God's Pattern for Creation

God's Pattern for Creation
by W Robert Godfrey
P & R Publishing

This is a short but interesting book on creation as taught in Genesis One written by the president of Westminster Seminary California. It is obvious in every line that Professor Godfrey has a deep love for God and for his Word.

The book is subtitled, "A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1" and this is very apt. Godfrey does not interpret Genesis One in a literal, 24-hour day manner, and points out that Genesis was not written to answer questions of interest to modern science, but to teach God's covenant people that it was their God who made the universe. That's not to say Genesis has nothing to do with scientific truth, but it is certainly not the prime focus of the text. Genesis One teaches the truth, but its emphasis is on theological truth. Godfrey maintains that unless we see that Genesis One was written for God's covenant people, we will miss out on much of the impact and emphasis that is in the Genesis text.

The main points that Godfrey then focuses on - in the belief they are the main focuses of the text itself - are (1) that human beings are God's image bearers and have been given a unique role within God's creation, (2) Genesis 1 presents God's days of creation as a pattern for our week of work and rest and (3) the Sabbath day of rest is a creation ordinance instituted by God for all human beings.

Godfrey's view of the days of creation is similar to the framework hypothesis of Meredith Kline and others, but is not identical. Godfrey does not necessarily accept the two-triad view of the days of Genesis 1 - in fact he criticises it. He does, however, share the framework view's non-literal interpretation of the days. Godfrey puts forward an alternative "framework" view. He points out that in Genesis 1:2 there are three events or problems that God finds solutions for through his creation. These are: the darkness, the disorder and the emptiness. God's work on each of the following days sorts these "problems" out. He creates light, he orders things and he fills the universe with life. Each of these tasks takes longer to complete - one day for light, two days for order, three days for filling the emptiness of the universe, concluding with the creation of human beings.

I thought this was an interesting way of looking at the text and I will probably have to re-read this short book to consider this interpretation further.

In summary, this is a simple text designed, like Genesis itself, to be read by everyone in the Church. It gives a good overview of a non-24-hour day interpretation consistent with an old earth.

I thoroughly recommend it.