God's Pattern for Creation

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Beginnings are important. If we want to understand the Bible as a whole, we must understand what it teaches about creation.

Interpreting Genesis 1 has become controversial among "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." evangelicals today. Because of this, W. Robert Godfrey has written this short, clear study with thoughtful Christians in mind. He understands that it can be difficult to take fresh look at a Scripture passage that is so familiar. Godfrey encourages readers to come to Genesis 1 eager to find all that God has to teach us.

Godfrey’s foundation to his approach to Genesis 1 covenantal. He carefully examines Scripture with the understanding that the whole Bible is "covenantal because from beginning to end it shows how God is our God and how he makes us his people, first in creation and then in redemption through Christ." Godfrey carefully examines the text, knowing that the Bible is a covenantal record, always focused on God and his relationship to his people. "Where does Genesis 1 fit in this covenantal structure?" Godfrey asks. "It is the introduction to the introduction. Genesis is the introduction to Exodus, and Genesis 1 is the introduction to Genesis, detailing the grand story of creation before sin entered the world. It is a history for us as the people of God."

Some of Godfrey’s main theses include:

- Genesis 1 and 2 are true, historical accounts of creation. - God created the earth for man, his image-bearer. - Genesis 1 presents God’s days of creation as a pattern for man with six days for work and one day for rest. The days of Genesis 1 are not primarily about how God created. - The Sabbath is a creation ordinance for man. - Christians must believe what God has revealed about his work of creation.

W. Robert Godfrey (PhD, Stanford University) is a professor of church history and president of Westminster Seminary California. He is a minister of the United Reformed Churches. He is author of Reformation Sketches: Insights into Luther, Calvin, and the Confessions and God's Pattern for Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1. He is coeditor of Theonomy: A Reformed Critique, and contributor to John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World. Godfrey has also written numerous articles. He has been a speaker at many conferences, including the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, the Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology, and Ligonier Ministries.