God’s creation takes work

By Theology of Work Project

Creating a world is work. In Genesis 1 God speaks worlds into existence, and step by step we see the right use of power.

Note the order of creation. The first three of God’s creative acts separate the formless chaos into realms of heavens (or sky), water, and land. On day 1, God creates light and separates it from darkness, forming day and night (Gen. 1:3-5). On day 2, he separates the waters and creates the sky (Gen. 1:6-8). On the first part of day 3, he separates dry land from the sea (Gen. 1:9-10). All are essential to the survival of what follows.

Next, God begins filling the realms he has created. On the remainder of day 3, he creates plant life (Gen. 1:11-13). On day 4 he creates the sun, moon and stars (Gen. 1:14-19) in the sky. The lights are beautiful in themselves and also essential for plant life, with its need for sunshine, nighttime and seasons. On day 5, God fills the water and sky with fish and birds that could not have survived without the plant life created earlier (Gen. 1:20-23). Finally on day 6, he creates the animals (Gen. 1:24-25) and—the climax of creation–humanity to populate the land (Gen. 1:26-31).

In chapter 1, God accomplishes all his work by speaking. “God said…,” and everything happened. This lets us know that God’s power is more than sufficient to create and maintain the creation. We need not worry that God is running out of gas or that the creation is in a precarious state of existence. God’s creation is robust, its existence secure. God does not need help from anyone or anything to create or maintain the world. No battle with the forces of chaos, such as we see in other ancient Near Eastern creation texts, threatens to undo the creation. Later, when God chooses to share creative responsibility with human beings, we know that this is God’s choice, not a necessity. Whatever people may do to mar the creation or render the earth unfit for life’s fullness, God has infinitely greater power to redeem and restore.

The display of God’s infinite power in the text does not mean that God’s creation is not work, any more than writing a computer program or acting in a play is not work. If the transcendent majesty of God’s work in Genesis 1 nonetheless tempts us to think so, Genesis 2 leaves us no doubt. God works hands-on to sculpt human bodies (Gen. 2:7, 21), dig a garden (Gen. 2:8) plant an orchard (Gen. 2:9), and—a bit later—tailor “garments of skin” (Gen. 3:21). These are only the beginnings of God’s physical work in a Bible full of divine labor.

Adapted from Theology of Work Project.  Image: “The Carpenter’s Workshop,” by Walter Dexter, courtesy of the Grohmann Museum.