In the beginning....

[Josheb]

Scripture begins at Genesis 1:1 with the statement, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."

This is very powerful and informative single sentence. It asserts there is a beginning, necessarily implying there is an end. The statement asserts a single God created both the heavens and the earth, necessarily implying the Creator pre-exists that which God created and does not exist within the heavens and the earth. The first declaration of scripture tells us there are plural heavens but a single earth.



By asserting a pre-existing God the limits of what we call time and space are implicitly declared not applicable to the Creator of those conditions. They are created conditions with God as The Uncaused Cause.

By asserting a beginning and implying an end this confronted the cyclical mother earth religions prevalent in the surrounding paganisms and those found throughout the world, declaring them all false.

By asserting a created creation all happenstance, accidental, probabilistic, and impersonal origins are negated.

By asserting a distinction between the heavens and the earth we understand what follows is predominantly not about either the heavens or the earth, but about the Creator, and conditions of earth are distinct from all the rest of creation.

As we read through the rest of scripture these assertions are clarified, such as the truth God created the angels (Gen. 2:1; Neh. 9:6; Isa. 45:12) and they are made ministering spirits to those created in God's image (Heb. 1:14). They serve us, not the other way around. Most competing theisms are rendered irrational if God exists external to creation and humanity is made in His image. For example, any religion asserting a god who exists solely within that which has been created is bound by the limits of that creation and is therefore not an omni-attributed God.


Dear Creator of creation, please remind us today of your awesome and powerful nature.

 

[Jamsie]

Scripture begins at Genesis 1:1 with the statement, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Dear Creator of creation, please remind us today of your awesome and powerful nature.

Sorry, I didn't see this sooner. Our Bible study group is proceeding with Creation - Fall - Redemption. I led the creation portion and also noted the significance to Hebrews 11:6. Also, suggested that Genesis 1 requires reading with prayer and "sufficient delicacy". (GKC)

 

[Josheb]

Sorry, I didn't see this sooner. Our Bible study group is proceeding with Creation - Fall - Redemption. I led the creation portion and also noted the significance to Hebrews 11:6. Also, suggested that Genesis 1 requires reading with prayer and "sufficient delicacy". (GKC)

Then I encourage y'all notice the three conditions found in creation that changed with the "fall." What God created was 1) good, 2) unashamed, and 3) sinless. With Adam's disobedience humanity became not-good, ashamed, and sinful. All the rest of scripture about humanity (individually and collectively) from Genesis 3:7 should be read with that context in mind.

I would also add the matter of estrangement but that's more inferential than direct. With Adam's act of disobedience Adam (and his progeny) became estranged from God, estranged from self, estranged from others, and estranged from creation.

 

[Jamsie]

Then I encourage y'all notice the three conditions found in creation that changed with the "fall." What God created was 1) good, 2) unashamed, and 3) sinless. With Adam's disobedience humanity became not-good, ashamed, and sinful. All the rest of scripture about humanity (individually and collectively) from Genesis 3:7 should be read with that context in mind.

I would also add the matter of estrangement but that's more inferential than direct. With Adam's act of disobedience Adam (and his progeny) became estranged from God, estranged from self, estranged from others, and estranged from creation.

Thanks...Our first study was sidetracked when after the initial intro I mentioned the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. ( plus attributes and such) The problem for some arose when I mentioned the endowments of man... reason, considered judgment, perception, etc., etc. as our God given mental abilities to know him. Somehow it prompted the notion that I was suggesting "intellectualism" of some sort, took awhile to give proper perspective, and then continue.

Someone else will cover the Fall, but I will bring up the three conditions...hadn't looked at that aspect specifically. Sometimes we (I) take certain truths without putting them in an overall proper perspective. Blessings...

 

[Josheb]

Thanks...Our first study was sidetracked when after the initial intro I mentioned the distinction between knowing about God and knowing God. ( plus attributes and such) The problem for some arose when I mentioned the endowments of man... reason, considered judgment, perception, etc., etc. as our God given mental abilities to know him. Somehow it prompted the notion that I was suggesting "intellectualism" of some sort, took awhile to give proper perspective, and then continue.

Someone else will cover the Fall, but I will bring up the three conditions...hadn't looked at that aspect specifically. Sometimes we (I) take certain truths without putting them in an overall proper perspective. Blessings...

Have you read any Francis Schaeffer? Or Nancy Pearcey? Cornelius Van Til or Lesslie Newbigin?

God made Himself knowable.
God made creation knowable.
God made creatures who could know the knowable.

Salvation isn't simply about knowing God (as opposed to knowing about God), it is also about being known by God (Mt. 7:23; Gal. 4:9). We must not only know; we must be known. That is salvation. We were created in His image to know and be known by Him in Christ, the Tree of Life.

In the beginning God made the heavens and the earth..... and it is apportioned to man to die once and then face judgment. There is a beginning and there is an end. This is the fundamental cosmology implicitly asserted from opening verse of scripture.