A. Overall Lesson Objective

B. Learning Competencies

C. Lesson

The point of this lesson is to determine God’s ingredients for creation as reported in His record of events in Genesis. While the subject was introduced at the end of the last lesson, we examine ‘ingredients’ more carefully by looking at words that are used in His record. One must remember that the choice of words is His doing. He means to communicate clearly; He does not exaggerate; He does not play word games to deceive; He is Truth and intends to communicate both accurately and to the level of detail that is needed for His intended audience: mankind. If you put this in terms of our analogy, where we identify God as the Master Chef, He is making the universe in Genesis and follows a specific recipe. How does He do it? What is the starting point? What are His ingredients?

This lesson is also a review of our practical approach to the study of God’s words. Since He is the Author and we are the intended readers, His authority and power, which includes the accuracy for what He says in word form, are expressed by the biblical record. So, the words speak for themselves and are confirmed within themselves from multiple verse references. The process of our looking at the biblical view of creation is, therefore, pragmatic, like using a good manual that has cross references to self-confirm instructions. We are first relying on the Bible to speak for itself because of its level of authority, which is the level of authority of the Author. We are also relying on its self-confirming nature to better understand what is said. So, pay close attention to words—their plain meaning, because He intends for us to understand what is written.

In this lesson on ingredients, we do this by looking at the first words of the first verse in Genesis 1 that shows His starting point, then the action verbs that God uses in successive verses. Let us discover what He does. Keep this question in mind, ‘What are the ingredients that He uses?’

Read Genesis 1:1 and note the first words. “In the beginning” does not mean the same as the meaning of His descriptive names like “Alpha and Omega” or “Beginning and the End”. These names are proper names that belong to an eternal, timeless God, but God does not begin the creation account with His name. Instead, He begins His account of the physical universe with the phrase “in the beginning” to show a start, but He has no start. Some ask: Who created God? In our experience, everything seems to have a cause. That leads to the scientific law of cause and effect. In fact, a better statement is this: everything that has a beginning has a cause. But, God has no beginning (or end), so He needs no cause. He always was. To ask, ‘Who created God’ is, therefore, like asking, ‘To whom is the bachelor married?’—a meaningless question. [Research note: Who created God]

So, what begins at Genesis 1:1? Actually, everything other than God Himself begins. This includes matter, space and energy. (Note: space is understood to be more than just an ‘absence of something.’) It also includes time. God is outside of time; He can declare the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). Physicists tell us that matter (which is a form of energy), space, and time all depend on each other, so must have started together. We understand this in real terms because we regard all events as involving objects which are made of matter, exist in space and take place in time.

Time, then, is created at the start. When time is created, so are the heavens and the earth (in the sense of space and matter), which are the immediate words that follow “in the beginning”. Time is precisely marked from these first actions of creation.

🦕 CT? What causes the start? Is there anything else noted in Genesis 1:1 other than Him?

[Research note: merism. The first verse of the Bible refers to the “heavens and the earth”. While these are two separate components of His creation, and this clearly states that He made both, they also form what in Hebrew is known as a ‘merism’, a way of encompassing everything in between by giving two extremes. It is the Hebrew way of saying what we would call ‘the universe’, i.e., everything that is. In German, the universe is referred to as ‘das All’ (= the all, i.e., all that there is). An example of another ‘merism’ would be ‘she searched high and low’ meaning that she searched ‘everywhere.’ So, in that sense, the “heavens and the earth” function as a type of heading or summary of what follows in more detail, though not restricted to that here.]

🦕 CT? When verses in the Bible use the expression, “heavens and the earth”, what does this include?

D. Assignment

Read Colossians 1:15-17 and Hebrews 11:3. Write a paragraph on each selection that says what it means in your own words. Be prepared to hand it in or read it aloud.

E. Learning Activity

Divide the class into teams. Each team review and post answers for the assignment from the last lesson. Compare the results among the teams (5 minutes).

F. Concluding Assessment

The first critical words in Genesis are “in the beginning”. They indicate that Eternal God starts the universe (or the heavens and the earth) in terms of time, matter, energy and space.