Genesis 1-4

The journey begins…through the C. S. Lewis Bible in a year…four chapters per day…fasten your seatbelt…here are my thoughts on today’s reading….

So much happens in the first four chapters of Genesis: the creation of the universe, the creation of human beings, the fall of human beings into sin, Cain killing Abel, and what happened with Cain’s descendants. In all of it, I suppose, what stands out most to me is the powerfully beautiful description of creation in Genesis 1. Though it may not be in the form of Hebrew poetry, it is, nonetheless, poetic. One of my favorite lines is in Genesis 1:16 where it says that God made the stars—almost as an afterthought. It is as though the universe were a cake and God was the baker; then when it came to icing the cake he thought he would throw in a few million stars for decoration.

To me, the important thing is not the order of what happens on each day of creation, or even the question of whether God created the universe in six, twenty-four hour days. (I doubt that was the case, or that this was the point of the author of Genesis 1.) I think the whole point of Genesis 1 is to tell us about the WHO behind creation (God) not the HOW of creation (which scientists can tell us more about than the author or authors of Genesis ever imagined).

I also accept the idea of biblical scholars who tell us that in Genesis we have two creation accounts, one in Genesis 1 and the other in Genesis 2. That makes sense to me—the idea that the Israelites would have had two, or maybe even more than two, creation stories, and that the person or persons who edited the book of Genesis (perhaps as late as the time of the Exile) brought these two stories together. Nor does it bother me to think that the Israelites drew their creation myths from other surrounding cultures. The important thing, again, is what they say about the person, the one God, behind creation, the Creator himself. If, after reading Genesis 1 and 2, we can simply say, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth…” I think that is enough.

I love in Genesis 2 the picture of harmony between humanity and the animal kingdom. The idea of God bringing each animal to man to name them is a poignantly beautiful one. Should there not be something in each of us that cries out for a return to that original harmony? Will such harmony result from the restoration of the universe accomplished by the second Adam, Jesus Christ?

Of course the fall and its results, detailed in Genesis 3 and 4, are devastating after the beauty and harmony of creation depicted in Genesis 1 and 2. However, it is even more startling when one realizes that this fall was a result of what was, perhaps, God’s greatest creation: free will. As C. S. Lewis says…

“God has made it a rule for Himself that He won’t alter people’s character by force. He can and will alter them—but only if the people will let Him. In that way He has really and truly limited His power. Sometimes we wonder why He has done so, or even wish that He hadn’t But apparently He thinks it worth doing. He would rather have a world of free beings, with all its risks, than a world of people who did right like machines because they couldn’t do anything else. The more we succeed in imagining what a world of perfect automatic beings would be like, the more, I think, we shall see His wisdom.” (“The Trouble with ‘X’”, God in the Dock)

What are your thoughts?

Comments

Anonymous said…

I have yet to read the first four chapters and, knowing myself, will not commit to keeping pace with you, but you have motivated me to attempt a complete read through. Not since the excitement of my conversion have I even attempted. I will have to clean the dust off of my CS Lewis Bible!

9:12 AM

Will Vaus said…

Go for it Corey! Do it at whatever pace works for you. Blessings....

9:53 AM

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