While holding
to the doctrine of creation ex nihilo
based elsewhere, Protestant Michael LeFebvre argued that ברא should not
be interpreted as teaching “creation” with the subtext “ex nihilo”:
It used to be popular to treat bärä’ as a special term or the creation of
matter from nothing (creation ex nihilo).
The Bible does state elsewhere that God brought matter into being from nothing
(Jn 1:3; Heb 11:3, but that is not the meaning of bärä’. The significance of this term is not a certain method of
creation (i.e., creation ex nihilo)
but rather a certain outcome. Bärä’ is
used to indicate the introduction of a new form, a new order, or a new system.
For example, this verb is used to describe the formation of Abraham (a
Chaldean) and his heirs into a new nation, the fountainhead of Israel. Isaiah
writes, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created [bärä’] you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: . . . ‘I am the
LORD, your Holy One, the creator [bärä’]
of Israel, your king” (Is 43:1, 15). The term indicates this “creation” of a
new order, as forming a new nation by drawing a family out of another nation.
Thomas Finley has catalogued numerous
instances in which bärä’ has a “sociological
construction,” indicating God’s creation of a community. Finley has shown that
the verb can also be used with an “ethical construction,” in which a new moral
order is in view—for instance, Psalm 51:10, “Create [bärä’] in me a new heart, O God” (Heb., v. 12), and Isaiah 45:8, “Let
the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness
may bear fruit; . . .I the LORD have created [bärä’] it” (Thomas J. Finley, “Dimensions of the Hebrew word for ‘create’
[בָּרָא],” Bibliotheca Sacra 148, no. 592 [1991]:409-23). When the Hebrew verb
bärä’ is used, its purpose is to
emphasize the creation of a new order
(normally, the new order God introduces is good [e.g., Ps 148:4-6]. But
sometimes God brings judgment with a change to nature’s order described by the
veb bärä’ [e.g., Num 16:30; Is 45:7;
Jer 31:22]). Note how the term is used within the creation week itself . . .
There are only two instances in which bärä’
is used (apart from the frames; 1:1; 2:4), both times in connection with things
that God introduces into a unique order of existence (The verb “he created [bärä’]” appears seven times in the
Genesis 1:1-4:26 creation account. Six of those appearances are in Gen 1:1-2:3
creation week (1:1, 21, 27 [3x]; 2:3); the seventh introduces the Garden of
Eden narrative [Gen 2:3]). First, the sea creatures the birds were not merely “made
[cäśâ]” but are “created [bärä’]” (Gen 1:21). They are creatures
equipped for a different order of life than the norm (from a human
perspective), being designed for life in the waters and in the air. Second,
humankind is both made [cäśâ]”
(Gen 1:26) and “created [bärä’]” (Gen
1:27) (stated three times in connection with humanity being in the “image of
God”), being formed after the likeness of God for an order of existence
distinct from the rest of nature. The verb bärä’
indicates a new order, not necessarily new stuff. In the creation week, the
verb “made [cäśâ]” is the
term preferred for the introduction of new things. Once the nuance f the term bärä’ is understood, its significance in
the purpose statement of the creation narrative’s frames becomes clear. The six
days involved all manner of inventions by God, making and separating; but the
overarching purpose of the whole process was to establish the world’s fruitful
order (bärä’) wherein his good
purposes in history can unfold.
At the beginning of the narrative, the earth
was both barren (tōhû) and unfruitful
(bōhû). But through God’s work to make
the world fruitful and teeming with life, it was made “very good.” The ultimate
fulfillment of the world’s potential is far from being completed. But everything
was properly ordered and endowed to become the fruitful domain for God’s people
to flourish in communion with him. The seventh day commemorates the end of the
ordering of the world. (Michael LeFebvre, The
Liturgy of Creation: Understanding Calendars in Old Testament Context [Downers
Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2019], 190-92)
For an
exegesis of John 1:3; Heb 11:3 and other pertinent passages, see:
