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God's Level of Detail in Speaking into Being the Creation

Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Guido, Jun 28, 2024.

  1. Guido

    Guido Active Member

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    The Bible says in Genesis that God spoke the world into being, and in Hebrews that Christ upholds everything by the word of His power, Genesis recording God speaking general words to create the universe. But in everything created, especially in biological systems, we see an incredible level of complexity.

    So my question is: Are the words in genesis the words that God actually spoke, or did he speak the creation into being in a more detailed manner. Or did Jesus create in detail what the Father commanded, as long ago, my mother told me that a pastor preached?
     
  2. Deacon

    Deacon Well-Known Member
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    We don't know the language of God... We know the language that God chose to communicate when he spoke to mankind.

    When reading the creation account in Scripture it is hard not to think of it like a movie, a dramatic rendition of how things happened.
    I think that's what many people image as they read the Bible.
    But the Scriptures are not a record of history as it happened. We are not reading a first hand account of creation.
    We read an account given to a people far removed in time and culture from today's readers.
    To interpret Scripture effectively we should accommodate our understanding of Scripture to the culture and nature of the audience to whom it was given.

    Common sense
    ideas that we take for granted were not common.
    Modern scientific concepts are foreign to the people the Scriptures were given to.
    That's not saying the Scriptures are wrong, only that we cannot read things like evolution, astronomy, modern physics, medicine, etc. into Scripture.
    God even made allowance for ancient beliefs in order to effectively communicate his message (e.g. Joshua 10:12-14).
    He did not provide advanced scientific knowledge beyond what the ancient people knew, he accommodated his message to their understanding.

    God's creation is intricately detailed.
    Mankind is only beginning to understand it.
    When I think of creation I appreciate the interchange between the centurion's friends and Jesus in Luke 7:6-9.

    “Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to enter under my roof;
    for that reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but just say the word, and my servant shall be healed.
    For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under myself; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”
    Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”

    (NASB 2020)​

    Rob
     
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  3. Van

    Van Well-Known Member
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    I am reluctant to add anything after Deacon's post #2.

    Since we believe all scripture, including Genesis, are the inspired Word of God, we believe in their original autographs (handwriting) the words were chosen by God to convey His message to the audience at that time.

    Now at to speaking the worlds into existence, see Hebrews 11:3."Worlds" actually translates "ages" but refers to the "aggregate of things contained in time," hence universe. The action accomplished was to "put in order" thus the intricate interaction of all things was included in the accomplishment of those words.

    And one last thing, the words or declarations or utterances of God caused whatever was produced to come out of nothing, i.e God did not reconfigure what was, but created it "ex nilo" or out of nothing.
     
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