Genesis 1

The Creation

1 In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. 2 But the earth was empty and unoccupied, and darknesses were over the face of the abyss; and so the Spirit of God was brought over the waters.
The First Day
3 And God said, “Let there be light.” And light became. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and so he divided the light from the darknesses. 5 And he called the light, ‘Day,’ and the darknesses, ‘Night.’ And it became evening and morning, one day.
The Second Day
6 God also said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide waters from waters.” 7 And God made a firmament, and he divided the waters that were under the firmament, from those that were above the firmament. And so it became. 8 And God called the firmament ‘Heaven.’ And it became evening and morning, the second day.
The Third Day
9 Truly God said: “Let the waters that are under heaven be gathered together into one place; and let the dry land appear.” And so it became. 10 And God called the dry land, ‘Earth,’ and he called the gathering of the waters, ‘Seas.’ And God saw that it was good. 11 And he said, “Let the land spring forth green plants, both those producing seed, and fruit-bearing trees, producing fruit according to their kind, whose seed is within itself, over all the earth.” And so it became. 12 And the land brought forth green plants, both those producing seed, according to their kind, and trees producing fruit, with each having its own way of sowing, according to its species. And God saw that it was good. 13 And it became evening and the morning, the third day.
The Fourth Day
14 Then God said: “Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven. And let them divide day from night, and let them become signs, both of the seasons, and of the days and years. 15 Let them shine in the firmament of heaven and illuminate the earth.” And so it became. 16 And God made two great lights: a greater light, to rule over the day, and a lesser light, to rule over the night, along with the stars. 17 And he set them in the firmament of heaven, to give light over all the earth, 18 and to rule over the day as well as the night, and to divide light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And it became evening and morning, the fourth day.
The Fifth Day
20 And then God said, “Let the waters produce animals with a living soul, and flying creatures above the earth, under the firmament of heaven.” 21 And God created the great sea creatures, and everything with a living soul and the ability to move that the waters produced, according to their species, and all the flying creatures, according to their kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And he blessed them,
saying: “Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea. And let the birds be multiplied above the land.” 23 And it became evening and morning, the fifth day.
The Sixth Day
24 God also said, “Let the land produce living souls in their kind: cattle, and animals, and wild beasts of the earth, according to their species.” And so it became. 25 And God made the wild beasts of the earth according to their species, and the cattle, and every animal on the land, according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
26 And he said: “Let us make Man to our image and likeness. And let him rule over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and the wild beasts, and the entire earth, and every animal that moves on the earth.” 27 And God created man to his own image; to the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them. 28 And God blessed them, and he said, “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and the flying creatures of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” 29 And God said: “Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing plant upon the earth, and all the trees that have in themselves the ability to sow their own kind, to be food for you, 30 and for all the animals of the land, and for all the flying things of the air, and for everything that moves upon the earth and in which there is a living soul, so that they may have these on which to feed.” And so it became. 31 And God saw everything that he had made. And they were very good. And it became evening and morning, the sixth day.

Genesis starts it all, but I am not sure how other people see it. My interpretation says that in Genesis God is creating and organizing a world to his liking. As we move further into the Bible, we will discover the overall arching theme of God’s law in how to relate to others and God. It showcases the violence, struggles and suffering of the human condition.

In Genesis 1 we see how God structures the universe. He creates heaven and earth. He separates the waters above and below, light from dark, land from water, night from day, etc. etc. God will also provide instructions to man (His laws). From an earthly point of view, there is a method to God’s madness.

It might be worth noting here that there is nothing in the Bible that is based on science as we know it. Everything is based in the social realm instead of the scientific realm. The Bible is a roadmap on the way we as humans should live.

This, of course, may not be how you see the Bible. Everyone is highly encouraged to read and understand the Bible through their own interpretations. No matter how you interpret the Bible, there is one thing for certain that everyone must have – FAITH. Without faith, nothing is going to make sense.

Christianity and Christians faith are not the only religion out there. There are several others. What is funny with them is that they all have something similar to Genesis in the Bible. Those faiths all seem to show that earth started by bringing order to the cosmos in some fashion or another. I won’t go through all of these here, that might be worth doing in a different project. But suffice it to say, they all have flaws while the Bible account seems to at least lend itself to scientific plausibility.

Throughout the ages and across all cultures come the same fundamental questions. Where did the earth and universe come from? Why do we exist? How did we get here? What is the purpose of life? The Bible lays out all the answers for us whereas the other cultures are still searching for answers.

I bring these up because of what I mentioned earlier, you have to have faith. The very first sentence of the Bible puts all the philosophical type questions to rest no matter what culture they come from. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” This sentence is the very foundational stone of everything to come. If you cannot accept this one statement, then there is no sense for you to continue reading the Bible any further.

The question of our origin is one of the most critical issues throughout history. People have been asking it for eons. The first verse of the first chapter in the Bible wipes out every single philosophical answer across all ages. Perhaps some explanation is needed here to put this thought into perspective for you.

In the sentence, we see that God is separate from the universe he creates. That means that teachings from all culture that rely on pantheism are effectively ruled out. Next, we see that in the chapter that all creation is good, ruling out dualism. Human beings, both male and female together, are made in the image of God. That means any claims that we are part of the animal kingdom are ruled out. Any tribal deities are ruled out because God sovereignly made all things, including people.

We are here discussing Genesis 1 – the first book of the Bible. It is the cornerstone of the entire Bible. We have no choice. If we are to continue throughout the Bible, we must accept God’s record of our origin by faith. Why? Because there is no empirical evidence from science that can prove anything. Man was not there when it was created. As such, no human was around in the beginning to witness and record what happened.

What else do we see from this chapter? Reading it again, we see that God dominates the entire Chapter as His word brings the universe into existence. From the tiniest, smallest speck to the entire vastness of the universe, God created it all. From the Bible, based in our faith, we see a historical reference on how the world began. The creation shows the glory of God and His word as he speaks everything into being “God said let there be” and it came to be and it was good.

I am sure people argued over different things in the Bible. Perhaps even you took on various arguments like whether or not a day in the beginning is equivalent to 24 hours as we know it. Regardless of the argument – our faith keeps us from denying God created everything. Elsewhere in the Bible, Jesus himself stated that God created man. That means that if we reject the creation, we are also rejecting our Lord’s very own testimony.

Since we are talking about the Bible and what we think it means – we are talking theology. What does Genesis 1 give us in terms of theological truths that give our faith in God its foundation. There are a couple I can figure out although there might be others I missed. If you know of them I would be grateful for your insight.

We can see that God is eternal. He existed BEFORE anything was created. In other words, He himself was UNCREATED. Therefore, He was always present.

We can see the three parts of God. God the Father (the speaker who creates), the word that becomes flesh when Jesus is born and God the Holy Ghost (the Spirit of God.

Since God is plural throughout the Bible, it is worth noting that all other gods from all other religions are singular. This makes a BIG difference in the way things are interpreted. You see, in other religions, their god had to create in order to love. But here, we have three in one, plural. Meaning that love was already there prior to anything getting created. Simply put, God is love. John 17:24 supports this when Jesus says

“Father, I will that where I am, those whom you have given to me may also be with me, so that they may see my glory which you have given to me. For you loved me before the founding of the world.”

Jesus clearly indicates a love from the Father to the Son and that he wishes to reciprocate that perfect love with everyone.

God existed before anything (He is eternal). God is plural (three in one). God is love. All three of these theological truths form the basis of our faith.

Abyss – a deep or seemingly bottomless chasm
Creation – the action or process of bringing something into existence
Dualism – the division of something conceptually into two opposed aspects
Firmament – the heavens or sky – especially when viewed as a tangible thing
Genesis – the origin or mode of formation of something
Pantheism – worship that admits or tolerates all gods
Plausibility – the quality of seeming reasonable or probable – possible
Reciprocate – respond to (a gesture or action) by making a corresponding one
Sovereignly – one possessing and acting with supreme power
Spirit of God – the breath of God
Theology – the study of religion
Theological – relating to the study of theology.
Truth – the quality or state of being true

Our Image – who is “our”?
This was God talking. God is The Trinity, three in one, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. God is plural and therefore uses the term “our”

Who wrote Genesis?
Genesis is unsigned. We do not know explicitly who wrote Genesis. In Christianity it is believed that Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, commonly referred to as the Pentateuch.

Where did God come from?
This question is similar to “Who created God”. There is no who. God ALWAYS existed. God is the only thing that is uncreated. People will try to argue using cause and effect, but such things are only true in the physical world. They do not hold water in the spiritual world. For us Christians God always was, always is, and always will be. God is eternal without beginning or end.

What did God create the earth with if nothing existed beforehand?
This question is almost the same as who created God. Let’s put this into perspective here before getting too deep into the particulars. We talked about cause and effect when answering “Where did God come from”. Now its time to put cause and effect to work for us.
The earth, as well as the universe, were created by God. Logic dictates that nothing comes from nothing. For us humans, “nothing” is the same as non-existing. Therefore, reason shows us that “nothing” does not have the power “to do” anything.
That means that for nothing to create something means that nothing would have to create itself first. That means it must exist at the same time that it does not exist. This is a contradiction in terms and cannot physically be true.
In order for something to exist without being the result of some other cause (cause and effect here), it must be eternal (something that did not come into being but has just always existed). The universe could not emerge from nothing but can exist as an effect from an uncaused eternal force – which is exactly what God is.

What is the difference between the light in Genesis 1:3 and the light in Genesis 1:14?
In Genesis 1:3 God created the light and separated the night and day. This tells us that is our sun because we recognize the night and day as light and dark.
In Genesis 1:14 God made lights (plural) in heaven. They are used as signs of the seasons, days and years. These lights are the stars we see in our sky.

Do inanimate objects have souls?
The short answer is simply no. But if you want proof, read Genesis 1 again. On the third day God created the plants and all other inanimate objects as we know them. But He did not give those objects souls. On the fifth day God created the creatures of the sea and land with “a living soul”.

Your Catholic Study Bible from Amazon.com
Ignatius Catholic Bible available on Amazon.com
Delighting In The Trinity available on Amazon.com