The First Day.- The expression "In the beginning" (בְּרֵאשִׁית) means as much as "when this world began to be." "There was no material of creation (materia ex qua) with respect to the things created on the first day" (Quenstedt). Only since things outside God have begun to exist, there is a beginning. Before that there was no ''beginning," because God has no beginning, Ps. 90, 1. 2, and outside Him there was nothing. Time and space must therefore be traced to God's omnipotent fiat of creation; they are creatures of the infinite God. The words "In the beginning," Gen. 1, 1, correspond to the same words (ἐν ἀρχῇ) in John 1, 1; only the Book of Genesis records what God then did, while the Gospel of John informs us who existed in the beginning (the Father and the Son).
The term heaven must not be taken in the sense of a highest heaven" (empyrean, coelum empyrium), a supposed region of pure fire, in which God dwells with the angels and saints (papists, Calvinists). Quenstedt rightly calls this supposed empyrean a merum figmentum. The expression heaven and earth in Gen. 1, 1 (אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ) as just stated, simply denotes the Weltstoff, to borrow a term of modern dogmatics.
The term tohuvabohu (תודה לאל), which our Authorized Version translates "without form and void," in Jer. 4, 23 denotes a desolate country. In Gen. 1, 2, however, it denotes the chaotic condition of all created things before God's creative hand had separated and arranged them in order. The theory that Gen. 1, 1 reports the restitution of a world previously created, but destroyed at the fall of the evil angels (Kurtz), has no Scriptural foundation whatever and must be rejected as a figment of human speculation.
The "light," which God created on the first day, was the elemental light, to which He on the fourth day added the "two great lights in the firmament" to govern day and night, summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, Gen. 1, 14. According to Scripture, light existed before the celestial bodies. "By the word of His power God created light, elemental light, brought it into being in the midst of the darkness, and commanded it to shine out of darkness, 2 Cor. 4, 6. Ever since the first day of the world the regular recurrence of darkness and light marks the period of one day, as we now divide it into twenty-four hours." (Kretzmann, Pop. Com., I, 2.)
The Second Day.- On the second day, God created the expansion, or the "firmament" (רָקִיעַ), by which is meant not the stratum of atmosphere above the earth, but rather the visible vault of the sky (Luther). According to Gen. 1, 6-8 the "firmament" divides the waters above and those below it, so that we must conceive of waters beyond the visible vault of the sky. The creation report everywhere exhibits God's omnipotent power and majesty, but does not answer all questions which the ever-curious mind of man is inclined to put.
The Third Day.- On the third day, God gathered the waters under the heaven together unto one place, so that the dry land appeared. "God here finished His creative work on inanimate matter, when His almighty command bade the waters from below the heavens, below the firmament which He had constructed, be gathered together into a single place, by themselves. In chaos the mixture of solids and liquids had been so complete as to preclude the designation 'dry land.' But now the solids and liquids were to be separated, so that dry land as we know it was visible." (Kretzmann, Pop. Com., I, 2.) As soon as God caused the dry land to appear, He adorned it "with grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind," Gen. 1, 12 (the law of propagation). According to Scripture the plants were before the seed, since God created mature plants, "yielding seed."
The Fourth Day.- On the fourth day, God created the sun, moon, and stars, Gen. 1, 14ff. The "matter out of which" (materia ex quo,) God made the celestial bodies is not stated; but the holy writer describes their purpose (finis cuius) and the recipients (finis cui) of their blessings, Gen. 1, 14-18. While Holy Scripture does not teach an astronomical system, nevertheless it stresses the following truths: a) The earth was before the sun, just as also the light was before the sun. b) The earth does not serve the sun, but, vice versa, the sun serves the earth, and both the sun and the earth serve man, who has been created for the purpose of serving God. Within the bounds of these basic truths all astronomical ideas of the Christian theologian must be confined. All so-called astronomical systems suggested by men rest upon hypotheses, which are beyond positive proof. Over against the astronomical systems of scientists the Christian theologian must therefore maintain: a) Scripture never errs, not even in matters of science, John 10, 35; 2 Tim. 3, 16. b) Scripture accommodates itself to human conceptions, but never to human errors, since it is always truth, John 17, 17. c) We know so little concerning astronomical data that it is both foolish and unscientific to supplement, correct, or criticize Scripture on the basis of human speculative systems. d) It is unworthy of our Christian calling to discard the inerrant Word of Scripture in favor of the "assured results" of science falsely so called. Hence in a controversy on this point a Christian must always maintain the divine authority of Scripture. But he must not believe that by convincing an unbeliever of the truth of the
The Fifth Day.- On the fifth day, God created "the moving creature that hath life" in the water and the "fowl that may fly above the earth," Gen. 1, 20. 21. While the materia ex quo, of the first was water, that of the second is not stated directly. Nevertheless the matter out of which these and other creatures were made was in no wise self-creative (evolution). Materia est principium passivum; non concurrit cum Deo ad aliquid creandum.
The Sixth Day.- On the last day, God created both "the beasts of the earth" and, as the crown of His creative work, man, Gen. 1, 24. 27. The question whether animals and plants which after the Fall have become injurious to man were created at this time may be answered as follows: They were indeed created within the six creation days, but their functions were in complete accord with man's well-being. Even to-day the "harmful things" (poisonous plants and minerals) may be used by man for his benefit. However, since before the Fall nature was not yet under the curse and corruption of sin, even these creatures yielded to man their willing service.
The supreme glory of man, as the crown of creation, appears from the following facts : a) Man's creation was preceded by a divine consultation in which the three Persons of the Godhead concurred, Gen. 1, 26. b) While all creatures came into existence through the almighty divine word, God formed the body of man out of the dust of the ground, Gen. 2, 7, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, so that he became a living soul, Gen. 2, 7 b. c) God made man an intelligent and rational being to rule in His stead over the world, which was created for him by the beneficent Creator, Gen. 2, 7b; 1, 28. d) God made man in His own image, so that he was like God in holiness, righteousness, and wisdom, Eph. 4, 24; Col. 3, 10. e) God supplied Adam with a helpmeet, who was made in the divine image and endowed with intelligence and an immortal soul, Gen. 2, 22-24.
The question of dichotomy or trichotomy must be decided on the basis of such passages as describe man according to his essential parts, Matt. 10, 28; 16, 26; Gen. 2, 7. On the basis of these passages most Lutheran dogmaticians have declared themselves in favor of dichotomy. Passages quoted by trichotomists are Luke 1, 46. 47; 1 Thess. 5, 23, etc.; but none of these furnishes incontrovertible evidence in proof of trichotomy. That Scripture uses the terms spirit (nvt:v,ua) and soul (lf'VX~) interchangeably is clear from the fact that those who have departed this life are called either spirits (1 Pet. 3, 19), or souls (Rev. 6, 9). Dichotomy certainly offers less difficulty in explaining the phenomena of human existence in general.
The Mosaic narrative of the creation of the world must not be regarded as an allegory or myth, but must be taken as a true historical account of actual happenings. Only a literal interpretation is fair to the text.
According to Holy Scripture, creation was that free act of the Triune God by which "in the beginning, for His own glory, He made, without the use of preexisting materials, the whole visible and invisible universe" (Strong). This doctrine stands in close relation to God's holiness and benevolence, Rom. 8, 20-23; 2 Cor. 4, 15-17, as well as to His wisdom and free will, Ps. 104, 24; 136, 5. Those who deny the doctrine of creation as taught in Scripture may as well deny also the Scriptural doctrine of redemption, since the account of the former is no less inspired than is the account of the latter. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," 2 Tim. 3, 16, and Christ's command is to accept as divine truth the whole Bible, John 5, 39; 10, 35.