The Law · Chapter 1 of 50

Genesis 1

God creates the heavens and the earth. Out of a formless, dark, empty world his Spirit moves and his word calls forth light. Over six days he separates and fills: sky and seas, land and plants, sun, moon, and stars, birds and fish, animals and finally humanity, made male and female in his own image. He blesses them, gives them dominion and food, and sees that all is very good.

What happens in Genesis 1

The chapter opens with God creating the heavens and the earth, which begin without form and void, dark and covered with water, while the Spirit of God hovers over the deep. God speaks, and light appears, the first day. Across successive days he separates the waters with a firmament, gathers the seas so dry land appears, and clothes the earth with grass, herbs, and fruit trees. He sets the sun, moon, and stars in the sky for signs and seasons.

He fills the waters with creatures and the air with birds, blessing them to multiply, then makes land animals of every kind. On the sixth day God says, Let us make man in our image, and creates humanity male and female, giving them dominion over the creatures and every plant for food. Each stage he calls good, and surveying the whole, he pronounces it very good. Repeatedly the refrain sounds: evening and morning, another day.

Genesis 1 in context

Genesis opens the Bible and the story of Israel with the origin of everything. Written for a people surrounded by nations whose myths described creation as the violent work of many gods, it presents one sovereign God who creates effortlessly by his word.

The account is ordered and worshipful, structured in matched days of forming and filling. Its concern is not scientific mechanism but the identity and goodness of the Creator and the dignity of what he made.

Main themes of Genesis 1

Genesis 1 (KJV)

1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 6And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. 7And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. 8And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day. 9And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. 11And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 12And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 13And the evening and the morning were the third day. 14And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19And the evening and the morning were the fourth day. 20And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. 21And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 22And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. 23And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 24And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 25And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. 26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 28And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so. 31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Verses to carry from Genesis 1

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”Genesis 1:3

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”Genesis 1:27

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.”Genesis 1:31

Reflection

Before anyone had done a thing, God called his creation good and blessed the people he made in his image. Your worth was spoken over you at the beginning, not earned by performance. How might your day look different if you received your dignity as a gift from the Creator rather than something to prove?

A prayer from Genesis 1