Philip Yeung - Chaplain & Associate Professor

What does the doctrine of creation mean to us? While most of us believers would never deny or doubt it, it seems to carry little impact on our daily lives. Apart from discussions on evolution, environment, and appreciation of nature, what is its relevance for us today?

The creation accounts in the book of Genesis were not written to counter the claims of evolution. They have no interest in how the universe was formed at the beginning of time. Rather, the main concern is now and who: who runs the world and our lives today? If God is the Creator of the world and the human race, what has He got to do with us?

Ancients looked at creation in ways very different from us moderns. The creation myths recorded in ancient Near Eastern texts have similar concepts of creation compared to those in Scripture. Basically, creation is about kingship. The ancient myths tell stories of fierce combats between divine powers, in which the victor emerges as the supreme king. The result of creation is not merely a material universe, but a community, which recognizes the sovereignty of a deity.

Likewise, the six-day creation account in Genesis 1 is concerned with God's sovereignty. "And God said...": the Creator Himself designed the universe, and gave orders to implement His ideas. "And God saw that it was good": this is not to say that God was satisfied with the results of His experiment, but to point out that it is the Creator who decides what is good and what is not. What God makes is always the best. "And God called...": name-giving is to impart function and value to something. All things find meaning and value from the Creator. He alone is the Lord of all creation beyond doubt.

The essence of the creation act also points to God's sovereignty. According to both the Bible and ancient Near Eastern creation myths, the basic concept of creation is not making something out of nothing, but differentiation. In the Genesis account, the first three days of creation were basically acts of differentiation: between light and darkness, between the waters above and below, and between the land and the sea. These are boundaries set in space and time, and cannot be crossed over (see Job 38). The next three days deal with differentiation in kind: "each according to its kind". To every creature God has designated different characteristics and functions (like plants with different ways of providing food, and animals with different spheres of activity). When God made man on the sixth day, He further defined how humans, animals and plants are to be related to each other. God was the mastermind in creation. He put the "formless and void" into order, and assigned creatures to their respective roles.

The sovereignty implied in creation is highly significant to believers today, not only as a general universal concept, but on the concrete personal level as well. God did not just create the human race; He made unique individuals in each generation. The book of Genesis clearly brings out this point. The whole book is filled with names of individuals and families. God made people with different talents (chapter 4) and life span (chapter 5), and assigned them to live in various places (chapter 10). It was His plan to create a unique people for Himself, and starting from chapter 12, called out individuals like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph to fulfill His will.

In the same way God is making unique people like you and me today. Our fate, living conditions, and opportunities are given to us according to His will, each of us enjoying different degrees of success and affluence. This "portion" which we receive from the Creator is to be enjoyed and utilized to the fullest (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10). We should also learn from Job's deep respect for the Creator's sovereign will. Job said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away" (Job 1:21); "Shall we receive good from God, and not receive evil?" (Job 2:10)

Apart from fate, each person's personality, qualities, talents etc. are unique too. Our past upbringing and development are all part of God's creation. Even negative experiences that have brought us pain and limitations are instruments used by God to mold our lives. God has made men and women of different characteristics, assigned them to different vocations, and prepared them to play unique roles in His plan.

So creation is in fact a calling, involving our whole life: our characteristics, fate and vocation. It is God's idea that there is to be a particular 'you' and a particular 'me' in this specific time and space. And God sees that this is good. In awe and thankfulness, let us be the person whom God has created and has meant for us to be.