It was very good
Series: CREATIO | Bible text: Genesis 1:26–31
On the last day, God gives creation the rating «very good». This includes perfect creatures living in successful relationships with each other. Man, created in God’s image, takes servant responsibility for the rest of creation in a similar way that God does. A very good gospel involves not only the salvation of individual souls, but the restoration of the whole cosmos. God will restore the shalom of the creation narrative in the new creation.
The people of Israel, the Hebrews, are in exile in Babylon in the 5th century BC. In the process, they are indoctrinated with the creation myth that prevails thereIn the beginning, two divine beings ruled: Apsu (fresh water) and his wife Tiamat (salt water). The two flowed together and became one. Demons, monsters and gods were born in their waters. Violence, death and chaos reigned in the floods as the descendants of Apsu and Tiamat waged war against each other. Apsu and Tiamat planned to kill their children to restore peace. But their great-grandson Ea rose up and killed Apsu. Spitting rage and fury, Tiamat created eleven monsters. These were to help her win the war against her descendants. Tiamat’s new lover, the god Kingu, led her army. Then Ea’s son, the god Marduk, rose up and promised to defend her on one condition: if he prevailed, he would take over. He won. His first act in supremacy was to divide Tiamat in two. Her ribs became the dome of heaven and the earth of the ground. Her pierced eyes became the source of the Tigris and the Euphrates and her tail the Milky Way. Then Marduk took Kingu’s blood, mixed it with red clay and created humanity to serve the gods forever.
The world becomes as a result of warlike conflicts in the world of the gods, seen as a more or less accidental by-product of the violence of the gods. This is hardly a suitable basis on which to place a high value on creation. Genesis 1 (Genesis 1) was most likely written at the end of the exile by the Hebrew priests (c. 538–450 BC) in order to deliberately set themselves apart from the Babylonian worldview. In the biblical text, creation is deliberately created by a creative and loving God and given the rating «very good».
The Hebrew word for that which is and expresses God’s creation is Shalom. And it is precisely this shalom that God will restore. God’s response to the very good created world is a very good Gospel. The very good Gospel speaks not only of how the human soul goes to the heaven beyond, but how the whole cosmos can be redeemed and restored. The original Shalom is to be restored.
It is precisely this shalom that we now need to understand better, based on Genesis 1. The creation story reaches its climax on the sixth day. On this day, God spoke three words and one sentence. And this offers the essence of the vision of Shalom: image, likeness, dominion and very good. God, the exalted Creator, separated the realms and brought forth every plant and every living creature. Then God said: «We want to create people according to our Image, the similar to us are. They shall be over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over all cattle, over the wild beasts, and over all creeping things. prevail»(Genesis 1:26 NLB).
Representative image
The Hebrew word tselem (image) is repeated twice in the next verse, which shows the relevance of this term. Tselem says representative picture. This is a revolutionary statement in a time when only kings and queens were eligible to represent a deity. People do not inherit their intrinsic worth and dignity based on lineage, financial status or royal position. Value and dignity are ascribed to a human being by the Creator, the exalted God. This must be a balm to a battered people’s soul that – during the 70 years of captivity – was completely deprived of a sense of healthy self-worth and dignity. Genesis 1 speaks to people who were massively oppressed. They lived in a land where the theological worldview was taught that they existed to serve ruthless, vengeful and brutal gods. The gods treated the Babylonians as if they were no more than pawns. Against this background, the priests reminded the Hebrews of their deep intrinsic worth and dignity.
Tselem means in Greek eikon. In the New Testament, the word describes the image of Caesar, which was erected as huge statues at the city gates and stamped on Roman coins. The image was to remind all subjects always and everywhere that Caesar reigned here. Jesus says in reference to this image on the coin: «Then said he unto them, Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.» (Matthew 22:21 LUT). The coins bore the eikon of Caesar, they belonged to Caesar. You and I – we carry God’s eikon! All people bear God’s image because they belong to God. One of the tasks now is to serve as a marker where God reigns.
The homeless man on the street corner is made in God’s image. The Colombian worker who works on a cocoa farm owned by an international corporation and earns two cents a day is made in God’s image. The woman enslaved in the sex industry is made in God’s image. All human beings are created in the image of God. Whoever strikes another person strikes the image of God. Whoever lies to another person lies to the image of God. Whoever exploits another human being exploits the image of God. Whoever declares war on another person, ethnic group, religion or nation, declares war on the image of God. To commit physical, emotional, psychological, sexual, political and economic violence against fellow human beings is essentially to try to destroy the image of God on earth.
We are not God. But because we bear God’s image, we are worthy of human dignity, love, respect, honour and protection.
Divine stewardship of creation
«They shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over all cattle, over wild animals, and over all creeping things. prevail» (Genesis 1:26b NLB). In the same breath that God created man in His image, He gave him the vocation to exercise dominion (radah). Being created in His image has different meanings: We have characteristics as God has, we are creative beings and have feelings, we are created for community as God lives within the Trinity. This is all true, but in the text the word tselem (representative image) directly with the exercise of dominion (radah) connected.
The importance of being made in the image of God is evident in the calling and capacity of all human beings to exercise dominion. We associate the exercise of power with people like Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin or Joe Biden. Therefore, we see domination in close connection with human exercise of power, up to imperialism and exploitation of land and people.
In the creation account we are given a picture of God’s rule that bears little resemblance to this human way of exercising power. Radah is not a mandate to exercise imperial power. How did God live radah? After He created the first trees, the first plants and the first animals, God sets boundaries for each species. Within these species and above them, He created functioning relationships. When the authors use the word radah If we need a new creation, behind it lies the image of a new creation that wants to be managed. An image of what happens when people use their power for base motives is the situation in the Balkans after the war. If you travelled through Bosnia during that time, you saw house after house badly damaged by bullets. Normally, the first targets in a war are government buildings, warehouses, factories, bridges and military installations. In the Bosnian war, however, Serb forces destroyed civilian homes. Ten years later, you could still see the bullet holes and how trees grew out of the bombed houses. When people fail to fulfil or misuse their mandate to steward creation, untamed wilderness takes over.
When the priests wrote Genesis 1, the Hebrews had just lived as captives for several generations. They had no idea what it meant to exercise freedom of choice: neither how to use your voice nor how to use your power to make decisions.
This was the context in which the priestly writers declared that all human beings were created with the vocation and ability to exercise dominion. No one is too lowly to take responsibility for God’s creation. This is true for the Somali taxi driver, for the woman stocking shelves at the Denny’s, for the men and women in prisons, and for you and me. God created all of us with the ability to govern our world. This means governing a nation or a city as well as leading in the company, the family, our relationships and our own person.
If human beings are created in God’s likeness, then the way we exercise dominion should reflect God’s way. It should maintain the well-being of all creation. Exercising a rule that seeks first its own advantage breaks with the likeness of God.
The shalom lies in this world when all people are in the process of stewarding creation according to God’s example.
And it was very good
«After that, God looked at everything he had created. And he saw that it was very good. And there was evening and morning: the sixth day» (Genesis 1:31 NLB). After God had created six times as good On the last day, at the seventh assessment, he received a very good rating. The number seven symbolises for the Hebrews Wholeness and perfection. In the overall view, God is thrilled and fascinated. In the Hebrew understanding of the world, all creatures are interconnected. The «very good» thus does not only refer to the individual object, but to the connections between things. The original hearers understood that the quality of relationships within species and between species were very good. The Hebrew word for very is meod. It means powerful, vehement, abundant, flourishing, and never-ending.
- The relationship between humans and God was powerfully good. And it is never-ending good that God is exalted and different from man.
- The relations among the people were vehemently good.
- The relationship between humans and the rest of creation was flourishing.
- The relationship between husband and wife was excellent.
- etc.
The Shalom of Creation is perfect, very good. Every single creature as well as the relationships within the species and beyond are perfect. Add to this the human being who represents God’s image in creation and, in likeness to God, manages the rest of creation. The very good gospel is: Today it is God’s turn to restore that shalom. «For God so loved the world («cosmos») that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life»(John 3:16 NLB). When a person reciprocates this love, he belongs to the redeemed humanity that is to give a face to shalom in this world right now.
Questions for the small groups
Reading the Bible text: Genesis 1:1–31
- You are made in God’s image! What does this mean in terms of your worth and dignity?
- What does it mean for coexistence in this world that every single human being is created in God’s image?
- How did God exercise his dominion in the six days of creation? What does this mean for us?
- Our stewardship of creation consists of creating well-being for individual creatures as well as interconnectedness. What might this mean in concrete terms?
- The «very good» above creation corresponds to the «very good» of the Gospel. What is the connection between creation and the Gospel?
