3 英翻中 Genesis 4 創世記4 8/3/2025
God forms (1:3–13) 上帝創造 (1:3-13) There’s a pattern to God’s activities during the creation week: first He formed and then He filled. He made three spheres of activity: the heavens, the landmasses, and the waters; and then He filled them with appropri ate forms of life. 祂在創造週期間的活動有一個模式:首先祂創造,然後祂充滿。他創造了三個活動領域:天空、陸地和水域;然後他用適當的生命形式充滿了他們。 第一天(3-5節)。 Day one (vv. 3–5). God commanded the light to shine and then separated the light from the darkness. But how could there be light when the light-bearers aren’t mentioned until the fourth day (vv. 14–19)? Since we aren’t told that this light came from any of the luminaries God created, it probably came from God Himself who is light (John 1:5) and wears light as a garment (Ps. 104:2; Hab. 3:3–4). The eternal city will enjoy endless light without the help of the sun or moon (Rev. 22:5), so why couldn’t there be light at the begin ning of time before the luminaries were made?7 Life as we know it could not exist without the light of the sun. Paul saw in this creative act the work of God in the new creation, the salvation of the lost. “For it is the God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6 nkjv). “In him [Jesus] was life; and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). In Scripture, light is associated with Christ (8:12), the Word of God (Ps. 119:105, 130), God’s people (Matt. 5:14–16; Eph. 5:8), and God’s blessing (Prov. 4:18), while darkness is associated with Satan (Luke 23:53; Eph. 6:12), sin (Matt. 6:22–23; John 3:19–21), death (Job 3:4–6, 9), spiritual ignorance (John 1:5), and divine judgment (Matt. 8:12). This explains why God separated the light from the dark ness, for the two have nothing in common. God’s people are to “walk in the light” (1 John 1:5–10), for “what communion has light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14–16; Eph. 5:1–14). From the very first day of creation, God established the principle of separation. Not only did He separate the light from the darkness (Gen. 1:4) and the day from the night (v. 14), but later He also separated the waters above from the waters beneath (vv. 6–8), and the land from the waters (vv. 9–10). Through Moses, God commanded the people of Israel to remain sepa rated from the nations around them (Ex. 34:10–17; Deut. 7:1–11), and when they violated this com mandment, they suffered. God’s people today need to be careful in their walk (Ps. 1:1) and not be defiled by the world (Rom. 12:1–2; James 1:7; 4:4; 1 John 2:15–17). Since God is the Creator, He has the right to call things whatever He pleases, and thus we have “day” and “night.” The word “day” can refer to the portion of time when the sun is visible as well as to the whole period of twenty-four hours composed of “evening and morning” (Gen. 1:5).8 Sometimes biblical writers used “day” to describe a longer period of time in which God accomplishes some special purpose, such as “the day of the Lord” (Isa. 2:12) or “the day of judgment” (Matt. 10:15). When we speak about spiritual things, it’s impor tant that we use God’s dictionary as well as His vocabulary. Words carry meanings and giving the wrong meaning to a word could lead to serious trouble. It would be fatal to a patient if a physician confused “arsenic” with “aspirin,” so medical people are very careful to use accurate terminology. The “Christian vocabulary” is even more important because eternal death could be the consequence of confusion. The Bible explains and illustrates words like sin, grace, for giveness, justification, and faith, and to change their meanings is to replace God’s truth with lies. “Woe to them who call evil, good, and good, evil; who put dark ness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter” (Isa. 5:20). Day two (vv. 6–8). God put an expanse between the upper waters and the lower waters and made “heaven,” what we know as “the sky.” It seems that these waters were a vaporous “blanket” that covered the original creative mass. When separated from the land mass, the lower waters eventually became the ocean and the seas, and the upper waters played a part in the flood during Noah’s day (Gen. 7:11–12; 9:11–15). 神命令光發光,然後將光與暗分開。但是,如果直到第四天才提到提光者(14-19節),怎麼會有光呢?由於我們沒有被告知這光來自上帝創造的任何發光體,因此它可能來自上帝本身,上帝本身就是光(約翰福音1:5),並且穿著光如衣服(詩篇104:2;哈巴谷書3:3-4)。永恆之城無需太陽或月亮的幫助就能享受無盡的光明(啟示錄 22:5),那麼為什麼在發光體被造之前的時間之初就不能有光呢?保羅在這創造性行為中看到了上帝在新創造中的工作,即對失喪者的拯救。 「因為那吩咐光從黑暗裡照出來的神,已經照在我們心裡,叫我們認識神在耶穌基督面上的榮耀」(哥林多後書 4:6 NKJV)。 「生命在祂〔耶穌〕裡;生命就是人的光」(約翰福音1:4)。 在聖經中,光與基督(8:12)、神的話語(詩篇 119:105, 130)、神的子民(太 5:14-16;以弗所書 5:8)和神的祝福(箴 4:18)相關,而黑暗則與撒但(福音 23:53;以弗所書 4:18)相關,而黑暗則與撒但(福音 23:53;133 章)。 -21)、死亡(約伯記 3:4-6, 9)、屬靈的無知(約 1:5)和神聖的審判(太 8:12)。這解釋了為什麼上帝將光明與黑暗分開,因為兩者沒有任何共同點。上帝的子民要“行在光明中”(約翰一書 1:5-10),因為“光明與黑暗有何相通?” (哥林多後書 6:14-16;弗 5:1-14)。 從創造的第一天起,神就確立了分離的原則。他不僅將光與暗分開(創1:4)、晝與夜(14節),後來他也將水上與下面的水分開(6-8節),將陸地與水中分開(9-10節)。上帝透過摩西命令以色列人與周圍的國家保持隔離(出埃及記 34:10-17;申命記 7:1-11),當他們違反這條誡命時,他們就會受苦。今天神的子民需要謹慎行事(詩篇 1:1),不要被世界所玷污(羅馬書 12:1-2;雅各書 1:7;4:4;約翰一書 2:15-17)。 既然上帝是創造者,祂有權隨心所欲地稱呼事物,因此我們有「白天」和「夜晚」。 「日」這個字可以指太陽可見的那段時間,也可以指由「晚上和早晨」組成的整個二十四小時(創世記 1:5)。 當我們談論屬靈的事時,使用上帝的字典和詞彙非常重要。單字帶有含義,賦予單字錯誤的含義可能會導致嚴重的麻煩。如果醫生將“砷”與“阿斯匹靈”混淆,對患者來說將是致命的,因此醫務人員非常小心地使用準確的術語。 「基督教詞彙」甚至更為重要,因為永恆的死亡可能是混亂的結果。聖經對罪、恩典、給予、稱義和信心等字眼進行了解釋和說明,改變它們的意義就是用謊言取代神的真理。 「那些稱惡為善,稱善為惡的人有禍了!他們以黑暗為光明,以光明為黑暗;他們以苦為甜,以甜為苦」(賽 5:20)。 第二天(6-8節)。上帝在上層水域和下層水域之間放置了一片廣闊的空間,創造了“天堂”,也就是我們所說的“天空”。這些水似乎是一層氣態的“毯子”,覆蓋了最初的創造性物質。當與陸地分離時,較低的水域最終變成了海洋,而較高的水域則在諾亞時代的洪水中發揮了作用(創世記7:11-12;9:11-15)。 The word translated “firmament” (expanse) means “to beat out.” In Scripture, the sky is sometimes referred to as a dome or a covering; however, Scripture nowhere supports the pagan mythological notion that the sky is some kind of solid covering. The luminaries were set in this expanse (1:14–17) and that’s where the fowl flew (v. 20). Day three (vv. 9–13). God gathered the waters and caused the dry land to appear, thus making “earth” and “seas.” Israel’s pagan neighbors believed all kinds of myths about the heavens, the earth, and the seas; but Moses made it clear that Elohim, the one true God, was Lord of them all. For the first time, God said that what He had done was “good” (v. 10). God’s creation is still good, even though it travails because of sin (Rom. 8:20–22) and has been ravaged and exploited by sinful people. God also caused plant life to appear on the earth: the grasses, the seed-producing herbs, and the fruit bearing trees. God decreed that each would reproduce “after its kind,” which helps to make possible order in nature. God has set reproductive limits for both plants and animals (Gen. 1:21) because He is the Lord of Creation. There’s no suggestion here of any kind of “evolution.” God was preparing the earth for a habita tion for humans and for animals, and the plants would help to provide their food. A second time, God said that His work was good (v. 12).
God fills (1:14–27; 2:7) God has now created three special “spaces”: the land, the seas, and the expanse of the sky. During the next three creative days, He will fill these spaces. Day four (vv. 14–19). Into the expanse of the sky God placed the heavenly bodies and assigned them their work: to divide the day and night and to provide “signs” to mark off days, years, and seasons. Light had already appeared on the first day, but now it was con centrated in these heavenly bodies. Because of their religious observances, the Jews needed to know the times and the seasons, when the Sabbath arrived and ended, when it was a new month, and when it was time to celebrate their annual feasts (Lev. 26). Before the invention of the clock and the compass, the activities of human life were closely linked to nature’s cycles, and navigators depended on the stars to direct them. Israel would need the help of the heavenly bodies to direct their activities, and God would occasionally use signs in the heavens to speak to His people on earth.9 Israel was commanded not to imitate their pagan neighbors by worshipping the heavenly bodies (Ex. 20:1–6; Deut. 4:15–19; 17:2–7). They were to wor ship the true God who created the “heavenly host,” the army of heaven that did His bidding. However, the Jews didn’t obey God’s commandment (Jer. 8:2; 19:13; Ezek. 8:16; Zeph. 1:4–6) and suffered greatly for their sins. The ancient peoples were fascinated by the moon and stars and the movements of the sun and planets, and it was but a short step from admiration to worship. “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years,” wrote Ralph Waldo Emerson, “how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown …”10 Day five (vv. 20–23). God had created the sky and the waters, and now He filled them abundantly with living creatures. He made birds to fly in the sky and aquatic creatures to frolic in the seas. “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions—This great and wide sea, in which are innumerable teeming things, living things both small and great” (Ps. 104:24–25 nkjv). A new element is added to God’s work on this day: He not only called His work “good,” but He blessed the creatures He had made. This is the first time the word “bless” is used in the Bible. God’s blessing enabled the creatures and the fowl to reproduce abun dantly and enjoy all that He had made for them. God would also bless the first man and woman (Gen. 1:28; 5:2), the Sabbath day (2:3), and Noah and his family (9:2). After creation, perhaps the most important occa sion for God’s blessing was when He gave His gracious covenant to Abraham and his descendants (12:1–3). That blessing has reached down to God’s people today (Gal. 3:1–9). Day six (vv. 24–31; 2:7). God had formed the sky and filled it with heavenly luminaries and flying birds. He had formed the seas and filled the waters with var ious aquatic creatures. Creation reaches its climax when on the sixth day He filled the land with animal life and then created the first man who, with his wife, would have dominion over the earth and its creatures. Like the first man, the animals were formed out of the dust of the ground (2:7), which explains why the bodies of both humans and animals go back to the dust after death (Eccl. 3:19–20). However, humans and ani mals are different. No matter how intelligent some animals may appear to be, or how much they are taught, animals are not endowed with the “image of God” as are humans.11 The creation of the first man is seen as a very spe cial occasion, for there’s a “consultation” prior to the event. “Let us make man in our image” sounds like the conclusion of a divine deliberation among the persons of the Godhead.12 God couldn’t have been talking with the angels about His plans because angels weren’t made in God’s image (“Our image”), and angels had nothing to do with the creation of Adam. “And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul” (Gen. 2:7). The verb “formed” suggests the potter making a work of art in his skilled hands. The human body is indeed a work of art, an amazingly complex organism that only the wisdom of God could design and the power of God create. The physical matter for Adam’s body came from the ground, for the name “Adam” means “taken out of the ground,” but the life Adam possessed came from God. Of course, God is spirit and doesn’t have lungs for breathing. This statement is what theolo gians call an “anthropomorphism,” the using of a human characteristic to explain a divine work or attribute.13 Several important facts must be noted about the origin of humans. First, we were created by God. We are not the products of some galactic accident nor are we the occupants of the top rung of an evolutionary lad der. God made us, which means we are creatures and wholly dependent on Him. “For in him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Luke 3:38 calls Adam “the son of God.” Second, we were created in God’s image (Gen. 2:26–27). Unlike the angels and the animals, humans can have a very special relationship with God. He not only gave us personality—minds to think with, emo tions to feel with, and wills for making decisions—but He also gave us an inner spiritual nature that enables us to know Him and worship Him. The image of God in men and women has been marred by sin (Eph. 4:18–19), but through faith in Christ and submission to the work of the Holy Spirit, believers can have the divine nature renewed within them (2 Peter 1:4; Eph. 4:20–24; Col. 3:9–10; Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18). One day when we see Jesus, all of God’s children will share in the glorious image of Christ (1 John 3:1–3; Rom. 8:29; 1 Cor. 15:49). Third, we were created to have dominion over the earth (Gen. 2:26, 28).14 Adam and Eve were the first regents over God’s creation (Ps. 8:6–8). “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men” (Ps. 115:16 nkjv). But when Adam believed Satan’s lie and ate of the forbid den fruit, he lost his kingship, and now sin and death reign over the earth (Rom. 5:12–21). When Jesus Christ, the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45), came to earth, He exercised the dominion that the first Adam had lost. He demonstrated that He had author ity over the fish (Luke 5:1–7; John 21:1–6; Matt. 17:24–27), the fowl (26:69–75), and the animals (Mark 1:13; 11:3–7). When He died on the cross, He conquered sin and death, so that now grace can reign (Rom. 5:21) and God’s people can “reign in life” through Jesus Christ (v. 17). One day, when He returns, Jesus will restore to His own the dominion that was lost because of Adam (Heb. 2:5ff.). Both Adam and the animal creation were vegetari ans until after the flood (Gen. 1:29–30; 9:1–4). Isaiah 11:7 indicates that the carnivorous beasts will return to this diet when Jesus Christ returns and establishes His kingdom on earth. Fourth, this wonderful Creator deserves our worship, praise, and obedience. When God surveyed His cre ation, He saw that it was “very good” (Gen. 1:31). Contrary to what some religions and philosophies teach, creation is not evil and it isn’t a sin to enjoy the good gifts God shares with us (1 Tim. 6:17). David surveyed God’s creation and asked, “What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?” (Ps. 8:4 nkjv). The earth is but a tiny planet orbiting in a vast galaxy, and yet “the earth is the Lord’s” (24:1). It’s the one planet He has chosen to visit and to redeem! The heavenly creatures before God’s throne praise Him for His creation, and so should we. “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11). When we bow at meals to thank Him for the food He provides, when we see the sunshine and the rain provided at no expense to us, and when we watch the progress of the seasons, we should lift our hearts to praise the Creator for His faithfulness and generosity. Finally, we must be good stewards of creation. This means we should respect our fellow human beings who are also made in the image of God (Gen. 9:6). It means appreciating the gifts we have in creation and not wast ing or exploiting them. We’ll look into these matters in greater detail in further studies, but it’s worth noting that we can’t honor the God of creation if we dishonor His creation. We must accept creation as a gift, guard it as a precious treasure, and invest it for the glory of God. Isaac Watts said it beautifully:
I sing the goodness of the Lord, that filled the earth with food; He formed the creatures with His word, and then pronounced them good. Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where e’er I turn my eye; If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky. “The Lord is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Ps. 145:9).
Notes
1 See In the Arena by Richard M. Nixon (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1990), 206.
2 John describes seven days in the life of Jesus (John 1:19–28, 29–34, 35–42, 43–51; 2:1), obviously a parallel to Genesis 1. Moses wrote of the old creation but John of the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
3 The Hebrew word bara means “to initiate something new, to bring into existence.” It’s used in the Creation account to describe the creation of sea creatures and fowl (Gen. 1:21), the creation of man and woman (v. 27), and the whole work of creation (1; 2:3–4).
4 The “gap theory,” stated in G.H. Pember’s book, Earth’s Earliest Ages, and popularized by the Scofield Reference Bible, affirms that the original creation of Genesis 1:1 was judged when Satan fell, and that verses 3ff. describe a remaking of the ruined creation. Verse 2 should read, “And the earth became without form and void.” Hence, there was a “gap” of unknown duration between the first two verses of Genesis. But why would God ruin the whole creation just because of Satan’s rebellion? And if He created it instantly, why would He take six days to restore it? There are capable defenders of both views, and they all claim that the Hebrew text is on their side. To me, it appears that verses 3ff. are describing God’s original acts of creation and that we don’t have to put a “gap” between verse 1 and verse 2 in order to solve any problems.
5 The image in verse 2 is that of the eagle hovering over its young (Deut. 32:11). In both the Hebrew (ruah) and the Greek (pneuma), the word for “Spirit” also means “wind” (see John 3:8), so the verse could be translated “and God’s wind swept across the waters.” However, “Spirit” seems to be the logical translation.
6 “Without form and void” is the Hebrew phrase tohu wabohu, which describes utter waste, vanity, and ruin. Jeremiah bor rowed the image to describe God’s judgment of the land of Judah (Jer. 4:23), and Isaiah used it to describe the ruin of Edom (Isa. 34:11).
7 Some commentators believe that God’s work on the fourth day was not to create the luminaries but to assign them their tasks. However, the description in Genesis 1:14–19 parallels that of the other five days and gives every evidence of explaining the creative act of God.
8 When speaking of a twenty-four hour day, the Jewish people said “evening and morning” rather than “morning and evening,” because their days started with sunset, not sunrise. Thus, sunset on Thursday evening ushered in Friday, and sun set on Friday ushered in the Sabbath day.
9 People who depend on their astrological charts for guidance are following ancient pagan customs that are useless. There’s no evidence that the position of the heavenly bodies has any influence on human life on earth. The Bible condemns all human attempts to foresee or control the future (Deut. 18:10–13; Isa. 47:13; Jer. 10:2). The statement that the sun and moon “rule over” the day and night respectively doesn’t mean that they exert special influence on the affairs of people but that day and night are their spheres of operation. According to the rotation of the earth, its orbit around the sun, and the moon’s orbit around the earth, the sun and moon gov ern how much light there will be on earth.
10 Ralph Waldo Emerson. Nature (Boston: Beacon Press, 1985), 9–10.
11 Even though many animals are stronger than we are and live longer than we do, God has given humans dominion over the animals. However, this doesn’t mean we can abuse animal life and do whatever we please with God’s creatures (Jer. 27:5). While animals have been given to serve us, we must treat them as creatures made by God. “A righteous man regards the life of his animal” (Prov. 12:10 nkjv). “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” (Deut. 25:4 niv). God takes care of the animals (Ps. 36:6; 104:10–18; Matt. 6:26) and knows when they suffer (Joel 1:18–20; 2:22; Jonah 4:11). Even the way we treat helpless birds is a concern to God (Deut. 22:6–7). Those who abuse and exploit God’s creation will one day be judged (Rev. 11:18).
12 You have a similar “dialogue” recorded in Genesis 3:22; 11:7, and see Isaiah 6:8. 13 As we have seen, the Hebrew word ruah means “breath” and “spirit” (or Spirit). The breath of God brought life to Adam just as the Spirit of God brings eternal life to the sinner who believes on Christ (John 3:7–8; 20:22). 14Dominion over the earth and its creatures may have been the privilege Lucifer wanted when he rebelled against God and led some of the angels in revolt against the Lord. Isaiah 14:12–17 speaks primarily about the fall of the king of Babylon, but behind this mysterious passage lurks the image of “the son of the morning,” the angel who wanted to be as God and prom ised to make Eve like God (Gen. 3:5)