Monday
Monday
From Chaos to Cosmos
Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
Genesis 1:2
Although Isaiah assures us that God “did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited” (Isa. 45:18), the earth was at first empty, formless, dark, and uninhabitable. So stage by stage in Genesis 1 we watch God reducing disorder to order, chaos to cosmos. The author of Genesis evidently understood that the creation was a process, although of unspecified length.
This process is vividly portrayed in verse 2. Some translators understand it as referring to an impersonal phenomenon such as a storm at sea. The New Jerusalem Bible, for instance, renders it that there was “a divine wind sweeping over the waters.” But I agree with other commentators that in the context the reference is not to the wind but to the personal Holy Spirit himself whose creative activity is likened to a bird hovering over its young (REB).
Further, to the work of the Spirit of God in creation the author adds an allusion to the Word of God: “And God said.” “For he spoke, and it came to be” (Ps. 33:9). It does not seem to me fanciful to detect here a reference to God the Father, to his Word, and to his Spirit. In other words, to the Trinity.
In these days of frequent overemphasis on one or other of the persons of the Godhead, it is healthy to keep returning to the three persons. Indeed, it is important to note that from the very earliest verses, the Bible affirms its witness to the Trinity. At the beginning of our studies we rejoice to acknowledge that we are trinitarian Christians.
For further reading: Psalm 104:29–31