Genesis 1:3-5 Day One: Creation of Light

Genesis Bible Study  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
0 ratings
· 8 views
Notes
Transcript

Genesis 1:3–5 ESV
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The first step in remedying the dark earth was God’s command to bring forth light. “The divine word shatters the primal cosmic silence and signals the birth of a new cosmic order.”

And God Said

The ordering of creation begins with the spoken word.

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

Speaking is the revelation of thought; the creation, the realization of the thoughts of God

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

Speaking is the revelation of thought; the creation, the realization of the thoughts of God

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

Speaking is the revelation of thought; the creation, the realization of the thoughts of God

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The Hebrew community understood that God’s creative word was the same authoritative word by which he brought about the affairs of human history and the nations. Just as the word created the universe, the word created the community of Israel.

“Let there be light”

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

The first thing created by the divine Word was “light,” the elementary light, or light-material, in distinction from the “lights,” or light-bearers, bodies of light, as the sun, moon, and stars, created on the fourth day, are called.

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

Light was the first thing called forth, and separated from the dark chaos by the creative mandate, “Let there be,”

God creates light before the creation of the sun (Gen 1:14–18). This reflects an understanding of the world, common in the ancient Near East, that held that the sun does not serve as the source of light.

and there was light

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible A. The Creation of the World (1:1–2:3)

light is the only item created by fiat alone (1:3–5). Everything else in Genesis 1 is created by fiat plus some divinely instigated type of activity.

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The source of creation’s first “light” is not specifically stated. Since it is not tied to a luminating body such as the sun (vv. 15–16), the text implies that the “light” has its source in God himself

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

Like the luminous cloud of God, witnessed by Israel in the wilderness and in the tabernacle (cf. Exod 24:15–18 w/40:38), this primal light indicated the divine presence.

Light, which has lent its name to all that is life-giving (John 1:4), truth-giving (2 Cor. 4:6), gladdening (Eccl. 11:7) and pure (1 John 1:5–7), appropriately marks the first step from chaos to order; and as it here precedes the sun, so in the final vision it outlasts it (Rev. 22:5).

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The prophets and apocalyptists attributed to the coming “day of the LORD” terrestrial and cosmic transformations when the eschatological light will have its source in the Lord, not in the sun or moon

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

This “light” on the first day then is indicative of the presence of God both at creation and among his people Israel

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

without light and the warmth which flows from it no plant or animal could thrive.

And God saw

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

God’s seeing is not a mere expression of the delight of the eye or of pleasure in His work, but is of the deepest significance to every created thing, being the seal of the perfection which God has impressed upon it, and by which its continuance before God and through God is determined

that the light was good.

God calls His handiwork good seven times in ch. 1 (vv. 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). The Hebrew word used here, tov, has a broad range of meaning but generally describes what is desirable, beautiful, or right. In essence, God affirms creation as right and in right relationship with Him immediately after He creates it. The material world is good as created by God.

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

The creation of light, however, was not annihilation of darkness, not transformation of the dark material of the world into pure light, but a separation of the light from the primary matter, a separation which established and determined that interchange of light and darkness, which produces the distinction between day and night.

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible A. The Creation of the World (1:1–2:3)

Note that the darkness is not called “good,” and that there are sources of light in the universe (day 1) besides sunlight (day 4).

A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Genesis 1:1–2:3—Creation of the World in Six Days: Institution of the Sabbath

“Good” expresses the contrast of God’s work to the chaos of which darkness is an element.

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

Also “good” as a double entendre indicates that God as Judge of the universe distinguishes between what is morally “good” and morally evil

And God separated the light from the darkness

caused there to be a separation between the light and between the darkness The division of time into day and night represents one of God’s first acts in the ordering of creation.

To some of the ancients, day and night suggested warring powers; to modern man, merely a spinning world. Genesis knows nothing of either conflict or chance in this: only of the watchful Creator who assigns to everything its value

The idea of ‘dividing’ is specially prominent, both here (cf. 6, 7, 14, 18) and in the law (e.g. Lev. 20:25)

God called the light Day

and the darkness he called Night

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

God showed his superiority over both the light and the darkness by naming them “day” and “night.” The act of naming is an important feature in the creation account, indicating the existence (“being”) of the element named and also God’s authority over his creation. This divine prerogative of “naming” is extended to the first man, who names the animals and his companion “woman” (2:19, 23; 3:20).

And there was evening and there was morning

The expression “evening and there was morning” specifies the length of a “day” (yom, in Hebrew). While the author may have meant a 24-hour day, less specific interpretations are possible.

the first day

The Hebrew word yom can refer to a 24-hour cycle, the daylight hours, or an unspecified future “someday.” The meaning of the word, though, does not settle the debate over whether the passage references a literal six-day creation or symbolic days

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The analogy between the creation week and the Hebrew work week is specifically drawn in the Fourth Commandment (Exod 20:10–11). By this the Hebrews tied their sacred calendar to the foundations of creation itself (Exod 23:12).

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

Early Jewish and Christian interpreters were troubled that it took God seven days to create the world, whereas modern interpreters are puzzled by the brevity of creation in light of geology’s testimony to the age of the earth.

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

the seventh day does not have the concluding refrain “evening and morning,” which suggests its continuation for some period and thus its nonliteral nature

Conclusion

Commentary on the Old Testament The Creation of the World

Speaking is the revelation of thought; the creation, the realization of the thoughts of God

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

The light at creation was the first word, the word that is indistinct from God’s personal presence

Light is the great beauty and blessing of the universe. Like the first-born, it does, of all visible beings, most resemble its great Parent in purity and power, brightness and beneficence

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

Paul paralleled God’s creation of light that shines “out of darkness” (4:6) and the light that has revealed the glory of God in human hearts. This glory is in the “face of Christ,”

The New American Commentary: Genesis 1–11:26 (1) First Day of Creation (1:3–5)

Paul paralleled God’s creation of light that shines “out of darkness” (4:6) and the light that has revealed the glory of God in human hearts. This glory is in the “face of Christ,”

Light, which has lent its name to all that is life-giving (John 1:4), truth-giving (2 Cor. 4:6), gladdening (Eccl. 11:7) and pure (1 John 1:5–7), appropriately marks the first step from chaos to order; and as it here precedes the sun, so in the final vision it outlasts it (Rev. 22:5).

photo t shirt

patreon paypal squarecash

like share subscribe

pray

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more