Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was on the surface of the watery depths. And God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters. NHEB
There are three main ways to interpret verses 1 and 2. The first approach (gap or ruin-restoration theory) begins with the idea that God creates things but by the time we get to verse 2, something has happened and what was an orderly creation has become chaotic. Things start good, go bad and God does something to fix it. For some, this is a way to reconcile the introduction of evil into God’s good creation through the rebellion of Lucifer and other angels with that rebellion occurring between verse 1 and 2. This also becomes a way to try and reconcile the Biblical record to that of the geologic teachings regarding the age of the earth. Note that this theory is not a response to Darwin as it predates his Origin of Species by slightly more than 50 years. (Theistic evolution is another approach that also incorporates a gap).
The second approach is that God’s creation is orderly but is still unformed. Creation from verse 1 is a disorderly and lifeless mass that God begins to work with starting with verse 2. This would point toward a younger earth than is the case under a gap theory.
The third approach is that God creates things but there is pre-existing chaos. As such, the meaning of verse 1 is that God is merely acting on that chaos. This is the viewpoint held to by most of Israel’s neighbors. Their belief is that while God is good, He is spiritual and therefore cannot be involved in the material. This is dualism, i.e. the idea that God and the devil are equals. Most Jews and Christians would cast this viewpoint aside.
Jeremiah 4:23 I saw the earth, and, look, it was waste and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I saw the mountains, and look, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I saw, and look, there was no man, and all the birds of the sky had fled. 26 I saw, and look, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the LORD; before his fierce anger they were destroyed. 27 For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I have not relented, neither will I turn back from it.” NHEB
Those holding to the Gap Theory will point to this verse from Jeremiah as indicating that the chaos in verse 2 comes about through God’s judgment on this initial creation as both share the same two Hebrew words – tohu and bohu (translated in Genesis as formless and void). This can make some sense but you really have to squint to see it. The Jeremiah verse when used this way creates a problem as under Gap Theory, God destroys His initial creation and then starts over with another creation. Also, placing the fall of Satan as occurring before Genesis 1:2 has to be considered in light of Genesis 1:31 where God declared everything to be very good. Many will argue that the fall of Satan cannot occur prior to 1:31.
Israel sits on a strip of land with the western boundary being the Mediterranean Ocean and the eastern boundary a river. Bad things happen in both so water (with “the deep” or “depths” being the worst of all) becomes a way to talk about chaos. We are talking about the Holy Spirit here with the word translated as “hovering” (“moved” in many translations) describing the action of a mother bird fluttering or brooding over her flock. There is a pattern starting to develop as later when the angel announces her pregnancy (Luke 1:31), Mary’s objection is that she is a virgin. The angel replies that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and overshadow her. In our lives, the Holy Spirit works within us prior to our conversion (as well as during and after our coming to faith) as we become a new creation.
John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made. NHEB
These verses are setting the table for the Trinitarian doctrine as there has always been Father, Son and Holy Spirit with Christmas simply marking the incarnation of Christ. We will see this a little more clearly in Genesis at verse 26 where God creates humans in “our” image after “our” likeness.
Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let’s make man in our image, after our likeness. WEB
In the first 3 days, we see the work of forming and division followed by the completion of the work on days 4 through 6. We see firmament in the midst of water and then those waters are filled with fish and the air with birds on day 5. On day 3, land and sea are separated with man and animals placed on the land on day 6.
Both early and modern scholars have focused considerable attention on the text of Genesis 1 in order to determine the climax of the story. Half will say it is the creation of man on day 6. Others will point out that the story doesn’t end at day 6 but with the Sabbath on day 7 which makes this a story about God rather than man. What is interesting is that while the first 6 days start and end, the seventh day starts but doesn’t end and won’t end until the return of Christ.
Critical scholarship has developed a theory that Moses did not write the first five books of the Old Testament, known as the Torah. Supporters point to the different name for God in chapters one and two of Genesis and a different writing style between the 5 books. From this perspective, Genesis is viewed as strands of differing traditions that have been brought together by an editor. (Can’t help but be reminded of the story of the professor at Dallas Theological Seminary who subjected his doctoral dissertation to critical scholarship only to learn that he couldn’t possibly have written it). This JEDP theory postulates that there are four writers: the Jahwist/Yahwist, the Elohist, the Deuteronomist, and a priestly author of Leviticus. There is no evidence that supports the actual existence of these people – it is simply scholarly conjecture. On the other hand, we see numerous references in the Bible to Moses as the author of the Torah. For example, Jesus referring to Moses as the author of Exodus in Mark 12:26, Paul pointing toward Moses as the author of Leviticus in Romans 10:5 or Exodus 24:4 telling us that Moses wrote down all of the words of the Lord. It bothers some that the end of Deuteronomy ends with a description of his death. Given his closeness to God and the revelations given to him as a prophet, it is not inconceivable that he could have known when his hour would come and included it in what he wrote. It is also possible that someone else, such as Joshua or Ezra, came in after the death of Moses and finished the last few verses in Deuteronomy. If this happened, it still doesn’t change Moses as author simply because someone who was close to him finished the story by adding a few sentences at the end.
We tend to look at Moses through the lens of Jesus with Moses coming into play at the Transfiguration which makes it easy for us to accept him as the author of these books. Our perspective as 21st century Christians is:
1. God is the creator and the only God
2. God creates a good creation – the material world as created is not bad
3. Of all of the things created, only one is created in the image of God
4) This God wants a personal relationship with us.