CREATION, n. 1. The act of creating the act of causing to exist and especially, the act of bringing this world into existence. Romans 1 . 2. The act of making, by new combinations of matter, invested with new forms and properties, and of subjecting to different laws the act of shaping and organizing as the creation of man and other animals, of plants, minerals, &c. 3. The act of investing with a new character as the creation of peers in England. 4. The act of producing. 5. The things created creatures the world the universe. As subjects then the whole creation came. 6. Any part of the things created. Before the low creation swarmed with men. 7. Any thing produced or caused to exist. A false creation, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain.

From ancient times persons have had a keen interest in the origin of the universe. Stories or fragments of stories about creation have survived in the literature of several ancient nations. Biblical writers may reflect an awareness of these extra-biblical accounts, but their consistent testimony is that Israel's God was the Creator. His creative activities proceeded in orderly and methodical fashion toward the fulfillment of His purpose to create “good heavens” and “a good earth.” Creation accounts in the Bible never function simply to satisfy a childlike curiosity to know “how it all began.” The biblical writers' concern with God as Creator grew out of their knowledge of Him as Redeemer. Genesis 1-11 serves as prologue to God's redemptive purpose in calling Abram ( Genesis 12:1-3 ). Similarly, in Isaiah 40:1 concern with God as Creator is in a larger context of concern with God as Redeemer from Babylonian captivity. Important questions about creation include the following: 1. Where in the Bible is the subject of creation encountered? 2. What is the function of biblical references to creation? 3. What literature contemporary with the Bible contains references to creation? 4. How are biblical and extra-biblical references to creation related? 5. What cosmology is reflected in the Bible? 6. What is the time frame of creation in the Bible? 7. What is humanity's place in creation? 8. How is the New Testament concept of the new creation in Christ related to the biblical concept of physical creation? Biblical References to Creation Probably the best known reference to creation in the Bible is Genesis 1:1-2:4 . That certainly is not the only place in Scripture where the subject is treated. Psalmists mentioned creation or the Creator frequently (Psalm 8:3-4 ; Psalm 74:17 ; Psalm 95:5 ; Psalm 100:3 ; Psalm 104:24 ,Psalms 104:24,104:30 ; Psalm 118:24 ; Psalm 40:5 ; Psalm 51:10 ; Psalm 64:9 ; Psalm 24:1-2 ; Job 26:12-1341 ; Psalm 145:10 ). The second half of Isaiah (Psalm 40-66 ) has four direct references to creation (Isaiah 40:28 ; Isaiah 43:7 , Isaiah 43:15 ; Isaiah 45:7 ; Isaiah 65:17 ). Job alluded to creation in two speeches (Job 10:8 ; Job 26:7 ), and God's answer to Job contains one reference to the subject (Job 38:4 ). The New Testament reveals that Jesus “made” all things (John 1:3 ) and that “all things were created by him, and for him” (Colossians 1:16 ). Paul's assertion recorded in Ephesians 3:9 is that God “created all things.” The writer of Hebrews notes that Jesus was the agent God used to create the world ( Hebrews 1:2 ). Because God created all things, He is worthy of “glory and honor and power” (Revelation 4:11 ). Luke testified that the living God “made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14:15 ). The consistent report of the Bible is that God is the Source of the whole created order. The Function of Biblical Creation References Genesis is a book about beginnings. The centerpiece of the book is God's redemptive activity following the fall of man. God began by calling Abram out of Ur, by entering into a covenant with him, and by making promises to bless him and to bless all the families of the earth through him. Genesis 1-11 is prologue to the patriarchal stories ( Genesis 12-50 ). It sets a world stage on which God acted in choosing one man in order to bless all men. Genesis 1-2 contain two accounts of creation, the order of man's creation coming at the end in the first and at the beginning in the second. God's creation, “good” as it was ( Genesis 1:4 ,Genesis 1:4,1:10 ,Genesis 1:10,1:12 ,Genesis 1:12,1:21 ,Genesis 1:21,1:25 ,Genesis 1:25,1:31 ), soon became bad through human rebellion against God. The accounts of creation in Genesis 1-2 prepare the reader for the record of the first people being placed in the Garden of Eden, temptation by the serpent, rebellion against God, expulsion from the garden, and the degenerating effect of sin in society. God's judgment on sin in the form of a flood did not put an end to sin (Genesis 6-9 ). Noah himself carried sin into the society that survived the flood. Even destroying the tower of Babel, confusing the people's language, and scattering them over the face of the earth did not stop the spread of sin (Genesis 11:1 ). Genesis 11:1 ends by introducing Terah, the father of Abram, through whom God would bless the world in spite of its rebellion against Him. The link between creation and redemption is clear. Isaiah reminded weary exiles that the God he proclaimed as their Redeemer and Sustainer was “the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28 ). The prophet linked God's redemptive activity with His creative activity (Isaiah 43:7 ,Isaiah 43:7,43:15 ). He went on to declare God's plan to “create new heavens and a new earth” as well as a new people (Isaiah 65:17-18 ). Job lamented that God's hands “made and fashioned” him but for some unexplained reason turned about to “destroy” him (Job 10:8 ). In a later speech Job expressed the effortless manner in which God created the universe (Job 26:7-11 ) and defeated Rahab and the serpent (1618103865_8 ). The Lord's speech in response to Job (Job 38-39 ) makes clear that God is the Creator and that man had no part in creation. The psalmists' concerns with God as Creator were related to people's place in creation (Psalm 8:3-4 ), to God's redemptive activity (Psalm 74:17 ; Psalm 95:5 ), and to praise for the Creator (Psalm 100:3 ; Psalm 104:1 ; Psalm 24:1-2 ). One psalmist referred to the creation to contrast its perishable nature with the imperishable nature of the Creator (Psalm 102:25-27 ). The three doxologies in Amos (Amos 4:13 ; Amos 5:8-9 ; Amos 9:5-6 ) magnify God the Creator and Controller of creation. Malachi's reference to God as Creator stresses the fact that one God created all people (Malachi 2:10 ). This fact forms the basis of the prophet's appeal for faithfulness among covenant members. John based God's worthiness to receive “glory and honor and power” on His creative activity (Revelation 4:11 ). By God's will “all things” existed and were created. John's testimony is that “the Word” made all things (John 1:3 ) and that Jesus is the Word (John 1:14 ). Paul's perspective was that Christians represent God's workmanship “created in Christ Jesus for good works” (Ephesians 2:10 ). The gospel that God called Paul to preach had been hidden in God who “created all things” (Ephesians 3:9 ). He agreed with John that Jesus the Savior, the firstborn of all creation, was Himself the Source of all creation (Colossians 1:16-17 ). The author of Hebrews wrote of God's revelation through prophets of old, but “in these last days” God spoke through a Son (Hebrews 1:1-2 ). The Son created the world. Like many Old Testament passages, this passage in Hebrews links God's creative activity with His redemptive activity. The people of Lystra took Barnabas and Paul to be gods (Acts 14:11 ). Paul and Barnabas set the record straight as they pointed to “the living God which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein” (Acts 14:15 ). Relationship of Biblical and Extra-biblical References to Creation The Enuma Elish (“When on High”) is probably the best known extra-biblical reference to creation. This Mesopotamian account reflects a striking correspondence in various details and in order of events when it is compared with the biblical references to creation. What is the explanation for these similarities? Did the Babylonians follow the biblical account? Did the biblical authors follow Babylonian prototypes? Did both Babylonian and biblical writers rely on some unidentified ultimate source? Based on the dating of Babylonian and biblical materials, apparently biblical writers were aware of Babylonian prototypes. Though the two accounts are similar in some ways, they are poles apart in other ways. Conflict between rival deities dominates the Babylonian story of creation. The biblical accounts feature one God creating a good, orderly, and harmonious universe. Their cosmogony (theory of the origin of the universe) is similar; their religion is radically different. Biblical writers seem to be conscious of Babylonian sources, but they take a critical position toward them. Human Place in Creation Both detailed stories of creation in the Bible feature people at center stage, even though the creation of persons is last in the order of creative acts in Genesis 1:1-2:4 but first in Genesis 2:4-24 . The author of Psalm 8:1 seems surprised at the attention the Creator gives to mortal humans formed from the dust ( Psalm 8:4 ). Yet God gave humans a place of prominence and set them over the rest of creation (Psalm 8:5-8 ). “For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels” (Psalm 8:5 ) may be a commentary on the Genesis statement that God “created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27 ). The language of Genesis 1:1 pictures God at a distance speaking humans into existence. The language of Genesis 2:1 portrays God with a “hands on” closeness shaping Adam and Eve like a potter forming a clay vessel. “Create” (bara') is the dominant verb of creation in Genesis 1:1 . “Formed” (yatsar) is the controlling verb of creation in Genesis 2:1 . New Creation and Physical Creation The Old Testament is consistent in its use of the verb “create” (bara' ). Only God serves as subject of the verb. Creation is the work of God. People may “make” (asah ) and “form” (yatsar ). God alone creates (bara' ). Psalm 51:10 may reflect a transition in usage of “create” ( bara' ) to designate a purely physical work. A clean heart is the object of the verb “create” in this Psalm. Isaiah employed “create” in reference to “new heavens and a new earth” as well as “Jerusalem” and “her people” (Isaiah 65:17-18 ). Paul wrote to the Corinthians about being “in Christ” and thereby being “a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17 ). “Created in Christ Jesus” is Paul's terminology for spiritual salvation in Ephesians 2:10 . The point in all of these references is that God alone is the Author of spiritual redemption. God is the Creator of all things. All things belong to God. God gave humans dominion over creation, a stewardship assignment. Therefore, people are accountable directly to God for their use or abuse of creation. God created “good” heavens and a “good” earth. The entrance of human sin has had an adverse effect on creation (Hosea 4:1-3 ). Paul pictured that the whole of creation “groaneth and travaileth” under the burden of human sin (Romans 8:22 ). He also wrote of a time when “the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:21 NAS). Paul anticipated a day when God would restore the whole of creation to its original goodness. Billy K. Smith

"In the beginning" God created, i.e., called into being, all things out of nothing. This creative act on the part of God was absolutely free, and for infinitely wise reasons. The cause of all things exists only in the will of God. The work of creation is attributed (1) to the Godhead (Genesis 1:1,26 ); (2) to the Father (1 Corinthians 8:6 ); (3) to the Son (John 1:3 ; Colossians 1:16,17 ); (4) to the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:2 ; Job 26:13 ; Psalm 104:30 ). The fact that he is the Creator distinguishes Jehovah as the true God (Isaiah 37:16 ; 40:12,13 ; 54:5 ; Psalm 96:5 ; Jeremiah 10:11,12 ). The one great end in the work of creation is the manifestation of the glory of the Creator (Colossians 1:16 ; Revelation 4:11 ; Romans 11:36 ). God's works, equally with God's word, are a revelation from him; and between the teachings of the one and those of the other, when rightly understood, there can be no contradiction. Traditions of the creation, disfigured by corruptions, are found among the records of ancient Eastern nations. (See ACCAD .) A peculiar interest belongs to the traditions of the Accadians, the primitive inhabitants of the plains of Lower Mesopotamia. These within the last few years have been brought to light in the tablets and cylinders which have been rescued from the long-buried palaces and temples of Assyria. They bear a remarkable resemblance to the record of Genesis.

See New Creation

Who created and sustains the universe? Why was it created? What is the nature of the Creator-creature relationship? These are the sorts of questions that the Bible addresses when it treats the topic of creation. Such queries are essentially theological in nature. Therefore, the juxtaposition, by some modern interpreters, of scriptural assertions about creation with scientific evidence and theories regarding origins often results in fruitless comparisons of different, although equally relevant, bodies of knowledge. At the risk of oversimplifying the issue, one might say that Scripture deals with the who, why, and what questions posed above, whereas science investigates the problems of when and how the observable universe came into existence and continues to function. In order to understand what the Bible teaches about creation, one must go beyond delineating the semantic range of relevant words to examine pertinent biblical passages in their historical, literary, and theological contexts. This sort of investigation reveals a degree of similarity between the Bible and antecedent Near Eastern literature. While it is unlikely that biblical authors consulted this corpus directly, they were presumably aware of the various creation traditions of the nations surrounding them. That would account for the similarities. There are also profound differences between the Bible's perspective on the cosmos and its origins and that of contemporaneous literature. The more one compares them, the more evident it becomes that scriptural authors were motivated both to make certain affirmations about creation and to contradict some conceptions about it that were current in their day. The Eternal Creator Has No Peer . The assertion that the one, eternally existing God of the patriarchs and their descendants is the Creator must surely have been intended, at least in part, as a polemic against the pantheons of gods of other peoples—Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Canaaniteswith whom the Israelites came in contact. The creation myths of these people often included accounts of the origins of the gods and conflicts between the gods. These divine rivalries frequently provided the context for the establishment of the universe and the rhythms of nature. The Creator Has No Rival . The God of Israel's unchallenged hegemony over the various realms of the cosmos and the creatures that inhabit them further emphasizes his uniqueness in comparison to the gods of other nations. Whereas typically their domains are limited and they must contend with rivals, his rule is uncontested. The author of Genesis 1 takes great pains to demonstrate to his audience that the universe is not populated with deities or demons who need to be subdued or appeased, but that it is all controlled by one Creator. He does not need to struggle with nature in order to make it conform to his plan and purpose. Neither is his creative word the sort of magical incantation that is attributed to Ptah and Re in Egyptian mythology. It is the sovereign God's simple command which, when uttered, produces the desired result. Furthermore, the primeval ocean is not a divine behemoth, like Tiamat, to be butchered in order to fashion earth and sky, but an impersonal part of the universe over which God's potent wind/Spirit broods (v. 2). Indeed, the great sea monsters, which cavort with the myriads of other creatures in the watery depths, are his handiwork (v. 21 cf. Psalm 104:25-26 ). The seas, which are remnants of the original watery chaos, are assigned borders at earth's edges (vv. 9-10 cf. Job 38:8-11 ; Psalm 104:5-9 ; Genesis 1:1-22 ). The sun and moon are not afforded the dignity of their usual Hebrew names (semes ^[1] and yareah ^[2]) because those designations might bring to mind the sun-god, Shamash, and the moon-god, Yarih. Instead they are referred to as the greater and lesser lights. These luminaries, along with the stars, are not depicted as deities controlling human destiny, but simply as components of God's creation that function in their assigned roles of providing light and the basis for calendrical calculations (vv. 14-18). Fertility is not something to be deified, as it is in Canaanite religion, for example, but a capacity created by God (vv. 11-12,22, 28). The Creator Brings Order . In Genesis 1 , the drama of creation begins with the same opening scene as in other ancient traditions, the watery chaos (v. 2 cf. Psalm 24:1-2 ). The reference in 1:1 to the creation of the ordered cosmos (which is what the phrase "heavens and earth" connotes) is probably not to be construed as a description of the first act of creation, which is then followed by a chaotic state and then the return to order. Verse 1 may, instead, serve as a dependent, temporal clause (i.e., "In the beginning when God created" or "When God began to create"), with verse 2 then apparently functioning as a parenthetic comment inserted between verses 1,3, which would then be understood as the main clause (i.e., " ^[3] God said"). Another possible interpretation is that verse 1 is an independent thematic statement that introduces the content that follows in chapter 1 and that corresponds to the summary statement John 5:16-1903. Verse 2 would then constitute a circumstantial clause modifying verse 3 (i.e., "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth being formless and empty God said "). In any case, the curtain that veils the primeval past rises at some point after the absolute beginning since watery chaos already exists. Creation in 1618103865_15:3 has more to do with bringing order to that chaos and populating voids than with generating all matter. That does not mean that this passage is inimical to the idea of God creating all matter. It is just that the issue does not seem to be relevant to this biblical author and his contemporaries. The mystery of ultimate origins is addressed by subsequent revelation that acknowledges that absolutely everything, even the primeval deep, must have its origin in God ( Nehemiah 9:6 ; Psalm 90:2 ; Proverbs 8:22-31 ; 2 Maccabees 7:28 ; Hebrews 11:3 ). It is upon this fuller understanding of the limitless scope of God's sovereignty that the doctrine of creatio ex nihilo, creation out of nothing, may be based. Creation Week . The portrayal of creation as work accomplished on successive days of the week raises a whole series of literary, chronological, and theological issues that are too involved to explore in any great depth here. Some essential considerations regarding this arrangement should be highlighted. The first consideration is that the framework of the week of creation is an artistic one designed to convey primarily theological, rather than purely scientific, information. The evidence for this is abundant. First, the concept of the week coincides with the author's focus on the number sevenor a multiple thereofin Genesis 1:1-2:3 (e.g., seven words in the original Hebrew version of the introductory verse ^[4]; seven paragraphs corresponding to the seven days following the introductory verse fourteen words in v. 2 seven instances of the fulfillment formula signifying that what God called for did take place seven examples of the approval formula stating that what God saw was good seven occurrences altogether of the terms "light" and "day" in the first paragraph ^[5]; seven references to water in paragraphs 2,3 ^[6]; three consecutive sentences of seven words each in 2:2-3a; that are part of the seventh paragraph 2:1-3]; whose subject is the seventh day thirty-five words in the seventh paragraph thirty-five occurrences of the word "God" and twenty-one of the word "earth" throughout the narrative ). In the Bible, seven and its multiples frequently connote completeness, totality, fulfillment, or perfection. Second, compressed into six days of work there are eight creative Acts, each introduced by the formula, wayyomer elohim, "And/Then God said." Analogous to this conforming of facts to a predetermined narrative structure is Matthew's arrangement of Jesus' lineage in three sets of fourteen generations. To achieve that sort of symmetry, however, the evangelist does not hesitate to omit names in a manner consistent with Jewish practice in the formation of genealogies (e.g., Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah between Joram/Jehoram and Uzziah/Azariah in 1:8-9; ^[7]; and Jehoiakim between Josiah and Jechoniah/Jehoiachin in 1:11; ^[8]). Third, there are differences with respect to both the sequence and duration of events when Genesis 1:1-2:3 is compared with 2:4-25. Whereas the first account depicts the creation of humans last, the second portrays man's creation first and woman's last. Furthermore, while in the first passage creation is described as a six-day task, in the second the only indication as to how long it takes is given in 2:4: "When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. The juxtaposition of narratives with such obvious chronological differences makes it clear that an absolute chronology of creation events is not at issue here. Fourth, the deliberate omission, in Genesis 2:1-3 , of the refrain regarding the evening and morning for the seventh day would seem to suggest that the author intends to portray it as a day without an end. The fact that he does not explicitly call it the Sabbath may, in part, be his way of highlighting the sense in which it is distinct from the Mosaic Sabbath, although with the references in verses 2-3 to God resting from his work he certainly makes the connection implicitly. The author may also wish to prevent any connections between the Sabbath and sabattu or sapattu, which was what the Babylonians and Assyrians called the day of the full moonthe fifteenth of the montha day dedicated to the worship of the moon-god. The concept of the seventh day as an unending one is presumably part of the background to the discourse by the author of Hebrews on the eschatological Sabbath-rest for the faithful (4:1-11). Jesus, too, does not seem to regard the seventh day of creation week as a literal one, if his response in 1618103865_8 to charges that he has broken the law by healing a paralytic on the Sabbath is any indication. Jesus legitimizes his actions on the grounds that his Father is still working (v. 17) and that he does nothing but what he sees the Father doing (v. 19). His argument appears to be that his works on the Mosaic Sabbath are lawful because they correspond to the Father's activities on the continuing creation Sabbath. This Sabbath, which marks the end of the week of Genesis 1:1-2:3 but not the cessation of the Father's works, is apparently considered by Jesus to coincide with all of history after the six days of Genesis 1 . That view is fully compatible with the understanding of creation week as a literary device. If the creation week framework is artistic in nature, then what is its significance? The answer to that question is undoubtedly to be found in the linkage between creation and the Sabbath. The anthropomorphic figure of the week furnishes the context for a theology of the Sabbath. It is striking to note that ancient Assyrian calendars identify the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of the month (along with the nineteenth day, which occurs seven weeks after the beginning of the preceding month) as unlucky ones on which important tasks should not be attempted. In contrast, Israel's God designates every seventh day as a holy day, when regular tasks are to be laid aside and there can be pause for refreshment and a renewed focus on the relationship with the Creator (Genesis 2:3 ; Exodus 20:8-11 ; 31:12-17 ). The Sabbath thus symbolizes the fact that human worth and purpose are not to be derived from toil but from that relationship. This is not to denigrate human work, for God assigns responsibilities and duties even prior to the fall (Genesis 1:26-29 ; 2:15,19-20 ). Nevertheless, it is particularly as humans set themselves apart to commune with their Creator, whether on the Sabbath or some other day (Romans 14:5-6 ; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 ; Revelation 1:10 ), that they find fulfillment. A second consideration pertaining to the creation week structure is that the events of Genesis 1:1-2:3 are arranged in a logical, although not necessarily chronological, order. The accomplishments of the first six days of that week, which are described in parallel triads, remedy the conditions of formlessness and emptiness described in verse 2. The key activity on days 1 to 3 is separation (i.e., light from darkness ^[9], waters above the firmament from those below it ^[5], waters under the sky from dry land ^[3]), and on days 4 to 6 it is population (i.e., luminaries ^[12], aquatic and winged creatures ^[13], animals and humans ^[14]). There are also connections between the triads due to the fact that the regions demarcated on the first three days are filled by creations fashioned on the next three. Thus luminaries (day 4) correspond to light and darkness (day 1), aquatic and winged creatures (day 5) to water and sky (day 2), and animals and humans (day 6) to dry land (day 3). Additional congruence is evident in that the vegetation created on day 3 is given for food to terrestrial and winged creatures on day 6. The author further distinguishes these two days by means of double usage of the creative utterance (vv. 9,11, 24,26), fulfillment (vv. 9,11, 24,30) and approval (vv. 10,12, 25,31) formulas. This kind of symmetrical arrangement shows that the goal of the inspired author is to compose a theological portrait of his subject in a manner reminiscent of the New Testament evangelists, not merely to chronicle events in the order of their occurrence. The Creator's Crowning Achievement . A central theme of both Genesis creation accounts is that of humanity as the apex of God's creation. This motif stands in contrast to certain mythological depictions of the human species fashioned as an afterthought to relieve the gods of toil and provide them with sustenance. In Genesis 1 , the primacy of humans is emphasized through their appearance as the last of God's creatures in the narrative sequence, the reference to their being created in God's image, the threefold use of the verb bara ^[3], in the description of their creation (v. 27), and their dominion over the earth and its creatures as God's vice-regents. In Genesis 2 , human preeminence is highlighted by the male's creation before all other life, his being entrusted with custody of the garden, his being given the privilege of naming the other creatures, and the female's appearance as the last of God's creatures though, like the male, distinct from all other species. The significance of references to humans created in God's image has long been debated by biblical scholars. The image of God, whatever it means, clearly distinguishes humanity from the rest of creation. Since it is linked in Genesis 1:26 to the mandate for humans to have dominion over the created order, some have equated it with the role of vice-regent. That role, however, seems to be a consequence or function of the divine image. As intimated earlier in comments about the Sabbath, the capacity for a unique and personal relationship with the Creator is apparently what is intrinsic to the concept of the image of God. This is perhaps signaled most clearly by the appearance in Genesis 2:4-7 where the central theme is human origins of the name by which God typically identifies himself to those with whom he enters into covenant, Yahweh (rendered "Lord" in most English translations). Although the term "covenant" is not found in Genesis 1-2 , it is implicit in the reciprocity of God's provisions for the original human couple and their conformity to his expectations of them. Their initial obedience to the command not to partake of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which allows them to enjoy the benefits of covenant life, constitutes an acknowledgment of the fact that, as Creator, God alone has the prerogative to establish moral absolutes of right and wrong. Their subsequent disobedience, which results in the dissolution of the covenant and death, represents an attempt to usurp that divine prerogative. This whole sequence is typical of relationships between suzerains and their vassals in antiquity. Such relationships are codified in extant treaties whose format is reflected in Old Testament covenant formulations. Creation Is Good . Another important theme in Genesis 1 is that God's creation is good. Various individual aspects of creation are so designated (vv. 4,10, 12,18, 21,25) whereas the whole taken together is called "very good" (v. 31). These statements are intended to show not only that what God has fashioned and made to conform to the rule of law reflects his glory and his very nature (cf. Psalm 19:1-11 ; [14] 97:6; Romans 1:20 ), but also that the fall of humanity described in Genesis 3 cannot be attributed to any flaw in creation. Clearly Adam and Eve cannot excuse their transgression on the basis of a deficient environment because it is both perfect and provides bountifully for their every need (1:29; 2:8-16,20-25). Neither can God be faulted, for, despite the fact that the serpent which becomes the agent of temptation in this episode is a creature that God has made (3:1), it is a subordinate creature over which humans are to exercise dominion (1:26-28; 2:19-20). Thus their transgression is a consequence of their failure to fulfill the creation mandate. Community Is Good . Significantly, the prospect of the man being alone is the only thing in the prefall narrative that is explicitly called not good (2:18). This is indicative of the fact that humans are social creatures and that they have an innate need for community. The need is remedied when God creates womaneventually named "Eve, " the mother of all living (3:20) because through her the rest of humanity comes into existence. The marriage relationship (2:24-25) symbolizes all other forms of human coexistence designed to satisfy the primal yearning for fellowship. It should be pointed out that Genesis emphasizes the spiritual equality and interdependence of the original human couple (1:26-28; 2:18-23). This is epitomized by the expression, kenegdo, "corresponding to him" (2:18,20), which is used of the partner whom God determines to provide for the man. The term, ezer [17] 115:9,10, 11; 146:5; see also 1 Samuel 7:12 ; Psalm 27:9 ; 40:17 ; [18] 46:1; [19] 63:7; [20] 94:17). The reference to woman being created from man's rib highlights the kind of affinity between man and woman that is not possible between humans and other creatures. This is reinforced by man's joyful cry of recognition when God presents the woman to him: "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh" (2:23). Although the preceding touches on the horizontal, human dimension of community, Scripture also emphasizes the vertical, Godward dimension. Both are represented already in Genesis 1:27 in the declaration that humankind is created male and female and in God's image. Indeed, the Bible is essentially a record of God's establishment of, and activity within, the community of faith. The community is expected to respond to him with worship and devotion and to function in an environment characterized by encouragement, instruction, and correction. Creation and Redemption . A fundamental theme with which creation is combined, particularly in the Book of Isaiah, is redemption. In 43:1, Yahweh asserts that he has both created and redeemed Israel (cf. 44:2,21, 24; 45:9-11; Malachi 2:10 ; and Isaiah 41:14 ; 48:17 ; 49:7 ). The epitome of Yahweh's redemptive Acts in the Old Testament is his deliverance of Israel from Egypt under Moses. It is not surprising, then, that exodus imagery should be used to describe subsequent instances of Yahweh's redeeming work. In Isaiah, the focus in this connection is on a second exodus, the return of the exiles from Babylonian captivity (43:14-21). Through the prophet, Yahweh the Creator now declares his absolute sovereignty in the universe and in history. Furthermore, he assures his people that, contrary to what they assume, he is aware of their plight (40:12-28). Unlike the idols of Babylon, he announces in advance the overthrow of the Babylonian Empire by Cyrus the Persian and the subsequent emancipation of the Judean exiles. He will ransom them by supplying other nations for Persia to subdue. He will lead the erstwhile captives carefully through the wilderness between Babylon and Judah and provide for their every need along the way and in their restored land. Re-creation . The theme of original creation also gives rise to another important theological concept: re-creation. It is featured in connection with both spiritual regeneration and eschatological renewal. In the former sense, we recall the plea of the psalmist who, burdened with his iniquity, earnestly entreats God to create a clean heart within him (51:10 ^[14]). In a similar vein, various passages in the New Testament speak of the Christian or the church as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17 ; Galatians 6:15 ; Ephesians 2:10,15 ). Elsewhere the imagery is of the new self, fashioned according to the likeness or image of the creator (Ephesians 4:24 ; Colossians 3:10 ). The idea of a new creation in an eschatological sense brings the original theme full circle. What is envisioned for the future is a return to the idyllic state of initial creationnothing less than new heavens and a new earth. The consequences of the fall will be reversed and a renewal of the fruitfulness and vitality that first characterized the cosmos and the garden of Eden will take place (Isaiah 65:17-25 ; 66:22 ; Ezekiel 47:1-12 ; Joel 3:18 ; Amos 9:13 ; Romans 8:18-23 ; 2 Peter 3:7,10-13 ; Revelation 21:1-22:5 ). However, Scripture cautions that only those who have experienced spiritual re-creation may enjoy the eschatological Eden (Revelation 21:1-2,6-8,27 ; 22:14-15 ). Robert J. V. Hiebert See also Adam ; Eve ; Genesis, Theology of ; God ; Person, Personhood ; Image of God ; Sabbath ; Woman Bibliography . B. W. Anderson, Creation in the Old Testament ; H. Blocher, In the Beginning ; W. Brueggemann, Genesis ; U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis ; H. H. Esser, NIDNTT, 1:378-87; T. Frymer-Kensky, BA 40 (1977): 147-55; J. H. Gronbaek, JSOT 33 (1985): 27-44; G. F. Hasel, Andrews UNIVersity Seminary Studies 10 (1972): 1-20; idem, EvQ 46 (1974): 81-102; C. Hyers, The Meaning of Creation ; D. Kidner, Genesis ; J. B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament ; A. P. Ross, Creation and Blessing ; J. Skinner, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis ; E. A. Speiser, Genesis ; H. J. Van Till, The Fourth Day ; H. J. Van Till et al., Portraits of Creation ; G. Von Rad, Genesis ; B. K. Waltke, BSac 132 (1975): 25-36,136-44,216-28,327-42; 133 (1976): 28-41; G. J. Wenham, Genesis 1-15 ; C. Westermann, Genesis: A Practical Commentary .

Science and revelation being from the same God cannot be mutually opposed. But either, or both, may be misinterpreted; and there have been as many false interpretations of the book of nature as of revelation. As the Copernican theory was ultimately found not to militate against, but to harmonize with, Scripture, when the language of the latter was better understood; so no real scientific discovery ever since has been found adverse to full belief in revelation, when the latter has been better understood. The full knowledge of both has ever advanced side by side. The Bible, having not scientific but religious truth for its object, speaks in phenomenal language, which in part even the scientific have to do, as in the phrases sunrise and sunset. Creation, in the strict sense of the first origination of being out of nothing, does not come within the scope of science. It is by the Bible alone, and through faith we understand that the worlds were framed (fitly formed) by the word of God, so that not (as, from the analogy of things reproduced from previously existing and visible materials, one naturally would suppose) out of things which appear hath that which is seen been made" (Hebrews 11:3). No human being was witness of creation (Job 38:4). Geology traces ages ascending backward, marked by animal and vegetable existence, less and less highly organized the further back we go; but at last comes to a point beyond which it has no light, and I must fall back on revelation and faith for information. "In the beginning God created" the world, "the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1): "In the beginning the Word WAS" (John 1:1). Βara' , "created," used of creating (1) the universe; (2) the sea monsters whose vastness causes amazement at God's power; (3) man, in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Everywhere else God "makes" ('asah ), as from an already created material, the firmament, sun and stars, and the brute (Genesis 1:7; Genesis 1:16; Genesis 1:25), or "forms" (yaatsar ) beasts out of the ground (Genesis 2:19), and "builds up" (Genesis 2:22 margin) the woman of the rib from man. The three verbs occur together (Isaiah 43:7). Βara' is confined to GOD's acts; the other two verbs are used also of man's acts. Though bara' extends to other acts of God besides the original creation, it is only in a secondary application, without reference to preexisting materials; still, except in the original creation, they are not excluded. Moreover, the contextual "in the beginning" can only mean an absolute beginning, in contrast to the previous nonexistence of the world and sole existence of the Creator. This creation of all things out of nothing distinguishes the Bible from all pagan cosmogonies and philosophical speculations, which make matter eternal. The Creator's mode of "creating" is not revealed, but simply the fact, that it was by the putting forth of His will. Two narratives of creation, the latter (Genesis 2:4, etc.) the supplement to the former (Genesis 1-2:), appear at the forefront as the basis of the Bible revelation. That in Genesis 2:4, etc., evidently continues and recapitulates that in Genesis 1-2:3, in order to prepare the way for the account of paradise and man's fall. The first gives a clear summary of creation, man included, down to the sabbath rest from creation. The second concentrates attention on man. Accordingly, in the first Εlohim (from 'alah "strong"), the name for the mighty God of creation in general, appears. In the second Jehovah (Υahweh , the personal God in covenant relation to man, the unchanging "I AM." To mark the identity of this personal Jehovah with the Elohim of the previous part, the two, the personal and the generic names, are joined, Jehovah-Elohim "the Lord God." The mighty Elohim who created all things is also the Jehovah, who from the days of paradise down to the days of Moses, the writer of the pentateuch, has been in personal and unchangeable covenant relation with His people. Moreover, Jehovah, being derived from hawah, the Syriac and Chaldee for the Hebrew hayah "to be," must have come down from a time prior to the separation of the Hebrew from the Aramaeans, i.e., prior to Abraham (for Syriac was soon after quite distinct from Hebrew, Genesis 31:47). The accounts of creation and of the construction of the tabernacle resemble each other (the world being God's great tabernacle, Psalm 19); the general plan first (Genesis 1), then the actual creation of the first pair, Eden, etc., next. Scripture's design being to unfold redemption, only so much of the natural world is set forth as is needed for that design. Genesis 1 is not so much a full narrative of details as a revelation of the scheme in the Creator's mind, the archetype of the actual (Genesis 2:4-5; Gesenius, Targum, and Syriac). "Now no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprouted forth, for the Lord God had not caused it to ram," etc. The earth already had brought forth grass (Genesis 1:11); but no cultivated land and no vegetables fit for man's use existed yet; "plant," "field," "grew," do not occur in Genesis 1. In the pattern of the tabernacle shown on the mount the description begins with the furniture of the tabernacle, then goes on to the priests, and ends with the sabbatical law. So, in creation, the process begins with the lower creatures, plants, and animals, then, man, creation's priest, Eden, and lastly the sabbath. Genesis 1:1 teaches the religious truth needed for a right knowledge of God, that the world is not eternal, that God created it in the beginning; when that beginning was it does not state. But the high antiquity of the earth is expressly taught in Psalms 90:2, where God's formation of "the earth" in general is distinguished from that of "the (Hebrew tebel ) habitable world," Greek oikoumenee (Psalms 102:25; Proverbs 8:22). Geology shows that creation occupied immense ages, but that man's creation was its closing act and at a comparatively recent date. Two views are held as to Genesis 1: The one that between Gen.1:1 and Gen.1:2 intervened the vast geological periods, and that these are undescribed in Genesis 1; and that Genesis 1:2 describes the chaotic state which succeeded the last geological period before the earth's preparation for man; and that the description of the six days refers to this preparation. If the seventh day sabbath in Proverbs 8:25-28, be an ordinary day, then the six days must be ordinary days and this view is favored. But geology seems to oppose any such state of the earth intervening between the preceding age and that of man's creation as could be described as" without form (desolate) and void." No universal convulsion (IF these words are to be pressed literally) separates the present orders of life from those preceding. No one series of stratified rocks is void of traces of life. Thus, we seem led to the conclusion (2) that the stage in the earth's progress when it became surrounded with chaotic waters (how long after "the beginning" we know not), described in Genesis 1:2, is that which existed before the arrangement of its surface took place. (But see below.) The sabbath of God is described in Hebrew 3-4, as not yet ended; it will last until He who sitteth on the throne shall say, "Behold I make all things new." God's creating this dark and desolate state of the earth was not in vain, but that in due time it might be "inhabited" (Isaiah 45:18). It was no "fortuitous concourse of atoms," or "laws of nature" acting independently of the continually active divine will of their Author. "The Spirit of God" as the Giver of life "brooded ('moved') upon the waters." Then began organic life, at first in the lower types. Sir W. Jones (Asiatic Researches) states that the Indian philosophers similarly believed (doubtless from the primitive tradition) that water was the first element and work of the creative power. "The waters are called Nara, since they are the offspring of Nera or Iwara, and thence was Narayana named, because His first moving was upon them. THAT WHICH IS (the exact meaning of the I AM or JEHOVAH), the invisible Cause eternal, self-existing, but unperceived, is Brahma." This address of Menu, Brahma's son, to the sages who consulted him concerning the formation of the world, evidently corresponds with the revelation in Genesis. Then God said "Let there be light," and there was light. Light was first in a diffused state. It is not a separate, distinct body in itself, but caused by undulations of ether propagated through space with inconceivable rapidity. Hence it is not said God created, but God commanded it to be. Scientifically the Bible distinguishes between "light" ('or ), Genesis 1:3-5, and the light hearing "luminaries" (me'orot ), Genesis 1:14-18. Much of the preexisting light diffused through space on the fourth day gathered round the sun's body (compare Job 38:19). Still, through the incandescent photosphere that enwraps the sun we catch glimpses of the orb itself by the spots visible on it. "Day" is used often for a long period, with a beginning and' close, like morning and evening (Genesis 49:27; Deuteronomy 33:12). As the prophetic "days" at the close (Daniel 12:11-12), so the historical "days" at the beginning of the Bible seem to be not literal but "days of the Lord"; compare Psalms 90:4, "a thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday," and 2 Peter 3:8, "one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." Psalm 104 is an inspired commentary on the history of creation in Genesis 1; compare the account in Psalms 104:8; Genesis 2:2 of the upheaval of mountains from beneath the waters and depression of valleys, whereby land was severed from sea; just as we still find traces (sea shells, etc.) of their former submersion on the highest mountains. The special phrase in the Hebrew for the first day, "one day". ^[1] marks it as a day unique, just as the day that shall usher in the millennium is called" one (extraordinary and unique) day" (Zechariah 14:7). The seventh day is not described as the previous six, "it was evening, it was morning," because the Lord's sabbath extends over the whole present order of things, eventuating in the "sabbath rest that remaineth for the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9 margin). The Creator entered into the sabbath rest when He ceased from material creation, to carry on the new and spiritual creation in man (2 Corinthians 5:17; Hebrews 4:10). Yet God's sabbath is not an idle one: "My Father worketh hitherto," namely, upholding all creation. Compare Jesus' "day" (John 9:4; John 5:17); man's present short-day-sabbath is a type of God's and the saints' saboatism. The proportion of the seventh day to the previous six, of whatever length it and they be, is the ground of our seventh-day sabbath. For the "firmament" (Genesis 1:6) translated "the (air) expanse," or sky overhead which supports the clouds or" waters above the heavens." Air, involved in the creation of the expanse, was the second necessity after light. Light was needed for the crystallization of inorganic forms and the molecular arrangement of the mineral matter of rocks. Light and air are needed for even the lowest types of life. Hugh Miller identifies the first day's work with the azoic period; the second day with the silurian or palaeozoic; the third day with the carboniferous; the fourth day with the permian and triassic; the fifth day with the oolitic or cretaceous, the period when, the air and the waters having been previously prepared, the waters brought forth in swarms insects, fish, and monstrous reptiles of sea and land, and fowl flew in the air; the sixth day with the tertiary, which saw first the higher animals, the land mammalia , and lastly MAN. Plants appear before animals in Genesis 1. Geology does not directly as yet confirm this; but it may hereafter; the cellular structure of the earlier plants was not favorable to their preservation. Moreover, dependent as animals are on vegetation, it must have preceded them. Traces of life are found in the laurentian and certainly in the cambrian strata, the former the oldest rocks, whereas animal creation seemingly does not appear until the fifth day in Genesis 1:20-22. But "fish" (dag ) is omitted in the fifth day; an omission the more remarkable, as "fish" occurs (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:28) as among the animals over which God gave man dominion. The creation of fish long previously is therefore assumed, not stated. The tannin , from tanan "to stretch, and romesheth , from raamas "to trample" ("whales" and" every living creature that moveth," Genesis 1:21), answer to the saurians and allied reptiles occurring in the rocks precisely at the point assigned them by Moses. The narrative in Genesis does not assert simultaneous creation of all the plants on the third day, and of reptiles and birds on the fifth, and of mammals on the sixth day; the divine command and its fulfillment are narrated as distinct. What Moses narrates is, not the first appearance of each class, but the time when each came into remarkable development and prominence. The simplicity and brevity of the narrative exclude the noting of the creation of the primeval types which passed out of existence ages before man appeared. God ordered His own work on a system of law, and from time to time supplied new forces, or gave new directions to existing forces; not that He changed His design, or found His original plan defective. He contemplated the interference from the first, but did not introduce them until their time was come. In the theory of the correlation of forces, electricity, galvanism, chemical action, gravitation, light and heat, are various manifestations of the same thing, called force or energy. Light is not a material substance, but a mode of motion, undulations of ether propagated with inconceivable velocity. Accurately Moses writes, not God made light, but said on the first day Let light be. But why at the first, before organisms needing light existed? Because, to call forth light was to call into action FORCE in its various manifestations. Matter and force are the two elements out of which visible creation is formed. Matter was already made, but it remained chaotic (Genesis 1:2) until force in the form of "light" was evolved. Then gravitation would begin, light and heat would permeate the mass, elementary substances which chemistry reveals would be developed, and the whole would move toward the center of gravity. The great nebula of Orion illustrates the state of the solar system when light first appeared. God's dividing the light from the darkness, and calling the light Day and the darkness Night, is the Mosaic phrase which marks His communicating rotatory motion to the mass, so that the earth revolved on its axis, from whence now results the division of day and night; a result however not then ensuing until the sun concentrated the diffused light in itself on the fourth day, when accordingly again the division of day and night is mentioned. Laplace's nebular hypothesis is possible only by supplying what revelation supplies, namely, God's interposition to impart force and rotation to matter. The nebulae in Orion and Argo represent the state of our system on the first appearance of light; there are changes passing over nebulae, some in the purely gaseous stage, others (as the nebula Draco) in transition, others in incipient central condensation. The 118 Andromeda nebula assumes a lenticular form resulting from rapid rotation, the mass being ready to break up into separate worlds. All the motions of the bodies of our solar system are from W. to E., proving that their motions have a common origin, all at one time existing as a single mass revolving in the same direction. Uranus' satellites alone on the outer verge of our system retrograde, having been acted upon by some disturbing force. Bode's law of planetary distances ceases beyond Uranus, and does not hold good in Neptune. The figure of the earth is that naturally assumed by a plastic mass revolving about its axis; also its traces of intense heat accord with the nebular theory as modified by revelation; also the sun's state as a nebulous star which has not yet gathered up the whole of the original nebula. At the beginning of THE SECOND DAY the earth had become separated from the gradually condensing mass of the solar system, and formed into a sphere. The "waters" mean the fluid mass of what afterward was divided into solid, fluid, and gas. The sorting of them was the work of the second day. Hydrogen and nitrogen in an incandescent state compose mainly many nebulae, as the spectroscope shows. God's introduction of OXYGEN into active operation produced air and water in our earth, which before the second day had consisted of a fused heterogeneous mass. Almost half of the earth's crust consists of oxygen, which enters into the composition of every rock and metallic ore. Chemical action therefore must have been most intense during the whole second day. By it the waters above the firmament were separated from that molten mass under the firmament which subsequently consolidated into rocks and ores. Probably all the water, strictly so-called, floated above, in the condition in which Jupiter now appears. His apparent surface is crossed by alternating belts of light and shade, due to vast masses of steam ejected forcibly from the body of the fiery planet. His atmosphere being of vast depth (7,850 miles), the rotatory velocity of its upper portions is much greater than that of the planet's surface; hence the steam arranges itself in belts parallel to its equator. The eight greater planets are divided into two groups of four by the intervening belt of minor planets. The two groups differ much; but the members of each differ little in density, size, and length of day; the moon is the only satellite of the inner group; the outer has 17 satellites. The steam of the earth floating at the second day's commencement would soon lose its heat by radiation into space, and would descend to the surface as rain. So the nucleus would gradually cool, and solids be formed, as granite, from the heat, moisture, and enormous pressure; and the globe internally molten would have a solid crust, covered all round with water, and surrounded by an atmosphere denser and more complex and extensive than now. The laurentian is the earliest sedimentary rock, 200,000 square miles N. of the Lawrence; the lower laurentian has been displaced from its original horizontal position before the upper was deposited above it. At this point is the first trace of upheaval and subsidence; here the Creator's interposition is marked, "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear," the first work of THE THIRD DAY. The first appearance of life is not noted in Genesis In the laurentian rock the first traces of life appear, a lowly organization akin to the foraminifera, the individuals being connected together as in varieties of coral. In the cambrian, the next rocks, ripple marks occur showing that those rocks (the Harlech grit) formed a sea beach. The silurian, deposited in the bed of a sea, and the old red sandstone, afresh water formation, come next. Then the carboniferous, with the coal measures above, testifying to an uniformly high temperature (since coal is found in far N. latitudes), a moist atmosphere, and an enormous terrestrial vegetation. This answers to God's command on the third day, "Let the earth sprout sprouts ('the herb seeding seed,'" and the fruit trees yielding fruit, etc. The majority of the vegetation then was cryptogamous, having only spores which only contain the germ; but seeds contain the germ and nourishment for it. No traces of grasses are found. The first of the three classes in God's words is the cryptogamous or seedless, the other are seedbearers. Not the first beginnings, but the extraordinary development, of vegetable life is here marked. The cryptogams thrive best in an atmosphere such as then existed, in which light was diffused rather than concentrated in the sun, and in which the atmosphere was full of moisture. They absorbed and decomposed the excess of carbonic acid, and so purified the atmosphere. The great heat was derived from other sources than the sun, perhaps from the interior of the earth. On THE FOURTH DAY the concentration of light and heat in the sun was so far completed that he became the luminary of the system which heretofore had derived its light and heat from other sources; possibly the light now in the sun had existed as a nebulous ring warming the planets within it, as the nebula ring in Lyra; or as diffused luminous matter, filling a space which included the earth's orbit. The system's light is not even yet wholly concentrated into the sun, but a vast chromosphere or ring of light surrounds his disc. Enormous volumes of hydrogen are ejected from it, and rotate on their axis as a cyclone. A corona, like the nebula in 4,373, extends beyond the chromosphere, reaching from 400,000 to 1,800,000 miles beyond the sun; besides gaseous hydrogen the corona contains solid or fluid particles giving a spectrum with dark lines indicating matter capable of reflecting light. The zodiacal light is thought to be a faint extension of the corona. The fourth day work was the concentration of light into the sun, "God made two luminaries" (light bearers, marking the distinction between them and light itself). The permian and triassic rocks, of which the magnesian limestone and the new red sandstone are chief representatives in England, answer to the fourth day. The earliest saurian fossils occur in very small numbers, and the first traces of mammalia, namely, small marsupials. Old forms pass away, and the barrenness of new forms of life answers to the Mosaic silence as to new forms of life on the fourth day. The great-sized saurians characterize the lias and oolite and chalk, answering exactly to Moses' account of THE FIFTH DAY. The mammalia , the rodentia , and mustelidae , predominating in the tertiary period, answer to Moses' account of THE SIXTH DAY. However, in favor of the six days being ordinary days, D'Orbigny maintains that a gulf of darkness and death must have intervened between the tertiary strata and our present fauna and flora; for that not a single species, vegetable or animal, is common to the tertiary and the human periods. Dr. Pusey (Daniel, preface, 19) thinks that the condition of the earth "without form and void" was such as God, who made all things "very good," never created (Genesis 1:2); then for an undefined period (Genesis 1:3) "the Spirit of God was brooding (Hebrew) upon the face of the waters" of the dark and disordered "deep." Then followed successive action in God's remodeling the earth for man's habitation. Possibly the order of Creation of the whole world in six vast periods, called "days," was repeated in six literal days in preparing the earth for man, its noblest occupant, "the minister and interpreter of nature" (Bacon). Natural selection, and sexual selection, the causes conjectured lately as accounting for change of species, are inadequate; for in each individual the concurrence of many contingent causes through ages is needed f

The benevolence of our great Creator is chanted even by things unpleasant to the ear. 'The nuptial song of reptiles,' says Kirby, 'is not, like that of birds, the delight of every heart; but it is rather calculated to disturb and horrify than to still the soul. The hiss of serpents, the croaking of frogs and toads, the moaning of turtles, the bellowing of crocodiles and alligators, form their gamut of discords.' Here, also, we may read beneficent design. Birds are the companions of man in the lawn and forest, in his solitary walks, amidst his rural labours, and around the home of his domestic enjoyments. They are, therefore, framed beautiful to the eye, and pleasing to the ear; but of the reptile tribes, some are his formidable enemies, and none were ever intended to be his associates. They shun cultivation, and inhabit unfrequented marshes or gloomy wilds. Their harsh notes and ungainly or disgusting forms, serve therefore to warn him of danger, or to turn his steps to places more fit for his habitation: –H. Duncan's Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons.

Hymn for None throughout the year. Possibly written by Saint Ambrose. It has about 20 translations. The English title given is by J. Ellerton and F. Hort.

In its primary import, signifies the bringing into being something which did not before exist. The term is therefore most generally applied to the original production of the materials whereof the visible world is composed. It is also used in a secondary or subordinate sense to denote those subsequent operations of the Deity upon the matter so produced, by which the whole system of Nature, and all the primitive genera of things, receive their form, qualities, and laws. There is no subject concerning which learned men have differed in their conjectures more than in this of creation. "It is certain, " as a good writer observes, "that none of the ancient philosophers had the smallest idea of its being possible to produce a substance out of nothing, or that even the power of the Deity himself could work without any materials to work upon. Hence some of them, among whom was Aristotle, asserted that the world was eternal, both as to its matter and form. Others, though they believed that the gods had given the world its form, yet imagined the materials whereof it is composed to have been eternal. Indeed, the opinions of the ancients, who had not the benefit of revelation, were on this head so confused and contradictory, that nothing of any consequence can be deduced from them. The free-thinkers of our own and of former ages have denied the possibility of creation, as being a contradiction to reason; and of consequence have taken the opportunity from thence to discredit revelation. On the other hand, many defenders of the sacred writings have asserted that creation out of nothing, so far from being a contradiction to reason, is not only probable, but demonstrably certain. Nay, some have gone so far as to say, that from the very inspection of the visible system of Nature, we are able to infer that it was once in a state of non-existence." We cannot, however, here enter into the multiplicity of the arguments on both sides; it is enough for us to know what God has been pleased to reveal, both concerning himself and the works of his hands. "Men, and other animals that inhabit the earth and the seas; all the immense varieties of herbs and plants of which the vegetable kingdom consists; the globe of the earth, and the expanse of the ocean; these we know to have been produced by his power. Besides the terrestrial world, which we inhabit, we see many other material bodies disposed around it in the wide extent of space. The moon, which is in a particular manner connected with our earth, and even dependent upon it; the sun, and the other planets, with their satellites, which like the earth circulate round the sun, and appear to derive from him light and heat; those bodies which we call fixed stars, and consider as illuminating and cherishing, with heat each its peculiar system of planets; and the comets which at certain periods surprise us with their appearance, and the nature of whose connection with the general system of Nature, or with any particular system of planets, we cannot pretend to have fully discovered; these are so many more of the Deity's works, from the contemplation of which we cannot but conceive the most awful ideas of his creative power. "Matter, however, whatever the varieties of form under which it is made to appear, the relative disposition of its parts, or the motions communicated to it, is but an inferior part of the works of creation. We believe ourselves to be animated with a much higher principle than brute matter; in viewing the manners and economy of the lower animals, we can scarce avoid acknowledging even them to consist of something more than various modifications of matter and motion. The other planetary bodies, which seem to be in circumstances nearly analogous to those of our earth, are surely, as well as it, destined for the habitations of rational intelligent beings. the existence of intelligences of an higher order than man, though infinitely below the Deity, appears extremely probable. Of these spiritual beings, called angels, we have express intimation in Scripture (see the article ANGEL.) But the limits of the creation we must not pretend to define. How far the regions of space extend, or how they are filled, we know not. How the planetary worlds, the sun, and the fixed stars are occupied, we do not pretend to have ascertained. We are even ignorant how wide a diversity of forms, what an infinity of living animated beings may inhabit our own globe. So confined is our knowledge of creation, yet so grand, so awful, that part which our narrow understandings can comprehend!" "Concerning the periods of time at which the Deity executed his several works, it cannot be pretended that mankind have had opportunities of receiving very particular information. Many have been the conjectures, and curious the fancies of learned men, respecting it; but, after all, we must be indebted to the sacred writings for the best information." Different copies, indeed, give different dates. The Hebrew copy of the Bible, which we Christians, for good reasons, consider as the most authentic, dates the creation of the world 3944 years before the Christian era. The Samaritan Bible, again, fixes the era of the creation 4305 years before the birth of Christ. And the Greek translation, known by the name of the Septuagint version of the Bible, gives 5270 as the number of years which intervened between these two periods. By comparing the various dates in the sacred writings, examining how these have come to disagree, and to be diversified in different copies; endeavouring to reconcile the most authentic profane with sacred chronology, some ingenious men have formed schemes of chronology plausible, indeed, but not supported by sufficient authorities, which they would gladly persuade us to receive in preference to any of those above-mentioned. Usher makes out from the Hebrew Bible 4004 years as the term between the creation and the birth of Christ. Josephus, according to Dr. Wills, and Mr. Whiston, makes it 4658 years; and M. Pezron, with the help of the Septuagint, extends it to 5872 years. Usher's system is the most generally received. But though these different systems of chronology are so inconsistent, and so slenderly supported, yet the differences among them are so inconsiderable, in comparison with those which arise before us when we contemplate the chronology of the Chinese, the Chaldeans, and the Egyptians, and they agree so well with the general information of authentic history, and with the appearances of nature and of society, that they may be considered as nearly fixing the true period of the creation of the earth." Uncertain, however, as we may be as to the exact time of the creation, we may profitably apply ourselves to the contemplation of this immense fabric. Indeed, the beautiful and multiform works around us must strike the mind of every beholder with wonder and admiration, unless he be enveloped in ignorance, and chained down to the earth with sensuality. These works every way proclaim the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of the Creator. Creation is a book which the nicest philosopher may study with the deepest attention. Unlike the works of art, the more it is examined, the more it opens to us sources of admiration of its great Author; the more it calls for our inspection, and the more it demands our praise. Here every thing is adjusted in the exactest order; all answering the wisest ends, and acting according to the appointed laws of Deity. Here the Christian is led into the most delightful field of contemplation. To him every pebble becomes a preacher, and every atom a step by which he ascends to his Creator. Placed in this beautiful temple, and looking around on all its various parts, he cannot help joining with the Psalmist in saying, "O Lord, how manifold are thy works; in wisdom hast thou made them all!" See ETERNITY of GOD. See Ray and Blackmore on the Creation; art. Creation, Enc. Brit.; Derham's Astro and Physico- theology; Hervey's Meditations; La Pluche's Nature Displayed; Sturm's Reflections on the Works of God.

CREATION . One of the most convincing proofs of the composite authorship of the Pentateuch has always been found in the existence side by side of two independent and mutually irreconcilable accounts of the creation of the world. The first, Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 2:4 a, forms the introduction of the Priestly Code (P ^[1] ), which was compiled, as is now generally acknowledged, in the 5th cent. b.c. The second, Genesis 2:4 bff., opens the Jahwistic document (J ^[2] ), whose latest portions must be dated at least a century and a half earlier than the compilation of P ^[1] . These two narratives, while expressing the same fundamental religious ideas, differ profoundly in their concrete conceptions of the process of creation. The account of P ^[1] starts with a description ( Genesis 2:2 ) of the primeval chaos a dark formless watery abyss, out of which the world of light and order was to be evolved. Whether this chaotic matter owed its origin to a prior creative act of God is a question depending on a delicate point of grammatical construction which cannot be adequately explained here; but, looking to the analogy of the Babylonian Creation-story (see below), it seems probable that the chaos is conceived as pre-existent, and that the representation of the chapter falls short of the full dogmatic idea of creation as production out of nothing, an idea first unambiguously expressed in 2Ma 7:28 The work of creation then proceeds in a series of eight Divine fiats, viz.: (1) Creation of light and separation of light from the primeval darkness, Genesis 1:3-5 ; (2) division of the chaotic waters by the firmament, Genesis 1:6-8 ; (3) separation of land and sea, Genesis 1:9-10 ; (4) clothing of the earth with vegetation, Genesis 1:11-13 ; (5) formation of the heavenly bodies, Genesis 1:14-19 ; (6) production of fishes and birds, Genesis 1:20-23 ; (7) land animals, Genesis 1:24 f.; and (8) the creation of man in the image of God with dominion over the creatures, Genesis 1:26 ff. The most remarkable formal feature of the record is a somewhat artificial but carefully planned and symmetrical arrangement of the eight works under a scheme of six days. The creative process is thus divided into two parallel stages, each embracing four works and occupying three days, the last day in each division having two works assigned to it. There is an obviously designed, though not quite complete, correspondence between the two series: (1) light || ( Genesis 1:5 ) luminaries; (2) waters and firmament || ( Genesis 1:6 ) fishes and fowls; (3) dry land || ( Genesis 1:7-8 ) terrestrial animals; (4) trees and grasses, and (on the sixth day) the appointment of these as the food of men and animals. The significance of the six days’ scheme is revealed in the closing verses ( Genesis 1:1-3 ), where the resting of the Creator on the seventh day is regarded as the antitype and sanction of the Jewish Sabbath-rest. It is not improbable that the scheme of days is a modification of the original cosmogony, introduced in the interest of the Sabbath law; and this adaptation may account for some anomalies of arrangement which seem to mar the consistency of the scheme. In the narrative of J ^[2] (2:4bff.), the earth as originally made by Jahweh was an arid lifeless waste, in which no plant could grow for lack of moisture, and where there was no man to till the ground (vv. 5, 6). The idea of man’s superiority to the other creatures is here expressed by placing his creation, not at the end as in P ^[1] , but at the beginning (v. 7); followed by the planting of the garden in which he was to dwell and from whose trees he was to derive his food (vv. 8, 9, 15 17); the forming of beasts and birds to relieve his solitude and awake his craving for a nobler companionship (vv. 18 20); and lastly of the woman, in whom he recognizes a part of himself and a helpmeet for him (vv. 21 23). The express reference to the welfare of man in each act of creation makes it doubtful whether a systematic account of the origin of things was contemplated by the writer, or whether the passage is not rather to be regarded as a poetic clothing of ideas generated by reflexion on fundamental facts of human life and society. It is probable, however, that it contains fragments of a fuller cosmogony which has been abridged and utilized as a prologue to the story of Paradise and the Fall. On either view, the divergence from the account of P ^[1] is so obvious as to preclude the attempt to harmonize the two, or to treat the second as merely supplementary to the first. Much ingenuity has been expended in the effort to bring the Biblical record of creation into accord with the facts disclosed by the modern sciences of Geology and Astronomy. Naturally such constructions confine their operations to the systematic and semi-scientific account of Genesis 1:1-31 ; for it has probably never occurred to any one to vindicate the scientific accuracy of the more imaginative narrative of J ^[2] . But even if we were to admit the unique claim of the first chapter to be a revealed cosmogony, the difficulty of harmonizing it with the teachings of science is seen to be insurmountable as soon as the real nature of the problem to be solved is fairly apprehended. It is not sufficient to emphasize the general idea of gradation and upward progress as common to science and Scripture, or to point to isolated coincidences, such as the creation of fishes before mammals, or the late appearance of man on the earth: the narrative must be taken as a whole, and it must be shown that there is a genuine parallelism between the order of days and works in Genesis 1:1-31 and the stages of development recognized by science as those through which the universe has reached its present form. This has never been done; and after making every allowance for the imperfection of the geological record, and the general insecurity of scientific hypothesis as distinguished from ascertained fact, enough is known to make it certain that the required correspondence can never be made out. Thus the formation of the sun and moon after the earth, after the alternation of day and night, and even after the emergence of plant-life, is a scientific impossibility. Again, the rough popular classifications of Genesis (plants, aquatic animals, birds, land animals, etc.) are, for scientific purposes, hopelessly inadequate; and the idea that these groups originated as wholes , and in the order here specified, is entirely contrary to the ‘testimony of the rocks.’ But, indeed, the whole conception of the universe on which the cosmogony of Genesis rests opposes a fatal barrier to any valid reconciliation with scientific theory. The world whose origin is here described is a solid expanse of earth, surrounded by and resting on a world-ocean, and surmounted by a rigid vault called the firmament , above which the waters of a heavenly ocean are spread. Such a world is unknown to science; and the manner in which such a world was conceived to have come into being cannot truly represent the process by which the very different world of science and fact has been evolved. This fact alone would amply justify the emphatic verdict of Professor Driver: ‘Read without prejudice or bias, the narrative of Genesis 1:1-31 creates an impression at variance with the facts revealed by science : the efforts at reconciliation … are but different modes of obliterating its characteristic features, and of reading into it a view which it does not express ’ ( Westm. Com . ‘Genesis,’ p. 26). To form a correct estimate of the character and religious value of the first chapter of Genesis, it has to be borne in mind that speculative theories of the origin of the universe were an important element of all the higher religions of antiquity. Many of these cosmogonies (as they are called) are known to us; and amidst all the diversity of representation which characterizes them, we cannot fail to detect certain underlying affinities which suggest a common source, either in the natural tendencies of early thought, or in some dominant type of cosmological tradition. That the Hebrew cosmogony is influenced by such a tradition is proved by its striking likeness to the Babylonian story of creation as contained in cuneiform tablets from Ashurbanipal’s library, first unearthed in 1872. From these Assyriologists have deciphered a highly coloured mythological epic, describing the origin of the world in the form of a conflict between Marduk, god of light and supreme deity of the pantheon of Babylon, and the power of Chaos personified as a female monster named Ti’âmat (Heb. Tĕhôm ). Wide as is the difference between the polytheistic assumptions and fantastic imagery of the Babylonian narrative and the sober dignity and elevated monotheism of Genesis, there are yet coincidences in general outline and in detail which are too marked and too numerous to be ascribed to chance. In both we have the conception of chaos as a watery abyss, in both the separation of the waters into an upper and a lower ocean; the formation of the heavenly bodies and their function in regulating time are described with remarkable similarity; special prominence is given to the creation of man; and it may be added that, while the order of creation differs in the two documents, yet the separate works themselves are practically identical. In view of this pervading parallelism, it is clear that the Hebrew and Babylonian cosmogonies are very closely related; and the only question open to discussion is which of them represents more faithfully the primary tradition on which each is based. Looking, however, to the vastly higher antiquity of the Babylonian narrative, to its conformity (even in points which affect the Biblical record) to the climatic conditions of the Euphrates Valley, and to the general indebtedness of Israel to the civilization of Babylon, it cannot reasonably be doubted that the Hebrew narrative is dependent on Babylonian models; though it is of course not certain that the particular version preserved in the tablets referred to is the exact original by which the Biblical writers were influenced. From this point of view we are able to state the significance of the Scripture account of creation in a way which does justice at once to its unrivalled religious value and to its lack of scientific corroboration. The material is derived from some form of the Babylonian cosmogony, and shares the imperfection and error incident to all pre-scientific speculation regarding the past history of the world. The Scripture writers make no pretension to supernatural illumination on matters which it is the province of physical investigation to ascertain. Their theology , on the other hand, is the product of a revelation which placed them far in advance of their heathen contemporaries, and imparted to all their thinking a sanity of imagination and a sublimity of conception that instinctively rejected the grosser features of paganism, and transformed what was retained into a vehicle of Divine truth. Thus the cosmogony became a classical expression of the monotheistic principle of the OT, which is here embodied in a detailed description of the genesis of the universe that lays hold of the mind as no abstract statement of the principle could do. In opposition to the heathen theogonies, the world is affirmed to have been created, i.e. to have originated in the will of God, whose Personality transcends the universe and exists independently of it. The spirituality of the First Cause of all things, and His absolute sovereignty over the material He employs, are further emphasized in the idea of the word of God as the agency through which the various orders of existence were produced; and the repeated assertion that the world in all its parts was ‘good,’ and as a whole ‘very good,’ suggests that it perfectly reflected the Divine thought which called it into being. When to these doctrines we add the view of man, as made in the likeness of God, and marked out as the crown and goal of creation, we have a body of spiritual truth which distinguishes the cosmogony of Genesis 1:1-31 from all similar compositions, and entitles it to rank amongst the most important documents of revealed religion. John Skinner.

The specific term "new creation" (kaine ktisis [ 2 Corinthians 5:17 ; Galatians 6:15 ). It is, however, the anthropological and individual side of the broad concept of the renewal of creation that is developed more widely in the New Testament. It is the broader idea, which goes back to passages in the latter part of Isaiah, developments in apocalyptic Jewish thought, and Qumran, which probably gave rise to Paul's specific application. Consequently, it will be helpful to consider this background before attempting to explain the concept in its final form. Renewal in Isaiah. In the latter half of Isaiah (42:9; 43:18-19; 48:6; 65:17-25; 66:22) two strands of teaching begin to emerge that seem to have played a part in Paul's thinking about salvation. On the one hand, the prophet declares that God is about to do something new (42:9; 43:18-19; 48:6). Salvation is described along the lines of a new exodus ("I am making a way in the desert and streams in a wasteland, Isaiah 43:19 ), and what God is about to do will completely surpass old categories ("new things, hidden things unknown to you. They are created now, and not long ago you have not heard of them before today, 48:6b-7). These passages together declare the promise of God's intervention to deliver his people by doing a new thing. Then, repeating and enlarging on the themes of newness and renewal, chapters 65,66 declare God's intention to "create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). This act of God involves a complete reorganization of life; the hazards of life are removed (65:19-20,23, 25). The God who has seemed far off will now be near (65:24), and the existence of his people will no longer be precarious and uncertain but perpetual and safe (66:22). Both strands of teaching brought hope to the nation, whose sin threatened to destroy its hope in God. The punishment of the exile was replaced by the promise of renewal of the covenant and the establishment of God's kingdom on earth. It is clear that a drastic change was necessary. God himself would carry out this new thing, and it would affect the life of his people. The Renewal of Creation in Apocalyptic and Sectarian Judaism. During a period of time when Jewish communities felt increasingly the pressure of dominion under foreign powers, religious literature emerged to encourage hope in an imminent, final intervention of God. These extracanonical writings picked up on the theme introduced in the last chapters of Isaiah of the creation of a new heavens and new earth. First Enoch 91:16 speaks of the passing away of the old order and the appearance of the new ("And in it ^[1] the first heaven shall pass away, and a new heaven shall appear"). First Enoch 72:1 classifies this as a "new work" of God ("until the creation will be made anew to last forever" cf. Isaiah 43:19 ). Similarly, Jubilee 1:29, which casts this message of hope in the form of a revelation from God to Moses on Mount Sinai, speaks of "the day of the new creation, when heaven and earth will be renewed." In 4:26 the term "new creation" appears to have become a technical term within the vocabulary of this stream of Jewish eschatology ("the Garden of Eden, and the Mount of the East, Mount Sinai, and Mount Zion will be sanctified in the new creation"); connected with the concept are the ideas of the purification of the earth and God's people from sin. In what is probably the latest phase of Jewish apocalyptic literature (4Edras 7:75; Syr. Baruch 32:6 ; Baruch 57:2 ; Apoc. to Abraham 17:14) the hope in a final eschatological renewal of the world is repeated without much variation. The literature of Qumran also registers the firm belief in the new creation of the world by God on the final day (1QH 13:11-12:; "For Thou has caused them to see what they had not known, by bringing to an end the former things and by creating things that are new" = Isaiah 65:17 ; 1 QS 4:25 : "For God has allotted these ^[2] in equal parts until the final end, the time of renewal" = Isaiah 43:19 ). 11 QTemple 29:9 shows evidence that "creation" in the sense of the day of the new creation has become a technical term ("for I shall cause my glory to dwell upon it until the day of blessing on which I shall create ^[3] my sanctuary"). But while the apocalyptic literature of Judaism and Qumran reflect a growing belief in God's final solution, it is limited to a future, eschatological event (however imminent) and never "individualized" or applied as a description of a new condition of life as in Paul (though these developments may have influenced the apostle's thought). The Renewal of Creation in the New Testament. That the early church also believed in the ultimate renovation or re-creation of the heavens and the earth at the close of history is clear from 2 Peter 3:13 and Revelation 21:1-5 . Both passages draw on Isaiah 65,66 , but 2 Peter 3:13 is unique in its emphasis on the destruction of the heavens on the day of God. In this vein, Paul writes of the creation's longing to be set free from the futility and bondage to decay, to which is linked the promise of the completion of redemption ( Romans 8:19-22 ). When creation is viewed in these general terms, the focus continues to be on God's intervention on the last day. The New Creation. With this background in mind, we can now consider the two passages in which "new creation" ( kaine ktisis ^[4]) actually occurs, along with three others in Paul's writings that seem to reflect the concept. Paul's earliest recorded use of the term occurs in Galatians 6:15 . The question is, To what does the term refer? The passage shows that the issue was the proper grounds for boasting. To base one's boast on one's confidence in the rite of circumcision or one's refusal to be circumcised amounted to reliance on "the flesh, " or in this case on a ceremony or ritual. Paul's point is that these things provide no grounds for confidence; only Christ's death in our behalf is sufficient (5:12-14). Verse 15 then restates this in principle form: "For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; but a new creation is everything" (NRSV). Verse 16 reveals that this has indeed the force of a principle or rule: "As for those who will follow this rule (kanon [1:1,10-12; 2:16; 6:1). The new creation, which stands in need of some clarification here (though presumably the Galatians knew the concept already), is characterized by all that participation in Christ's death (5:24; 6:14) affords: new life from death (2:19-20) "in Christ" (3:26-28); "belonging" to Christ (3:29; 5:24); possession of the Spirit (3:3; 4:6); life lived in dependence on and submission to the Spirit (5:16-18,25; 6:8). These are the images that combine to define new creation. According to Paul's theology, salvation, an eschatological promise, has begun now in the present age; the renewal, which is to affect the entire universe, has begun in the hearts and lives of those who respond to the gospel. This means for the Christian the possibility of experiencing life in the Spirit, marked by the fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23) in the present situations of life. The same connections are evident in 2 Corinthians 5:17 . In response to a situation in which some so-called superapostles were putting confidence in what Paul calls "outward appearance" (whether he means the way one carries oneself, or one's speaking ability, dress, etc.), that is, things that have no eternal significance (v. 12), he drives home again the basic fact of Christ's death for us (vv. 14-15), which should force people to view life in a different way. Again, new creation describes the condition of the one now "in Christ, " for whom "everything is new." The imagery depicts the experience of renovation which, though future in final completion, has already begun in the believer. This participation in "the world to come, " while yet living in the present age, brings a radical reorganizing of priorities (described as living for Christ; v. 15) and a "new" way of looking at life and the people around (v. 16). Several passages in Ephesians (2:10,15; 4:24) employ the verb "create" (ktizo [2:9): salvation from God (2:8) is defined in anthropological terms as being "created in Christ" (2:10), all of which implies that there is no human ground for boasting. Then, with the Jew/Gentile debate in view—circumcision versus uncircumcisionChrist's work of "creating" a "new" humanity is introduced to demonstrate how the old distinctions and privileges have been rendered obsolete. Finally, in 4:24 Paul says that God has solved the dilemma of the old way of life (sin leading to death) by "creating" a "new" human, whose life is characterized instead by righteousness and holiness. New creation, then, is a Pauline concept in the New Testament. It is clearly related to Paul's belief that the new age (salvation, life in the Spirit) has broken into the old age. The idea of a new heavens and earth or of a renewal of the universe may be behind Paul's concept. If there is a direct relationship, what we have is Paul's anthropological and soteriological application of the broader future promise to the life of individuals in the present age. New creation status implies newness of life and a new manner of life that accords with God's will. The two thoughts are inseparable. Philip H. Towner See also Age, Ages ; New Heavens and a New Earth ; Restore, Renew ; Union with Christ Bibliography . J. Baumgarten, EDNT, 2:230; H. D. Betz, Galatians ; R. Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament ; W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism ; W. Foerster, TDNT, 3:1033-35; V. P. Furnish, 2Corinthians .

This stands in contrast to the first creation ranged under Adam, who was blessed by God, and should have maintained his allegiance to Him. "If any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new; and all things are of God." "If even we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer." 2 Corinthians 5:16-18 . Those who have died with Christ, and have risen with Christ, have lost their standing in the first Adam, and are in the Second man. "In Christ Jesus neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision; but new creation. And as many as walk by this rule, peace upon them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God." Galatians 6:15,16 . This is the wholly new position into which the believer is brought in Christ. Still, while in the body he is not entirely free from contact with the old creation: the wilderness life is a part of christian life, as well as Canaan and its conflicts. In reverse order to the first creation, here the Man was first brought out (Christ risen), and then those that are His, and lastly the heaven and earth. Revelation 21:1 .

This word is principally applied to the act of bringing things into existence that did not exist before. This is expressed in Hebrews 11:3 : "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." It is also applied to making new things out of material already in existence, thus, though man was 'made' of the dust of the ground, Genesis 2:7 , he is also said to have been created, the same Hebrew word, bara , being used in Genesis 1:1 for the creation of the world, that is used in Genesis 5:1,2 , for the creation of man. The passage in Hebrews 11 is important, because as men have no idea how anything can be brought into existence from nothing, they have talked of 'the eternity of matter;' the passage says it is 'by faith we understand' that the worlds were made by the word of God, so that seen things were not made of what is apparent. The discoveries made by geologists of the various strata of the earth, the fossils found therein, together with the time that would necessarily be required for the formation of those strata, raised a cry that scripture must be incorrect in saying all was done in seven days. This led Christians to compare these works of God in creation with His words in scripture; and the principal question resolved itself into this: where in scripture could be found the many thousands of years which were apparently needed under ordinary circumstances for the formation of the strata? Putting aside the theories of the geologists, the facts are undeniable. There are the various beds of different substances in layers, which any one can see for themselves. There are two ways in which Christians who have studied the subject hold that all difficulties are overcome. 1. That a long gap, of as many thousands of years as were necessary for the formation of the earth's crust, may be placed between verses 1 and 2 of Genesis 1 . That Genesis 1:1 refers to the original creation of the heaven and earth out of nothing; that the different beds were formed with the varying objects that are found therein as fossils, occupying a very long period. Then in Genesis 1:2 another condition is found: the earth by some means had become without form and void.* It was then ordered in view of the creation of man; and the various things were arranged and formed in the six days as detailed in Genesis 1 , as they are now found in and on the earth. *Some suppose this to have been the work of Satan. The principal objection to this is, that though there had been upheavals, depressions, earthquakes, sudden deaths, as evidenced by the contortions of fishes, in some of the early strata, there is no appearance after the various beds had been formed of what would answer to Genesis 1:2 , which says "the earth was without form and void." 2. The other theory is that Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 refer to the formation of the earth as matter, or that Genesis 1:1 refers to the creation of the earth, and that Genesis 1:2 refers to its being disordered by some means, as in the above theory, but that the various beds were formed with the fossils found therein during the six days recorded in Genesis 1 ; and that the days were of any needed indefinite length. It has been shown that the first things named as on the earth were grass and herbs, and these are always found in the lowest beds; and the other things created are found exactly in the same order upwards from the lowest, until man appears. These, in short, form three divisions: plants in the lowest beds; reptiles in the middle; mammals in the highest, with man the most recent. It is also asserted that no break has been discovered, as would be the case if after the beds had been formed destruction had come in, and an entirely new work of creation had begun again in what is recorded in Genesis 1 . Many of the existing species are contemporaneous with those that we know have ceased to exist. It is maintained that the term 'day' is often used for indefinite periods of time in scripture, and therefore may be so in Genesis 1 ; that they refer to God's days, and not to natural days, seeing that 'the evening and the morning' are spoken of before the sun, which naturally causes the evening and morning. Also that it is not consistent to hold that God's rest on the seventh day only alluded to 24 hours.† It is true that the introduction of sin marred God's rest; but this is not there contemplated. † It is asserted that long before any question of geology arose there were some among the Jews, as Josephus and Philo, and some among the Christians, as Whiston, Des Cartes, and De Luc, who believed that the 'days' of Genesis 1 were long periods. — 'Creation,' Kitto's Cyclopaedia. To this theory it is objected that the words 'the evening and the morning' are too definite a description of the meaning of the word 'day' to allow the idea of indefinite periods. It is also held that Isaiah 45:18 (translating the passage "He created it not without form, he formed it to be inhabited") proves that God did not create the world in the first instance "without form and void." The word 'created' here is the same as in Genesis 1:1 ; and the words 'in vain' in the A.V. are the same as 'without form' in Genesis 1:2 . As to the correspondence in the order of created things it may be admitted that if the long periods come in between Genesis 1:1 and 2, the after order in the six days' creation is exactly the same — God working, in the same order on the large scale (ages), and on the smaller (six days' work). Either of these theories sufficiently meets the supposed difficulty, and shows that God in His works does not clash with God in His word, though His word was never intended to teach science. In the creation we read that of every living thing each was made 'after his kind;' man was entirely separated from all others by God forming him in His own image and likeness, and breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, thus leaving no room for the modern theory of evolution. God, who knew perfectly everything which He had created, declared it to be as it left His hands very good ; and the more His works are examined the more perfection is discovered in every minute detail both as to plan and purpose, suiting everything for the place which each and every one is intended to fill. Sin has come in and spoiled God's fair creation, but man, who has been the occasion of it, dares to ignore God, or to blame Him for the pains and penalties attached to fallen humanity. Man everywhere endorses Adam's sin by his own individual sins.

(1): (n.) That which is created; that which is produced or caused to exist, as the world or some original work of art or of the imagination; nature. (2): (n.) The act of creating or causing to exist. Specifically, the act of bringing the universe or this world into existence. (3): (n.) The act of constituting or investing with a new character; appointment; formation.

Everything that exists except God himself. This includes material as well as immaterial things and time. God is the creator, (Hebrews 11:3) we are the creatures. The creator/creature distinction must be maintained to properly remain in humble relationship with God. We are not God, cannot create, nor can we help ourselves do good in order to be saved. Only God is God. Only He can create. And, only He has the ability to save man.

(n.) A forming anew; a new creation or formation.

Faith clearly teaches that this world did not exist from all eternity, but was created in time, i.e.,a measurable span of time has elapsed since the world came into being. Saint Thomas and Suarez deny that we can prove from reason that eternal creation was impossible, that this world could not have existed from all eternity. Many modern philosophers think we can prove it. The difference is only apparent. The former spoke of a priori arguments, of which there are none; the latter speak of arguments drawn from experience, e.g., the transformation of energy, or radioactivity.

See CREATION, THE NEW.

in its primary import, signifies the bringing into being something which did not exist before. The term is therefore most generally applied to the original production of the materials whereof the visible world is composed. It is also used in a secondary or subordinate sense, to denote those subsequent operations of the Deity upon the matter so produced, by which the whole system of nature, and all the primitive genera of things, received their forms, qualities, and laws. The accounts of the creation of the world which have existed among different nations, are called Cosmogonies. Moses's is unquestionably the most ancient; and had it no other circumstance to recommend it, its superior antiquity alone would give it a just claim to our attention. It is evidently Moses's intention to give a history of man, and of religion, and an account of creation. In the way in which he has detailed it, it would have been foreign to his plan, had it not been necessary to obviate that most ancient and most natural species of idolatry, the worship of the heavenly bodies. His first care, therefore, is to affirm decidedly, that God created the heavens and the earth; and then he proceeds to mention the order in which the various objects of creation were called into existence. First of all, the materials, of which the future universe was to be composed, were created. These were jumbled together in one indigested mass, which the ancients called chaos, and which they conceived to be eternal; but which Moses affirms to have been created by the power of God. The materials of the chaos were either held in solution by the waters, or floated in them, or were sunk under them; and they were reduced into form by the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the waters. Light was the first distinct object of creation; fishes were the first living things; man was last in the order of creation. 2. The account given by Moses is distinguished by its simplicity. That it involves difficulties which our faculties cannot comprehend, is only what might be expected from a detail of the operations of the omnipotent mind, which can never be fully understood but by the Being who planned them. Most of the writers who come nearest to Moses in point of antiquity have favoured the world with cosmogonies; and there is a wonderful coincidence in some leading particulars between their accounts and his. They all have his chaos; and they all state water to have been the prevailing principle before the arrangement of the universe began. The systems became gradually more complicated, as the writers receded farther from the age of primitive tradition; and they increased in absurdity in proportion to the degree of philosophy which was applied to the subject. The problem of creation has been said to be, "Matter and motion being given, to form a world;" and the presumption of man has often led him to attempt the solution of this intricate question. But the true problem was, "Neither matter nor motion being given, to form a world." At first, the cosmogonists contented themselves with reasoning on the traditional or historical accounts they had received; but it is irksome to be shackled by authority; and after they had acquired a smattering of knowledge, they began to think that they could point out a much better way of forming the world than that which had been transmitted to them by the consenting voice of antiquity. Epicurus was most distinguished in this hopeful work of invention; and produced a cosmogony on the principle of a fortuitous concourse of atoms, whose extravagant absurdity has hitherto preserved it from oblivion. From his day to ours, the world has been annoyed with systems; but these are now modified by the theories of chemists and geologists, whose speculations, in so far as they proceed on the principle of induction, have sometimes been attended with useful results; but, when applied to solve the problem of creation, will serve, like the systems of their forerunners, to demonstrate the ignorance and the presumption of man. 3. The early cosmogonies are chiefly interesting from their resemblance to that of Moses; which proves that they have either been derived from him, or from some ancient prevailing tradition respecting the true history of creation. The most ancient author next to Moses, of whose writings any fragments remain, is Sanchoniatho, the Phenician. His writings were translated by Philo Byblius; and portions of this version are preserved by Eusebius. These writings come to us rather in an apocryphal form; they contain, however, no internal evidence which can affect their authenticity; they pretty nearly resemble the traditions of the Greeks, and are, perhaps, the parent stock from which these traditions are derived. The notions detailed by Sanchoniatho are almost translated by Hesiod, who mentions the primeval chaos, and states ερος , or love, to be its first offspring. Anaxagoras was the first among the Greeks who entertained tolerably accurate notions on the subject of creation: he assumed the agency of an intelligent mind in the arrangement of the chaotic materials. These sentiments gradually prevailed among the Greeks; from whom they passed to the Romans, and were generally adopted, notwithstanding the efforts which were made to establish the doctrines of Epicurus by the nervous poetry of Lucretius. Ovid has collected the orthodox doctrines which prevailed on the subject, both among Greeks and Romans; and has expressed them with uncommon elegance and perspicuity in the first chapter of his "Metamorphoses." There is so striking a coincidence between his account and that of Moses that one would almost think that he was translating from the first chapter of Genesis; and there can be no doubt that the Mosaic writings were well known at that time, both among the Greeks and Romans. Megasthenes, who lived in the time of Seleucus Nicanor, affirms, that all the doctrines of the Greeks respecting the creation, and the constitution of nature, were current among the Bramins in India, and the Jews in Syria. He must, of course, have been acquainted with the writings of the latter, before he could make the comparison. Juvenal talks of the writings of Moses as well known:— Tradidit arcano quodcunque volumine Moses. ^[1] We are therefore inclined to think that Ovid actually copied from the Bible; for he adopts the very order detailed by Moses. Moses mentions the works of creation in the following order: the separation of the sea from the dry land; the creation of the heavenly bodies; of marine animals; of fowls and land animals; of man. Observe now the order of the Roman poet:— Ante mare et terras, et, quod tegit omnia, coelum, Unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe, Quem dixere chaos, rudis, indiffestaque moles. Hanc Deus, et melior litem natura diremit. Nam coelo terras, et terras abscidit undis; Et liquidum spisso secrevit ab aere coelum. Neu regio foret ulla suis animalibus orba; Astra tenent coeleste solum, formaeque deorum; Cesserunt nitidis habitandae piscibus undae: Terra feras cepit, volucres agitabilis aer. Sanctius his animal, mentisque capacius altae Deerat adhuc, et quod dominari in caetera posset: Natus homo est. "Before the seas, and this terrestrial ball, And heav'n's high canopy, that covers all, One was the face of nature; if a face: Rather, a rude and indigested mass: A lifeless lump, unfashion'd, and unframed, Of jarring seeds; and justly chaos named. But God, or nature, while they thus contend, To these intestine discords put an end; Then earth from air, and seas from earth were driv'n, And grosser air sunk from ethereal heav'n. Thus when the God, whatever god was he, Had formed the whole, and made the parts agree, That no unequal portions might be found, He moulded earth into a spacious round. Then, every void of nature to supply, With forms of gods he fills the vacant sky: New herds of beasts he sends, the plains to share: New colonies of birds, to people air; And to their oozy beds the finny fish repair. A creature of a more exalted kind Was wanting yet, and then was man design'd: Conscious of thought, of more capacious breast, For empire formed, and fit to rule the rest: Whether with particles of heav'nly fire The God of nature did his soul inspire," &c. DRYDEN. Here we see all the principal objects of creation mentioned exactly in the same order which Moses had assigned to them in his writings; and when we consider what follows;—the war of the giants; the general corruption of the world; the universal deluge; the preservation of Deucalion and Pyrrha; their sacrifices to the gods on leaving the vessel in which they had been preserved;—there can scarcely remain a doubt that Ovid borrowed, either directly or at second hand, from Moses. What he says, too, is perfectly consistent with the received notions on the subject, though it is probable that they had never before been so regularly methodised. This train of reasoning would lead us to conclude that Ovid, and indeed the whole Heathen world, derived their notions respecting the creation, and the early history of mankind, from the sacred Scriptures: and it shows how deficient their own resources were, when the pride of philosophy was forced to borrow from those whom it affected to despise. With regard to the western mythologists, then, there can be little doubt that their cosmogonies, at least such of them as profess to be historical, and not theoretical, are derived from Moses; and the same may be affirmed with regard to the traditions of the east: as they were the same with those of Greece in the time of Megasthenes, whose testimony to this effect is quoted both by Clemens Alexandrinus and Strabo, we may naturally conclude that they had the same origin. 4. The Hindoo mythology has grown, in the natural uninterrupted progress of corruption, to such monstrous and complicated absurdity, that in many cases it stands unique in extravagance. In the more ancient Hindoo writings, however, many sublime sentiments occur; and in the "Institutes of Menu," many passages are found relating to the creation, which bear a strong resemblance to the account given by Moses. They are thus given in an advertisement, prefixed to the fifth volume of the "Asiatic Researches," and are intended as a supplement to a former treatise on the Hindoo religion:— "This universe existed only in the first divine idea, yet unexpanded, as if involved in darkness, imperceptible, undefinable, undiscoverable by reason, and undiscovered by revelation, as if it were wholly immersed in sleep. When the sole self-existing Power, himself undiscerned, but making this world discernible, with five elements and other principles of nature, appeared with undiminished glory, expanding his idea, or dispelling the gloom. He, whom the mind alone can perceive, whose essence eludes the external organs, who has no visible parts, who exists from eternity, even he, the soul of all beings, whom no being can comprehend, shone forth in person. He, having willed to produce various beings from his own divine substance, first with a thought created the waters. The waters are called nara, because they are the production of Nara, or the Spirit of God; and since they were his first ayana, or place of motion, he thence is called Narayana, or moving on the waters. From that which is, the first cause, not the object of sense, existing every where in substance, not existing to our perception, without beginning or end, was produced the divine male. He framed the heaven above, and the earth beneath; in the midst he placed the subtile ether, the eight regions, and the permanent receptacle of waters. He framed all creatures. He, too, first assigned to all creatures distinct names, distinct acts, and distinct occupations. He gave being to time, and the divisions of time; to the stars also, and the planets; to rivers, oceans, and mountains; to level plains, and uneven valleys. For the sake of distinguishing actions, he made a total difference between right and wrong. Having divided his own substance, the mighty Power became half male, half female. He whose powers are incomprehensible, having created this universe, was again absorbed in the spirit, changing the time of energy for the time of repose." In these passages we have evidently a philosophical comment on the account of creation given by Moses, or as transmitted from the same source of primitive tradition. We also see in these passages the rudiments of the Platonic philosophy, the eternal ideas in the divine mind, &c; and were any question to arise respecting the original author of these notions, we should have little hesitation in giving it against the Greeks. They were the greatest plagiaries both in literature and philosophy, and they have scarcely an article of literary property which they can call their own, except their poetry. Their sages penetrated into Egypt and India, and on their return stigmatized the natives of these countries as barbarians, lest they should be suspected of stealing their inventions. 5. The Chaldean cosmogony, according to Berosus, when divested of allegory, seems to resolve itself into this, that darkness and water existed from eternity; that Belus divided the humid mass, and gave birth to creation; that the human mind is an emanation from the divine nature. The cosmogony of the ancient Persians is very clumsy. They introduce two eternal principles, the one good, called Oromasdes, the other evil, called Arimanius; and they make these two principles contend with each other in the creation and government of the world. Each has his province, which he strives to enlarge; and Mithras is the mediator to moderate their contentions. This is the most inartificial plan that has been devised to account for the existence of evil, and has the least pretensions to a philosophical basis. The Egyptian cosmogony, according to the account given of it by Plutarch, seems to bear a strong resemblance to the Phenician, as detailed by Sanchoniatho. According to the Egyptian account, there was an eternal chaos, and an eternal spirit united with it, whose agency at last arranged the discordant materials, and produced the visible system of the universe. The cosmogony of the northern nations, as may be collected from the Edda, supposes an eternal principle prior to the formation of the world. The Orphic Fragments state every thing to have existed in God, and to proceed from him. The notion implied in this maxim is suspected to be pantheistic, that is, to imply the universe to be God; which, however, might be a more modern perversion. Plato supposed the world to be produced by the Deity, uniting eternal, immutable ideas, or forms, to variable matter. Aristotle had no cosmogony, because he supposed the world to be without beginning and without end. According to the Stoical doctrine, the divine nature, acting on matter, first produced moisture, and then the other elements, which are reciprocally convertible.

(1.) the act by which God calls into existence things not previously in being-material or spiritual, visible or invisible, Psalm 148:5 Revelation 4:11 ; (2.) the molding or reconstituting things, the elements of which previously existed; and (3.) the things thus "created and made," 2 Peter 3:4 Revelation 3:14 5:13 . It is probably in the first of these senses the word "created" is to be understood in Genesis 1:1 , though some understand it in the second sense. In either case the idea of the eternity of matter is to be rejected, as contrary to sound reason and to the teachings of Scripture, Proverbs 8:22-31 John 1:1-3 Hebrews 11:3 . Creation is exclusively the work of God. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each in turn named as its author, Isaiah 40:28 Colossians 1:16 Genesis 2:2 . It is a work the mysteries of which no finite mind can apprehend; and yet, as it reveals to us the invisible things of God, Romans 1:20 , we may and ought to learn what he reveals respecting it not only in revelation, but in his works. These two volumes are from the same divine hand, and cannot but harmonize with each other. The Bible opens with an account of the creation unspeakably majestic and sublime. The six days there spoken of have usually been taken for our present natural days; but modern geological researches have given rise to the idea that "day" here denotes a longer period. The different rocks of our globe lie in distinct layers, the comparative age of which is supposed to have been ascertained. Only the most recent have been found to contain human remains. Older layers present in turn different fossil remains of animals and plants, many of them supposed to be now extinct. These layers are deeply imbedded beneath the present soil, and yet appear to be formed of matter washed into the bed of some primeval sea, and hardened into rock. Above this may lie numerous other strata of different materials, but which appear to have been deposited in the same manner, in the slow lapse of time. These layers are also thrown up and penetrated all over the world by rocks of still earlier formations, apparently once in a melted state. There are several modes of reconciling these geological discoveries with the statements of Scripture: First, that the six days of Genesis 1.1-31 denote six long epochs-periods of alternate progressive formation and revolution on the surface of the earth. To the Lord "a thousand years are as one day," Psalm 90:2,4 2 Peter 3:5-10 Revelation 20:1 - 15 . Secondly, that the long epochs indicated in the geological structure of the globe occurred before the Bible account commences, or rather in the interval between the first and second verses of Genesis 1:1-31 . According to this interpretation, Genesis 1:2 describes the state of the earth at the close of the last revolution it experienced, preparatory to God's fitting it up for the abode of man as described in the verses following. Thirdly, that God compressed the work of those untold ages into six short days, and created the world as he did Adam, in a state of maturity, embodying in its rocks and fossils those rudimental forms of animal and vegetable life which seem naturally to lead up to the existing forms. The "Creature" and "the whole creation," in Romans 8:19-22 , may denote the irrational and inferior creation, which shall be released from the curse, and share in the glorious liberty of the sons of God, Isaiah 11:6 35:1 2 Peter 3:7-13 . The bodies of believers, now subject to vanity, are secure of full deliverance at the resurrection-"the redemption of our body," Romans 8:23 .

(The creation of all things is ascribed in the Bible to God, and is the only reasonable account of the origin of the world. The method of creation is not stated in Genesis, and as far as the account there is concerned, each part of it may be, after the first acts of creation, by evolution, or by direct act of God's will. The word create (bara) is used but three times in the first chapter of Genesis-- (1) as to the origin of matter; (2) as to the origin of life; (3) as to the origin of man's soul; and science has always failed to do any of these acts thus ascribed to God. All other things are said to be made . The order of creation as given in Genesis is in close harmony with the order as revealed by geology, and the account there given, so long before the records of the rocks were read or the truth discoverable by man, is one of the strongest proofs that the Bible was inspired by God. --Ed.)

A — 1: κτίζω (Strong's #2936 — Verb — ktizo — ktid'-zo ) used among the Greeks to mean the founding of a place, a city or colony, signifies, in Scripture, "to create," always of the act of God, whether (a) in the natural creation, Mark 13:19 ; Romans 1:25 (where the title "The Creator" translates the article with the aorist participle of the verb); 1 Corinthians 11:9 ; Ephesians 3:9 ; Colossians 1:16 ; 1 Timothy 4:3 ; Revelation 4:11 ; 10:6 , or (b) in the spiritual creation, Ephesians 2:10,15 ; 4:24 ; Colossians 3:10 . See MAKE. B — 1: κτίσις (Strong's #2937 — Noun Feminine — ktisis — ktis'-is ) primarily "the act of creating," or "the creative act in process," has this meaning in Romans 1:20 ; Galatians 6:15 . Like the English word "creation," it also signifies the product of the "creative" act, the "creature," as in Mark 16:15 , RV; Romans 1:25 ; 8:19 ; Colossians 1:15 etc.; in Hebrews 9:11 , AV, "building." In Mark 16:15 ; Colossians 1:23 its significance has special reference to mankind in general. As to its use in Galatians 6:15 ; 2 Corinthians 5:17 , in the former, apparently, "the reference is to the creative act of God, whereby a man is introduced into the blessing of salvation, in contrast to circumcision done by human hands, which the Judaizers claimed was necessary to that end. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 the reference is to what the believer is in Christ; in consequence of the creative act he has become a new creature."* ^[1] Ktisis is once used of human actions, 1 Peter 2:13 , "ordinance" (marg., "creation"). See BUILDING , ORDINANCE. B — 2: κτίσμα (Strong's #2938 — Noun Neuter — ktisma — ktis'-mah ) has the concrete sense, "the created thing, the creature, the product of the creative act," 1 Timothy 4:4 ; James 1:18 ; Revelation 5:13 ; 8:9 . B — 3: κτίστης (Strong's #2939 — Noun Masculine — ktistes — ktis-tace' ) among the Greeks, the founder of a city, etc., denotes in Scripture "the Creator," 1 Peter 4:19 (cp. Romans 1:20 , under B, No. 1, above). Note: It is a significant confirmation of Romans 1:20,21 , that in all non-Christian Greek literature these words are never used by Greeks to convey the idea of a Creator or of a creative act by any of their gods. The words are confined by them to the acts of human beings. B — 4: ζῷον (Strong's #2226 — Noun Neuter — zoon — dzo'-on ) "a living creature:" see BEAST.

A basic Christian belief is that God created all things, and that all three persons of the godhead were involved in the acts of creation. God spoke and, by the power of his creative word, it happened (Genesis 1:1-3; Job 33:4; Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9; Psalms 102:25; John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-2). The Creator and the universe God alone is eternal; therefore, before his initial act of creation, nothing existed apart from him. He created all things, visible and invisible. Even spirit beings, though they may have existed before the physical universe, are creatures whom God has made (Genesis 1:1-2; Job 38:4-11; Psalms 33:6-9; Psalms 90:2; Isaiah 40:26-28; Isaiah 42:5; John 1:1-3; Romans 11:36; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3; Revelation 4:11). Once God had created matter, he used the materials of the universe to make and develop the features of the universe. He made animals and humans, for example, out of materials he had made earlier (Genesis 2:7; Genesis 2:19). Having created the universe, God did not then leave it to itself, as if it were like a huge clock that he wound up and left to run automatically. God is still active in the physical universe. He maintains what he creates. Though he is Lord of creation and distinct from it, he works through it. He is over all things and in all things (Psalms 147:8-9; Acts 17:24; Acts 17:28; Genesis 1:27-28; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; see also PROVIDENCE). The universe exists, above all, for the praise and glory of God. He created it, not as an act of necessity, but as an act of free grace; not because he had to, but because he chose to (Isaiah 43:7; Acts 17:25; Romans 11:36; Ephesians 1:11; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:11). It shows something of God’s love, power and wisdom (Psalms 19:1-4; Jeremiah 10:12; Romans 1:20). God’s ‘rest’ after creation indicated that he was completely satisfied with all his created works. In his grace he gave the physical world to the people he had created and made them caretakers over it. God wanted them to enjoy his creation in fellowship with himself, and in so doing to share in his ‘rest’ (Ephesians 4:6; Genesis 2:1-3; Hebrews 4:3-10). But the human creatures refused to submit to their divine Creator, and as a result they ruined the relationship both with the Creator and with the physical creation. They brought disaster upon the human race as a whole and this had damaging consequences in the natural world (Genesis 3:17-19; Romans 1:20-23; Genesis 2:4-7). Only when the redeemed enters their full salvation at the end of the age will the created world enter its full glory (Romans 8:21-23; Philippians 3:21; see NATURE). Story of creation The chief purpose of the account of creation in Genesis is to provide an introduction to the story of God’s dealings with the human race. It shows that God created everything out of nothing, and that he brought the universe through various stages of development till it was a fitting dwelling place for human beings (Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:5; Genesis 1:8; Genesis 1:13; Genesis 1:19; Genesis 1:23; Genesis 1:31; Romans 8:20). Modern science may at times cause people to think they are almost insignificant in relation to the size and complexity of the universe, but the Bible takes a different view. It is concerned above all with people, and says little about how the physical universe operates (Psalms 8:3-9). God is pleased when men and women want to learn more about the wonders of his creation, but he has appointed that they do so by the hard work of study and investigation (Genesis 3:19; Psalms 111:2). God does not usually give such information by direct revelation. The Bible is not a textbook on science, nor is it concerned with the sort of information that scientists are concerned with. Its purpose is not to teach scientific theories, but to give a short simple account of the beginning of things, and in language that people of any era or any background can understand. The language of the creation story, like that of the rest of the Bible, is not the technical language of the scientist, but the everyday language of the common people (cf. Genesis 1:16; Genesis 7:11-12; Genesis 40:22). The scientist may speak of the sun as the centre of the solar system, with the earth a minor satellite of the sun, and the moon a minor satellite of the earth. The Bible, by contrast, speaks of the heavens and the earth from the viewpoint of ordinary observers. To them the earth appears stationary, and the sun ‘rises’ and ‘sets’ as it moves around the earth (1 Chronicles 16:30; Ecclesiastes 1:5; Malachi 1:11; Matthew 5:45). The sun is the ‘greater light’ and the moon the ‘lesser light’ (Genesis 1:16). The pictorial language of the Bible is different from the technical language of science, but the two are not necessarily in conflict. Science may tell us much about God’s creation, though it does so from a viewpoint that is different from the Bible’s. Science can help us understand how nature works, whereas the Bible is concerned with showing that God is the one who makes nature work. From science we may learn how the stars move, how the weather changes, or how plants grow, but from the Bible we learn that God is the one who makes these things happen (Psalms 65:9-10; Psalms 78:20; Psalms 78:26; Psalms 104:1-30; Psalms 147:8; Matthew 5:45; Matthew 6:30). Although science may investigate how the creation developed, the Bible reveals that the development came about through the creative activity of the sovereign God. The ‘laws of nature’ are God’s laws (Genesis 1:1; Genesis 1:7; Genesis 1:11; Genesis 1:20; Genesis 1:24; Hebrews 11:3).