The Word Alone

Notes and Jottings

Genesis 1

(1:1) “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים (berē’šît bārā’ ʾĕlōhîm). “In the beginning” (bereshit) – not “at the beginning of time” necessarily, but “in the beginning of God’s creating.” The Hebrew grammar allows either reading, though most modern scholars see this as a narrative opening (“When God began to create…”). “created” (bara) – used only of God in the Hebrew Bible, implying divine creative power, not human craftsmanship. It means to bring into being rather than to shape from preexisting material. “heavens and earth” (hashamayim veha’aretz) – a merism, meaning “the totality of all things,” roughly “the universe.” We cannot know for sure when the earth was created, but one thing is sure; God is the creator of the earth. The heavens declare the glory of God. The sun is 93 million miles away from earth. If the sun was 1 mile closer we would burn. If it was 1 mile further away we would freeze. The sun is the exact distance and position from the earth to sustain life. This fact alone is evidence that the creator of the earth is God. In the opening verse of the Bible we have time, space and matter. “In the beginning” – Time, “God created” – Space, “the earth” – Matter.

(1:2) “The earth was formless and void” Hebrew: tohu va-bohu (תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ). “formless and void” – tohu means “wasteland,” “chaos,” or “unformed expanse”; bohu adds “emptiness” or “desolation.” Together they describe a chaotic, unstructured state, not yet ordered by God’s creative word. “darkness was over the face of the deep” – tehom (תְּהוֹם) means “the deep” or “the abyss,” evoking the primordial ocean; there’s a faint echo of ancient Near Eastern myth, but here it’s de-mythologized, no rival gods, just darkness and water awaiting order. “the Spirit of God” (ruach Elohim) – could mean Spirit, wind, or breath of God. The image is dynamic: God’s life-giving presence is hovering (merahefet, like a bird brooding over eggs), ready to bring life from chaos. The world was without meaning and purpose until God gave it meaning and purpose.

(1:3-5) The First Day. “Let there be light.” God speaks creation into being, a key theological and literary motif. Divine speech brings reality from non-reality. “Light” before the sun emphasizes that order and illumination come from God himself, not celestial bodies (a deliberate contrast to pagan cosmologies). The “light” does not mean the sun, which God created on day four. God Himself was the light. The light of His glory. “And God saw that the light was good”, introduces the refrain of divine approval. “there was evening, and there was morning”, the day is reckoned from evening to morning, the biblical pattern later reflected in Jewish tradition. God alone has power to create in His voice. He spoke all things into being. Man is in spiritual darkness until God gives him light and life to his soul. The First Day – A literal 24 hour period of time.

(1:6-8) The Second Day. The Expanse (Sky). Hebrew: raqiaʿ (רָקִיעַ) Literally, something “beaten out” like a metal sheet, the ancient concept of the sky as a solid dome separating waters above (rain clouds) from waters below (seas). Yet the text’s purpose is not scientific but cosmic order: God separates, organizes, and names turning chaos into a structured cosmos.

(1:9-13) The Third Day. Land and Vegetation. The pattern continues: “Then God said … And it was so… And God saw that it was good.” Separation and naming are acts of dominion and order. “Each according to its kind” (leminehu) introduces biological diversity and boundaries, an ancient way of expressing stability in creation.

(1:14-19) The Fourth Day. The Luminaries. “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky”, Hebrew avoids naming sun (shemesh) and moon (yareach), likely to avoid their deification in neighboring cultures. They serve for signs, seasons, days, and years establishing the rhythm of time. Note the functional language: God gives roles and purposes to creation. Lights are markers in the sky. You can direct a ship by following the stars. The wise men followed a star to find Christ (Matt. 2:1-12).

(1:16) Types in the Bible. The “greater light” serves as a type of Christ, the “Sun of Righteousness” (Mal. 4:2), whose full radiance will be revealed at His second coming. At present, the world exists in a state akin to that between Genesis 1:3 and 1:16 (cf. Eph. 6:12; Acts 26:18; 1 Pet. 2:9), a realm where the sun itself is unseen, yet light is present. Christ is that light (John 1:4–5, 9), shining in the darkness and discerned only through faith. When He appears as the “Sun of Righteousness,” all darkness will be dispelled.

From a dispensational perspective, the Church stands as the “lesser light”, the moon, reflecting the glory of the unseen Sun. The stars (Gen. 1:16) represent individual believers, who “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15–16). See also John 1:5.

A type is a divinely ordained illustration of spiritual truth. It may take the form of: (1) a person, as in Rom. 5:14. Adam is a type of Christ; (2) an event, as in 1 Cor. 10:11 (the end of the age); (3) a thing, as in Heb. 10:20, the sacrificial death of Christ; (4) an institution, as in Heb. 9:11, the priestly role of Christ; or (5) a ceremony as in 1 Cor. 5:7, Passover and Unleavened Bread to illustrate the need for the removal of sin. Types are most frequently found in the Pentateuch, though they appear elsewhere in Scripture. Their fulfilment, or antitype, is generally revealed in the New Testament.

(1:20-23) The Fifth Day. Sea Creatures and Birds. “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures”, a poetic repetition in Hebrew (yishretsu sherets).“Great sea creatures” (tanninim gedolim) – possibly a deliberate demythologizing of sea monsters found in Near Eastern myths (e.g., Tiamat, Leviathan). Here they are creatures made by God, not gods themselves. “Blessed them”, the first explicit blessing in Scripture; life is endowed with the power to multiply.

(1:22) The first created being that God spoke to were those of the sea, sky and birds.

(1:24-25) The Sixth Day. Land Animals. Again, “according to their kinds.” The three categories (livestock, creeping things, wild beasts) reflect ancient classifications, showing a comprehensive ordering of land life.

(1:26-27) The Creation of Humankind. “Let us make…” – plural form has prompted many interpretations. 1. A divine council address (“Let us” = God addressing heavenly beings); 2. A plural of majesty; 3. Or a Trinitarian foreshadowing (in later Christian reading). The text itself emphasizes God’s sovereign deliberation. “our image, according to our likeness” – tselem (image, form, representation) and demut (likeness, resemblance). This expresses humans as God’s representatives or vice-regents on earth, endowed with authority and relational capacity, not physical resemblance. The verb “rule” reveal a royal and stewardship role for humanity over creation. Here we have a reference to the divine Godhead. Jesus, God the Son was with God, the Father in creation. Our Image – God created mankind after His likeness. We are image bearers of our creator. This is why every human life has worth, meaning and value. God gave man power and authority over the animal kingdom. Man is not a merely evolved ape as some would have you believe, man is aware of God and has a conscience that is captive to his creator. Animals on the other hand are led by their natural instinct to survive. Animals do not have a soul and a moral conscience. When God created humankind He created them, “male and female” meaning that there are two biological genders in God’s created order.

The First Dispensation: Innocence. The first dispensation extends from the creation of man to his expulsion from Eden. Man, created in the image of God, was placed in the Garden under a simple test of obedience; he was forbidden to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:16–17). In this state of untested holiness, Adam and Eve enjoyed direct fellowship with God.

Through the temptation of Satan (Gen. 3:1–6), man disobeyed, and sin entered the human race (Rom. 5:12). The dispensation of Innocence ended in failure, bringing judgment: the curse upon the serpent, the woman, the man, and the ground (Gen. 3:14–19).

Yet grace was revealed in the promise of redemption, the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15), and in the provision of a covering through sacrifice (Gen. 3:21). Thus, even in judgment, God foreshadowed salvation through Christ.

(1:29-30). Provision for All Life. God grants plants for food, a peaceful, vegetarian order in the first creation picture (contrast Genesis 9, where meat-eating appears after the flood). “Everything that has the breath of life” (nishmat chayim) emphasizes the shared life between humans and animals.

(1:31). “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” The progression from “good” to “very good” (tov me’od) marks completion and harmony. The original creation was not merely good, it was perfect, without any mistake, defect or blemish. The phrase “evening, and there was morning — the sixth day” closes the structured sequence, setting up the Sabbath rest that follows in Genesis 2:1–3.

Summary of Genesis 1

• Structure: Six days of creative activity → one day of rest. The pattern shows order, rhythm, and purpose.

• Theme: God brings order from chaos by His word.

• Genre: Ancient cosmic prologue, not a scientific chronology, but a liturgical, theological statement about origins, purpose, and divine sovereignty.

• Tone: Calm, structured, majestic, unlike the violent myths of other ancient cultures.

• Refrains: “And God said… and it was so… and God saw that it was good…” create a rhythm of divine power and satisfaction.