58 WORD OF GOD
Creation
by Ian Paul
The foundational Christian belief about God is that God is creator .
‘ We believe in God , Father Almighty , creator of heaven and earth , of all things visible and invisible ’. Nicene Creed
This belief is the fons et origo of
the whole scriptural narrative of God ’ s dealings with the world and humanity – it is where the story must start and flow from – and if we get our understanding of creation wrong , then we end up with a misunderstanding of God and a misconception of humanity ’ s place in the world . Four convictions emerge from the biblical narrative .
SEPARATE
The first is that God is separate from his creation . ‘ Separation ’ is a repeated theme in the creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2 , and in contrast to other creation narratives in the ancient near east , creation is not part of God and so worship is to be reserved for God alone and not given to any part of the created order . That is why Genesis 1:16 is emphatic that ‘ God made the two great lights ’; the sun and the moon as the means of God ’ s provision , not as providers in themselves .
This separation has been expressed in the doctrine of creation ex nihilo ; God is not moulding pre-existing material that is self-generating , but is the source of all things . And it is the reason why we cannot describe creation as a ‘ first incarnation ’ of God , as though creation were part of God . As theologian Roger Olson puts it :
‘ Creation is the free act of a personal creator who acted out of his own goodness . And the free , good creator created the world , the universe , out of nothing (“ ex nihilo ”). The metaphysical structure of the Bible is duality without dualism . The world is not God ; God is not the world ’. The Essentials of Christian Thought
SOVEREIGN
Because of this , the second conviction of scripture is that God is sovereign over creation . God is absolute ; creation is not . ‘ The earth is the Lord ’ s and everything in it ’ ( Psalm 24:1 ). When God creates humanity , male and female , in God ’ s image , God commands humanity to ‘ be fruitful and multiply ; fill the earth and subdue it . Rule over [ it ]’ ( Genesis 1:28 ). A vicar once saw a parishioner tending his garden :
‘ What a good job you and God are doing in the garden , Mr Smith .’
‘ That ’ s true , vicar , but you should have seen the mess when God was left to himself !’
We are invited to share in God ’ s sovereign rule over creation – not exploiting and destroying it , but taming its wildness and ordering its fruitfulness . We are to be agents of God ’ s just , gentle and gracious rule .
COMPASSIONATE
That is because , thirdly , God has compassion for his creation . Psalm 104 is a sustained hymn of praise to God who provides for all his creatures :
‘ All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time . When you give it to them , they gather it up ; when you open your hand , they are satisfied with good things ’. Psalm 104:27-28
A proper reading of Genesis shows us to be part of the creator / creature divide , alongside the creatures ; God ’ s care for his creation assures us of his care for us , as Jesus highlights in his own teaching about God ’ s provision (‘ Look at the birds of the air …’ Matthew 6:26 ).
Compassion led God to come to his creation in the person of Jesus ; the one through whom the world was made came to that world in flesh and blood ( John 1:14 ). Because God is separate from the creation , there is a powerful paradox in the incarnation ; ‘ Hands that flung stars into space / to cruel nails surrendered ’ ( Graham Kendrick ).
And our failure to reflect this compassion brings judgement . The weekly Sabbath commanded by God was to be rest for the land , not just the people , and the failure to honour the seventh-year Sabbath of Leviticus 25:4 is given as a reason for the 70 years of exile in 2 Chronicles 36:21 . When God comes to judge the world , he will ‘ destroy the destroyers of the earth ’ ( Revelation 11:18 ).
Yet in the end , God will redeem creation . All of creation ‘ strains on tiptoes ’ ( J B Phillips ) to see the redemption of which we have had a first taste ( Romans 8:23 ) through Jesus , in whom ‘ all things hold together ’ ( Colossians 1:17 ), and who ‘ sustains it by the word of his power ’ ( Hebrews 1:3 ). Through him there will be a ‘ new creation ’ ( Revelation 21:1 ), the fulfilment of what we have already known ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ).
Our care for creation does not arise from merging creation with God , but from God ’ s sovereign care which he invites us to share in , pointing towards the End in which all things are made new .
Ian Paul
Revd Dr Ian Paul is Associate Minister at St Nic ’ s Nottingham and Managing Editor of Grove Books Ltd . psephizo . com