Saturday, May 9, 2020

Gerhard Kittel on ‎ברא Meaning to Create out of a Material, not Ex Nihilo



D.  The Divine Likeness in the OT.
1. The distinctive meaning of the divine likeness in the OT can be understood only when we see it in strict connection with a faith which is basically orientated by the sense of the greatest possible distance from God. The central point in OT anthropology is that man is dust and ashes before God and that he cannot stand before His holiness. Thus the witness to man’s divine likeness plays no predominant role in the OT. It stands as it were on the margin of the whole complex. Yet it is highly significant that OT faith adopted this theologoumenon in dealing with the mystery of man’s origin.
Whereas in J man is made up of earthly material on the one side (עָפָר מִן הָאֲדָמָה) and the breath of life from God (נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים) on the other, P looks in a different direction from the theological standpoint. The strict sequence of the process of creation is broken after the creation of the animals, and a special resolve on God’s part points to something extraordinary which is to follow. It is important that in Gn. 1:1–2:4b the tendency is to separate God from the creature. Instead of direct action, the word of command is enough to call forth the creatures. In the creation of man, however, there is a significant change. In Gn. 1:28 we have the technical term for constructing out of a material (בָּרָא) so that by origin man is brought into a direct relationship with God. To give theological precision to this relationship is the main point of the divine resolve in Gn. 1:26: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gerhard Kittel, “Εἰκών,” ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 2:390, emphasis added [note: v. 28 does not use ברא so I am guessing Kittel means its verse 27 where it is used])