What happened "In the beginning"?

I recently received an email from a friend of mine asking my opinion about what happened in the beginning of Genesis.  More specifically I was asked if I could explain "how" creation happened when God said, "Let there be light."  Before I attempt to answer the question though, I want to give a brief explanation of how I understand the question, and then address the question of how creation happened.

What does the question, "How did things happen when God said, 'Let there be light?'" mean?  Well, there are a couple of ways we can seek to understand creation.  The first way we can seek to understand creation is in terms of actually comprehending the mechanics of something coming into being from nothing.  This way of understanding the question is the more straightforward reading, but is very problematic.  The reason the question is problematic when understood this way is that the answer doesn't really help explain anything.  The answer to this question, in terms of understanding how light came into being, is that through his Word God literally caused light to suddenly exist, in all its wavelengths, and at one sudden moment.  As my wife put it, "Poof!  Suddenly there was light!"

But, what does that mean?  This is where the second way of answering the question comes in handy.  Instead of focusing on the mere mechanics of what happened (not that such a task is in any way "mere" for it is well beyond me to explain how anything comes into existence) what if we instead focus on the appearance of what happened?  That is, instead of saying, "How did this happen?" what if we instead seek to understand "What really happened?"

To address what happened we need to look at the text:

In the beginning, God Created the heavens and the earth.  The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.  And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.  And God separated the light from the darkness.  God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night.  And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

Those who are familiar with the bible have probably read that text many times.  I know I have probably read that text dozens if not a few hundred times, and repeated it to myself more.  The problem with reading a text multiple times is that we become so familiar with it that we no longer see all of the amazing details in the text.  It would be like walking by a priceless painting every single day.  After a while you become inured to the beauty.  So I think it is with this text for many Christians.

So, how do we read this text?

There are two options I would like to explore.  In one option we can read this text through a modern scientific lens.  That is to say, we accept scientific theories on creation and we apply that view in order to understand what we are seeing here.  This is how many Christians read the text as they seek to understand how the bible and science are complimentary, not at odds with one another.

In this case what we see is a glimpse of what the "big bang" would have looked like if you had been an observer.  Suddenly and with a massive explosion of energy the creative will of God is released and the whole universe comes into existence: time, space, matter, energy, light, heat; everything that the universe would ever contain is suddenly brought into existence in one moment at one finite expression of God's infinite power!  What this looks like is light.  Dazzling light that fills all of space--for at this moment the only space that exists is what is filled with the energy of God--comes pouring forth from God's creative will.  And then as space continues to grow, God causes the energy to coalesce so there is a separation between light, where the energy continues to shine, and darkness, where there is space without light.

I don't know that many Christians would explicitly describe Genesis in this way, but in my experience many have argued that what we see in Genesis is a description of the big bang.  I have attempted to flesh out a little more of what that would mean.  If Genesis is a description of the big bang then this is what Genesis is describing.  But what if that reading isn't right?

Perhaps Genesis is speaking about what science speaks of when it talks about the big bang, but it wasn't written to explain a particular scientific theory.  Instead we need to think as though we were reading Genesis for the first time, and with a right understanding of the text as laid out in Scripture.  That is, we must remember our first curiosity with the text while at the same time being informed as to what the rest of Scripture teaches us about the text.

So, to the second part first, being informed about the text.  Let us look at the text as we have it and explain the parts of it based on what we know from Scripture.  "In the beginning" is speaking of the beginning of time.  This is not merely the beginning of creation, but the very beginning of time.  Before this point there is nothing, so we might say there is no before "in the beginning."  (Of course by nothing what we refer to is the physical universe, God himself did not come into existence and exists independent of time, which is what it means that God is eternal, he literally is outside of time, and yet also fully indwells every moment.)

So, in the beginning, at the start of time, God created the heavens and the earth.  Here also what we generally understand is what the text is speaking about. God literally created what was from what was not.  As Romans speaks of God calling dead men to life, Paul says that God "calls into existence the things that do not exist." (Romans 4:17)  So God here in creation actually calls what did not exist into existence.  That is his power and his will at work.

But, the first verse is really an introduction into what we are about to witness.  You see, Genesis 1:1 says that God created the heavens and the earth, but we see that God does not actually create the heavens until the second day.  On the first day there were no heavens.  Thus what Genesis 1:1 serves as is an introduction indicating to us that what we are about to read is the story of creation, specifically the creation of the heavens and the earth.  This is confirmed when we look to Genesis 2:4 and read, "These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens."  Genesis 2:4 technically is the end of the creation story of Genesis 1, Genesis 2:5 begins the story of man and his special creation as distinct from the broader creation story of the whole universe.  Thus Genesis 1:1 tells us what we are about to see and explains that this will be the calling into existence of the world that does not exist (as Paul would put it in Romans).

So, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  The earth (this is where we start) was without form and void.  At this section we must remember again that "the earth" here is a discussion of all that exists.  There is nothing apart from "the earth" in the form it is in at this moment in creation.  There is no heaven, there is no light, there is nothing but this unformed, void "earth".  We see that "earth" is here a metaphor from reading just a few words down, "And the darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God hovered upon the face of the waters." (My rendering.)  "The deep" and "the waters" are referring to the same "earth" from the last sentence.  This is the unformed mass of creation, undifferentiated, one big chaotic mass waiting for creation to bring it into order.

"And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light."  This is the moment when God begins to put creation into order.  Where before there was no form, and void, now there is light, something independent of the chaotic mass that exists as the "earth".  God saw the light was good, he separated the light from the darkness, he called the light Day and the darkness Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day.  This speaks to the ordering of the universe as God commanded it, where before there was darkness, now there is light, where before there was an undifferentiated mass of existence, now God has imposed order on time, so that evening follows morning and morning follows evening and a day, the first day, has come to pass.  What we see the text telling us about is the ordering of chaos as God brings his will to pass in creating all things.

But, there is so much more to this text as well.  We've only begun to scratch the surface of what Scripture tells us is going on here.  For that, let's look at a second post, discussing more in detail what the first day of creation means, and hopefully coming to see more detail in Genesis as a picture painted by God.