genesis 1:1 commentary

No attempt made to prepare mind of reader for idea of God; as though every human being had this naturally; and so they all have. seems to mean The Covenant God, being derived from a word that signifies to swear. “No.” “Or hear with your tongue, or taste with your ears?” “Certainly not.” “Then why do you try to apprehend God with faculties which are only meant for material things?” “With what should I apprehend Him?” said the youth, with a conceited giggle. This argument proves that its first cause (i.e., God) xi., No. Yet both these sets of marvellous adjustments and correlations would fail to produce a single sound, except for the existence of another highly complicated set of correlations and adjustments, independent of both, viz., the human ear, adapted to receive the impressions of the waves of sound, the auric nerves, and the brain to perceive them, and the human mind to interpret their meaning. [Note: Sailhamer, " Genesis," p20.]. [Jeremiah 8:9]. The language of man follows things and imitates them; the Word of God precedes and creates them. Let me tell myself: ‘They came from God, and they are meant to be employed for God; for His pleasure they are, and were created.’ I move through a world mystic, wonderful.’, (2) The keynote of the whole chapter is struck in its first verse: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ As Professor Elmslie well says, ‘The concern of the chapter is not creation, but the character, being and glory of the Almighty Maker. (Haydock). CLICK HERE to open Commentary of Genesis 1:1 - 2:4 (in separate browser window) Gen. 1:1 In the beginning [of the universe, setting the clock in motion] God created out of nothing the heavens and the earth. Mark 1:1; John 1:1). Since holiness is the fundamental attribute in God, to make Himself, His own pleasure, His own glory, His own manifestation, to be His end in creation, is to find His chief end in His own holiness, its maintenance, expression, and communication. God did, of course, create that heavenly world too, and we may read it into the words ‘created the heavens’. There was a time in the history of the finite world when there was neither sun, nor moon, nor earth, when the matter of which all these bodies are composed was diffused in a previous state. These appear now like a prophecy in that earlier time of an order of things not possible with the earlier combinations then prevailing in the animal kingdom.” Such, then, has been the law in all the past ages. Genesis 1:1-3—F. And who knows what will come of that! The beginning which is given here commends itself as peculiarly sublime. The title Elohim can be singular or plural. The writer is considering the beginning as it relates to man. But when this word is used of true God, then it is not a plural but is an intensified noun, exhausting the meaning of the underlying root ("alah) which means "to be powerful." Polytheism-"Created" is singular in the text. “In the beginning God created.” There must of necessity ever be much of mystery connected with this subject. This is not a perfect world. Rabbi Solomon Jarchi, writing on that, [Song of Solomon 1:11] "We will make," &c., interprets it, "I and my judgment hall." Again: The ends or purposes of intelligent beings are divided into subjective and objective ends. God first creates the ‘stuff’ of the Universe, ‘the heavens and the earth. ], God Creates The Heaven And The Earth And All That Is In Them (, John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, Keil & Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary, Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible, Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments, George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. . The other writings of the Bible are inseparably bound up with it inasmuch as it gives us the origin and initial explanation of all that follows. I need scarcely say, however, that a certain school of scientific men are not content with this. 1. St. Paul UMC Explorer's Commentary Project. The footprints on the sands of time speak of design, for geology admits that her discoveries all are based upon design. WE PROCEED TO POINT OUT WHAT WE CONSIDER GOD’S END IN CREATION TO HAVE BEEN. 205 (see Old Testament Outlines, p. 1); J. For creation without pre-existing material, moreover, we find remote analogies in our own creation of ideas and volitions, a fact as inexplicable as God’s bringing of new substances into being. { piscatoribus credimus, non dialecticis} A third, (f) The mysteries of the Christian religion are better understood by believing, than believed by understanding { Multo melius credendo intelliguntur, quam intelligendo creduntur fidei Christianae mysteria. As we have seen, God’s ultimate end must be something desirable in itself, and not desired merely as a means to an end. It is design. Sublime, because revealing, as nothing else could have done, the power and wisdom of the Most High. 25. Thoughts to begin with as we study the Bible. I. You cannot get out of a thing more than is in it. The original germs of life, the existence of which it is compelled to postulate, and which, in a manner wholly unaccounted for, became possessed of a most convenient power of generating their like, with a number of inconsiderable variations, produced a progeny greatly in excess of their means of subsistence. This theory regards creation as an act of God in eternity past. Without Him they could not be. An obvious difference between the biblical account of creation and those of other ancient Near Eastern cultures is that the biblical account is monotheistic. Genesis 1:7, ESV: "And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse.And it was so." There is no one word in Hebrew for "universe." In a word, we must suppose that the Divine Intelligence never leaves nature, but continually guides and directs its course to those great ends and purposes which God has in view. Atheism is proved absurd--. Echad, one, showeth the unity of essence in this plurality of persons; wherefore, saith Luther, doth not Moses begin thus, "In the beginning, God said, Let there be a heaven, and earth," but because he would set forth the three persons in order; the Father, when he saith, God created; the Son, when he saith, God said; and the Holy Ghost, when he saith, God saw the light that it was good? The theory which opponents of theism ask us to accept, as affording a rational account of the origin of those adaptations and correlations with which the universe is full, is this. From this follow the following conclusions--Man is a free agent; therefore God must be a free agent. Its assumed unity of substance is not only without proof, but it directly contradicts our intuitive judgments. In the beginning. A process of this kind, when we witness it under ordinary circumstances, we designate a plan. 3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 2. This phrase is signifying the beginning of existence as we know it, the beginning of our universe. "The Hebrew word translated "God" ("elohim) may be used as a plural noun and be translated "gods." ), I. does He only wish to spread before you an enchanting exhibition? So, likewise, the moral excellencies of His character are written in sunbeams upon the works of His hand: and to minds not darkened by sin, these excellencies stand out in bold relief. As a matter of fact, we receive our moral training for eternity in the school of matter. The maxim is therefore applicable only to the realm of second causes, and does not bar the creative power of the great first Cause. (J. Vaughan, M. Their system was an attempt to interpret Christianity in the forms of Oriental theosophy. “God” - the word is ‘elohim’ which is in the plural signifying three or more. A much greater length ; but God is the great Creator six Days of creation ended approved. 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