_5_The Work of the Six Days

The First Day: The phrase “In the beginning” refers to things outside God. When they came into existence, time and space began. — “Heaven and earth” is usually employed in Scripture to denote all created things, the universe, das Weltall (Gen. 2:1; Is. 37:16; Jer. 32:17; Acts 4:24; 14:15). Col. 1:16: “For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible.” But since the following verses describe heaven and earth as we know them today, as being formed out of the original substance, we rightly understand this original substance, “heaven and earth” of Gen. 1:1, to be the “rudis moles coeli et terrae” (St. L. 1:9), or, in modern phraseology, the “Weltstoff.” — The water was created with the crude material, since it was present on the first day (Gen. 1:2) and surrounded the earth (v. 9). —The term is used Jer. 4:23 to describe a devastated country, but in Gen. 1:2 it designates a chaotic condition in which things are still a formless mass.

The theory, held by Kurtz, Delitzsch, Rudelbach, and Guericke, that this denotes the remains of an earlier world which perished when a part of the angels fell and that the creation described in Genesis 1 is merely the restitution of a prior creation has no foundation whatever in the text.6 —Nor does anything in the text indicate that “heaven” refers to the empyrean (coelum empyrium), a supposed region of pure fire in which God dwells with the angels and the saints, as was held by Scholastics, Romanists, Calvinists, and Arminians.7 The heaven of the angels and saints is not a created locality, but the condition of the blessed vision of God. Matt. 18:10 teaches that the angels, while attending the “little ones” on earth, at the same time always behold the face of God in heaven. (For further details see “Eternal Life,” p. 553, Note 84.)

The light which God created on the first day was the “elemental light,” which, on the fourth day, was concentrated in the celestial bodies. According to the clear statement of Scripture there was light before sun, moon, and stars existed. Nobody will object to this as long as he believes in an omnipotent God.8

The Second Day: The expanse, or “firmament” (), is not the atmosphere surrounding the globe (as Baier and others have thought), but the visible vault of the sky (Luther and others); v. 8: “God called the heaven,” v. 14: “the of heaven.” According to vv. 6-8 this firmament divides the waters above and below it. Is it not dangerous to place waters above the firmament? They are no more dangerous than the waters in the sea, which are also kept in their place only by God’s omnipotence.9

The Third Day: God gathered the waters under the heavens together at one place and let dry land appear. At God’s command the land then brought forth the plant life. The plants appeared before the seed: God created the plants, which “yielded seed.” This fact answers the famous question: Which was first, the oak or the acorn?

The Fourth Day: God created the celestial bodies, sun, moon, and stars. We are not told of what (materia ex qua) they were created, but it is stated for what purpose (finis cuius) and for whose good (finis cui) they were made. They are to serve as the dispensers of light and the indicators of the time and seasons (Gen. 1:14-18). The Bible does not teach any so-called astronomical “system,” but it does teach clearly the following facts: The earth came into existence before the sun, and the light was before the sun. The earth does not serve the sun, but the sun was made to serve the earth. The existence and activity of the sun, moon, and stars are dependent on the existence of the earth. When the earth has run its course, having fulfilled its purpose, which is to provide a habitation for men to hear the Gospel of the crucified Savior of sinners, then the sun, moon, and stars will disappear with this present earth. Matt. 24:14 speaks plain language: “And this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” With the end of this world the end of all things, of the universe, (1 Pet. 4:7), is come. No matter what size, compared with the earth, men may ascribe to sun, moon, and stars, these celestial bodies have no independent history and no independent meaning and function, but their history and significance or function are dependent upon the earth. These facts are positively taught in Holy Scripture.

As to the astronomical systems constructed by men, every Christian, and particularly every Christian theologian, must keep these four things in mind: 1) Scripture is errorless, also in physical matters. Scripture is indeed “no textbook of the natural sciences.” Its purpose is to teach the way to heaven by faith in Christ (2 Tim. 3:15; John 17:20; 20:31; Eph. 2:20-22). But when, even though only in passing, it does teach matters of natural science, its statements are the inviolable truth (John 10:35). 2) Scripture accommodates itself to our human conception of things (e. g., when it speaks of a praescientia Dei or of a descensus Dei), but never to erroneous human conceptions. We are not entitled to limit John 10:35: “The Scripture cannot be broken,” and John 17:17: “Thy Word is truth” by saying that this “self-evidently” does not refer to the historical, geographic, scientific, etc., statements of Scripture. 3) Our human knowledge of astronomical matters is naturally limited much by our inability to view them from a position outside this globe and the universe. Even the geographer Daniel, who is himself a Copernican, reminds us of this fact. “The cosmic systems, all of them without exception, are not based on experience, for this would demand a position outside the earth, but on conclusions and combinations. All of them therefore are and remain hypotheses.” 10 4) It is unworthy of a Christian to interpret Scripture, which he knows to be God’s own Word, according to human opinions (hypotheses), and that includes the Copernican cosmic system, or to have others thus to interpret Scripture to him.11

Fifth Day: God created the aquatic animals and the birds (vv. 20-22). Gerhard calls the fifth day the “birthday” of the fish and the fowls (Loci, locus “De Creatione,” § 32). In regard to the materia ex qua of the fowls the opinion among Lutheran theologians is divided. They all agree that in the so-called creatio mediata, i. e., in the creation of the creatures from the existing matter, every form of self-activity of matter (evolution) is to be rejected. The matter existing since the first day comes into consideration merely as the material from which (materia ex qua) the infinite power of God produced the creatures, each one after its kind. The matter is principium passivum, non concurrit (as a second factor) cum Deo ad aliquid creandum.12 But as to the substance from which the fowls were created, Luther and Calov say: Ex aqua; Baier and Hollaz: ex terra. Hollaz appeals to Gen. 2:19: “Out of the ground the Lord formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air.” And Gen. 1:20 the water is not expressly indicated as the matter from which the fowls were made. But Hollaz overlooks that Gen. 2:19 the words: “out of the ground” are connected with, and apply to the creation of, the beasts and need not pertain to the fowls. Walther quotes both sides but leaves the matter undecided. So we, too, hold the matter in abeyance and admire the creative power of God in either case. This is what Chemnitz, who accepts the ex aqua, stresses (Loci I, 122).

Sixth Day: God created the land animals out of the ground (Gen. 1:24; 2:19). If it be asked whether the scavengers, maggots, and the like, and the predatory animals, which are now at war with man, were also created by God on this day, we should answer that (a) these animals also are a part of creation, but (b) they had a different sphere of activity. Before the Fall there was no (decay) in nature, nor had the animals risen against man. The poisonous plants either had a different nature before the Fall, or they were not harmful to man in his uncorrupted state. Thus Luther and the dogmaticians.13

Finally, on the sixth day, God created man. The fact that man is the crown of creation, superior to the other creatures, is indicated by the following circumstances: 1) Before He made man, the Triune God held a consultation: “Let Us make man” (Gen. 1:26). 2) God did something special when He created man. He did not simply speak, as He did when He created animals: “Let the earth bring forth,” but He molded the body of man out of the clay and by a special act breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (Gen. 2:7). 3) The fact that God breathed into man the breath of life indicates that man was given a life principle different from that of the animals, namely, a rational and immortal soul.14 However, the human soul is not an efflux of God’s essence or a part of God (pantheism). 4) Of special importance is the creation of man in God’s own image ( and , Gen. 1:26). Man was endowed with the knowledge of God and perfect righteousness and holiness. (This matter will be more thoroughly presented in the chapter “Man Before the Fall.”) 5) The installation of man as ruler over the earth and its inhabitants (Gen. 1: 26-28).15