Friday, June 5, 2020

Michael LeFebvre on ברא Not Meaning "Create (out of nothing)"

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:

 



Ex Materia or Ex Nihilo? Creation in Genesis 1:1-2 

Daniel O. McClellan, James Patrick Holding refuted on Creation Ex Nihilo