Title: God's work of creation (Genesis 01:1)
Contents The fact that God created the heavens and the earth to suit the circumstances of human beings shows that human knowledge is too insufficient to understand.
The purpose of Genesis 1 is not to tell the origin of all things, but to testify to Israel and the church that God, the Creator, is the Lord of redemption and works with the wisdom and power of the Creator to reach the goal of the created world.
Creation is the body that reveals the glory of the Creator, the temple that God dwells in, and the kingdom that He builds and rules according to His will. The goal of history is to complete the glory of this Creator with its fullness of light, and for this purpose, God created man in God's image and appointed him as God's representative.
The completion of the kingdom of God is achieved through re-creation by removing sin from all things at the end of history. This re-creation was accomplished in heavenly order in the incarnation and resurrection of Christ. The re-creation is a new creation that renews all things in the order of the glorious body of Christ who sits on the throne, and is consummated in the universal sanctuary where God is all in all and full of Him who fills all things. That is eternal rest.
1. in the beginning
The same word with the meaning of beginning, origin, departure, appears completely different from the meaning of John 1:1 and 1 John 1:1. (Museum point: refers to a state with no end or beginning)
① It is the starting point of the beginning by God initiating the creation of the heavens and the earth.
② The beginning of John 1:1 means eternity that transcends time, before all things were created.
2. God
If you look at the meaning of the original language, Elohim is expressed as the Almighty. Therefore, Almighty God is repeated 32 times in Chapter 1 alone to emphasize that God alone is the subject of creation.
3. Heaven and Earth
God's creation did not create any part, but the entire universe. So Paul says 2 Corinthians 12:02 I know a man in Christ, who was taken up to the third heaven fourteen years ago (whether he was in the body or out of the body I do not know, but God knows)
The third sky was expressed.
Expressing heaven and earth in the plural
The spiritually existing sky is the space of the space-time world, and the earth is the material of the creation of the heavenly bodies.
The great world (spirit realm) refers to material molecules (H. Morris). “Heaven and Earth” means the air
Earth with the firmament in 2 Corinthians 12:1-4 (J. Whithelaw)
The three meanings in the Old Testament are as follows.
G. Spiritual heaven as a dwelling place for spirit creatures
Deuteronomy 26:15, 1 Kings 8:30, Psalm 11:4
N. The space sky (or firmament) that surrounds the earth
Gen 1:8,14, Gen 11:4
God's work of creation Genesis 1:1
c. cosmic sky including heavenly bodies
Psalm 103:19, 119:9, Ecclesiastes 11:5
4. Creation
Regarding creation, the Bible distinguishes and uses four meanings of creation.
① Bara is a word that refers to God’s absolute creative work, and creation in the pure sense of creating something out of nothing (1:1; Psalm 51:10; Isaiah 65:17; Amos 4:13).
② Asa is translated as to make (1,7,16,25) or to make (3:1), and it means to create a completely new life form from already created matter.
③ Yachar is translated as “Mainly build” (2:7,8,19), which means that God makes things perfectly according to His will, just like a potter makes beautiful vessels out of clay.
Therefore, the words of yachar and asaran are used to create or erase something from some material that already exists.
④ Barna indicates that God created Eve from Adam's rib.