Genesis 1 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Genesis 1

The Creation of the World

1:1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be an expanse¹ in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” 7 And God made² the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven.³ And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry land Earth,⁴ and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants⁵ yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons,⁶ and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. 16 And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds⁷ fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” 21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man⁸ in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27   So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Footnotes

[1] 1:6 Or a canopy; also verses 7, 8, 14, 15, 17, 20
[2] 1:7 Or fashioned; also verse 16
[3] 1:8 Or Sky; also verses 9, 14, 15, 17, 20, 26, 28, 30; 2:1
[4] 1:10 Or Land; also verses 11, 12, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30; 2:1
[5] 1:11 Or small plants; also verses 12, 29
[6] 1:14 Or appointed times
[7] 1:20 Or flying things; see Leviticus 11:19–20
[8] 1:26 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name Adam

Commentary

v1-2: Without Him nothing was made that was made; the Bible opens by declaring that God is the Creator of all things, through His powerful word (Psalm 33:6,9). All things were created by God, and all things are subject to Him. These opening two verses summarise what follows.

"Formless and empty" - (see Isaiah 34.11, Jeramiah 4.23), perhaps indicating a previous judgment, a casting of the devil out of Heaven.

These verses also challenge human thinking

Atheism says there is no god - the Bible opens by stating "God..."
Polytheism says there are many gods, the Bible "God..." (singular);
Fatalism says that chance determines events, the Bible insists that "God created..."
Evolutionary theory also states that the earth came into being through a series of chance events, but we read "God created"
Materialism says that matter is eternal, and pantheism says creation should be worshipped as god; but we read that God created the heavens and the earth.

Whilst this is not a detailed exposé of such thinking, it is striking that the Bible recognises and answers wrong human thinking.

The Days of Creation

v3-5 - Day 1: light and dark divided. Jesus said, "I am the light of the world" here is the holiness and utter perfection of God manifest in Jesus Christ (1 John 1:4-9). There is only darkness unless the light of God shines; 2 Cor 4.6.

We see too that day follows day, evening and morning, bringing order into the creation that was formless and empty.

v6-8 - Day 2: waters and waters divided; Heaven and earth separated, spiritual and natural. Heaven is God's throne, earth the domain of man. Only in Christ can man become a citizen of Heaven; for even Adam was not a heavenly man (1 Corinthians 15:45-46). This is a common pattern in scripture – Saul, then David; Israel, then the Church; Law, then Grace.

v9-13 - Day 3: The waters gathered together, separating earth and sea. In the New Testament, wheat and tares, once separated, are gathered (Matthew 13:24-30). The dry land brings forth grass and other fruit (Isaiah 53:2) - the barren becomes fruitful.

All seed reproduces after its kind, whether good or bad (Luke 6:45, James 3:12). Once we are separated from the world, and gathered together in Christ, we are expected to bear fruit.

v14-19 - Day 4: to fill the environment of day 1, lights in the sky, dividing day and night. The earth is set apart from other lights, other "heavenly bodies" for God made the earth to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18).

Christ is the greater light (John 5:35-36). Our part, as the lesser lights, is to reflect His glory. The light rules, for it has dominion.

v20-23 - Day 5: filling the environment of day 2; and abundance of life (Roman 8:32 - "all things"), for God is liberal and generous. God commands the living creatures to be fruitful and multiply; to those who have more will be given.

v24-28 - Day 6: filling the environment of day 3; man and animals separated; they are different. Man is not just a clever ape, another branch of evolutionary development. The animals are brought forth from the land, rather than created; the word used also implies an abundance ("teem").

Man is made in the image of God, but not identical to God, to have dominion over the other animals. Man is also given the command to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth. Although man and animals are made on day 6, the creation of man is different from that of animals. Man has intelligence, an ability to think, to discern, to invent. And man has a soul, a will, a conscience, and understanding. He is thus set apart from the animals, and made like God Himself. To mankind is given the blessing of work; he is to be fruitful, and v31 implies that this is very good. Thus, we may say, fruitlessness and poverty and idleness are consequences of sin in the world.

The Lugbara tribe describe the first men as 'Gborogboro' which means ' the person coming from the sky,' and 'Meme' which means 'the person who came alone.' They thus reflect the reality that mankind is made in the image of God.

Notice also the statement, "Let us make..." the first reference to the plurality of the Godhead, although the word translated "God" is also plural (Elohim) in this chapter. This is not the doctrine of the trinity, but it is the first indication that God is, as scripture later teaches, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Thomas Watson refers to ‘a solemn council of the sacred persons in the Trinity.’

v29-30: - Plants, trees, and animals, all given to man; at this stage, it seems, all animals are plant-eaters, and man does not eat meat; Genesis 9:2-3 gives man permission to eat meat.

v31: God's perfect creation; the work completed, it is "very good".

Adam is the first 'type' of Jesus Christ:

he heard the voice of God - prophetic;
he can speak to God - priestly;
he has authority over creation - kingly.

In the same way Jesus Christ is prophet, priest, and king.