Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 133:529 (Jan 1976)
Article: The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3 Part V: The Theology of Genesis 1-Continued
Author: Bruce K. Waltke

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BSac 133:529 (Jan 76) p. 28

The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3
Part V:
The Theology of Genesis 1-Continued

Bruce K. Waltke

[Bruce K. Waltke, Professor of Semitic Languages and Old Testament Exegesis, Dallas Theological Seminary.]

[EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the final installment in a series of five articles first delivered by the author as the Bueermann-Champion Foundation Lectures at Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, Portland, Oregon, October 1–4, 1974, and adapted from Creation and Chaos (Portland, OR: Western Conservative Baptist Seminary, 1974).]

The preceding article in this series discussed some of the activities of God revealed in the creation account in Genesis 1.1 This present article continues the discussion of the theology of Genesis 1 and then considers the relationship of other Old Testament creation passages to the interpretation of Genesis 1 suggested in this series.

God’s Divine Attributes Seen In Genesis 1

Genesis 1 revealed to Israel the activities of God as Creator, Savior, and Ruler. But it also revealed something of His attributes, including His greatness, wisdom, and goodness.

His Greatness

What splendid power and greatness God displayed by His creation. The Creator is a fortiori greater than His creation. Isaiah declared that Israel’s God holds in the hollow of one hand all the water of the sea, and with the outstretched fingers of His other hand measures the expanse of the sky. Isaiah then added that God could take all the dust of the earth and pour it into His little basket and weigh all the mountains of the earth on His scales (Isa 40:12).

BSac 133:529 (Jan 76) p. 29

If God was great to Israel which had a limited view of the universe, how much greater He ought to be to modern man. Today we know that our galaxy is spinning like a gigantic pinwheel extending for 104,000 light-years from one end to the other. Our sun is 25,000 light-years from the center of this gigantic spiral and rotates around its center once every one million years. Above and below the spiral of our galaxy are about one hundred clusters of stars with one million stars in each cluster, and some of them have a diameter of 16 million miles. And to think we are but part of one of thousands of galaxies! Certainly God’s vast creation reveals something of His own greatness.

His Wisdom

In the creation God’s wisdom is displayed. He achieved the cosmos by first establishi...

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