Creation And Genesis 1: The Second Story Of Creation

The beginning of the Bible aptly starts with the story of the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. Interestingly, instead of one definitive story about how God created the world, there are two very different stories. The second story of creation, Genesis 2, was actually the first story of creation actually written. Genesis 1 was probably written a few centuries later. This is because the Old Testament is made up of several different sources that eventually came together to create the books of the Bible now published today. The story of Genesis 1 most likely came from the Priestly source, a source which prefers more organization to the source of Genesis 2, the Yahwist source (Boadt, 75). While these two stories are vastly different, both show important facts about the story of creation. In spite of a few minor contradicting details, both stories are compatible in that the two stories share different teachings that are important to an understanding of God and the Earth. Genesis 1 is a very matter of fact story about how God created the earth. It begins with what was there before God had created anything: the abyss

Each highlight an important aspect of God, Genesis 1 exhibits His omnipotence through His abilities to speak words that are manifested into objects. In Genesis 2, God is anthropomorphic and the results of Creation are not simply from His spoken word, but by the works of His hands (Jerome, 12). Genesis 1 also reminds the reader that the earth and all of its creatures are good, and the sin that comes into the world as a result of the disobedience of man does not revoke this fact. God’s immense love for human beings is depicted by Genesis 2. God does not make the world and man, but makes the world for man. Genesis 1 restricts the possible selfish mindset that this view could produce by including God’s instruction to man to care for the Earth and its creatures, rather than exploit