There is nothing in the text of Gen.1 to suggest such a separation between
command & fulfillment, but there is another passage which seems even clearer, Ps.33:9,
which is speaking of the creation of heaven and earth by God's word (vv.6-8):
"For he spoke and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood fast."
(Poetic parallelism - the same idea is repeated in different words.)
Focussing on the 1st line, the Hebrew construction (waw consecutive: _ki hu'
'amar wayehi_) suggests that the action of the second verb follows that of the first
with nothing intervening. It would be good for somebody with greater Hebrew expertise
than I to comment on this both in regard to Gen.1 and Ps.33.
A less important but non-trivial point: How can one speak of "days" of
proclamation if they occurred "before time"?
.......................
> >[A few passages in Gen 1 that imply evolution (nay even abiogenesis)]
> >
> >Gen 1:11,12 (Let the earth sprout vegetation,...and the earth brought forth
> >vegetation...)
>
> Absolutely this is why I think Genesis actually teaches evolution. IT WAS
> THE LAND that did the creating not God directly! God ordered the land to do
> the job but the land actually did it. Similarly with the water bringing
> forth fish. God didn't create the fish--the water did.
This is a very important point which needs continual emphasis: Genesis 1 very
clearly pictures _mediated_ creation of living things. & it is _creation_, as the
connection of 1:20 & 21 (which uses the verb br' which only God can do) shows.
Messenger's detailed study in _Evolution and Theology_ demonstrated that a number of
important church fathers (Ephrem the Syrian, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil, &c) understood the
creation of life in this way. That doesn't automatically mean evolution (Ephrem, e.g.,
thinks of the plants coming out of the earth full grown with (gasp!) apparent age, but
the idea of mediated creation is a crucial one for an evolutionary theology.
Shalom,
George
George L. Murphy
gmurphy@raex.com
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/