Genesis 1
vv.1-2
Commentary
“Genesis” means “beginning,” which is a fitting name for a book that is dedicated to the beginning of God’s saving activity for mankind. In order to give the history of God’s saving activity in this world, Moses fittingly tells us with these opening chapters how the world came into being and why God needed to act to save mankind. Since believing in the creation of the world as God presents it through the simple words of Genesis 1 and 2 is incredibly important to the understanding of God’s salvation through Jesus, we take God at his word when he tells us this is how the world came into being. For more about the teaching of creation, see the explanation of Creation in the Beyond the Basics section of this website.
How everything began is told to us quite simply with the first sentence of the Bible, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” What type of existence with God was there before the heavens and the earth were created? We are not told. That is not the focus of the Bible. The Bible is meant to tell us everything we need to know about how God saved us from sin. The mysteries Scripture does not reveal are not vital to our existence in this life, therefore we will have to be satisfied with that which Scripture does reveal. For now, God was pleased simply to tell us that he created the heavens (the sky and outer space) and the earth.
Moses then immediately focuses our attention on the setting of salvation history: the earth. He says, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep.” With God having brought all matter, time, and space into being with his initial act of creation in verse 1, we find out that the earth is initially in a rough, crude, and chaotic state in verse 2. There are four deficiencies in this initial, crude state of the earth that God will address throughout the rest of the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2: it is without form, it is empty, it is covered in darkness, and it is covered in water (“the deep”). The Hebrew word used for “the deep” is a word used often in Scripture to depict a vast abyss of water, like an ocean or a large sea. So we see in this second sentence of the Bible an introduction to the work God will do during the remainder of the six days of creation.
Other Notes
- “In the beginning” – This phrase is emphasized in the structure of the original Hebrew, showing that this was the beginning of absolutely everything: all matter, all space, and all time.
- “God” – This Hebrew word for “God” may be derived from the word that means “to be mighty,” which is appropriate here considering God is showing his true power by creating the universe. This word is also plural in the original Hebrew, which may reflect the other hints of the Trinity seen in the opening chapters of Genesis (Gen 1:2, 1:26, 3:22), but by no means is explicitly teaching this doctrine. Scripture does that elsewhere.
- “created” – The Hebrew word used for “created” is a special verb used only for creating done by God that produces something new and extraordinary.1Lawrenz, Carl J., and John C. Jeske. A Commentary on Genesis 1-11. Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Pub. House, 2004. 35.
- “the heavens and the eath” – The fact that God created everything out of nothing is also shown in Heb 11:3, as well as Ex 20:11, 1 Jn 1:1-3, Ps 146:6, Ac 17:24, Rom 11:36, 1 Cor 8:6, and Rev 10:6. This first verse of the Bible is not to be taken as a summary of the whole creation account because that would contradict verse 2 and the passages just listed.
- “the earth” – this is emphasized in the original Hebrew. Moses is focusing our attention directly on the earth and everything God is about to do.
- “the deep” – mentioned this way again in Psalm 104:6.
- “hovering” – This word in the Hebrew gives the idea of a mother bird hovering over her young. It shows that the Holy Spirit was caring for creation from the very beginning, even in its chaotic initial state.
vv.3-5
Commentary
After bringing all matter, time, and space into being, God immediately addresses one of the initial deficiencies: darkness. “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” God spoke, and it came to be (Ps 33:9). He shows just how powerful he is by creating something simply by his word, his command (Heb 11:3).
When God looked at this new creation, he “saw that the light was good.” These words will be repeated throughout the creation account, and they are included and repeated for our benefit. Remember, these opening chapters of Genesis are meant to give us an introduction to God’s saving activity. By telling us along the way that everything God created was good, it is meant to emphasize that everything in creation was completely God-pleasing. “Good” in God’s eyes equals perfect. Eventually that perfection will be gone in chapter 3 when Adam and Eve bring sin into the world.
As God created light, he did not eliminate darkness altogether. He separated light and darkness, using both for the purpose of establishing daytime and nighttime. We can certainly understand why God chose to do this on the first day of creation. Light and its warmth are vital to life on this earth, as is the cycle of daytime and nighttime. Right away on day one of creation we see God’s care for the creatures that will come later in creation.
Also right away on day one of creation we see the incompatibility between the creation account in Genesis and the Theory of Evolution. First of all, God explicitly defines a day with what we understand to be a 24-hour period: an equal period of darkness followed by an equal period of light, with transitions or beginnings called “evening” and “morning.” Secondly, God created light before he created a source to bring that light to the earth. The stars, planets, and other heavenly bodies will be created on day four. To overcome these differences between the creation account and the Theory of Evolution one would need either to ignore the simple meaning of these words in Scripture or to redefine them in a way that is not found elsewhere.
Other Notes
- “let there be” – God created everything by his word. In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as “the Word” through whom all things were made (Jn 1:1-3). See also 1 Cor 8:6, Col 1:16, and Heb 1:2.
vv.6-8
Commentary
On the second day of creation, God continues to address the initial deficiencies from day 1. He now addresses the formlessness and “the deep.” “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” This vault, or expanse, will eventually be named “sky” and will continue to be referred to as what we consider today to be the sky and outer space (see Gen 1:14-18 and Gen 1:20). God has effectively given order to the space around the earth and prepared it for the heavenly bodies (day 4) and the birds (day 5) that will later occupy it.
But what does “separate water from water” mean? Many believe the “water” above the expanse simply refers to what we consider to be the part of the water cycle that takes place in the sky, in other words the clouds that bring rain to the earth. However, there may be more to the “water” above the expanse than the rainclouds we know today.
The first mention of clouds in the Bible does not come until Genesis 9:13-15, after the Flood. Moses also states in Genesis 2:5 that God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, which, when looking at the original Hebrew text and the surrounding context, may point to the entire time between creation and the Flood. Also, it isn’t until after the Flood that God institutes a new phenomenon to serve as the sign of his promise to Noah: the rainbow. Combine all of this with the fact that the apostle Peter implies “the present heavens (sky) and earth” as we know it differs from “the world of that time” (the time before the Flood) in 2 Peter 3:3-7, and one could conclude that there was a different water system developed on day 2 of creation than anything we currently know.
What would this different water system have looked like? We cannot say for sure. Although some have imagined that it may have been a large, transparent canopy of water vapor that enveloped the earth. This canopy would have provided the necessary water and moisture to the plants that would be created on day 3 while also allowing the necessary light from the heavenly bodies created on day 4 to reach the earth. This unique water system is also supported by the fact that God’s original main source of water for the Garden of Eden was not rain but instead the abundant water that flowed through the garden via a river and underground springs (see Genesis 2:6, 10).
We cannot say for sure what Moses meant by “separate water from water,” but there is sufficient evidence to suspect the creation of a different hydrological system than what we know today.
Other Notes
- “to separate” – This verb in the original Hebrew is a participle, showing continuous action. The purpose of this vault, or expanse, would be continuously to separate water from water.
- “the second day” – The Hebrew word for “second” is an ordinal number, showing that it is the exact same type of day as day one.
- See also 2 Peter 3:3-7 – In 2 Peter 3:3-7, where the apostle Peter confronts the idea that “everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.” To refute this, Peter uses two examples of significant moments in earth’s history that brought about great change, one being creation itself and the other being the Flood.In doing so, he speaks of “the world of that time” (before the Flood) and “the present heavens and earth” as if there is a significant difference between the two.The world as we know it today is not the same as the world after creation and before the Flood, and Peter very well could have been speaking of a different hydrological system.
- canopy of water vapor that enveloped the earth? – Some have also suggested that if this canopy of water vapor did indeed exist, then the constant health benefits would have led people to live the lengthy lives we read about before the Flood (see Gen 5:1ff).Therefore, if the Flood changed the water system, it would explain why lifespans began to drastically decrease following the Flood to the much shorter lifespans we know today.2Lawrenz, Carl J., and John C. Jeske. A Commentary on Genesis 1-11. Milwaukee, Wis.: Northwestern Pub. House, 2004.,3Whitcomb, John Clement, and Henry M. Morris. The Genesis Flood: The Biblical Record and Its Scientific Implications. 50th anniversary ed. Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 20111961. 240,241.
vv.9-13
Commentary
God continues to address the formlessness and “the deep” on day 3 of creation. The water below the sky is “gathered to one place” to form what God names “seas,” which is obviously in context a general term referring to all seas, oceans, rivers, and other bodies of water. By gathering the waters to one place God effectively creates what he names “land.” We know this consisted of valleys, mountains, and everything in between because of the reference made to the Flood waters rising above the mountains (Gen 7:19-20), as well as what is said in Psalm 104:7-9. The fact that God names these two new features shows that they are to be permanent features of the newly created earth.
God does not stop there on day 3. He then focuses his attention on the land and addresses another initial deficiency: emptiness. “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” God creates two classifications of plants: seed-bearing plants and fruit trees, and he gives them the special ability to reproduce “after their kinds.”
What does God mean by “kinds” and how many “kinds” were there? We cannot say exactly. What we can say is that God has set bounds on the reproduction of these plants. One kind cannot develop into another kind or into a new kind. There may be great potential for variation within a single kind, but the evolutionary hypothesis that all plant life evolved from one initial organic cell cannot be reconciled with what God declares on day 3. These bounds will also be set for animals on days 5 and 6. This newly created plant life is also seen as “good” in God’s eyes, the second reminder on day 3 that everything God has done and has created is perfect.
Other Notes
- “let dry ground appear” – The grammatical combination of “let the water under the sky be gathered to one place” and “let dry ground appear” in the original Hebrew could also be translated together as: “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place so that dry ground appears.”
- “trees” – Since all trees produce some sort of fruit with seed in it, this second classification of plants is essentially all trees, including what we consider fruit trees, trees that bear nuts, and trees that bear cones.
vv.14-19
Commentary
On day 1, God had created light and separated it into daytime and nighttime. Now on day 4 God supplies the means by which that light will appear each day. “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night.” How God had separated the day and the night before day 4 we are not told, but now God creates the “greater light” and the “lesser light” to govern the process. Daylight from the sun brings heat and growth for plants and light for the activity and work of animals and humans. Nighttime brings the necessary time for all things to rest and recuperate, with the reflected light of the moon and the stars preventing total darkness. While this creative activity of day 4 does not take place on the earth, God certainly has the earth and its future inhabitants in mind.
This is also seen by the continued list of purposes from these light-bearers. “Let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years.” The fact that mankind has used the stars and planets in the universe to mark days, years, and seasons can be seen throughout history. Many species of animals instinctively gather food, prepare their homes, or even migrate in conjunction to the change of days, years, and seasons. The importance of knowing the time of day helps every culture function. Thus on day 4 of creation, God continues to show his care and love for human beings by preparing the earth for their habitation.
Other Notes
- “lights” – This word in the original Hebrew is literally “light-bearer,” not “light.” Light was created on day 1, but now God was creating that which would bring the light to the earth.
- “signs to mark sacred times” – For one example, see Matthew 2:2.
- “greater and lesser” – “Two great lights,” “greater,” and “lesser” refer to the role of bringing light to the earth and do not refer to the physical sizes of the sun and the moon. They may have been referred to in this way in order to avoid the Hebrew words for “sun” and “moon,” which themselves were words used as names of pagan deities. Therefore, Moses’ ambiguity in describing the sun and the moon actually brought more clarity on who was doing the creating and what he was creating.
- “stars” – This word is used here as a general term for all stars, planets, and galaxies in the universe.
- “saw that it was good” – We, too, see that this is good because it reminds us of our all-powerful and ever-caring God (Psalm 8:3-4; Psalm 19:1).
vv.20-23
Commentary
God had spent the first four days of creation preparing the earth so that life could flourish. With everything ready, it was now time to bring forth that life. “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” God had done it. Simply by his powerful Word he had created life. “And God saw that it was good.”
There are three instances in these verses that directly contradict evolutionary theory. First of all, God simultaneously created the creatures that live in the water and the winged birds and insects. Secondly, Moses stresses twice that “all” (here translated “every”) living creatures in the water and “all” winged creatures were created here on day 5. And thirdly, Moses also stresses twice something that had previously been said of the vegetation God created on day 3: everything was created “according to their kinds.” Yes, these creatures were created with the ability to adapt into different varieties, but never outside the bounds of their “kinds.” Merging the creation account with the Theory of Evolution simply cannot be done without compromising the plain words of Scripture.
After creating these living creatures by his Word, God does something else that is significant. God blesses them. This is not just some simple wish on the part of God, this is God’s powerful and effective Word—the same Word he had just used to create them. The effects of this blessing can still be seen today, as the waters of this earth still teem with life and the skies are still graced with the presence of winged creatures, great and small.
The powerful effects of God’s Word should be of no surprise to us, nor should we ever doubt its power. After all, those same powerful effects can be seen today in our hearts. Through his Word, God has given life to our souls through faith in his Son, Jesus, who is the Word made flesh (Jn 1:1-4, 1:14). God’s Word has been granting life since the very beginning, including the very special life we will see God create as we move from day 5 of creation to the ever-important day 6.
Other Notes
- “creatures” – This is the first time the Hebrew word nephesh is used, a very significant word throughout Scripture. It can be translated a wide variety of ways, including “soul,” “life,” “person,” and “breath,” but it is correctly translated here in context as “creature.” Its use shows this was a significant moment in creation.
- “birds” – The Hebrew word translated here as “bird” can also include winged insects (see Lev 11:19ff).
- “created” – The Hebrew word used here for “created” is once again the special word used only in connection with a special, divine creative act from God, the second time this word has been used by Moses (see also Gen 1:1). This creating of life on day 5 was a momentous occasion in the creation account.
- “great creatures of the sea” – The Hebrew word translated here for “creatures of the sea” comes from the verb root that means “to stretch out.” Thus, it makes us think of creatures in the water that are quite long, such as whales, sharks, underwater dinosaurs, crocodiles, etc.
- “move about” – The Hebrew verb used for “move about” is a word that literally means “to creep” or “to move lightly.” God was not just creating the great creatures of the sea, but also the smaller creatures that move lightly throughout the water.
vv.24-25
Commentary
After filling the bodies of water with living creatures and the skies with birds and winged insects, God now turns his attention to the dry land. Instead of simply creating them out of nothing, we are told that God brings creatures forth from the land itself (see also Gen 2:19). From the dry land, God creates three different classes of animals: domesticated animals (“livestock”), animals that are not typically tamed or domesticated (“wild animals”), and animals that move on or close to the ground. This last class of animals most likely includes land animals like reptiles, worms, ants, etc.
Even the casual reader will notice that a certain phrase is repeated—five times, in fact—in these two verses: “according to their kinds.” This is not a simple repetition for uniformity. It is clearly a point of emphasis. As mentioned previously, God was allowing for great variation within each kind, but he was also setting bounds for reproduction, which is clearly seen in nature. While we are not told that God blessed the reproduction of the land animals as he had done with the creatures of the sea and the sky, Moses may have just omitted the blessing in eager anticipation of God’s most beloved creation that was about to be created next on day 6.
vv.26-28
Commentary
The entire creation account of Genesis chapter 1 has been leading up to this moment: the creation of mankind. God acknowledges the height of this moment by introducing the creation of mankind with an exhortation: “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness.” All of verse 27 is heightened, poetic language in the original Hebrew, showing that human beings were always meant to be the crown of God’s creation. Everything in the previous 5+ days of creation had been done for God’s beloved human beings.
This is also seen by the fact that God gives human beings dominion over the rest of creation, something he mentions twice. Human beings were created to be the caretakers of God’s creation. They were created to have access to all of the natural resources that God’s creation offered to them. Although sadly it has been tainted with abuse and misuse after the fall into sin, mankind still has and exercises this dominion today. From the very beginning, human beings have always been the ultimate object of God’s love and attention.
But by far the greatest evidence in creation of how beloved mankind is to God can be seen in the fact that God created mankind “in his own image.” What does Moses mean by “the image of God”? Some argue that it means mankind has been given a self-consciousness and reasoning capability no other animal has. While humans do have these gifts, Scripture tells us mankind lost the image of God after the fall into sin in Genesis 3 (see also Gen 5:1-3). Mankind certainly still has self-consciousness and reasoning capabilities, therefore the image of God must be something else.
From what the rest of Scripture tells us, the image of God is not physical or mental, but spiritual (Jn 4:24). The apostle Paul tells us that through faith we “have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator” (Col 3:9-10). He also tells us this “new self” is “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:22-24). The image of God, therefore, is true righteousness and holiness. The male and female that God had created were able to align their wills with his to the full extent of being righteous and holy, having the knowledge and ability to be completely God-pleasing.
This holy desire to do God’s will is what Satan attacks in his temptation of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1ff). The sad result of their sin is the loss of the image of God, which also results in passing their “own” likeness and image to their children (Gen 5:1-3), and thus to all people. This “image of man” mentioned in Genesis 5 is the sinful nature, and as that Scripture passage points out, it is something all people are now born with.
The holiness all people lack and the lack of true knowledge in God is exactly why God promised a Savior to Adam and Eve after they lost his image (Gen 3:15). It is exactly why he renews us in knowledge in his image through faith in the promised Savior. It is exactly why the promised Savior, Jesus, came and paid for our sin and covers us with his righteousness through faith (Rom 4:22-25; 2 Cor 5:17-21). God did not abandon us to our sin. He has worked to restore that righteousness in us because he has loved us that much since the beginning of creation.
The love God has for us is the same love he created us to share in the beautiful gift of marriage. When God created all of the other animals, he created them to reproduce “according to their kinds.” But not mankind. Mankind was to have a very different relationship, which is seen by the use of the words “male and female” in God’s creation of them. This will be discussed more in Genesis chapter 2, which is essentially a closer look at God’s creation of man and woman on day 6.
Other Notes
- “in our likeness” – This is the first of two instances in the opening chapters of Genesis where God speaks of himself in the plural (see also Gen 3:22). While this in itself does not teach the doctrine of the Trinity, we can certainly say it is evidence of the teaching. The early believers may not have known much of the teaching, but over time God has revealed more about himself in the Scriptures to where we can look back at verses like this and see shades of it. There are two evidences of the teaching of the Trinity in this opening chapter alone, here and in Gen 1:2.
- “created them” – Three times Moses uses the special Hebrew word for “create” used only for significant creative activity done by God. This creation of man and woman was obviously the most significant event in all six days of creation.
vv.29-31
Commentary
After creating the first human beings, God in his loving care even gives them direction for what they are to eat. “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.” In God’s perfect creation, man and woman were to eat the produce of plants. He even gives this direction to all of the animals in his creation. All animals, along with the man and the woman, lived in perfect harmony with each other. This, of course, all changed after the fall into sin, which brought with it the effects of hatred, fear, and death (Rom 8:20-22). God does not tell us in his Word how the animals changed their eating habits and relationships with each other, but we do know that “creation waits in eager expectation” for the Last Day when God will make everything new (Rom 8:18-19; see also Is 65:17, 25).
As God surveys his completed creation, he concludes now even more emphatically that “it was very good.” With mankind, the crown of his creation, now a part of his newly created world, everything collectively was not just perfect, but very perfect. And to conclude the creation account, we are simply told “And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.” In six days God had brought the heavens and the earth into being, ordered and arranged it, filled it with life, and given it to his most treasured possession, mankind. With everything completed, it was time for our eternal God to do something unexpected yet significant: it was time to rest. This we will see and discuss in chapter 2.
Other Notes
- “I give…” – In the original Hebrew, God actually begins his instruction to Adam and Eve with “Behold! I give you…” This would have shown them that what God was about to say was very important.
- “every green plant for food” – This is yet another example of why the Genesis creation account cannot be combined with the Theory of Evolution. In God’s perfect creation, every animal was to eat the produce from plants.
- “and – it was very good” – Once again, the original Hebrew includes the word “behold!” here. “And behold! It was very good.” We are to pause and behold God’s beautiful creation in its perfect and complete state.
Genesis 2
v.18
- Don’t misunderstand what God means by “not good.” Throughout the whole creation account we hear “It was good….it was good….it was good.” But here something is missing, therefore it is “not good.” This would have been even more striking to the listener/reader of Hebrew.
- Just because the word “helper” is used doesn’t mean this implies a subordinate role. God is referred to as a helper the most in the Bible. Eve’s role is no less important. It is still a divinely instituted plan.
- The creation of Eve is introduced with a divine decree just like man was in Genesis 1:26-27.
- “It is a fundamental truth: It is not good for a man to be by himself, without companionship….The normal adult person should seek the companionship of marriage, as the Lord stated that He would make for man a help, or helper, that would correspond to himself, be a counterpart of himself.”4Kretzmann, Paul E. “Genesis.” In Popular Commentary of the Bible. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.
v.19
- Why doesn’t God just create Eve? If you were reading this for the first time, you’d assume v.19 was going to be about God creating Eve. But God took the opportunity to show Adam just how special Eve was.
- Adam’s brain was not infected by sin in any way–his naming of the animals would have been perfect. He was a brilliant man because his will was in line with God’s will.
- Adam would’ve loved what God loved and hated what God hated. In a sense, he was thinking God’s thoughts after Him, so he would’ve been realizing what God had already said….something was “not good”…something was missing for him.
- When you realize what perfection was like, you begin to see how off everything is now. We are not in sync/harmony with God as Adam was.
v.20
- Adam could not find anything that could be a companion with him. A tiger or a bird is not going to talk to him about his day, etc. There were no animals that corresponded to him. He was beginning to understand what God was showing him.
- Mankind is the only one created with reason as we have it. We are the only creatures who willfully praise God. Martin Luther called reason “the cradle of the image of God.” Perfect man used reason to exercise the image of God.
v.22
- In order to build something you need a plan. This was obviously part of God’s plan…this was in God’s heart from eternity.
- Now God brings something to Adam that is different. Adam had all the animals brought to him over and over again, but now something else is brought to him…someone who had been created from him and was one with him.
- God created Eve from Adam’s rib. He could’ve created her from the dust like he had done with Adam, but this relationship was far more special. God wanted Adam and Eve to see that they were one from the very beginning.
v.23
- The Hebrew literally says “now this time”…after so many things being brought to him, THIS TIME made Adam instantly delight and recognize such a gift of God. This is a great example for us to follow in our marriages.
- Adam instantly gets the idea of oneness in a marriage! That’s why he names her “woman”…he gets it! The name is different from what the animals were given. The very name for woman shows the oneness of man and woman in a marriage.
- God deliberately creates her from Adam, and Adam understands the pure closeness involved with their relationship. We take this gift for granted. We don’t truly appreciate the eternal plan God has for us and our spouse.
v.24
- The Hebrew word here translated “be united” is literally “cling,” just as skin clings to bone, a connection that is never meant to be undone! This also shows why God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16 – see footnote). It literally tears apart something that was never meant to be separated.
- Adam here is speaking for the LORD. He has the image of God, so you know what he is saying is God’s will. He grasps what is going on.
- It does not specifically say that Adam is the one speaking this verse, but he most likely is because he was just speaking and it does not indicate a change.
- “When, in the manner approved by God, a man has been given the woman whom God has destined for him, then the tie which binds these two together is so close and so indissoluble that the man will sever the former intimate ties of home and be joined with his wife as her husband.”5Kretzmann, Paul E. “Genesis.” In Popular Commentary of the Bible. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921.