The Mighty Acts of God, Revised Edition

By Arnold B. Rhodes and W. Eugene March

This new edition of Arnold Rhodes's The Mighty Acts of God is an essential tool for learning more about the Bible. The original volume, which has been well-loved as a guide for Bible study, has been carefully revised by W. Eugene March to incorporate the most up-to-date historical and theological research. From the beginnings of creation to final consummation and hope, readers will find the same easily readable quality as in the first edition along with helpful questions for either group or individual study.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geneva Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2000
• ISBN: 9781611642469

Arnold B. Rhodes

Arnold B. Rhodes was A. B. Rhodes Professor in Old Testament at Louisville Theological Presbyterian Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He was an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Book preview

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Witness to God’s Mighty Acts

The pilgrimage that we are about to take through the Bible can be the most exciting trip of your entire life—even more exciting than a visit to old Jerusalem or to St. Peter’s in Rome. Actually it is a pilgrimage from the Garden of Eden to the new Jerusalem. But this is a trip that you cannot take as a tourist. Your camera will do you no good. You can make the trip only as a participant.

Or to change the metaphor, this is a story and we are characters in it. True—it is primarily God’s story. True—it is the story of those who lived long ago. But it is also true that it is our story. This means that the biblical story is still going on. We are, historically speaking, living in that part of it that extends from the ascension of our Lord to his coming in glory. All of us were intended by the Author of the story to be actors in it. If the world stands, our children and our children’s children will be a part of it too. Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Yes, we were there. Were you there when Moses cleft the sea in two? Yes, we were there. The more the story becomes our story, the more effectively will we be able to tell it and live it. Never minimize the part you play in the divine program. As a Christian, you have a distinctive witness to give.

Of course there are many discouragements and threats to life in these days. But when have God’s people not been threatened? Indeed, as a people they were born in crisis. They have always lived in crisis. The Bible was penned in the blood of martyrs and saints.

The Witness of God

The Bible is not only the greatest story ever told; it is the greatest drama ever enacted—and its chief Actor is God. The Bible centers on God’s mighty acts: what God has done, is doing, and will do for us human beings and our salvation through Jesus Christ. God provides self-witness by mighty acts, which are interpreted and appropriated by people of faith. This is not the whole of revelation, but it is its heart.

Of course, the person who thinks he or she can explain how God’s self-revelation becomes known to us is as naive as the one who thinks he or she can explain God. In spite of all the volumes written on the subject, human beings cannot comprehend revelation; but they can apprehend it. That is, we can get hold of the matter, or rather, by faith we can know ourselves to be grasped by God. Obviously this kind of knowledge is faith-knowledge, the kind that characterizes interpersonal relations. For example, you may know that someone loves you, but you cannot give a scientific demonstration of this fact to anyone else. It is not that kind of knowledge; it is the kind of knowledge by which you can live richly. After all, what would nuclear physics be worth without faith and love in interpersonal relations? Not a dime. This means that the tangibles of life receive their deepest meaning from the intangibles.

How do we know God? We know God through divine acts, primarily through specific events of history as presented and interpreted in the Bible. The basic unit of revelation is the event interpreted and appropriated by people of faith. The circuit of revelation is God event(s) interpreter interpreted event(s) God:

Of course any such representation is an oversimplification, but so is any human attempt to express God’s relation to humankind, whether it be done in words or in other symbols. Human language and thought are always in part—not absolute. Once the interpreter responds to God’s initiative, a dialogue is carried on between human and God, in which God’s self and God’s will are known. Such a meeting includes specific content. For example, it made it possible for John to say, God is love.

God does not come to an individual as if that person lived in splendid isolation from others. Rather God comes to each through a historical event or a series of events. Individuals respond to God’s action, interpreting it and understanding it through faith. And by God’s grace they appropriate the meaning of the event(s) by changed lives. They become coworkers with God and other persons as they undertake the will of God where they live. For Christians, the supreme event through which God has been and is revealed is Jesus Christ. Christ gives all other revelatory events their real meaning in relation to God’s saving purpose in history. In a sense Jesus Christ is the meaning of all revelatory events past, present, and future.

But humans do not receive God’s revelation unaided. Inspiration accompanies revelation. In revelation God’s self and will become known to humans. Inspiration is the Holy Spirit’s preparation of human beings to receive revelation and to communicate it (2 Peter 1:20–21). The Holy Spirit so worked, for instance, in prophets, wise teachers, psalmists, and apostles. Moreover, this inspiration did not stop with these writers but was carried over to writings when they were declared scripture by the community. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16–17). While the reference here is primarily to what we know as the Old Testament, by implication it includes those writings that came to be known as the New Testament. Not only did the Holy Spirit inspire the authors of the Bible, the Spirit enables us to interpret these scriptures aright in our own day. Indeed, apart from such help we cannot interpret them properly (2 Peter 1:20–21).

While in divine providence God is in sovereign control of all things, God did not do violence to the personalities of the writers of scripture. Rather God established what we know as secondary causes. In relation to the Bible this means that its writers were moved and guided by the Spirit, but not in such a way as to prevent them from using their abilities and resources. The Spirit enabled them to use such abilities and resources in accord with the divine purpose. Furthermore, God has remained in control of the whole process by which the Bible has come to us today.

It may be helpful for us to think a bit further about the idea of event and interpretation. First we take an example from the Old Testament. The exodus from Egypt was an event in history. By faith, Moses and his people interpreted this event as a mighty act of God through which God was revealed as their Redeemer. Their privilege of freedom carried with it the undertaking at Sinai to be the covenant people of God. Subsequent generations of Israelites heard God speaking to them through the retelling of the Exodus story, and in turn undertook the covenant responsibility as God’s people.

A second example comes from the New Testament. The crucifixion of Jesus was an event in history. Even an atheist will admit this. But by faith the earliest Christians and all subsequent Christians have held that Christ died for our sins. This is interpretation, which the nonbeliever rejects. The unit of revelation is the event of the crucifixion and its interpretation in faith. As God has come to us through this interpreted event, we have found ourselves confronted by the living God and have committed ourselves to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord in the fellowship of the covenant. Our contact with God in the reality of revelation is no less direct than our contact with electricity that is mediated through a wire. This encounter with the living God is the ultimate of all ultimates in human experience.

The believer is not simply caught up in general human history. Believers are members of the chosen people, the covenant community. This places them within a particular history, which we know as biblical history that relates the story of God’s redeeming love. Chronologically each of us as a Christian stands within this biblical history, between the ascension of Jesus and the consummation of the full reign of God. Theologically we take our stand with the people of God in all generations. The Bible was destined by God to be that book by which believers are to interpret history. This does not mean that every book in the Bible is, from a literary point of view, strict history. It does mean that the various literary forms tend to center more closely on the mighty acts of God. For example, the writers of the New Testament considered the book of Isaiah more important than the book of Obadiah; they quote from Isaiah repeatedly but never once from Obadiah.

Just as God by creative word-deed called a special people into being, so God called a particular book into being as a witness in times past and as an instrument of revelation in each succeeding generation. The Bible has proved itself to be such and is also rightly received as the word of God written. As the original biblical events are re-presented to us, we become involved in them and God speaks to us through them as we live in this flesh-and-blood, time-and-space world.

The Witness of the Bible

We engage in this study in the faith and with the prayer that the Spirit will make God and God’s will known to us today and enable us to respond to God in faith and obedience. Before considering the biblical narrative in some detail, it will be helpful to get a brief preview of the witness of the Bible.

The Words of the Bible

The very words of the Bible keep us reminded of God’s mighty acts. In fact, the title of this book was taken almost verbatim out of the Bible.¹ In the Old Testament there are four chief Hebrew words that express the idea of the mighty acts of God directly, and in the New Testament each of these words finds its counterpart in Greek. The following table will make this clear. In the left-hand column the Old Testament words are listed, and in the right-hand column the corresponding New Testament words. Under each basic word the translations of the New Revised Standard Version are given.

Read each of the passages listed in this table within its biblical setting, and write down the particular mighty acts of God referred to in each instance.

How would you define miracle from the biblical point of view?

We shall consider the subject of miracle again in the latter part of the book in relation to the ministry of Jesus. If you are interested in pursuing the matter now, see pages 274–79.

At the heart of the Old Testament stand specific confessions of Israel’s faith (for example, Deut. 26:5–10a and Josh. 24:2–13). These confessions place special emphasis on the mighty acts of God that are associated with the exodus from Egypt. Corresponding to the Old Testament confessions of faith in God’s mighty acts are the affirmations of the apostles as they preached the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ (see especially Acts 1–10). Much of both Testaments is an expansion of these proclamations of God’s mighty acts.

The concept of revelation is also presented in the Bible by the phrase the word of the LORD and other expressions having the same meaning: for example, Thus says the LORD, The LORD has spoken, and God said. This concept does not contradict that of the mighty acts but is at one with it. The word of God has a dynamic, not a static, meaning. For God to say something is for God to do something. For God to do something is for God to say something.

The word of God is sometimes clearly God’s creative and redemptive act(s). For example, Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light (Gen. 1:3). God’s word in creation was no mere utterance of sound or mark of ink on paper; it was a mighty deed. God spoke, and it was done (compare Heb. 11:3). In Psalm 33:4 the Hebrew parallelism makes it clear that the word and work of God are synonyms. Another way of expressing a similar idea is found in Psalm 107:20—He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction. In this case God’s mighty word issues in a mighty act of healing and delivering. God as Great Physician is made clear by divine healing. God’s speaking and acting cannot be separated, for there is no insincerity in God.

On other occasions God’s word is a message: of promise (Gen. 15:1), or of hope (Ps. 130:5), or of judgment (Jer. 1:13). Nevertheless, such a message is related to the acts of God. When the prophets delivered God’s message to the people, the message was clearly related to what God had done in the past, what God was doing in the present, and what God would do in the future. We read in Isaiah 40:8, The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. The word of God here was God’s message of comfort through the prophet to the exiles of the Babylonian captivity. A part of that message was that God was going to deliver them from that captivity in a second exodus, this time from Babylon rather than Egypt. This promise was interrelated with God’s mighty acts in the first exodus, the current events of the Persian empire (Isa. 41:2; 44:28; 45:1–1), and the coming acts of deliverance.

God’s word is also associated with the covenant and the law (Ps. 119:11, 17). According to Psalm 105:8–10, God’s covenant with our forebears is founded on God’s words of instruction. The making of the covenant was an event in the life of the people of God. The Ten Commandments are set in the context of the Exodus events (Exod. 20:2; Deut. 5:6). Israel’s Torah (Law) was given after the mighty act of God’s deliverance.

The supreme Word of God to humanity is a person, Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. . . . And the Word became flesh and lived among us. . . . (John 1:1, 14; compare 1 John 1:1–2; Rev. 19:13). All of God’s other words find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. This supreme Word is at one and the same time God’s supreme Act. All that Jesus was and did was a revelation of God. His miracles were mighty acts of God. It is Jesus Christ to whom the scriptures bear witness (John 5:39).

The word in the preaching of Jesus (Mark 2:2) and the apostles (Acts 4:4) was the gospel. When we come to examine the apostolic preaching, we shall find that it consisted of the announcement of God’s mighty acts in Jesus Christ. To preach Jesus Christ is not to repeat his name five hundred times without interruption, but to preach the mighty acts of God’s salvation as they are focused in Jesus. Revelation is the word-deed of God.

Since the word of God has various meanings in the Bible itself and since no biblical writer ever speaks of our canon (recognized scripture) of sixty-six books as the word of God, why do people today often call the Bible the Word of God? Of course the answers to this question will vary. Why not write down your own understanding in your notebook before reading any further? Obviously, on the basis of our study of the scriptures themselves, the Bible is not the only word of God. Our forebears in the faith thought of it as the word of God written (The Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. I, Sec. II). One reason for thinking of the Bible as the written word is the fact that it bears witness to God’s mighty acts in times past and to Jesus Christ, the Word of God Incarnate (John 5:39). Another is the fact that by the Holy Spirit, who breathed the life-giving message into the scriptures (2 Tim. 3:16), God uses these same scriptures as an instrument of revelation and salvation today. That is, by the working of the Holy Spirit within us we accept the Bible as authoritative for our lives.

The Bible as a Whole

The Bible as a whole, with all its diversity of form and content, tells one story of redemption. The following hourglass diagram has proved helpful to many.²

Jesus Christ is the focal point of biblical history and of the Christian’s personal history. The Christian takes a stand with Christ at the crossroads of history and looks backward from Christ to creation and forward from Christ to the new creation. The biblical story also moves from creation to Christ and from Christ to the church. The earliest confessions of Israel’s faith (Deut. 26:5–10a; Josh. 24:2–13) do not mention creation. But the time came when creation began to play an important role in Israel’s expressions of faith (see Ps. 124:8). Eventually creation became the first event in the biblical story. The hourglass representation, therefore, begins at the broad base of creation and moves in ever narrowing fashion to the human family; to the covenant people; to the preserved remnant; and to Jesus Christ, the One in whom the purpose of God is fulfilled. Then out from the One the story moves in ever expanding fashion to the apostles, to the church, to humanity, and finally to the broad base of the new creation.

In this volume, Before Common Era replaces B.C. and Common Era replaces A.D.

The parallels between the events B.C.E. and the events C.E. are not accidental. As God created in the beginning and the creation was good, so God will create a new heaven and a new earth. As there was a beginning, so will there be an end; and it will not be a dead end but a new beginning. All evil will be put down, and God will reign forever. As the story of Adam and Eve clearly shows the involvement of all people in the problem of evil, so the gospel is directed to all people, for their predicament is essentially the same in every generation. As God called into being a special people, Israel, as the instrument of divine saving purpose, so God called into being the church as the body of Christ. Jesus Christ is the One who is the key to the whole story of redemption.³

For your study, compare and relate the outline found in the Table of Contents of this book with the hourglass diagram of the biblical narrative.

Perhaps you would like to draw a diagram of the one story of the Bible yourself.

The Witness of the Church

The Book and the People

The Book of God and the people of God go together; they are inseparable. God has elected both to be witnesses to divine revelation and instruments of God’s continuing confrontation of humankind. By the living word God called the old covenant people into being before there was a written word. God also called the new covenant church into being before the New Testament was written. The books of the Bible were not written by atheists or agnostics but by believing members of the covenant community. In the Bible is a record of those mighty word-deeds through which God called both the Bible and the church into being. The Bible keeps the church in contact with that original revelation, without which its covenant life would become impossible. On the other hand, it is the church that witnesses to God’s message found in the Bible. Without it there would be no present-day human witness to the word of God. Israel as God’s servant was called to be witness to God’s revelation (Isa. 43:10). Likewise Christians are called to be Christ’s witnesses (Acts 1:8). The church bears witness to the gospel by all it is and does. For God did not die with the close of the New Testament; God is still mightily at work in the church and through the church in the world.

The story of the Bible is in a sense the story of the people of God, and we are God’s own people—therefore, the story of the Bible is our story: the story of our sin and need, yet the story of God’s grace working in us and through us. We, the church gathered for worship and study and the church scattered in the common vocations of life, have the privilege and responsibility of joining our witness to that of all the saints who from their labors rest.⁴

There is nothing really comparable to the biblical story in all the world. Parts of it were recorded at many different times over more than a millennium. For the most part it was written in Hebrew and Greek (with a few chapters in Aramaic) and includes a multitude of literary forms. Some writers did not know what other writers were writing or had written. Yet together their various and varied contributions tell one story. Through this story we find our true security, for it is God’s story. God’s redemption places on us a corresponding responsibility—to be God’s witnesses. For to whom much has been entrusted even more will be demanded (Luke 12:48). But the responsibility of sharing the good news is itself a glorious privilege. Indeed, it is one of the most inexpressible joys known to us.

How is the church making its witness today?

Can you think of ways this witness may be made more effectively?

Write down, if you will, the ways you yourself are witnessing to the gospel.

The Use of the Book by the People

In order for the people of God to bear their witness most effectively, they must use the Bible rightly. This brings us to a consideration of principles of biblical interpretation.

The first principle suggested is this: Interpret the Bible in expectant prayer. Such prayer is opening one’s heart to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It involves the recognition that, alone, one is inadequate for the task of interpretation. Many will testify that the most fruitful study of the Bible is impossible apart from active waiting for God.

The second principle: Interpret the Bible in its historical context or setting. This means, first of all, that the Bible or any part of it should be studied to determine what the writer meant to say to the writer’s own contemporaries. It includes an honest dealing with the facts of history and with literary forms. The truth of the Bible is not presented in abstractions but through concrete events and particular literary forms. To treat literal history as though it were allegory or to interpret a parable as though it were literal history or to read poetry as prose is to be careless in handling the word of truth. This principle of interpretation requires one to raise such questions as these: Who wrote this book or passage? When was it written? Why? To whom and against what background? In what literary forms? Is it possible to enter into the writer’s thought and situation in such a way as to catch the emotional overtones of this message? How is this message related to other parts of the Bible and to the Bible as a whole?

The third principle: Interpret the Bible in the covenant community. This principle is implicit in everything that has been said in this introductory chapter, but it is made explicit here because it is so important. Many things of which we read in the Bible actually come alive for us in the fellowship of God’s people. For example, a person who has never experienced Christian love in human relationships finds it next to impossible to respond to the love of God heard only by the utterance of the voice or through ink on paper. When that person, however, experiences the love of God in Christian fellowship, these words about love take on new meaning.

Furthermore, as we interpret the Bible we need to take seriously what the church says in creed, worship, and life—not because the church is infallible but that we may consider the collective wisdom of our brothers and sisters in Christ. Although God’s people are to be examined in the light of God’s Book, the interpretation of the Bible should not be separated from the fellowship of the body of Christ. God ordained that the Bible should be written by members of the community; that it should be canonized (accepted as authoritative) by the community in the process of church history; that it should be translated, transmitted, and interpreted especially in the fellowship of believers. Of course we must not overlook the fact that God by the Spirit also uses the Bible in the work of evangelism.

The fourth principle: Interpret the Bible in Christian faith. The Bible was written by people of faith to people of faith, and faith is essential for its proper interpretation. One can listen to what God has to say only with the ears of faith. Faith does not mean believing what one knows is not true. It does not make the study of the facts involved unnecessary. Indeed God often speaks in the midst of mental sweat. Faith is taking an affirmative stand with the biblical message and with God’s people. At the core, it is commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Jesus is not only a historical person who lived years ago; he has become our Lord and Savior in the here and now. The objective elements in the gospel remain, but the gospel has become, in a vital sense, our gospel—good news to us in our sin, and glad tidings that we willingly share with others.

The fifth principle of interpretation: Interpret the Bible in obedient action. This principle is implicit in the preceding principle, but for the sake of clarity it needs to be stated separately. We have seen that God reveals through the divine word-deed. God also calls us to bear witness through word and deed to the message of the Bible. Faith without works is a dead faith; it is not the real article. From the biblical perspective faith is trust-faithfulness—that is, it includes trust in God and faithfulness to God. Interpretation is complete only when it bears fruit.

In our interpretation of the Bible we sometimes begin with the Bible and seek to hear God speak to us. Through this process we have received God’s word of judgment and mercy many times. At other times we begin with an issue or problem and go to the Bible to seek for light on it. In either case we make use of the words of others; we consider what the church has said in creed and life; and we seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit; but we know that God holds us responsible for the decisions we reach. In seeking a solution to a particular problem, it is well to remember that Jesus summarized the written word of his day in the two great commandments: Love God with all your being and your neighbor as yourself. Any interpretation worthy of the name Christian must pass the searching examination of these two commandments as Jesus presented them.

These five principles of interpreting the Bible operate simultaneously, not independently.

Individual and Group Bible Study

This book has been designed to be used as a guide in individual Bible study and as a help in preparing for participation in group study.⁵ The presupposition on which it has been written is that those who use it are interested in doing serious work. The Bible is the primary textbook, and the suggestions for study are made with this fact in mind. The aim is to survey the story of the whole Bible in the period of one year. Thus, it will be possible to treat only selected parts of the biblical text in depth. However, this guide will fill in the story and prevent unnecessary fragmentation. You will want to put your individual systematic Bible study into your daily schedule. You will also want to keep a large notebook, in which you record your findings as you study, questions that you wish to have discussed by the group of which you are a part, decisions that you reach, and areas in which you desire to do further work. Nothing can take the place of conscientious work in the study of the Bible.

To be most effective, individual Bible study must be carried on in connection with the group learning process. This process is dynamically conceived as a fourfold one: listening, participating, exploring, and undertaking. Listening means carrying on an internal conversation with the Bible and other study materials, with the group leader, with other members of the group, and especially with God. It requires a mood of high expectancy. Participating means becoming involved in the biblical narrative itself by putting oneself in the biblical situation insofar as that is possible and hearing God speak. It also means participating in the give-and-take of the study group and of the worship and mission of the larger church family. Exploring involves an attempt to analyze the contemporary world in which we live and relate the gospel to the specific situations that confront us. Undertaking means that one accepts the demands of Christ and the gospel in every aspect of life as these demands are made known. This fourfold process is a means of putting into effect the principles of biblical interpretation stated above and applies to student and teacher alike.

Selected Aids to Bible Study

The only tools essential for participating in this study are the Bible, this book The Mighty Acts of God, and a notebook. The Bible is the basic text; by all means read it and study it as requested. Nothing can take the place of coming to grips with the biblical text itself. It is not anticipated that a chapter of The Mighty Acts of God will be covered at each class session. On the average it will take two class sessions and sometimes more. Your group leader will make assignments as the study proceeds. Moreover, it is not expected that you will necessarily agree with everything in this book. You are encouraged to think through issues for yourself.

For those who are interested in doing additional study, a brief set of study aids is included at the back of the book.

PART ONE

GOD’S MIGHTY ACTS OF CREATION

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Creation

We now begin our journey through the Bible with a study of creation. Some who tell the one story of the Bible begin with Abraham and Sarah or with the exodus from Egypt because the accounts of creation in Genesis 1–2 were actually formulated in the light of these mighty acts of God in behalf of the chosen people. It is better for our particular purpose, however, to begin with God’s mighty acts of creation, as did the psalmist so eloquently in Psalm 136.

Genesis 1 and 2 were not placed at the beginning of the Bible by accident. It is highly fitting to have accounts of the beginning of all things at the very beginning of the Bible itself. Creation, as the initiation of the whole universe by God, antedates the events of Israel’s history. Furthermore, in the theology of Israel creation came to be regarded as the first event in the story of redemption. Both Jews and Christians of all denominations place Genesis 1 and 2 first in their canon. Though the sequential order of some biblical books varies, the order of the books of the Pentateuch remains constant from manuscript to manuscript and from denomination to denomination. The Apostles’ Creed begins, "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. . . ."

However, we must not forget that all the references to creation in the Bible were made in the light of at least some of God’s mighty acts of deliverance. Deliverance is a far more dominant theme in the Bible than creation. At the same time, we must remember that our biblical forebears also took creation seriously. No doctrine of redemption could be complete apart from a doctrine of creation. God could not be our Savior if the universe were in the control of someone else.

As Christians, we recite our faith in creation in the light of Good Friday and Easter morning, just as the Israelites recited their faith in creation in the light of the exodus from Egypt. This means that we want to know what Genesis 1 and 2 mean to us as Christians in our present situation. In other words, we read these accounts of the initial creation as those who are themselves new creations in Christ Jesus. Creation is viewed through the eyes of saving faith. Such a faith is not a casual unthinking acceptance but an interpersonal relationship with God the Creator.

Literary Considerations

The most important thing about the first chapters of Genesis is what they tell us about God, ourselves, and our world, not how they tell it. It will help you to get at what they really mean, however, to understand something of the Hebrew literary patterns this book uses. There are two accounts of creation in Genesis 1–2, which differ in literary form, vocabulary, and purpose. It is widely held that the first account (Gen. 1:1–2:4a) reached its present form later than the second (Gen. 2:4b-25), but surely Genesis 1:1–2:4a is appropriately placed at the beginning of the biblical story: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. . . .

As you read these two accounts, jot down in your notebook your answers to the following questions:

What repeated formulas (such as And God said, And it was so) do you find in the first account? Can you find anything comparable in the second?

Do you notice any difference in the names of God and the verbs used to express God’s creative acts?

What do you think is the main purpose of Genesis 1:1–2:4a? of Genesis 2:4b-25?

With this background, we now concentrate on Genesis 1:1–2:4a, one of the most majestically beautiful passages in all literature. Mighty act (God created, God blessed) and mighty word (And God said) are woven together as the mighty word-deed of God. As one reads it in reverence and appreciation, one can almost hear the heavenly chorus singing the song of creation. The passage is a creed of mature faith that has put a song into the hearts of many who have found the universe a domed cathedral in which they have bowed to confess their own faith in the Creator of the heavens and earth. The creed begins with a preamble, or general introductory statement. Next comes the body of the confession, which is set in the sequence of the Jewish workweek of six days; and within this body there is a parallelism of days (one and four, two and five, three and six). The creed is concluded with a seventh-day summary. This literary framework can be seen clearly in the following outline:

Preamble (Gen. 1:1–2)

7. Day Seven: Rest (Gen. 2:1–4a)

When a person grasps the fact that this account of creation is neither a fairy tale nor the kind of history that is literally viewed in process by human eye, but a theological confession placed in the literary framework of the Jewish week, many worries about the so-called conflict between science and religion will vanish into thin air. There is no need to try to make everything in the biblical account square with present-day scientific theory or evidence, for the scientific view of the universe at any given moment may differ from that of previous ages. In fact, it is only recently that we have learned that the earth is not spherical but pear-shaped.

The biblical writer used the worldview and thought-forms of the time to express faith in God as Creator for all days. The worldview and vocabulary of the twenty-first century C.E. would not have been understood by the writer’s contemporaries and the beautiful theological statement would have been lost to posterity. The writer’s view of the physical world was similar to that held by Babylonians and others outside the fold of Israel, just as Christians and non-Christians alike accept many of the same things in the worldview of the space age. The drawing on p. 18 approximates the conception of the universe as held by people in ancient Mesopotamia and Palestine.

The Hebrew Conception of the Universe

In connection with Genesis 1 and with this drawing, read Genesis 7:11; 8:2; Isaiah 24:18; Psalms 24:1–2; 104:1–35; 148:4. Obviously, the conception of a solid firmament above the earth was not an article of faith to the ancient Israelite any more than the distance from the earth to some other planet is an article of faith to us. But it was and is an article of faith that the One True God created all there is. The ancient writer was not writing to make the study of biology, botany, geology, astronomy, and nuclear physics unnecessary. Many devout Christians are able simultaneously to accept the fundamentals of biblical faith and a carefully documented theory of evolution because they have distinguished between framework and faith. Other equally devout Christians have not found it possible to do this.

In the seventeenth century C.E. Archbishop Ussher, on the basis of a literalistic interpretation of biblical dates, calculated that the creation took place in 4004 B.C.E. Yet anyone who has studied archaeology, to say nothing of geology, knows that this date is grossly inaccurate. Unfortunately, it has been included as a statement of fact in the chronological schemes of some editions of the Bible. But this date is not the kind of information that ought to be made into an article of faith. Scientists today generally agree that the universe came into being billions of years ago. Neither is such a theory as this an article of faith. It is the type of thing that one examines on the basis of the evidence presented in its behalf.¹

Another consideration that underscores the necessity of distinguishing between literary form and biblical faith is the parallel between the Babylonian Genesis (Enuma elish) and Genesis 1:1–2:4a.

How different the Bible is from the pagan myths of creation! Yet there are certain similarities in the forms of the stories. In brief, the Enuma elish tells the story of how Marduk, the elected champion of certain of the gods, met the dragon goddess Tiamat in mortal combat. As they came together Marduk enmeshed Tiamat in his net. When Tiamat opened her mouth to swallow him, Marduk drove in the wind and thereby stretched her body. Then he shot an arrow through her open mouth, which pierced her heart and killed her. He split her carcass in two: out of one half he formed the heaven and out of the other he made the earth. Finally, he created humankind from the blood of Kingu, the consort of Tiamat. Humans were given the responsibility of feeding the multitude of deities.

Both accounts of creation (that in Genesis and that in Enuma elish) mention a watery chaos. The Hebrew word tehom (the deep) is usually regarded as the linguistic equivalent of the Babylonian Tiamat. The basic concept of heaven and earth is essentially the same in both accounts, and the sequence of creative acts is essentially the same: light, firmament, dry land, luminaries, and humankind, with God or the deities resting at the end of creation. These parallels are too precise and too numerous to be denied. In fact, students of all types of theological outlooks readily admit them. They indicate that Israel was acquainted with literary ideas and forms that did not originate among the covenant people.

However, we must remember that the likenesses referred to above are in the realm of form, not faith. The differences that are in the realm of faith are far more significant. For example, the Babylonian Genesis is crassly polytheistic and degrading, while the biblical Genesis is monotheistic and elevating. According to the Babylonian account, creation takes place in a struggle of competing deities, while according to the biblical account it takes place by the mighty word of the One True God. Tiamat is depicted as a goddess, but tehom (the deep) is not regarded as a person. In the Enuma elish the creation of humanity is relatively unimportant, but in Genesis 1 the creation of humankind is the climax of the acts of creation—only humans are made in the image of God.

The whole matter of literary relationship and difference in faith can be illustrated rather clearly by an examination of our English word Easter. This word comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word Eastre, the name of the Teutonic goddess of spring. But in the process of Christian history it was baptized into Christian usage in such a way that to us it stands for the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. In a similar manner, ancient Israel borrowed words, worldviews, and literary forms from her neighbors, and so purged them of paganism as to make them vehicles of biblical revelation.

The Creed of Creation

We have already introduced Genesis 1:1–2:4a as the creed of creation. We now examine it part by part. You will find it interesting and informative to read Psalm 104 and compare its divisions with those found in this passage.

The Preamble (Gen. 1:1–2)

In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth is a summary statement that includes all the specific acts of creation mentioned later in the chapter. The heavens and the earth is the Hebrew way of saying the universe. The meaning of the rest of this verse, however, is not as easily determined. The Hebrew of this verse in its original form may be read in connection with verse 2 as follows: When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was without form and void. . . .

Did the author intend to say that God created the world out of nothing? Or is the point that God used formless stuff (chaos) as building blocks? There is no doubt that the word create (bara′) bears distinctive theological significance in the Old Testament. Humans are never said to create anything. Only God can create. It would probably beg the question to ask, Did God make chaos (see Isa. 45:18)? There is a mystery in the universe which suggests that, save for the power of God, all would turn into chaos.

In any case, God brought order out of chaos, which implies that God is always able to bring order out of any chaos. Creation out of nothing versus creation out of something or vice versa was apparently not a conscious issue when Genesis 1 was written. But the writer’s statement of the sovereignty of God in such a distinctive and forceful way would of necessity be translated into the out-of-nothing doctrine when it was brought into contact with a philosophical approach to life. In other words, Genesis 1 may be regarded as the theological womb out of which this doctrine was to be brought forth in the fullness of time. The doctrine of creation out of nothing is important because it affirms the absolute sovereignty of God. No devil and no thing is God’s equal. The One True God brings into being, and controls, all there is.

Day One: Light (Gen. 1:3–5)

Here is the first mention of God’s creative word (see vv. 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, and 26). God is not the universe as in pantheism; God is not confined to the universe as in naturalism; God stands over against the creation as its sovereign Creator and Lord. Light heads the list of specifics in creation as being of primary significance. One was to say many years later, God is light (1 John 1:5) and The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world (John 1:9). What is the meaning of each of these statements from the New Testament, and how are they related to Genesis 1:3–5? We read, And God saw that the light was good. Statements similar to this recur throughout the chapter. How do you account for this emphasis?

The evening is mentioned before the morning in verses 5, 8, 13, 19, 23, and 31 because the Jewish day began in the evening; in fact, it still does. For example, among Jews Sabbath begins on Friday evening at sunset. The alternation of night and day reminds us of the divine ordering of rest and work. Our time belongs to God.

Day Two: Firmament (Gen. 1:6–8)

The ancient worldview is clearly reflected in the mention of the firmament and the waters above and below it. Rain, it was thought, came from the heavenly water supply when the windows in the solid dome or firmament were opened.

Day Three: Dry Land and Vegetation (Gen. 1:9–13)

The dry land appears when the waters are collected into the encompassing ocean. The three-storied universe, which we represented earlier by a diagram, is referred to in Exodus 20:4—"You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth" (compare Pss. 24:2; 136:6). Vegetation is associated with the earth on which it grows.

Day Four: Luminaries (Gen. 1:14–19)

Light in its elemental nature was mentioned as the first of God’s creative acts; here the heavenly bodies are referred to as lights. Signs may signify unusual appearances in the sky, such as comets and eclipses. Seasons are the fixed times in the agricultural and religious calendars.

Day Five: Fish and Birds (Gen. 1:20–23)

The verb create was used in verse 1. It is used for the second time in verse 21 in relation to the sea animals and the flying creatures. In other words, there is something distinctive about the creation of animal life. Though we think of fish as the chief sea animals, all water animals are included. Similarly, birds are the most prominent flying creatures, but the writer includes all flying creatures. Here also the blessing of God is first introduced, for God gives the capacity of procreation to these creatures.

Day Six: Land Animals and Humans (Gen. 1:24–31)

Recall that on the third day the dry land appeared, and the earth put forth vegetation at God’s command. On the sixth day the earth brought forth land animals at God’s command, and God created humans in the divine image. The land animals are classified in three groups: cattle or domestic animals, creeping things or small animals, and wild animals of the earth of every kind.

The creation of humans is of climactic importance. The amount of space as well as the development of the subject indicates this. "Let us make humankind in our image" suggests that the heavenly King of creation involves the heavenly council of angels in this decision. The idea of the heavenly court occurs frequently in the Old Testament (see, for example, Gen. 3:22; 1 Kings 22:19–22; Isa. 6:1–2, 8; Job 1; Ps. 82:1). To say that the biblical