15. The biblical teaching on creation.

The biblical teaching about creation comprised the cornerstone of the whole Old Testament outlook on the Divinity and the world created by It. Within the foundation of this teaching lay the idea of a pure creation from nothingness, the idea of the world’s temporality, and the idea of the creation of man in his primitive perfection directly by the power of God’s almightiness.

            The idea of the creation of the world from nothingness by the creative and good power of divine almightiness is remarkable, because in it, for the first time, is given in pure form the true understanding of creation, without any admixture of pantheism, dualism, naturalism, and materialism! This idea at its very root excludes a representation of the world emanating out of a divine substance, as well as of some kind of Builder who needed pre-existing matter for the creation of the world. This idea excludes the assumption of an extraneous force which God required for the accomplishment of His creative plan. In other words, this idea rejects every misunderstanding of the formation of the world, while clearly and definitely asserting the understanding of a pure creation. Only on the condition of the creation of the world from nothingness is the understanding made clear of the true nature of God as a Being, positive and without end. Only in creation from nothingness is the distinguishing virtue of divine nature expressed. The act of creation from nothingness is characteristic solely of God alone as an absolute being. Only an absolute and infinite cause can evoke existence out of non-existence! All teaching rejecting the idea of creation from nothingness lacks true understanding of the certainty and infinitude of the divine absolute Being! The act of the creation of the world by God is incommensurate with acts characteristic of limited beings. The possibility of creation from nothingness proceeds from the omnipotence of God for whom nothing is impossible!

            The idea of the temporality of the world also has an enormous meaning. This idea does not deny that the ideal image of the world was inherent in the divine intellect from eternity, but only denies that the tangible world exists eternally — in exactly the same way as the teaching about the creation from nothingness does not deny that God created the world with the help of His almighty power, but denies only that the world was created by God from some kind of substance separate from Him.

            The creation of the world as an objective realization in time of the eternal, divine idea, contemplated from eternity, was spoken of by the Holy Fathers of the Church. For example, St. Gregory the Theologian said, “from eternity God’s thoughts contemplated the desired serenity of its goodness … and also examined in His thoughts the image of the world formed by Him. For God, the world was always present.” The question of the manner of the accomplishment of the transition of the ideal image of the world, eternally present in the godly Intellect, into a real form of existence is solved, according to the Holy Fathers of the Church, by faith in the omnipotence of God.

            The teaching about temporality is opposed by the pantheists and materialists, for it destroys the foundation of all their philosophical structures. However, present-day science arrives at the indubitable conviction that the world is not eternal.

            The order of creation, which is recorded in the first chapter of the book of Genesis, represented a complete compliance with authentic conclusions of natural science in the question of the formation of the world. The biblical narration of the creation of the world is very brief; does not, in principle, mention details; and does not intend to be a textbook for the study of astronomy and geology. But the very essentials, in relation to the order of world formation in general, especially, in the order of the creation of our planet, on which the attention of the narrator of the creation is concentrated, are described in the Bible with an accuracy which is irrefutable from the point of view of honest and serious naturalists.

            In the biblical narration, the creation of the organic world on our planet was preceded by the creation and formation of inorganic nature. The organic world, however, developed gradually — the appearance of the animal kingdom was preceded by the vegetable kingdom. The first to appear in the animal kingdom were the lower and more simple organisms (water animals and crawlers), and then the more developed and complicated (birds and four-footed animals). Finally, man is created as the crowning achievement.

            The bodily human organism was formed by God from an earlier created element of nature — earthly dust. But the animation of man — the creation of spirituality and intellect — was a specific act of divine creation. The presence of deeply believing people who honor the Bible among learned, world-renowned naturalists, express the conviction that the biblical teaching about creation, which appeared before the birth of science, has passed the test of time.

            The academician, Professor R. E. Baer, a Russian scholar, zoologist and anthropologist, well-known to the whole world, says: “Nothing is bequeathed to us from ancient times that is more lofty than the biblical teaching of creation.” An analogous evaluation of this teaching was also given by the famous American naturalist Dawson. The appraisals of Newton, Lomonosov, Pasteur, Roentgen, Mendeleev, Pavlov, Planck, Jeans and the other greatest geniuses of the world are known to all.

            As it will be shown below, “days” of creation should not be understood literally, but as periods, since one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (2 Peter 3:8).