What is Genesis 1 all about?

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.“(Gen 1:1 ESV) The Bible begins with God’s creation of the world. But this is no longer universally accepted. Thus Christians see much that must be defended against critics. God created the world ex nihilo in six days. Because of that we are compelled to examine the meaning of our existence, life, and everything else as creatures made for God’s glory. This is important. And by all means, let us pursue it with diligence.

But is this really the point of Genesis 1?

For as we get lost in the maze of Creationism vs. Darwinism, we realize this was not what the Israelites were thinking about on their way to the Promised Land. (An important rule of studying the Bible is to ask what the passage meant to its original hearers.) Our challenge is to let the Bible speak to us on its own terms and teach us what it wants to teach us. Sometimes our pursuit of good things in life can keep us from what is best. For example, one’s devotion to work can break apart a marriage. Similarly, our interesting (even good!) questions sometimes make us ignore the most important question. Focusing on the secondary issues is a time-honored way of ignoring the primary issue.

So what is Genesis 1 really about? Note how “God” is repeated 32 times! Hebrew language is like Greek and Latin, in that verbs contain the information about the subject. “God” only needs to be mentioned once at the beginning, and the rest of the chapter would make perfect sense. But Moses took the trouble to write out “God” 32 times! Why?

In the desert, the Israelites constantly grumbled and worshipped idols because they were not God-centered. The solution? “God” repeated 32 times! What about us? We also must be reminded to be God-centered. We, too, get sidetracked from God. We grumble because we forget that God is committed to his people! Indeed, we forget he sent Jesus Christ because he was committed to his people! God’s love for his people never wavers. The cross makes that clear. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32 ESV) Let us look to God, and keep the cross at the center of our lives. Soli Deo gloria.