to have power over it. In this case, God names the dry ground "land" or "Earth," and He names the waters "seas."
Once again, God recognizes what He has made as good. That is a significant statement coming from the ultimate standard of everything: God Himself. As we know Him in the Bible, we see He measures goodness in absolutes. To be good, in this sense, means that there is no "bad" in a thing. All that God made during His creation week was utterly and truly good.
Genesis 1:11, KJV: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
The third Day of God's creation week involves some extraordinary developments. First, as described in the previous verses, God spoke and caused dry land to appear, separating it from the seas. In this verse, God again speaks commanding vegetation to grow on this newly formed land. This follows the pattern of Genesis 1: speaking, creation, naming, blessing, and numbering.
The wording of the verse is specific, though various translations handle it slightly differently. The Hebrew phrase "seeds" and "kinds" generally implies a particular intent within creation. We are meant to understand that these plants and trees produced themselves their seeds. Built into them was the ability to reproduce according to their kind. In other words, God decreed that each kind of plant and tree would bear the seed of the next generation of that specific kind of plant and tree. This again places a claim to God's supremacy over all aspects of creation, including the form and function of all living things.
Genesis 1:12, KJV: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
This verse nearly repeats the language of the previous verse. God commanded something to happen on earth: the development of plants and trees. Plants and trees of many kinds came into being, and each carried the seed that would cause the next generation of those specific plants and trees to grow independently. This verse describes this very thing happening, precisely as God declared it.
Another critical fact from this account is that God built reproduction into His creation from the start. His intent is clear: He would not create the world repeatedly. He would create it all once. He would make it good and build into His unique creation the ability to keep recreating itself according to the kind—of plant, in this case—which it was.
Genesis 1 provokes various debates and conversations about how and when God created and how or if that creation has changed since the initial creation. What is clear is that the Bible intends us to understand that God, and God alone, made living things with the intent of them reproducing, from the very beginning
Genesis 1:13, KJV: And the evening and the morning were the third Days.
This simple verse repeats the pattern for numbering each Day of God's creation week. As mentioned, the Israelites counted days from sunset to sunset, evening through the morning, and daylight hours. That may be why each Day is described in this way.
This completes the pattern of Genesis chapter 1, for the first half of the creation "week." In each case, God speaks, then His words are fulfilled, then He names His creation, and then declares it good. The Bible then applies a number to that creative Day. Each of the first three days produced the conditions needed to support what God will create in each of the second three days. The first half of these days produced light, the sky, seas, and land. The second half, then, will see God populate those areas with the sun and moon, birds and sea creatures, and land creatures, respectively.
The lack of detail in these verses is probably deliberate. The point of Genesis chapter 1 is to deliver a powerful truth: that God, and God alone, is responsible for the creation we see around us; moreover, those created things have no power. Sun, sea, trees, and sky are not gods or spirits but objects formed by God. We may not have a complete understanding of how God accomplished His creation, but the Bible leaves no room for doubt about who is responsible and has authority over what has been created.
Genesis 1:14, KJV: And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the Heaven to divide the Day from the Night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Regardless of the translation, verses 14 through 18 can seem somewhat awkward in English. These words were originally written in Hebrew and under a highly structured repeating pattern. However, the core point of these verses is impossible to miss God made all the heavenly bodies, ascribed to the fourth Day of His creation week. For the original readers of Scripture, this countered the widespread belief that stars, comets, and the sun were divine. By clearly showing God's creation and control, Genesis dispels the idea that there are any true gods other than God.
Days four, five, and six of the Genesis creation week correspond to days one, two, and three. What God creates in each of these last three days is placed in the setting He created on the corresponding earlier Day. In this case, God used His creative words to form light on Day one. This verse describes Day four, where God commands that " lights exist in the expanse of the heavens" or the "vault of the sky." The following verses explain that these "lights" are the sun, moon, and stars.
This raises what some see as a difficult question: How did God create light and Day and Night on the first day (Genesis 1:3–4) if He had not yet created the sun? It is a reasonable question, and we do not have a perfect answer. The most straightforward explanation is that God caused light to exist apart from the source of the sun and stars until those were created, something clearly within His power. Another option is that these words describe the first time the sun, moon, and stars became visible on earth, possibly due to a vapor canopy or clouds. Some scholars offer further alternative explanations.
One interesting point of note is that secular science, per the "Big Bang Theory," actually supports this order of light, then stars. According to that model, the universe was filled with photons—light particles—long before stars or planets existed. Whether or not this has a meaningful connection to this part of Genesis, the point is that preceding light stars are not only scientifically possible, but modern science also claims that was the case!
In any event, Scripture does not provide specific details here, meaning they are irrelevant to the point. The main idea of this verse is to describe God's purpose for these lights, according to His command. They were to separate Day from Night and serve as signs of days, years, and "seasons," which in this context refers to sacred times.
It is clear that God intended for the earth and the solar system to move according to a regular pattern from the beginning. He meant for days, years, and seasons to be orderly, measurable, and predictable.
Genesis 1:15, KJV: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the Heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
This verse concludes the statement begun in the previous verse. In this passage, God completes His command to create the sun, moon, and stars on day 4 of creation. In verse 14, God commanded lights to appear in Heaven—meaning the sky. The purpose of these lights, according to God, is to serve several purposes: to separate Day from Night, to mark the days, years, and seasons and, in this verse, to provide light upon the earth.
This demonstrates the typical pattern of Genesis chapter 1. Each of the first three days prepares a setting, while each of the second three days populates that setting. On the first day of creation, God created light. On Day four, He creates specific sources of daily and nightly light upon the earth. As mentioned earlier, the idea of light existing before the sun and stars seems backward, but according to modern science, it is not so far-fetched.
Regardless of how one reads this verse, it concludes with four unmistakable and remarkable words: "and it was so." This uses the Hebrew phrase wa yehi ken. This is an almost comically simple way of explaining something as extraordinary as God's creative power: He spoke, and the sun, moon, and stars came into being.
The prior verse says God intended our view of the universe to be used for timekeeping. Psalm 19 tells us that the heavens above us serve another purpose: to declare God's glory, to proclaim in what He has made the Creator's magnificence. Both Psalm 19 and Romans 1 insist no language is necessary to see the glory of God from what He has made.
Genesis 1:16, KJV: And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the Day, and the lesser light to rule the Night: he made the stars also.
Verses 14-19 describe the fourth Day of the creation week, during which God created the sun, moon, and stars. Following the usual pattern, the last verses related to God's words are followed in this verse by describing that command becoming a reality.
When Genesis was written, many cultures worshipped the sun, moon, and stars as if they were gods. The sun and moon are pictured as two great lights, each to govern "rule"—the Day and the Night. The Bible claims that these "lights" are not deities, merely created things made by the one, true God. It is an idea that still stands in opposition to many cultural norms. This would have been especially meaningful to the people of Moses' Day when nations such as Egypt were dominated by the belief in gods of the sun, moon, stars, and skies.
This verse ends with another profound understatement: God made the stars. Given what we know of the immense universe surrounding us, this is an incredible display of power. The idea that God created the whole expanse of our universe in a day, with a word, should astound and humble us. Not only does our view of the heavens help us track time (Genesis 1:14), but God also intends to provoke us to worship Him through the immensity and beauty of what He has made (Psalm 19:1).
Genesis 1:17, KJV: And God set them in the firmament of the Heaven to give light upon the earth,
This verse repeats statements made in prior verses. This is meant to fit the structured, poetic Hebrew language structure used in verses 14 through 18. This structure is sometimes called a chiasm (discussion). This is a specific way of arranging the words to emphasize the central idea of what is being described. In this case, despite all the details, this passage does not include, the central point becomes clear: heavenly bodies are not gods; the One True God creates them.
The central purpose of the sun, moon, and stars was to provide light on the earth. These also allow people to track time (Genesis 1:14) and inspire us to glorify God for His creative power (Psalm 19:1). People living in the modern era often have easy access to artificial light. It can be nearly impossible to escape for those living in large cities. As a result, it is hard to appreciate how powerful and necessary and beautiful natural light truly is. We can easily take for granted this cornerstone of God's creation.
Genesis 1:18, KJV: And to rule over the Day and the Night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
As with verse 17, these words repeat information given previously. This is part of a poetic structure known as a chiasm (discussion), which arranges ideas around a central theme. This verse repeats the intended purposes of the sun, moon, and stars as lights in the expanse of the sky. They were made to rule over the Day and the Night, to separate the light from the darkness.
The fact that these are said to be appointed by God to "rule over" the Day and Night is also essential. Genesis 1 is very explicit that these lights are not persons and they are not gods. They are not to be worshipped in hopes of earning their favor or avoiding their anger. These are created things, subject to the one and only God.
In other words, these things "rule" only because without their light, all productive life on the earth would come to a halt. Directly or indirectly, all life on earth has become dependent on the sun's light during the Day and the light of the moon and stars at Night. Even now, in the era of artificial light, the rule of the sun, moon, and stars is absolute in that they mark the passing of time. We often speak of running things "by the clock," even though clocks themselves only show time passing. In the same sense, the movement of the sun, moon, and stars display the passage of time, though they do not make time itself operate.
Following the same pattern as the other days of this creation "week," God recognizes His creation as "good." He approves of the sun, moon, and stars and their dominant place in the life of our planet. In doing so, He declared their glory and his own.
Genesis 1:19, KJV: And the evening and the morning were the fourth Day.
Genesis frames God's creation of all things using a poetic structure. This follows a strict pattern: God speaks, creates, observes, and blesses His work. The Day is then given a number. Verses 14 through 18 described the fourth Day of creation, where God formed the sun, moon, and stars. Here, verse 19 closes out the description of the fourth creative Day, referencing the concept of "evening and morning." During this time, Israel defined days from sunset to sunset, evening to morning, and sunset to sunset.
God's creation of the sun, moon, and stars counters any belief that these are deities themselves. By making it clear that these are just pieces of God's creation, Genesis dispels claims that there is supernatural power in the heavenly bodies. Many cultures, including ancient Egypt, worshipped the sun and moon as gods. Other religions, and modern astrology, believe that the position of these objects determines a person's fate.
Genesis 1:20, KJV: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of Heaven
Verses 20 through 23 describe God's fifth Day of creation, in which He creates all the creatures of the seas, as well as the birds. This is according to the pattern of Genesis, where God used the first three days to prepare an environment and the second three days to populate that environment. On Day one, God created light; on Day four, He created the sun, moon, and stars. On Day two, God created the sea and sky, and here, on Day five, is His creation of sea and air life.
The pattern will then continue in later verses: On Day three, God created dry land, and we will see the origin of land animals on Day six.
God's spoken command is to let the waters—the seas—teem or swarm with swarms of living creatures. The picture is of filling up an ocean intended to carry the abundance of God's creation. Similarly, God commands the sky to be full of birds that would fly across its previously empty expanse. This is all part of a process where God's design comes into focus. He did not merely create the oceans for their own sake. The purpose of the seas was to support active, teeming life. The purpose of the empty sky was to host the countless variety of birds He would create
Genesis 1:21, KJV: And God created great whales and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
In the prior verse, God commanded the empty seas to fill up with living creatures and the empty skies to be filled with flying birds. Now in this verse, He executes that command. This is the blueprint for all six of the creative days of Genesis. God speaks, and His words become a reality. Later verses will continue the pattern of God observing His creation and calling it "good."
The verse explicitly mentions the great sea creatures or sea "monsters." As with the sun and moon, these ancient beasts of the sea were frequently worshiped as gods by ancient cultures. The Bible claims that those creatures were merely created, along with all the other fish and birds. The one true God made them in a day. He alone is worthy of worship.
This verse also specifies that these new creatures were made "according to their kind." From the very beginning, God divided created life into categories: kinds of plants, kinds of fish, and kinds of birds. Built into each creature was the ability and necessity to reproduce their own kind.
Again, God recognizes that what He has made is good, giving His approval to the world He is building
Genesis 1:22, KJV: And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
For the first time in Genesis, God gives a directly spoken blessing. Specifically, He blesses all the creatures of the seas and the birds. His blessing is about reproduction and fertility and comes as a command to these creatures: Be fruitful and multiply. In other words, God commands the birds and fish to multiply and blesses them with the ability to do so. In making this statement, Genesis is declaring that God is not only the Creator of life; He is the one who enables life to reproduce itself. He alone is the giver of fertility, of new generations.
That is important for us to hear on several levels. First, worshiping any other god in hopes of being blessed with fertile crops, herds, or human families is a waste of time. Only God grants that blessing.
Second, whatever our position on how and when God created, Genesis insists that He is the one who blesses all creatures with the ability to reproduce another generation of their kind. Reproduction does not happen without Him. For all of its beauty, the creation account of Genesis provides very few actual details. What is meant to be understood, however, is profound: God and God alone are responsible for the design and existence of life.
Finally, we see in this verse that reproduction is a blessing. God grants new life as a gift to fulfill His purposes.
Genesis 1:23, KJV: And the evening and the morning were the fifth Day.
This verse completes the standard blueprint for the creation days in Genesis. This verse features the typical reference to "evening and morning," reflecting the Jewish concept of days beginning at sunset. In each case, God speaks a command, which becomes natural; God sees what He has created and considers it "good."
On this fifth Day, God has created all sea creatures and all birds and blessed them with the ability to reproduce and populate water and air. This also follows a pattern in Genesis chapter 1, where the six days of creation are paired between the first three and the last three. God created light on Day one and the sun and moon on Day four. He created the sky and seas on Day two and formed air and sea life on Day five. This now sets the stage for Day six: God created dry land on Day three. So, on the next Day of creation, He will form land animals and human beings.
Genesis 1:24, KJV: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
On the sixth Day of creation, God moves from the seas and the air to the land. He speaks the command for animals to come into existence. He specifically calls for the land to produce living creatures according to their various kinds. This is a curious reference and part of the long-running debate over what specific mechanism God might have used to create these animals if any.
"Livestock" would include cattle and other domesticated animals. "Creeping things" refers to rodents, reptiles, insects, etc. "Beasts of the earth" are wild animals.
Once again, this conforms to the strict sequence shown in Genesis chapter 1. The first three days of creation show explicit parallels to the second three days. On day 1, God made light; on day 4, He created the sun, moon, and stars to distribute that light. On day 2, God separated the waters, creating the vast, empty oceans; on day 5, He filled those waters with sea creatures. On day 3, God created the land and filled it with vegetation; now, on day 6, He fills the land with animals ready to eat from those plants
Genesis 1:25, KJV: And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: God saw that it was good.
In Genesis chapter 1, God uses three days of creation to prepare the earth. He creates light, the sea, skies, dry land, and plants on these first days. On the second three days, He fills those environments with the sun and moon, air and sea life, and land animals.
In the previous verse, God commanded the creation of all the different kinds of animals and creeping things that would fill the earth's land. In this verse, He executes that command, creating what He decreed must be created. Interestingly, God phrases this command as "let the earth bring forth" these living creatures (Genesis 1:24). In literal terms, this would imply the land animals being produced by the earth itself—making this phrase part of the age-old debate over how God chose to accomplish His creation.
Once again, God recognizes what He had made as good. God did not create anything that He decided was not up to His standards. All that He made He called good. Before being corrupted by sin, God's original universe creation was perfect in every way. Nothing terrible or corrupt had yet entered the world.
Summary
Genesis 1:14–25 describes the second three days of creation: days four, five, and six, just prior to the creation of humankind. As with the first three, there is a typical pattern. God's spoken word results in the creation, which God then names and declares ''good.'' The Day are numbered. Each of these days fills something created in one of the last three days. The sun and moon were created on Day four, while Day and Night were created on Day one. Sea creatures were created on Day five, for the oceans formed on Day two. Land animals—and, later, human beings—are made on Day six for the dry land and plants God created on Day three.
Genesis 1:26, KJV: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The creation week now reaches its climax with the creation of human beings. This verse is breathtaking in its implications and puzzling in the questions it raises.
God decrees, "Let us make man in our image," using a Hebrew word—e'nu—unmistakably plural. Why does God speak of Himself as more than one person? Scholars have offered a wide variety of ideas over the centuries. Three explanations are offered more often than any others.
First, God may be referring to Himself and the angels. This seems unlikely given the rest of Scripture's depiction of angels. These beings are presented as servants and messengers, not creators or rulers.
Second, this could be what scholars call a plural of self-exhortation or self-encouragement, meaning He is referring only to Himself. This would also be referred to as "the royal 'we,'" something we see used by human kings and rulers when making proclamations or decrees.
The third possibility is that God speaks as a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. According to Scripture as a whole, the full Trinity was present at creation. Genesis 1:2 describes the Spirit of God hovering over the waters, and John 1:1–3 reveals that the Word, Christ, was active in the creation of all things.
Next, this verse raises the question of what it means to be made in God's image or His likeness. Without question, this statement does not mean that God created humans to resemble Him physically (John 4:24). Rather, this seems to support the idea that God endowed humans with a certain kind of awareness, one which animals, birds, and fish were not given. In other words, humans would possess the capacity for reason, morality, language, personality, and purpose. Like God, we would possess the capacity to experience and understand love, truth, and beauty. In particular, the ability to use morality and spirituality are unique to human beings among God's creations on earth.
Humans are made in God's image in another way: as a model or a representative. God is the Maker, and all of creation belongs to Him. He is Lord over it. However, God gives mankind the responsibility to rule over all other life He has made on the earth in the moment of creation. In that sense, humans would stand as God's image and representatives on earth as we rule over and manage all the rest of His creation.
Genesis 1:27, KJV: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, created he him; male and female created he them.
The blueprint for Genesis chapter 1 is God speaking His intent, then creating. In the previous verse, God decreed what should be made and why. Now in this verse, He makes the first of all human beings. The verse is written with a poetic structure of three lines. God creates man in his image. In the image of God, man is created. God creates both males and females.
God made humans inherently different from animals. He built into us some of His qualities; we share with Him the experience of personality, truth, beauty, meaning, will, and reason. These attributes allow us to relate to God in ways other created beings cannot. Humanity's unique capacity for moral and rational awareness is one meaning of being created in God's image. Another meaning is that humans were meant to stand as the image of God's authority on the earth as we rule over and subdue the rest of His creation.
That we are made by God, in the image of God, is what gives all men and women deep value. That point is echoed throughout the Bible. James, for instance, points out that we ought not to curse human beings because they (we) are made in God's likeness (James 3:9). Those who bear God's image should not be treated disrespectfully or discarded easily. It is not surprising or illogical to see that cultures that reject the idea of man's creation in God's image are cultures that terrorize and abuse other human beings.
Genesis 1:28, KJV: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
After creating humans as male and female in the previous verse, God pronounces His blessing on these first people who are made in His image. Built into the blessing is the capacity to reproduce new generations of human beings—and the command to do so.
God gives four instructions: Be fruitful (or "bear fruit," have babies). Multiply (as each new generation has more kids and more kids). Fill the earth (populate). Have dominion (or authority and management) over all the other creatures.
These commands frame many essential aspects of a Christian worldview. One crucial point to note is that the commands to reproduce and multiply came prior to the fall of man in Genesis chapter 3. In blunt terms, God created humanity with the capacity for sex and sexual reproduction and intended us to utilize those abilities. Sex, therefore, is not sinful in and of itself. Of course, like all good things, sex has a proper context: marriage. Nevertheless, this simple point—that God created us as intentionally sexual creatures—speaks against the recurring myth that the Bible considers sex itself to be morally wrong.
Humankind's first responsibilities would be to fill up the earth with people and to care for the earth as God's representatives. As explained in Genesis chapter 2, God would directly create only two humans. The rest of us would come from them, one generation after the next.
