CREATION


I. The biblical doctrine

This must not be confused or identified with any scientific theory of origins. The purpose of the biblical doctrine, in contrast to that of scientific investigation, is ethical and religious. Reference to the doctrine is widespread in both the OT and the NT, and is not confined to the opening chapters of Genesis. The following references may be noted: in the prophets, Is. 40:26, 28; 42:5; 45:18; Je. 10:12–16; Am. 4:13; in the Psalms, 33:6, 9; 90:2; 102:25; also Jb. 38:4ff.; Ne. 9:6; and in the NT, Jn. 1:1ff.; Acts 17:24; Rom. 1:20, 25; 11:36; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; 11:3; Rev. 4:11; 10:6.
A necessary starting-point for any consideration of the doctrine is Heb. 11:3, ‘By faith we understand that the world was created by the word of God.’ This means that the biblical doctrine of creation is based on divine revelation and understood only from the standpoint of faith. It is this that sharply distinguishes the biblical approach from the scientific. The work of creation, no less than the mystery of redemption, is hidden from man and can be perceived only by faith.
The work of creation is variously attributed to all three persons of the Trinity: to the Father, as in Gn. 1:1; Is. 44:24; 45:12; Ps. 33:6; to the Son, as in Jn. 1:3, 10; Col. 1:16; to the Holy Spirit, as in Gn. 1:2; Jb. 26:13. This is not to be taken to mean that different parts of creation are attributed to different persons within the Trinity, but rather that the whole is the work of the triune God.
The words in Heb. 11:3, ‘what is seen was made out of things which do not appear’, taken with Gn. 1:1, ‘in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’, indicate that the worlds were not made out of any pre-existent material, but out of nothing by the divine Word, in the sense that prior to the divine creative fiat there was no other kind of existence. This creatio ex nihilo has important theological implications, for among other things it precludes the idea that matter is eternal (Gn. 1:1 indicates that it had a beginning) or that there can be any kind of dualism in the universe in which another kind of existence or power stands over against God and outside his control. Likewise it indicates that God is distinct from his creation, and it is not, as pantheism maintains, a phenomenal, or external, manifestation of the Absolute.
At the same time, however, it is clear that the idea of primary creation contained in the formula creatio ex nihilo does not exhaust the biblical teaching on the subject. Man was not created ex nihilo, but out of the dust of the ground (Gn. 2:7) and the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air were formed out of the ground (Gn. 2:19), This has been called secondary creation, a creative activity making use of already created materials, and stands alongside primary creation as part of the biblical testimony.
Statements such as Eph. 4:6, ‘One God … above all, and through all, and in all’ indicate that God stands in a relationship of both transcendence and immanence to the created order. In that he is ‘above all’ and ‘over all’ (Rom. 9:5), he is the transcendent God, and independent of his creation, self-existent and self-sufficient. Thus creation must be understood as a free act of God determined only by his sovereign will, and in no way a necessary act. He did not need to create the universe (see Acts 17:25). He chose to do so. It is necessary to make this distinction, for only thus can he be God the Lord, the unconditioned, transcendent one. On the other hand, in that he is ‘through all, and in all’, he is immanent in his creation (though distinct from it), and it is entirely dependent on his power for its continued existence. ‘In him (en auto) all things hold together’ (Col. 1:17) and ‘in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28).
The words ‘by thy will they existed and were created’ (Rev. 4:11), cf. ‘created through him, and for him’ (Col. 1:16), indicate the purpose and goal of creation. God created the world ‘for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom and goodness’ (Westminster Confession). Creation, in other words, is theocentric, and intended to display the glory of God; to be, as Calvin says, ‘the theatre of his glory’.


j.p. (1996). I. The biblical doctrine. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (239). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.