Theology

Genesis 1:11, the second part of Day 3, marks a critical turning point in creation. Here creation makes a great leap which science alone has difficulty explaining, from inanimate to animate objects. The jump from simple chemical reactions, to life. Creation and Evolution Evolution is the scientific explanation for how complex life forms develop over time … Read more Creation Turns a Corner | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 11

Up until now, each day in Genesis 1 has culminated with the creation of a single thing. Day 1: light. Day 2: sky. All the days that follow also feature the creation of a single type of thing, except for Day 6. (The creation of birds and fish on Day 5, while we see this … Read more The Odd Third Day | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 10

In the ancient world, the Sea represented the forces of chaos, disorder, and terror. Travel over water was considered unnatural, even by the sea traveling nations. Boats stayed close to shore, clinging as well as they could to the safety of the land. And from great sea storms, to the simple vast, endlessness of the … Read more The War with Chaos | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 9

On this little planet that we call home, there exists approximately 400 miles of vertical space between the surface where we walk, and the upper shell of our atmosphere. Long before we reach 400 miles, the oxygen level becomes so thin that we would lose the ability to breathe, and the temperature so cold that we would … Read more The Vault of Heaven | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 6

Our calendar, our entire perception of time, is based on this one cycle: Sunrise <-> Sunset. In Genesis chapter 1 verse 5, the passage of time itself finds its origin with God. Though each unique version of the calendar is a creation of human civilizations, the concept of the calendar is part of God’s design, … Read more God Makes Time | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 5

One may wonder, why light? Why is this the first thing that God creates, even before the objects that give light—the sun and moon and stars? What is the meaning of this division between light and darkness in Genesis 1:4.   Layers One of the wonderful things about bible stories, is that each story has several … Read more Light Born in Darkness | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 4

There is a meaning in Genesis 1:3 that our English cannot quite capture, because we English speakers have separated the concepts of spirit, breath, and life. Check out the trailer below! Back in verse 2, we were told that the “spirit of God was moving over the water.” The Hebrew word for “spirit” here is “ruach.” … Read more Spirit, Breath, Life | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 3

The Deep To the ancient mind, this word conjured images of a bottomless ocean which continued down and down and down until its waters opened into the mouth of the Underworld. This was an eternal prison for the dead, and for the monsters that the gods had trapped there at the beginning of the world … Read more Into the Deep | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 2

The bible begins in the beginning— The absolute and total beginning— the time from which all time comes. Creation ex nihilo Long after Genesis was written, Roman Christians would start talking about something called creatio ex nihilo: creation out of nothing. While the writer of Genesis 1:1 falls short of stating that God created “out … Read more Creation Ex Nihilo | Understanding Genesis Chapter 1 verse 1