Genesis 1. God created the world in six days. Yes, really.
Why is this story important?
Well, it’s very bold. In 2021, science still can’t pin down the origins of the universe, and yet here is a document from 3,500 years ago telling us what happened.
The author of Genesis (and of course, fundamentally I believe that to be the one true God) doesn’t take any kind of easy route and say “God created everything… anyway, about those commandments….” Nor does he skip over it altogether and make the Bible a big book of proverbs. Instead, the Bible jumps out of the gate with a really challenging story of creation, asking, in a sense, “Are you brave enough to believe this? If not, there’s the door.”
And I believe it has held the test of time.
What’s in this story?
A six-day creation, of course, but there’s a neat symmetry to the days I only recently learned about.
Basically, days 4-6 fill in the realms from days 1-3.
| Day | Event | Day | Event |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create heavens | 4 | Put stars in the heavens |
| 2 | Create sky and seas | 5 | Put animals in sky and seas |
| 3 | Create land | 6 | Put animals and man on land |
Theology and doctrinal points
Big ideas
- The trinity shows up in the Bible very early. Verse 1 explains that God the Father created the world. Verse 2 shows that “the Spirit of God” was there also. And John 1:1-3 says that “All things were made through” Jesus Christ, “and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
- Mankind has a special place in creation. Created last, given “dominion” over all creatures, and made in the image of God himself. Their story is given even more detail in Gen 2:4-25.
- A key part of this story is that after these six days, God rested on the seventh day (Gen 2:1-3). We will talk about that more on Saturday with the Sabbath. (Coincidence – honest!)
Is it six actual days?
Each day of creation ends with “there was morning and there was evening” (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31). That’s a pretty concrete definition of a day.
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