The Beginning of the World
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 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.
(Genesis 1:1-2)
The first thing that God created was the universe. The scripture does not say how God did it. He may have spoken it into existence, but the Scriptures show that the first created thing that God spoke into existence was light. (Genesis 1:3). There was no time. It is futile to speculate how long the universe existed before the creation of light because God had not defined time. Time did not exist. We just know that it was a beginning. The universe did not come into being by itself. God, the self-existent Being created it.
The first distinction we notice is the distinction between earth and heaven. They are both created, but they are distinct. The earth is the material world. Heavens is the spiritual world. Heavens is plural. The earth is singular. I believe that heavens includes the angels, and that the angels were created at this "time."
The earth was formless and void. It was undifferentiated matter - matter without energy. There was no solid or liquid or gas, no space, no dimensions. The physical laws did not yet come into being. There were no Laws of Thermodynamics because there was only matter without energy. The formless earth is described as "waters". This does not necessarily imply the "water" (hydrogen and oxygen) we are familiar with. The atomic structure of matter was not formed yet. Light had not been created. There was no energy. The material world was "void" and "dark" without energy.
The material world had a limit. It had a "surface" or "face of the deep," or "face of the waters" as the English Standard Version renders it. That boundary was where the Spirit of God was. This is the second distinction we notice, the distinction between the creation and God. God is transcendent. The earth was not, and is not God, nor is the earth a part of God. God is totally separate from His creation.
(Genesis 1:1-2)
The first thing that God created was the universe. The scripture does not say how God did it. He may have spoken it into existence, but the Scriptures show that the first created thing that God spoke into existence was light. (Genesis 1:3). There was no time. It is futile to speculate how long the universe existed before the creation of light because God had not defined time. Time did not exist. We just know that it was a beginning. The universe did not come into being by itself. God, the self-existent Being created it.
The first distinction we notice is the distinction between earth and heaven. They are both created, but they are distinct. The earth is the material world. Heavens is the spiritual world. Heavens is plural. The earth is singular. I believe that heavens includes the angels, and that the angels were created at this "time."
The earth was formless and void. It was undifferentiated matter - matter without energy. There was no solid or liquid or gas, no space, no dimensions. The physical laws did not yet come into being. There were no Laws of Thermodynamics because there was only matter without energy. The formless earth is described as "waters". This does not necessarily imply the "water" (hydrogen and oxygen) we are familiar with. The atomic structure of matter was not formed yet. Light had not been created. There was no energy. The material world was "void" and "dark" without energy.
The material world had a limit. It had a "surface" or "face of the deep," or "face of the waters" as the English Standard Version renders it. That boundary was where the Spirit of God was. This is the second distinction we notice, the distinction between the creation and God. God is transcendent. The earth was not, and is not God, nor is the earth a part of God. God is totally separate from His creation.
posted at 9:25 PM PermaLink
2 Comments:
If "waters" is not the same as the 'waters' we are familiar with, why then did the author ( ultimately, God) use a term - the meaning of which - we are familiar with. Aren't cross references tools for helping us understand the meaning of words in verses. Any cross references for 'waters' in that passage? Also, scripture interprets scripture, doesn't it. Any scripture reference to interpret 'waters'?
Thanks for your comment.
The "waters" in Genesis 1:1 describes the earth which was formless and void just as water is formless. Water only takes the shape of its container.
It was void because it had no energy. Light had not been created yet. Light is a form of energy and the speed of light is the univeersal constant in Eintstein's energy-matter equation, E=mc(squared).
The water we are familiar with contains 2 atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen for every molecule of water. There is an incredible amount of energy in those atoms. If those atoms were formed in Genesis 1:1 before light was ever created, then there would be a contradiction and the Bible cannot contradict itself.
That is why I said that "waters" describes the formlessness of the earth in Genesis 1:1.
Post a Comment
<< Home