3. UNDERSTANDING GENESIS 1:1-25 IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WHOLE BIBLE

Having established God as the Sovereign Creator in Genesis 1, it is unsurprising that the rest of the Bible’s plotline builds on this foundational truth. Three of the principal ways in which it does so are set out below. Each passage of Scripture mentioned below is worth studying in more detail. 

Genesis 1 is Foundational to Understanding the God of the Bible 

The Old Testament continues to depict God as the eternal, unchangeable, incomparable, and Sovereign Creator. As Mathews puts it, ‘The creation account, as the preamble to the Pentateuch [the first five books of the Bible], announces that the God of Israel, the covenant Deliverer of his people, is Creator of all that exists. The opening verse is the theological presupposition of true biblical religion: The Lord of covenant and the God of creation are one and the same.’¹Mathews, Genesis 1-11, 64. See Psalms 74:12-17; 77:13-20; 89:5-13; Isaiah 42:5-6; Jeremiah 10:12-16.

Isaiah 40, for example, refers to God’s work of creation again and again and concludes: ‘To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.’²Isaiah 40:25-26; cf. Job 38; Psalms 19, 22, 136; Isaiah 45 (see R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing (Crossway, 2004), 20-21).

The Old Testament also continues to underline that the only right response to God, the King of creation, is to acknowledge his rule and worship him (for example, Psa 95:3-7). As such, idolatry and rebellion are stupid and scandalous, and the Scriptures are unafraid to expose humanity’s frailty as creatures, fallenness as rebels, and foolishness as idolaters who worship created things and forget, rather than fear, our Creator.³See, for example, Job 38:4-18ff.; Psalms 33:6-22; 90:1-6; 102:25-28; Isaiah 40:9-28; 44:9-20; and Jeremiah 10:12-16. And this is no less clear in the New Testament. For example, the Apostle Paul reminds his readers in Romans 1:20 that creation witnesses to God’s ‘invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature.’ It is this reality that exposes idolatrous attitudes and actions by all of us as shamefully and wilfully rebellious and leaves us all without excuse before God on his day of judgement (see Romans 1:18-3:20 for context). 

Genesis 1 is Vital to Understanding the Fall of Humanity

Genesis 1 teaches us that God is the Creator of all and, therefore, the rightful owner and Lord of all his creation. It also shows us how good and ordered everything is that God has created. Grasping these truths helps the reader to see why the rebellion of humanity in Genesis 3 is so seismic. Note also how such rebellion leads to growing deceit, disobedience, disorder, and death in Genesis 4-11, until the wonderful images of Genesis 1-2 seem to be a distant dream. However, also note how God reveals his redemptive purposes for his creation through his promises to Abraham in Genesis 12-17, as the Lord determines to bless Abraham’s descendants and, via his offspring, to bless the nations of the world. Although much of Genesis 18-50 reminds us of the growing chaos and curses of Genesis 3-11, we are also reminded of God’s powerful promises for his people, to bless them and through them to bless all the nations of the world. The foundational shape of that blessing has been demonstrated in Genesis 1 and 2: for rebellious humanity to return to living in loving fellowship and dependence on God, and therefore with each other.

Genesis 1 Informs the New Testament Portrait of Jesus Christ 

Not only does John’s prologue to his Gospel tell us that nothing was made without Christ (John 1:1-5), but both the Apostle Paul and the author of Hebrews also uphold such a view (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Hebrews 1:2-3, 10-12).⁴Other echoes in John 1:1-5 in addition to the phrase ‘in the beginning’ are the terms ‘were made’ and ‘was made’ (John 1:3) and the mention of ‘light’, ‘darkness’ and ‘shine’ in John 1:5 (cf. Genesis 1:3-5, 17). See C. John Collins, Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary and Theological Commentary (P&R Publishing, 2006), 94. Arguably, both Paul and the author of Hebrews go even further, not only affirming that Jesus is Divine and the agent or means of creation but also underlining that he sustains it. Nowhere is this New Testament emphasis on this aspect of Christ’s person and work clearer than in Colossians 1:16-17, where Paul says of Jesus, ‘For by him all things were created, in heaven and earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him … and in him all things hold together.’ Therefore, it is unsurprising to see the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4:11, fall down and cast their crowns before the enthroned Christ, ‘saying, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”’ This serves to assure Christians that the Creator of the world is also the Saviour of the world: ‘This very one who created the fleeing constellations, who orders the cell, who sustains every atom, came and died on the cross for your sins. This one will save you. He can bring a genesis to your life. That is what he came to do!’⁵Kent Hughes, Genesis, 30; cf. Collins, Genesis 1-4, 96.

Genesis 1 is Crucial for Understanding the Promise of the New Creation

In the Old and New Testaments, we read of the promise of a new creation and, ultimately, of a new heaven and a new earth. The Bible’s portrait of the eternal future echoes the creation of Genesis 1-2, which catastrophically succumbed to rebellion, idolatry, sin, and death. A total transformation is required to enable sinful de-created people to enjoy a fresh start in a re-created relationship with God in a new creation (for example, Isaiah 65:17-25; 66:15-24; and Ezekiel 36-37). Not only does Christ’s incarnation reveal Jesus to be the supreme Word through whom God created the world (see above), but the New Testament teaches that it is through Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and return, that God’s promised new creation will be both inaugurated and, in time, brought to completion (for example, see Acts 17:22-34; 2 Corinthians 5:16-19; Revelation 4-5 and 21:1-22:4). 

—

• 1
  Mathews, Genesis 1-11, 64. See Psalms 74:12-17; 77:13-20; 89:5-13; Isaiah 42:5-6; Jeremiah 10:12-16. ↩︎
• 2
  Isaiah 40:25-26; cf. Job 38; Psalms 19, 22, 136; Isaiah 45 (see R. Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing (Crossway, 2004), 20-21). ↩︎
• 3
  See, for example, Job 38:4-18ff.; Psalms 33:6-22; 90:1-6; 102:25-28; Isaiah 40:9-28; 44:9-20; and Jeremiah 10:12-16. ↩︎
• 4
  Other echoes in John 1:1-5 in addition to the phrase ‘in the beginning’ are the terms ‘were made’ and ‘was made’ (John 1:3) and the mention of ‘light’, ‘darkness’ and ‘shine’ in John 1:5 (cf. Genesis 1:3-5, 17). See C. John Collins, Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary and Theological Commentary (P&R Publishing, 2006), 94. ↩︎
• 5
  Kent Hughes, Genesis, 30; cf. Collins, Genesis 1-4, 96. ↩︎