All of Creation lives by God’s breath of life (2:7; 1:30). All of Creation came to be from the power of His word. Sharing a common origin, all creatures in the web of life are intrinsically interrelated and interdependent. The God of Creation is a God who has entered into relationship with Creation and “has established Creation as a series of relationships meant to function freely, wholly, and interdependently.”[1] God’s care and concern is for all, not just for humans. And God saw that they were all very good! The value of Creation lies in the fact of its existence from God and not in its usefulness to humankind (Bergant).
The phrases, ‘in the beginning” and “be fruitful and multiply,” show that Creation began and is continuing. There is a promise of a new heaven and a new earth to which Isaiah and Revelation point.[2] It is faith in this Creator that will bring new life to the exiles, bringing a new and ordered relationship among the people and with the land that they are called to repopulate and make fruitful again.[3] Israel’s God can be fully trusted and as part of the community of Creation, human beings celebrate, love this earth, delight in it and respect the integrity of each creature as God loves them.[4]
For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made,
For you would not have made anything if you had hated it.
How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.
For your immortal spirit is in all things. (Wisdom 11:24 -12:1)
From `Towards an Eco Assumption ‘ 3.a. Mary Cecilia Claparols
[1] Carol Dempsey, “Creation, Evolution,” 11.
[2] Dempsey, Ibid., 12
[3] Bienvenido Baisas, 25. Another very important aspect of the Genesis story is the role and the meaning of Sabbath for all Creation and Jubilee. These cannot be explored here due to space limitations.
[4] Denis Edwards, Ibid.. 17.
