The first three chapters of Genesis set the stage for the rest of the Bible. God creates the heavens and the earth. He forms the first man Adam and his wife and establishes a commandment by which the first man and woman are to live or die. The serpent contradicts the command, thus deceiving the woman and enticing her to violate God’s law. Adam, aware of the consequences, chooses to follow his wife into the transgression. So sin enters the world, and death by sin. But there is hope also, a promise of redemption — the seed of the woman, a second Adam, will overcome the lusts of the flesh, thereby conquering the power of sin and death for himself and those who are born again in him.
These first three chapters of Genesis are more poetry than science. As such they reveal far more than a scientific account ever could. They focus on the underlying spiritual lessons of the creation and fall of man and are as much prophecy as history. They give the pattern for a much more important creation -the new creation in Christ. This is how God explains these chapters throughout the Bible.
Old Testament Allusions to the New Creation
To illustrate, we begin with four examples from the Old Testament.
- The earth brings forth salvation
“I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it” (Isaiah 45:7-8).
Note the allusions to the first three days of creation: light and darkness; heavens and skies, drop down and pour down; earth, bring forth, spring up. But Isaiah’s reference is not to the natural creation. God is teaching us how to see the new, spiritual creation in this language. The light and darkness of the first day are peace and evil. The skies pour down, not rain, but righteousness. The earth brings forth, not grass and trees as on the third day, but salvation springing up with righteousness. In plain English, he is teaching us about the resurrection to life eternal of those who are saved by the righteousness that comes by faith.
God is the creator of all these things. He creates good and evil. He sends righteousness from above: so righteousness originates with God in heaven, not with man on earth. He raises up the dead in Christ from the dust of the ground. He creates them afresh, this time with salvation and righteousness.
- They are created
Psalm 104 celebrates the glory of God in creation, with an interesting twist near the end.
“Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever: The LORD shall rejoice in his works” (Psa. 104:29-31).
“Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust” alludes to the sentence in Genesis 3:19 (cp. Eccl. 12:7; 3:19-20). “Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the ground” parallels Genesis 2:7, but is different. In both cases, God forms man of the dust of the ground and sends forth His spirit to give him life. But here in the psalm, it is a renewal, a re-creation, referring to resurrection from death.
“The glory of the LORD shall endure for ever” in the earth because in the Kingdom Age God will dwell in the faithful; the spiritual temple will be filled with His glory.
“The LORD shall rejoice in his works” refers to Genesis 2:1-3, God resting from His work; this time He rejoices in His work of the new creation.
- Be fruitful and multiply
On the sixth day, “God created man in his own image…male and female created he them. God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth” (Gen. 1:27-28). This blessing is repeated at several significant points in the history of God’s chosen people.
Noah and his family were baptized in the flood. It was as though they had died and been buried in the ark. After the flood waters receded, Noah and his family were raised from the “dead.” Noah was like a second Adam. God would repopulate the earth with his descendants. To make the point, God repeats to Noah his original command to Adam. “God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…And you, be fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein” (Gen. 9:1,7).
After renaming him, God treats Jacob/Israel as another Adam. “God appeared unto Jacob…And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 35:9,11; cp. 28:3; 48:4).
In Egypt, “The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them…the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (Ex. 1:7,12; cp. Gen. 47:27; Acts 7:17). Egyptian bondage symbolizes the bondage of sin and death. The Exodus is a type of resurrection, a freedom from bondage and the fear of death. It was a new beginning (Ex. 12:2); it separated light from darkness (Ex. 10:21-23; 14:19-20); it was the birth of God’s holy nation (Ex. 19:3-6; cp. I Pet. 2:9). In short, it was a new creation.
Ezekiel’s prophecy of the restoration of Israel also uses the phrase, “I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezek. 36:11; cp. Lev. 26:9).
All of these allusions to Genesis 1:28 encourage us to think of the phrase “be fruitful and multiply” in terms of a new creation. Its use in the New Testament confirms that we are correct in taking it this way.
The N.T. confirms the idea
The phrase is used throughout the Acts to indicate the growth of the first century ecclesia. “In those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied…And the word of God increased; and the number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly.. .Then had the churches rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, were multiplied…But the word of God grew and multiplied…So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed” (Acts 6:1,7; 9:31; 12:24; 19:20). In these places the phrase clearly refers to those who are being born again, recreated in Christ.
- New heaven and new earth, the new Jerusalem
Isaiah 65:13-66:2 is filled with the language of Genesis 1-3, but with reference to the new creation: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy…the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying…the sinner…shall be accursed…they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them…as the days of (the tree of life, LXX [Septuagint Version]) are the days of my people…They shall not labor in vain, (neither shall they beget children to be cursed, LXX) [the seed of the serpent]; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD [the seed of the woman]…dust shall be the serpent’s meat…The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool…where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath my hand made, and all those things have been saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word [in contrast to Eve and Adam]” (Isa. 65:17-66:2; cp. Rev. 21:1-7). Verses 13-16 show that Isaiah is foretelling a reversal of the order of things, a change to a new way of life in the Kingdom.
The New Creation in the New Testament
The importance of this new creation theme becomes more apparent in the New Testament. For example, the words for “to create” and “creation” are used almost exclusively with reference to the new creation.
- In II Corinthians
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things [of the new creation] are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ” (II Cor. 5:17-18).
How do we become new creatures? In Christ, God forgives us of our sins. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them” (II Cor. 5:19; cp. Psa. 32:1-2; Rom. 4:6-7).
- In Galatians
The Galatians were being bombarded by Judaizers who taught that circumcision (and the law more generally) was essential to salvation. In contrast, Paul writes, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Gal. 6:15).
- In Ephesians
“We are his workmanship [Gen. 2:1-3; Isa. 29:23; 60:21; 64:8], created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). The context shows that this is the new creation. Like Adam, we were dead in trespasses and sins; by following our natural tendencies we are the children of wrath, that is, the seed of the serpent. But now, by God’s love, we have been made alive with Christ, the seed of the woman. We have been raised up together with him. By grace we have been saved by faith. Because we are God’s workmanship newly created in Christ Jesus, we have been called to a new walk, a new way of life in Christ.
Two become one
“For he is our peace, who made both one [Gen. 2:24], and brake down the middle wall of partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity [Gen. 3:15], even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; that he might create in himself of the twain one new man, so making peace” (Eph. 2:14-15 RV). Note that the one new man is not formed from scratch, but that two previously existing groups (Jews and Gentiles) are reconstituted to form the new man.
The moral implications
“The truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph. 4:21-24). Eve, being deceived by the serpent, was corrupted when she was carried away by her lusts. In our former life we were subject to the same corruption. We must put off that old man and his ways and put on the new man whose mind is being renewed.
- In Colossians
“[Christ] is the image of the invisible God [Gen. 1:26,27], the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things [of the new creation] were created by him, and for him; and he is before [in time] all things [of the new creation], and by him all things [of the new creation] consist” (Col. 1:15-16).
That this is referring to the new creation is made clear by v. 18: “He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.” Christ is the beginning of the new creation because he is the firstborn from the dead. By overcoming sin, he conquered death for himself and for those who follow him (cp. II Tim. 1:10).
Moral implications again
“Ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge [cp. the tree of knowledge] after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all and in all” (Col. 3:9-11).
5. In Romans
“For the earnest expectation of the [new] creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God. For the [new] creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that the [new] creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:19-21 RV). This must be the new creation because the word “waiteth” always refers to our waiting for Christ’s return, which does not apply to creation in general (see I Cor. 1:7; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 9:28; Gal. 5:5). The new creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption and death, just as the children of Israel were delivered from Egyptian bondage. “That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death…and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Heb. 2:14-15).
- In James
“Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (Jas. 1:18). We are born again by the word of God (see I Pet. 1:23-25; Jn. 1:12-13; I in. 5:1).
- In Revelation
Christ is “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One