Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A pure and unsullied creation

I don't often think of the creation account as one of  purity. But as Dr. Jim Hamilton draws to our attention below, it clearly does register as pure when one considers the other creation accounts out there. The power of the events described seem to overshadow, at least in my mind, their holiness. But our "unsullied" God radiates righteousness when the brutality and perversity of other accounts are juxtaposed to the Bible's account.

When set next to other ancient accounts of the creation of the world and humanity, the Genesis account is aglow with the power, goodness, purity, and uniqueness of the God revealed in the Bible. He is responsible for all that is, and all that is, is good. Genesis 1 and 2 show God to be glorious indeed. Not only is the God of the Bible unsullied by the brutality and perversity of other ancient accounts of the origin of all things, but he is also presented as building for himself a cosmic temple. In this cosmic temple, he places his image, whose task is to fill the earth and subdue it such that the Glory of Yahweh covers the land as the waters cover the sea. ((Hamilton, James M. God's Glory in Salvation through Judgment: A Biblical Theology. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010. Print. 73)

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