[AI translation] Many of you here know that for about two years we have been studying the Heidelberg Bible in our midweek Bible studies. Since that ended last week, I would like to begin a new series, namely a coherent explanation of the history of Old and New Testament revelation. When we look at the whole mass of divine revelation in its vast context, we can really see how the parts are connected to the whole, and how the whole unfolds in the parts. Then we see how, from the first page to the last, a single thread runs through it: the thread of God's love, his redeeming will for the world. Only in this way is it possible to find one's way around this vast document, which contains sixty-six different works, yet forms an integral whole. Well, then, I would like to give you an introduction to the series that will continue in the ordinary Bible lessons.The climax of God's revelation of Himself is Jesus Christ Himself, His person, and especially His death and resurrection. So it is not quite a three-day event in the history of the whole world. But this short three-day event, this divine action, has a long, long antecedent, and a much longer consequence. For the divine revelation to reach the summit, it had to travel a long centuries-long path of history. It is of this antecedent, the prehistory of the divine revelation in Jesus, that the Old Testament tells, centred on the story of a chosen people, which eventually culminates in the coming of the one Saviour. But in order for this Saviour, who came to redeem all mankind and the whole world, to arrive, the long centuries of history of that people had to first unfold. That particular three days would not even be truly comprehensible without the long journey that led to it, and that long, long historical journey would be incomprehensible, meaningless and purposeless without those particular three days! This is how the two parts of the Bible, the Old Testament, and its sort of fulfilment, the New Testament, are closely interconnected.
And it is in this context that the first sentence of the whole Bible, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," is put into perspective. (Genesis 1:1) This word "in the beginning" is only truly understood if we immediately look at its continuation. It means that God began something and continues it. So, this word "in the beginning" is not a definition of time. It does not refer back to a "long, long time ago", but to that long journey, that long and varied history between God and man over the centuries, until God finally gave the Most Beloved, the Most Loving, the Being of His Being - in the words of the Bible, His only begotten Son - into the world, for the world. Until this very Son of God came into the world, defenceless, vulnerable, unadorned, as a friend of sinners - and all to come to us, to be very close to God! That's how much God insists on us! Here, at the open tomb of Easter, here is where one must be amazed at the sight of God - here, at Calvary! For this is the incomprehensible, the intangible, the great, the sublime, that we have such a God! Well, this God who became so much ours in Jesus, who made such a sacrifice for us: this God created heaven and earth in the beginning! He gave us the ground under our feet from the beginning, and always again! From Him we have all that we have. He created everything! Heaven and earth! The whole visible universe!
So you see, this statement, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," is not a statement of science, but a statement of faith! It is the happy confession of faith of a soul that has already come to know God by the love of seeking Him. This sentence expresses the breadth and universality of God's action, the action of the God who did not spare to give Himself for our salvation! And here it is not at all important to know how this world came into being in its details. Sure: it is very important for our scientifically minded intellect, but not for our life and death! What is decisive is that this God is the one in whose hands we are, and that it is His world in which we live!
It is therefore wrong to impose any kind of conflict between the biblical creation account and natural science. It is wrong to attack the findings of natural science from the standpoint of the biblical creation account, and it is wrong to attack the Bible from the standpoint of the findings of natural science. Yet this conflict involves many people on both sides. But let's just stick to our side. There are still many believers who oppose the biblical account of creation with the findings of natural science about the formation of the world, saying that the biblical doctrine is true because God revealed it and that the falsity of the scientific theories will be shown sooner or later. But in this way, sooner or later, man is bound to experience a serious crisis of faith, for he is bound to find himself in a losing battle with science. Others try to reconcile the biblical story of creation with natural science, saying that modern science is increasingly justifying the Bible. But that is just another forced explanation, because the truth is that it does not! It doesn't have to! So the conflict is that either one sacrifices science for faith - and that would be very wrong - or one sacrifices faith for science - and that would also be very wrong!
Because the solution to the conflict is quite different, namely that there is no conflict! If we understand the first pages of the Bible correctly: there is no conflict between the biblical account of creation and the scientific explanation, because the biblical account of creation is not at all an infallible theory of world creation that can be compared or contrasted with the theories of world creation of natural science, but something quite different! As I said before: a creed! And it is a creed that cannot be proved by the results of scientific research, just as it cannot be disproved! Let me try to illustrate this with a not very good analogy: this part of the Bible and natural science are no more in conflict with each other than the science of physics is in conflict with the science of phonetics, nor can Handel's Hallelujah Chorus be in conflict with each other. Simply because one is different from the other! The laws of physics of phonetics can neither prove nor disprove that in the Hallelujah Chorus the devotion of faith sings praises to God!
Let us understand this very well: the first chapters of the Bible do not, and could not, give a historical or scientific account of the origins of the world and of mankind. The biblical account of creation is not a description of a real event that took place at one time, not a description of the structure of the universe, but something quite different. So different that it is not even about the creation of the world, but about the Creator of the world - something that sings the glory of God as Creator in a very powerful, monumental language! It almost sounds, with its weighty, recurring beating phrases, like a cosmic litany of all creatures paying homage to their Creator! These stories sing the Creator's praises, rejoicing in how great, how sublime existence is, and how beautiful the world is! This hymn in praise of God as Creator is essentially polyphonic. It is so richly overflowing that it cannot be expressed in any one way! That is why there are two different variations of the hymn of praise to God the Creator right at the beginning of the Bible (see 1 and 2), and why it would be wrong to harmonise these two narratives at all costs. And the same song recurs again and again in the Psalms and even in the writings of the prophets. And again and again it rings out in different versions the joyful recognition that in the hands of our God is all: our suffering and our joy, our enemies and our friends, the light and the darkness, the earth and the sea, the whole universe! Everything-everything is in His hands, because in the beginning everything came from His hands. So the faith of modern man need not stop at the first pages of the Bible, and say, alas, what antiquated, outdated things are written here! Faith in God does not begin with "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth..." The first pages of the Bible are rightly understood when we begin to build our lives on the fact that we are always and everywhere hidden in the mighty creative hand of our heavenly Father, for He who in Christ has adopted us as His children, He is the Lord of the world, Who created it!
And this also means that the most fundamental reality of our lives is the faith that God is a creating God, that He will not cease to create, that He will not cease to cry out into the darkness, "Let there be light"! And the light does not cease to be at His word! Yes, look, this is the first creative word of God: "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3a) What God pours out around Himself as He creates is always light! Where God's word is spoken, there is always light! "Let there be light": it is a powerful divine creative word from which the believer today can draw strength, confidence and joy in all the darkness of life. To believe means: to put one's trust in this divine "let there be light" and to know God as the One who, for this commandment, will do good, in spite of all obstacles! Behold, here again, after the divine word is spoken, we read, "Let there be light"! (verse 3b) Darkness flees from light. That is why the order is so strange: "and there was evening and there was morning" (Gen 1:5c) - so it is not morning that becomes evening, but the other way round! The evening goes and the morning comes! As Paul said, "The night is past and the day is at hand!" (Rom 13:12) This means that all darkness: the darkness of sin, fear, mourning, suffering, death, the darkness of the grave, are all supposed to be in the past! It is defeated! By divine action, night is behind us and day is before us! Behold, the light of Easter is already dawning. It is the same victory that triumphed in the resurrection of Jesus. Behold, with the light of Easter the history of the world begins, and with the light of Easter it will end! This light is already a reality, a reality that carries, permeates and sustains our whole life. In this light we must see the world and our lives. Behold, as soon as we open the Bible, we are encouraged on the very first page to see life - our own lives and the lives of others - with the hope and positivity that only faith in the God who gives us light can give us!
"And God saw that the light was good" (Genesis 1:4a). God wants light, God is for light, and God wants us to walk in His light. Whoever does this will never again have real darkness in his life, and will even have some light shining out of his life to others, becoming a light himself on the often dark paths of life! To these Jesus says: "You are the light of the world. ... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (Mt 5,14-16)
Amen
Date: 7 February 1965.