Order from Chaos

The beginning of Genesis is a pretty interesting read. Typically Christians have interpreted Genesis 1 to mean that God has created ex nihilo or, from nothing. However, the passage does not explicitly say that. Now, the danger to saying that God did not create everything from nothing is that the earth and all that is would have been co-eternal with God. This leads to a type of dualism which Christians have rejected out of hand since the beginning of our faith. Many other Christian scriptures seem to indicate that God created everything ex nihilo so that doesn't become all that much of an issue.

But I guess the question becomes, what is the point of Genesis 1, if not to say that God created everything from nothing?

Most modern scholars agree that Genesis 1 was probably written during the Baylonian exile, and that it was most likely originally a type of song. It was an affirmation that in a way, God conquered the chaos of a "formless" and "empty" world and injected order and meaning into it. The people were struggling with doubts because their God had failed them. He had let them be conquered by a pagan people, deported and ruled over by a bunch of jerks. Now they needed some reassurance. So the priests, or I guess whoever still had some faith, decided to compose this song. The song affirms that God brought order, love, meaning from the initial chaos that existed in the world. He can bring order, love, meaning to the person's life who is stuck behind enemy lines. He can bring those things to the person who has commited some pretty awful crimes. He can bring meaning to the person who has lived a poor story and the person who has sat on their couch for years.

I think it is all and well to say that God created everything from nothing. And that is spectacular. But to me, it doesn't really help the person who is struggling with alcohol, the guy who is about to be released from prison, or to the mother who just lost her only child. But if Genesis 1 is affirming that God brought something wonderful from the darkness and chaos, then I think that means something to those people. If God can bring meaning and light to a world that was filled with emptiness and darkness, then God can bring peace and love to a situation filled with despair and hate.