being without the Logos of God (John i, 8). Evcit- thing owes its existence and its life to the wocd d Crod. It is because God endowed it with entity; k€> cause he so willed it ; iid. to OkXiifia. vov (Rev. iv, 11} ; by his word, p^/ia, ^^3^ (Heb. xi, 8; Psa. xxxiii, C;-, by his speaking (Gren. i, 8 ; 2 Cor. iv, 6) ; by hia abs»' lute power, wavToSvvafioc x^H^ (Wisd. SoL xi, 1^: and by his personal power (Jer. z, 12), in which k needed no assistance whatever, but by which be we able to create whatever he desired (Paa. cxv, I. cxxxv, 6). By this power he, in his own raprua majesty, evoked into existence that which was nae* existent (Rom. iv, 17 ; Psa. xxxiii, 9), and by rhtss of the same omnipotence is able to annihilate what be has called into being (Psa. civ, 29 ; di, 26, etc ; I«. li, 6 ; Luke xxi, 88; Rev. xxi, 1, 4). The SpirH d God, or **the breath of his mouth," which (Fsa. xxxiii, 6) stands parallel with the creatiTe wwd that ** moved upon the face of the waters," Is boU- ing less than the active, forming, animating, diviae power. The 'strength by which God creates takes la place beside his wisdom and knowledge (Jer. x, 13: Rom. xi, 88) ; and the divine wisdom or intelligieiiee appears to have been (Prov. viii, 22, etc) the first groand and adjusting prindple of creatioii. Instead^ however, of reading in John i, 3, of this world-creathv "wisdom," we find a description ni tlte same etemal Logos of God who became flesh in Christ. Thos the creative prindple is identified with that of redemptkc ; and while the creation is distinguished as an act cf love, the highest revelation of that love Is to be foaad in the incarnation of God in the world. In both crea- tion and redemption we perceive the thought that God. without the intervention and aid of any foreign power, gave existence to that which had previously no being; and that he did this by virtue of no blind neceBity, but by his own volition alone.
It may be proper here to treat briefly of the mcaa- ing of K'^a (bara\ ^ * create")^ in (^enesia, chap. L Ge- senius and FQrst agree in giving to this word ban^ m Genesb i, the sense of proper creating, al&ough lh«T seem to give that of cutting as the primitive (not usu- al) idea inherent in the root, comparing as cognate M^a, to (Aoosej "^a, a son (which FOrst, on the other hand, derives from *|a), and the Arab, bara^ etc G«- senius refers to the Piel form of the Heb. root (K^a, to fashion)^ as the most characteristic (?) conjngatioa. He concludes, however, with the following judictcns note (^Thesaur. Heb. p. 236): *'In the ^ite disfnte of interpreters and theologians concerning creatiim oitt(^ nothing, some appeal likewise to the wOTd under con- sideration, as if it might be gathered from its very ety- mology and proper signification tliat the first chap, of (renesis teaches not a creation from nothing, but a c«a- formation of matter eternally existing. On the con- trary, from the instances we have given, It will abun- dantly appear that the actual use of this word in Kal is altogether different frt>m its primary significatioB, and that it is rather employed with respect to the new production of a thing (see Gen. ii, 3) than to the con- formation and elaboration of material. That the opes- ing clause of Genesis sets forth the world as first cre- ated out of nothing, and this in a rude and undigested state, while the remainder of the first chapter exhibits the elaboration of the recentiy created mass, the coo- nection of the whole paragraph renders entirely plain. So also the Rabbins (Aben-Ezra ad Gen. 1,1: *M<xt
hold 'pxa ©-i Vfyiyn^ nx'^'nano, that creat»» a
the production of a thing ftY)m nothing') and the K.- T. writers (Heb. xi, 8; Rom. iv, 27; comp. 2 Mace, vii, 28) teach, although the writer of the Book of Wis- dom (xi, 17), following the Grecian dogmas, holds mat- ter to be eternal. See on this question Hos. Malnoo. in More Nd)ochim, Hi, 13 ; Moeheim, De crentione ana- di ex nihUOf appended to Gudworth^s Intdiectual Sfff-
CREATION
655
CREATION
tern ; BeaoBobre, Bitt, de Maniehie et du MankhHtmey vol. ii, bk, V, chap, iv.'*
The examples to which Gefleniiu refers as sustain- ing this position are (in addition to the equivalent Arab. 64nfytm, creator, Koran, Snr. ii, 51 ; baripatuny crtatwrey Abnlf. Afm, i, 18 ; Janhar. Sptc, ed, Sdmetd. p. 14 ; and all the other Shemitlc tongues, which have the same usage), the following: ** Spoken of the crea- tion of the heaven and earth, Gen. i, 1 ; Isa. xl, 26 ; xlv, 18 ; of the bounds of the earth, Isa. xl, 26 ; of the wind, Amos iv, 18 ; of men, Gen. i, 27 ; v, 1, 2 ; vi, 7 ; Deut. iv, 82; Isa. xlv, 12; Psa. Ixxxix, 48; MaL ii, 10 ; specially, of Israel, Isa. xliii, 1, 15 ; of beasts, Gen. i, 21 ; of light and darkness, Isa. xlv, 7, etc. Add these examples: Psa. li, 12 (^^ create in me a clean heart, O God') ; Isa. xlv, 7 (* I malce peace, and crecUe evil') ; Jer. xxxi, 22 (* the Lord hath created a new thing ;' oomp. Num. xvi, 30). It is used with a double accusative, Isa. Ixv, 18 (* I create Jerusalem a rejoic- ing,' L e. joyous); iv, 5; xlviii, 7. The participle (7{*^K^i21, the plur. o/mc^festy, but according to many MSS.in the sing. ?|Knia) stands for the Creator (Eccl. xii, 1). »'ja is joined with the words *12KJ [jfotMu^, toybrm], in Isa. xliii, 7 ; xlv, 18 ; and HiO^ lasah', to molw], in Isa. xli, 20 ; xlv, 7, 12; generally as synony- mous : with the latter it is not seldom interchanged. Gen. i, 26 (corop. ver. 27) ; if, 4 ; but that there is nev- ertheless a difference at least between these two is evi- dent fh>m Gen. ii, 8 (^ which God created and made^** rib?^ K*||Sl [where the b of union is generally re- garded as «peiD^7efieor]). These words, which have pei^ plexed many, even Hebrew interpreters, L. de Dieu (ad loc.) has rightly explained by adducing parallel phrases (ni'^jb ?^n, niiori i'njn, etc.), as mean- ing jprodtuxd hy makinffy i. e. made by producing some- thing new; oomp. Jer. xxxi, 22, and 21^*^*12" (ib, p. 235). The word occurs (in the Kal or simple form) likewise in Psa. Ixxxix, 12 ; Isa. xlii, 5 ; xlv, 8, 18 ; liv, 16; Ivii, 19; Ixv, 17 (in the Niphal or passive) Gen.ii,4; t,2; Psa.cii,18; civ, 30; cxlviii,5; Ezek. xxi, 80; xxviii, 13, 15 (**done"); Exod. xxxiv, 10.