The first chapter of Genesis introduces us to the Lord as the architect of order, able to weave both function and meaning into hapless atoms.
It also characterizes God’s creativity as “good.”
When we get to the sixth day where humans emerge, the narrative now notes that this portion of the creation is “very good” (Genesis 1:31). What has happened there that requires this new qualifier?
Humans stand out as the climax of creation – the last creature to come forth from the divine blueprint. Male and female alike are made “in God’s own image.” I’m not saying that Genesis 1:26-28 does a thorough job of explaining what that means – more that the text puts that idea out there for us to be thinking about as we go along.
What is clear is that humans are somehow the reason for the creation. The world is both our gift and our responsibility. As the bearers of God’s image and the stewards of God’s creation humans produce the context for dubbing the work of the sixth day “very good.”
But the world we know really isn’t “very good.” Parts of it are – nature and even humans at times display incredible beauty – but we can’t deny there’s a lot of bad in the world and most of it comes from humanity. How can this be if God is truly in charge?
Genesis has the answer for this as well. That’s why we have to keep reading.
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