God Made All Things Chris Kiagiri
The following is a summarized transcript of part 1 of a 14-part seminar by Don Carson entitled “The God Who is There” aimed at simultaneously evangelizing non-Christians and edifying Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way. The original content is available in its entirety in both audio and video form at http://thegospel- coalition.org/thegodwhoisthere
I. The God Who Made Everything (Genesis 1-2)
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Gen. 1:1
However complex the debates over the symbolism and literary genre of Genesis 1-2, and however debated their relationship to contemporary science may be, there is an irreducible minimum that these chapters must be saying about God and human beings for the Bible to have any coherence at all.
He Simply Is. The Bible does not begin with a long set of arguments to prove the existence of God. It just begins “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). Now, if human beings are the test of everything, this makes no sense at all because then we have the right to sit back and judge whether it is likely that God exists, to evaluate the evidence and come out with a certain probability that perhaps a god of some sort or another exists. Thus we become the judges of God. But the God of the Bible is not like that. He simply is. He is not the object whom we evaluate. He is the Creator who has made us, which changes all the dynamics.
He made everything that is non-God. God made everything else. This introduces an irreducible distinction between Creator and creature. God is not a creature; cor- respondingly, in this absolute sense, we are not creators. If someone were to ask, “Yes, but where did God come from?” the answer the Bible gives is that his existence is not dependent on anything or anyone else. My existence is dependent, finally, on him; his existence is self-existence. God has no cause; he just is. He always has been. By con- trast, everything else in the universe began somewhere. God made it all. That means that everything in the universe apart from God is finally dependent upon God.
There is only one of him. This emerges strongly in the Bible. God openly says, “Let there be this,” “Let there be that,” “God made everything,” “He saw that it was very good.” Later on in the Bible this point is stressed again and again. For example, in verses that Jews reverently recite to this day called the Shema, we read the words, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).
The following is a summarized transcript of part 1 of a 14-part seminar by Don Carson entitled “The God Who is There” aimed at simultaneously evangelizing non-Christians and edifying Christians by explaining the Bible’s storyline in a non-reductionistic way. The original content is available in its entirety in both audio and video form at http://thegospel- coalition.org/thegodwhoisthere
I. The God Who Made Everything (Genesis 1-2)
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Gen. 1:1
However complex the debates over the symbolism and literary genre of Genesis 1-2, and however debated their relationship to contemporary science may be, there is an irreducible minimum that these chapters must be saying about God and human beings for the Bible to have any coherence at all.
He Simply Is. The Bible does not begin with a long set of arguments to prove the existence of God. It just begins “In the beginning God” (Gen. 1:1). Now, if human beings are the test of everything, this makes no sense at all because then we have the right to sit back and judge whether it is likely that God exists, to evaluate the evidence and come out with a certain probability that perhaps a god of some sort or another exists. Thus we become the judges of God. But the God of the Bible is not like that. He simply is. He is not the object whom we evaluate. He is the Creator who has made us, which changes all the dynamics.
He made everything that is non-God. God made everything else. This introduces an irreducible distinction between Creator and creature. God is not a creature; cor- respondingly, in this absolute sense, we are not creators. If someone were to ask, “Yes, but where did God come from?” the answer the Bible gives is that his existence is not dependent on anything or anyone else. My existence is dependent, finally, on him; his existence is self-existence. God has no cause; he just is. He always has been. By con- trast, everything else in the universe began somewhere. God made it all. That means that everything in the universe apart from God is finally dependent upon God.
There is only one of him. This emerges strongly in the Bible. God openly says, “Let there be this,” “Let there be that,” “God made everything,” “He saw that it was very good.” Later on in the Bible this point is stressed again and again. For example, in verses that Jews reverently recite to this day called the Shema, we read the words, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).
God
There is only one of him. Yet even in the first chapter of the Bible, there is a hint of complexity to God’s oneness. We read through the account of creation “God said this,” “God said that.” Then when it comes to human beings, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26, emphasis added).
There is only one of him. Yet even in the first chapter of the Bible, there is a hint of complexity to God’s oneness. We read through the account of creation “God said this,” “God said that.” Then when it comes to human beings, we read, “Then God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26, emphasis added).
He is a talking God. The first action that is described in the creation account is “God
said ‘Let there be light’” (Gen. 1:3, emphasis added). Once Adam and Eve are created,
he addresses them and gives them responsibilities; he speaks to them. He has personal-
ity and dares to reveal himself in words that human beings can understand. This recurs
throughout the Bible.
Everything he makes is good. There is no hint in chapters 1-2 of death, decay or destruction; rather everything is very good. Regardless of all the complexities of God’s sovereignty in a world where there is suffering - and we’ll cover this in future editions of this series - constantly, the Bible insists that God is good, and the foundations of this are found here in the creation account.
He comes to an end of his creative work and he rests. This doesn’t mean that God is tired and needs to put his feet up, rather that he comes to the end of his week of creation - however we understand it - and stops and designates it in a special way.
They were made in the image of God. In one sense, human beings are creatures and thus they have in common the attributes of other (non-human) creatures which also die and return to the dust. However, Genesis insists that human beings and hu- man beings alone are made in “the image of God” - an expression which has generated much discussion and debate. Taking it as a master concept which is filled in as we go along, we understand that we reflect God and the ways in which we reflect him will be filled out as the Bible unfolds. We’ve seen that God is a talking God and that man speaks back to him. So there’s a commonality in communication. Human beings have a creative ability that is not characteristic of the rest of creation, and that comes from God. We also have the ordinance of work, which reflects God.
They were made male and female. In Genesis 2, the differences between man and woman are expounded on, and the institution of marriage is introduced.
They were innocent. The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Today we hide our nakedness because we have much to be ashamed of.
The foregoing is a necessary introduction to Genesis 3. Without understanding how good everything is in Genesis 1-2, we won’t have a proper understanding of what we will call ‘The Fall’ to show what rebellion looks like.
In the next issue of Grace & Truth we will examine part 2 of this series: The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels.
Everything he makes is good. There is no hint in chapters 1-2 of death, decay or destruction; rather everything is very good. Regardless of all the complexities of God’s sovereignty in a world where there is suffering - and we’ll cover this in future editions of this series - constantly, the Bible insists that God is good, and the foundations of this are found here in the creation account.
He comes to an end of his creative work and he rests. This doesn’t mean that God is tired and needs to put his feet up, rather that he comes to the end of his week of creation - however we understand it - and stops and designates it in a special way.
They were made in the image of God. In one sense, human beings are creatures and thus they have in common the attributes of other (non-human) creatures which also die and return to the dust. However, Genesis insists that human beings and hu- man beings alone are made in “the image of God” - an expression which has generated much discussion and debate. Taking it as a master concept which is filled in as we go along, we understand that we reflect God and the ways in which we reflect him will be filled out as the Bible unfolds. We’ve seen that God is a talking God and that man speaks back to him. So there’s a commonality in communication. Human beings have a creative ability that is not characteristic of the rest of creation, and that comes from God. We also have the ordinance of work, which reflects God.
They were made male and female. In Genesis 2, the differences between man and woman are expounded on, and the institution of marriage is introduced.
They were innocent. The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Today we hide our nakedness because we have much to be ashamed of.
The foregoing is a necessary introduction to Genesis 3. Without understanding how good everything is in Genesis 1-2, we won’t have a proper understanding of what we will call ‘The Fall’ to show what rebellion looks like.
In the next issue of Grace & Truth we will examine part 2 of this series: The God Who Does Not Wipe Out Rebels.
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