Progressive Commentary on Genesis 1:1-8

1. Genesis 1 is so familiar to Christians that we
oftentake its radical theology for granted.
Genesis 1 is actually modeled off an older
creation myth from Babylon, Enuma
Elish.
Genesis 1:1-1:8
Goodness of Creation:The first story of the 1 In the beginning when God created the heavens and the
Bible is actually one of the latest additions.
Genesis 1 was written during Jewish exile in earth, 2 the earth was a formless void and darkness covered
Babylon. Whereas Babylon’s creation myth
was full of violent, uncaring Gods, the exiled
the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the
Priests describe a radically loving God who face of the waters. 3 Then God said, "Let there be light"; and
crafts all of creation to be good.
Order from Chaos: God’s creation does not
there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good; and
start from nothing. God takes the watery God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the
chaos—a violent, out of control Babylonian
water Goddess—and throughout the Myth light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was
applies order and goodness to the chaos.
evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God
Single God: In Enuma Elish there is a bloody
struggle between competing Gods. During
said, "Let there be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let
the time Genesis 1 was written (5th century it separate the waters from the waters." 7 So God made the
BCE) most Near-Eastern cultures assumed
there were many Gods and none dominated. dome and separated the waters that were under the dome
Even in older Hebrew Bible texts there are
competing Gods. Genesis 1 revises this older from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so. 8
Jewish theology in favor of a singularly
powerful God.
God called the dome Sky. And there was evening and there
Conclusion: Genesis 1 opens with a
was morning, the second day
revolutionary theology. There is a single
God, converting chaos into order, and this
order is inherently good. The implications of
this sort of creation for God’s creatures—
us—are profound. By definition God’s
creatures are good. We continually progress
from chaos to order. And we do not have to
worry about competing divine forces
disrupting the process of creation. Genesis 1
is radically optimistic about the state of the
world. Thus setting the stage for a
redemptive spiritual message throughout
the Bible.

2. Sources
• Carr, David. An Introduction to the Old
Testament. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell,
2010. Print.
• Carr, David. "Genesis Commentary." The New
Oxford Annotated Bible. 4th ed. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.