GENESIS CHAPTER ONE OVERVIEW
Overall what is happening in this chapter is creation of all the world and everything we know in the universe.
Joseph Benson’s Commentary (1857) Says:
We have three things in this chapter:
(1) A general idea of the work of creation, Genesis 1:1-2.
(2) A particular account of the several days’ work, distinctly and in order, Genesis 1:3-30.
(3) The review and approbation of the whole work, Genesis 1:31.
Thomas Coke (1801) The First Book of MOSES, called GENESIS. CHAPTER I.
God created the heaven and the earth: divided the light from the darkness: separated the superior from the inferior waters: supplied the earth with vegetables: furnished the heavens with light: created the brute animals: and, lastly, man.
Overview – from Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge (TSK)
Genesis 1:1 – God creates heaven and earth;
Genesis 1:3 – God creates the light;
Genesis 1:6 – God creates the firmament;
Genesis 1:9 – God separates water from the dry land;
Genesis 1:14 – God forms the sun, moon, and stars;
Genesis 1:20 – God creates fishes and fowls;
Genesis 1:24 – God creates cattle, wild beasts, and creeping things;
Genesis 1:26 – God creates man in his own image, and blesses him;
Genesis 1:29 – God grants the fruits of the earth for food.
Adam Clarke (1826) – Genesis 1
1. First day’s work - Creation of the heavens and the earth, Genesis 1:1-2. Of the light and its separation from the darkness, Genesis 1:3-5.
2. Second day’s work - The creation of the firmament, and the separation of the waters above the firmament from those below it, Genesis 1:6-8.
3. Third day’s work - The waters are separated from the earth and formed into seas, etc., Genesis 1:9-10. The earth rendered fruitful, and clothed with trees, herbs, grass, etc., Genesis 1:11-13.
4. Fourth day’s work - Creation of the celestial luminaries intended for the measurement of time, the distinction of periods, seasons, etc., Genesis 1:14; and to illuminate the earth, Genesis 1:15. Distinct account of the formation of the sun, moon, and stars, Genesis 1:16-19.
5. Fifth day’s work - The creation of fish, fowls, and reptiles in general, Genesis 1:20. Of great aquatic animals, Genesis 1:21. They are blessed so as to make them very prolific, Genesis 1:22-23.
6. Sixth day’s work - Wild and tame cattle created, and all kinds of animals which derive their nourishment from the earth, Genesis 1:24-25. The creation of man in the image and likeness of God, with the dominion given him over the earth and all inferior animals, Genesis 1:26. Man or Adam, a general name for human beings, including both male and female, Genesis 1:27. Their peculiar blessing, Genesis 1:28. Vegetables appointed as the food of man and all other animals, Genesis 1:29-30. The judgment which God passed on his works at the conclusion of his creative acts, Genesis 1:31.
Matthew Henry (1714) – Genesis 1
The foundation of all religion being laid in our relation to God as our Creator, it was fit that the book of divine revelations which was intended to be the guide, support, and rule, of religion in the world, should begin, as it does, with a plain and full account of the creation of the world - in answer to that first enquiry of a good conscience, “Where is God my Maker?” (Job 35:10). Concerning this the pagan philosophers wretchedly blundered, and became vain in their imaginations, some asserting the world's eternity and self-existence, others ascribing it to a fortuitous concourse of atoms: thus “the world by wisdom knew not God,” but took a great deal of pains to lose him. The holy scripture therefore, designing by revealed religion to maintain and improve natural religion, to repair the decays of it and supply the defects of it, since the fall, for the reviving of the precepts of the law of nature, lays down, at first, this principle of the unclouded light of nature, That this world was, in the beginning of time, created by a Being of infinite wisdom and power, who was himself before all time and all worlds. The entrance into God's word gives this light, Psalm 119:130.
Psalm 119:130 – The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
The first verse of the Bible gives us a surer and better, a more satisfying and useful, knowledge of the origin of the universe, than all the volumes of the philosophers. The lively faith of humble Christians understands this matter better than the elevated fancy of the greatest wits, Hebrews 11:3.
Hebrews 11:3 – By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
We have three things in this chapter:
I. A general idea given us of the work of creation (Genesis 1:1-2).
II. A particular account of the several days' work, registered, as in a journal, distinctly and in order. The creation of the light the first day (Genesis 1:3-5); of the firmament the second day (Genesis 1:6-8); of the sea, the earth, and its fruits, the third day (Genesis 1:9-13); of the lights of heaven the fourth day (Genesis 1:14-19); of the fish and fowl the fifth day (Genesis 1:20-23); of the beasts (Genesis 1:24-25); of man (Genesis 1:26-28); and of food for both the sixth day (Genesis 1:29-30).
III. The review and approbation of the whole work (Genesis 1:31).
KEY VERSE
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
KEY EVENT
God’s creation explains the origin of the earth and the heavens.
KEY THOUGHT
Everything God created was good. Note how this is repeated throughout the chapter. (Note Also: that God created it with the ability to fall – and yet He still calls it good.)
KEY TRUTH
The Bible never attempts to explain, justify, or defend God as the Creator of the universe. The truth is boldly stated as a fact and is affirmed by Bible poetry, Psalm 102:25, and Bible prophecy, Isaiah 40:21-22.
Psalm 102:25 – "Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.”
Isaiah 40:21-22 – Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
QUOTE
"Our duty as Christians, is to keep heaven in our eye and the earth under our feet." – Matthew Henry
