The God of Creation
September 7th, 2025 “The God of Creation” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Genesis 1:1-2:3
This morning, we begin a new journey through the Bible. I have decided that instead of the revised common lectionary that most churches follow, we will read the narrative lectionary this year. This is a giant overlook through the scriptures. We will start in Genesis this September and finish with the Pentecost story from Acts at the end of May. We will follow the great arc of the Biblical narrative as well as our cycle of holidays in the church calendar. We will begin with the origin stories of Genesis, move through the prophets, celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas, read about Jesus until Easter, and then read about the church after Easter until we celebrate Pentecost. My hope is that over the course of the next nine months you will get a better feel for the narrative of God’s love as found in our scriptures.
Today we start at the very beginning, with Genesis. We’ve talked in the past about the theory of authorship of our gospels, but I don’t think we have talked about Genesis in a while. The book of Genesis was written by 4 different voices from 4 different time periods and geographical areas. Like a braid, these 4 narratives are woven throughout the Pentateuch, which is what we call the first 5 books of the Bible. Historians label these authors The Yahwist, The Elohist, The Dueteronomistic Historian, and The Priestly Writer.
It doesn’t take much Bible study to see that our Bible has two creation stories. The one we are reading today was written by the Priestly author. Historians think that this writer wrote during the end of exile in Babylon and the beginning of the restoration of Israel, so like 550-450 BCE. The focus of this writer was to support the unique identity of Israel as a religious community and the specific lineage of Aaron and the Priestly class. This writer focuses mostly on ritual and order. That’s why we have this super ordered creation narrative with all the separation between clean and unclean things. The Priestly author was responsible for the whole book of Leviticus so you can get an idea of what kind of writer they were and what was important to them.
When we look at the two creation stories in Genesis, we see that this first one has a strong emphasis on order and boundaries and a very holy and separate God. Even the Sabbath ritual is included as a part of creation. These are all important things for the Priestly class of Israelites. By contrast, the second story features a more organic form of creation and a more anthropomorphic God. That story was written by the Yahwist voice. Understanding that there are different storylines side by side in our Bible helps us to understand why God acts so differently from one story to the next. These were stories written by different authors with different purposes for their storytelling.
Now that we are oriented historically and within the literature itself, let’s look at what the Priestly author is saying to us about the nature of God. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters.” We often imagine a creation of something from nothing but that is not what the author describes here. Instead, the earth is a watery chaos, dark and turbulent. It is within this chaos itself that God will produce order. The author is telling us that God creates order from chaos.
How? By separating and dividing things. Unlike the second narrative where God uses hands to create, like a sculptor, in this story God only needs the power of voice. Like a divine king, God makes pronouncements and declarations, and the elements of nature respond creating order. First, light is separated out from darkness and so we have day and night. Then the waters of chaos are split into two parts, waters below the earth and waters above the sky. We don’t imagine the earth this way anymore, but we can see how this would make sense to early people. Dig in the ground and water comes up. Every so often the sky opens up and rain falls down. The earth was like a dome with waters below and waters above, all ordered and separated by God’s power.
In the next step God forms the land, again by separating the waters from each other. Then the earth itself participates in the act of creation. From the earth God calls forth plant life, again notice the organization, all plants and seeds categorized and separated. Seasons are created and then life is brought forth from the waters of chaos. There are water specific creatures and birds, things that all would live within their specific realms. Then earth brings forth living creatures, reptiles, mammals, and the like. Again, everything stays within its realm.
Finally, humankind is created in the image of the heavenly court. Both male and female are created at the same time, created equal, and both reflecting the image of the divine. These humans are given all of the vegetation on the earth to eat. In fact, all animals and all of life on the earth is vegetarian only. “To everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” Notice that there is no garden of Eden or tree that we aren’t supposed to eat from. That story is not important to this narrator.
Finally, God rests. The work is finished, all of creation is good, and now God blesses a holy day of sabbath because God rested from creation. God creates holiness which is something that would be important to the Priestly class. The Sabbath is not given as a command to people yet, but that will become a concern of this author later, and so that’s why they added it to their creation story.
So, who is the Priestly author telling us that God is? This God has supreme power and authority. God only needs to speak God’s will and things come into being. This God values order. In fact, order and organization are holy things. This creation narrative reads like a tackle box, each thing divided and separated from the other thing. When we read this author’s writing later in Leviticus we find that what makes things unclean is that they cross these boundaries. Animals that go in land and water are unclean. All things that stay in their own space are clean and good.
All that this God creates is good and has value. Each day of creation God declares that what has been done, what was formed in the separating of one thing from another is good. And when looked at together, the whole of creation is very good. The Priestly author wants us to understand that the earth we live in is a good earth. It has value because God made it, and it is loved by God.
In this creation story our job is to watch over the creation. As God has dominion over all of creation, so humans have dominion over the earth. While many Christians read this and assume we can do whatever we want with the planet, harvesting its resources until there is nothing left, that is not what it says. Rather, as those in the image of God, we are tasked with being caretakers for the earth. Something that we all struggle with in our modern consumerist society.
Finally, the Priestly author wants us to understand that the God of creation is the God of all people. God is not simply the God for the people of Israel, for one tribe, or for one nation. Rather God is the God of the planet as a whole. All people that we share the earth with are the same in God’s eyes. All plants and animals are as valuable as people in God’s eyes. All things are worthy of life and respect. In this created order, there is no bloodshed at all. We are going to find that blood is really important to the Priestly author. In a perfect creation, everyone keeps their own blood in in their bodies and no one fights or eats anyone else, even in the animal kingdom. All separate, all good, with all your parts inside you, and no one touching anything.
In conclusion, Genesis 1 tells us a great story about an OCD God who loves to separate things into their categories and have them stay there. This God is all powerful, and this God loves order and organization. This God loves us, especially when we too create and abide by order and organization. The Priestly author tells us a story of a God who loves to have everything in its own little place, separate from everything else, and all is perfect.
It’s a great story, and a great idea about God. But life isn’t like that, is it? Created order from chaos is a great place to start a story, but once humanity gets going things get messy. As we continue our journey through the scriptures, we won’t find this nice order again. In fact, next week things get really messy as we jump to Genesis chapter 22, where Abraham is just certain God is calling him to kill his son Isaac.
Until then, go out into the world and enjoy God’s good earth, God’s very good earth. And to all my OCD brothers and sisters in the audience, know that you are made in the image of a God who absolutely loves it when everything is nice and neat and put in its place. Amen.
