Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CREATION

The concept of creation in the OT and NT exhibits at least two distinct yet interrelated meanings. Creation can refer to the primordial origination of the world, the beginning of history (e.g., creatio ex nihilo). In addition, biblical creation can connote the continuing order and maintenance of the world (creatio continua or continuata). To the former belong the Creation accounts of the Priestly and Yahwist compositional layers (Gen. 1:1–2:3; 2:4b-25), as well as Wisdom’s description of cosmic creation in Prov. 8:22-31. Creation as work in progress or continuance is stressed in certain psalms (e.g., Pss. 8, 19, 33, 104) and Job 38:12–41:34(MT 41:26). Again, these two senses of creation are inseparably bound up. On the one hand, creation accounts that describe the originating moment of the world also say something significant about how the world is currently ordered and structured. On the other hand, passages that deal with God’s continual creative activity in the world frequently have as their reference point the primal act of creation.

Related to the second meaning, a third connotation of creation is evident in the biblical literature. Creation can signify new or future creation, even the consummation of history. The theme of the new creation becomes prominent among the exilic and postexilic prophets (e.g., Ezek. 40–48; Isa. 40–55). God’s new beginning of history involves a new act of creation. In this way creation as the beginning of history can anticipate the end of history; history’s consummation is typically conveyed as the fulfillment or supersession of primordial creation (cf. Zech. 14:6-8; Gen. 1:3-18). As such, new creation takes on markedly redemptive or soteriological features: chaos is vanquished (Isa. 27:1); the day shall overcome the terror of night (Isa. 60:19-20; Rev. 21:23-24); and a new heaven and new earth will be an everlasting source of joy (Isa. 65:17-25; Rev. 21:1-4).

In all three senses, the biblical view of creation has little to do with modern, scientific conceptions of how the universe was brought into being or how it will end (e.g., the so-called Big Bang and Big Crunch theories). Like their ancient Near Eastern counterparts, the biblical accounts of creation do not make the modern distinction between nature and culture. Human society, its character and organization, was of utmost concern for the ancient cosmologists, whether they comprised the ruling class of Babylonian society evident in the Enuma elish or the priestly hierarchy of ancient Israel behind Gen. 1:1–2:3. Community and culture, by contrast, do not come into play in modern theories about the origin of life and the world. Biblical creation accounts, however, invariably indicate how human society is to be structured and organized vis-à-vis creation. For every text in which creation is its context, the moral life of the community is a significant subtext. Moreover, the manner of report is very different from scientific reports and theories of the origin of life and the cosmos: far from an impersonal, objective style, ancient accounts of creation are characterized by drama, poetry, and prescriptive language. They limn not only a physical but also a moral and existential order.

Most modern readers of the Bible associate biblical creation with the book of Genesis, which actually contains two creation accounts, Gen. 1:1–2:3 (P) and 2:4b-25 (J). The Priestly account (P) describes a process of creation extending over six days that begins with God’s command for the creation of primordial light before the watery, dark chaos (1:3). It is doubtful that the notion of “creation out of nothing” (creatio ex nihilo) is meant. Nowhere are the creations of water and darkness mentioned (cf. 2 Pet. 3:5). In fact, the notion of creation out of nothing was a much later tradition in Scripture (cf. 2 Macc. 7:28; Rom. 4:17; Heb. 11:3). Moreover, Gen. 1:1-2 is syntactically an extended temporal clause that introduces the main sentence in v. 3. Light is the first creative act. Beginning with empty formlessness (tōhû wāḇōhû, v. 2), creation according to Priestly tradition is about the formation of interdependent structures and the separation of things into their proper categories (cf. Ezek. 44:23). Throughout the process, God is unopposed; no chaos monsters must be slain in order to bring about creation. Indeed, the “great sea monsters” come directly from God’s creative power (Gen. 1:21).

The creation of primordial light, distinguished from the light of the celestial spheres (Gen. 1:14-16), functions to distinguish day from night, thereby setting in motion the progress of time. On the second day, God creates a dome or firmament that vertically separates the waters above from the waters below. Separation of the waters below results in the appearance of dry land, which is exhorted to sprout forth vegetation on the third day. With the three domains of heaven, water, and earth firmly established over the course of three days, the celestial spheres of light are created on the fourth day, with teeming life in the seas, air, and on the land appearing on the fifth and sixth days. As the culminating act of God’s handiwork, humankind, male and female, is created on the sixth day. The narrative sweep of creation, however, does not end here. As the climax and completion of the narrative, the seventh day is singled out as a sanctified day of divine rest (Gen. 2:1-3). Indeed, the number seven assumes crucial significance in the account: the first two verses contain a total of 21 words (7 + 14). Certain key words such as “God,” “good,” and “land” appear in numbers divisible by 7. Through such numerological arrangements, the author has taken pains to demonstrate creation’s goal and completeness.

In addition, the Priestly Creation account reflects a highly refined structure in which the first three days are placed in parallel with the second set of three. Indeed, the overall structure may very well reflect that of a temple, with the final day representing a temporal “holy of holies.” At any rate, the process of creation is characterized by a discernible rhythm of divine command and execution, as well as approbation (“good”) and differentiation of material: darkness and light, water and land, animals and humankind. Certain elements such as water, earth, and the celestial spheres assume active roles in the process and maintenance of creation (e.g., Gen. 1:11-12, 16, 20). The most critical role, however, belongs to humankind. Men and women are distinguished from the animal world by their being created in the “image of God” (Gen. 1:26-27). This language of image has little to do with humankind’s essence or God’s nature. Rather, as God’s representatives on earth, human beings are endowed with the (royal) task of managing and exercising dominion over the whole range of life on the earth (Gen. 1:26-31). As part of humankind’s stewardship of the earth, human beings are enjoined elsewhere to observe the Sabbath (Exod. 20:8-11; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:12-15), an act that Gen. 2:1-3 makes clear is an act of imitatio dei.

Though perhaps reflecting Egyptian influence, the Creation account of Gen. 1 is truly unique among the ancient Near Eastern cosmogonies. Instead of divine combat and struggle among the gods, as depicted in the Babylonian Enuma elish and the Ugaritic Baal epic, creation according to P is wrought peaceably and systematically through sovereign word and action. Elsewhere in the OT, however, the struggle against chaos comprises a part of the creative process (Isa. 51:9b-10; 27:1; Ps. 74:13-14; Job 26:12). In these passages, creation presupposes the defeat of watery chaos, symbolized by the sea monsters Rahab and Leviathan (cf. Ps. 104:6-7, 9, 26). By comparison, the Creation account of Gen. 1 appears more “philosophically” oriented. The “great sea monsters” created on the fifth day are reported in a matter-of-fact manner (Gen. 1:21) as part of God’s good creation. Many scholars have described P’s account of creation as a demythologized account of the combat motif so prevalent in the extrabiblical sources, particularly Mesopotamian. Such an intentional contrast may not be fortuitous, since the account was probably written during the time of either the late exilic period in Babylonia or the early postexilic period (late 6th century b.c.e.). In addition, modern interpreters have noted a kind of systematic, even “evolutionary,” development of the created order in Gen. 1, , a movement from lower to higher, more complex forms of life, culminating in humankind.

In contrast to P’s account is the older Yahwist’s account (J) of creation that follows (Gen. 2:4b–3:25). Here, the order of creation is reversed: man (ʾāḏām) appears first, created from the soil (ʾăḏāmâ; Gen. 2:7), followed by the plants and animals. With the garden of Eden as the setting, J focuses on the separate creations of man and woman and their vocation in the garden. Whereas Gen. 1:26-28 depicts human beings exercising dominion over creation (cf. Ps. 8:5-9[6-10]), Gen. 2:15-17 makes man a servant of the soil, a vocation that becomes burdensome as a result of the couple’s expulsion from the garden (3:17-19). The creation of woman from man (ʾiššâ from ʾîš; Gen. 2:22) in no way implies subordination of woman to man, but rather stresses their common identity, as poetically expressed in the man’s jubilation in 2:23. The mutual equality of the genders breaks down only through the man’s blaming the woman (Gen. 3:12) and the curse (v. 16).

In the NT there is, by comparison with the OT, a veritable dearth of cosmological models. Nevertheless, references to Creator and creation are frequent (e.g., Mark 10:6 = Matt. 19:4; Mark 13:19 = Matt. 24:21; Rom. 1:20; 8:18-30; 1 Tim. 4:4; 1 Pet. 4:19; 2 Pet. 3:4; Rev. 4:11; 10:6; 21:1; 22:1-5). Indeed, during the Hellenistic period the doctrine of creation became an essential tenet of faith for the early Church in its response to Gnosticism. Echoing both Isaiah and Genesis, the NT understands creation in light of God’s action in Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of history and creation. The revelation of Christ inaugurated a new age and consequently a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). As the revelation of God’s purposes in history, Christ undergirds all of creation (John 1:1-9; Eph. 1:9-10; Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). Yet creation, according to Paul, remains in travail, “groaning in labor pains” (Rom. 8:22). The new age that Paul foresaw is one that involved the completion of God’s purposes in Christ, in the “revealing of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19). The new age described in the apocalyptic book of Revelation recounts the primordial battle against the chaos dragon (Rev. 12:7-10; 20:2-3), whose defeat ushers in a new heaven and earth, including a New Jerusalem (21:1-2), a city without need of temple, sun, or moon, “for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (21:23; cf. Isa. 60:19-20). Moreover, the new city shall enjoy the water of life and the tree of life (Rev. 22:1-2; cf. Ezek. 47:1-12; Zech. 14:8; Gen. 2:9). Drawing from themes and images of the ancient creation accounts, the new age envisaged by John of Patmos is a new creation that shall supersede the primeval age.

Bibliography. B. W. Anderson, From Creation to New Creation. OBT (Minneapolis, 1994); W. P. Brown, Structure, Role, and Ideology in the Hebrew and Greek Texts of Genesis 1:1–2:3. SBLDS 132 (Atlanta, 1993); R. J. Clifford, Creation Accounts in the Ancient Near East and in the Bible. CBQMS 26 (Washington, 1994); T. Hiebert, The Yahwist’s Landscape (Oxford, 1996); J. D. Levenson, Creation and the Persistence of Evil (San Francisco, 1988); R. A. Simkins, Creator and Creation (Peabody, 1994).

William P. Brown

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

CREATION

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)