God's Pattern for Creation: A Covenantal Reading of Genesis 1 (Paperback)

~ (Author)

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Product Description

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Beginnings are important. If we want to understand the Bible as a whole, we must understand what it teaches about creation.

Interpreting Genesis 1 has become controversial among "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." evangelicals today. Because of this, W. Robert Godfrey has written this short, clear study with thoughtful Christians in mind. He understands that it can be difficult to take fresh look at a Scripture passage that is so familiar. Godfrey encourages readers to come to Genesis 1 eager to find all that God has to teach us.

Godfrey’s foundation to his approach to Genesis 1 covenantal. He carefully examines Scripture with the understanding that the whole Bible is "covenantal because from beginning to end it shows how God is our God and how he makes us his people, first in creation and then in redemption through Christ." Godfrey carefully examines the text, knowing that the Bible is a covenantal record, always focused on God and his relationship to his people. "Where does Genesis 1 fit in this covenantal structure?" Godfrey asks. "It is the introduction to the introduction. Genesis is the introduction to Exodus, and Genesis 1 is the introduction to Genesis, detailing the grand story of creation before sin entered the world. It is a history for us as the people of God."

Some of Godfrey’s main theses include:

- Genesis 1 and 2 are true, historical accounts of creation. - God created the earth for man, his image-bearer. - Genesis 1 presents God’s days of creation as a pattern for man with six days for work and one day for rest. The days of Genesis 1 are not primarily about how God created. - The Sabbath is a creation ordinance for man. - Christians must believe what God has revealed about his work of creation.

About the Author

W. Robert Godfrey (Ph.D., Stanford University) is professor of church history and president of Westminster Theological Seminary in California. He wrote Reformation Sketches: Insights into Luther, Calvin, and the Confessions, co-edited Theonomy: A Reformed Critique, and contributed to John Calvin: His Influence in the Western World.

Product Details

• Paperback: 141 pages
• Publisher: P & R Publishing (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087552799X
• ISBN-13: 978-0875527994
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #703,164 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helps to reconcile the Bible with an old earth, May 31, 2007

By	Paul R. Bruggink (Clarington, PA USA) - See all my reviews

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This book is one of several that significantly help to make the point that the Bible does not preclude the possibility of an old earth and an old universe. Other books are also helpful in this regard, including C. John Collins' Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary, And Theological Commentary, Rodney Whitefield's Reading Genesis One, David Snoke's A Biblical Case for an Old Earth, Mark S. Whorton's Peril in Paradise: Theology, Science, and the Age of the Earth, and Hugh Ross's Creation and Time: A Biblical and Scientific Perspective on the Creation-Date Controversy.

I highly recommend all of them, including Godfrey's "God's Pattern for Creation," to anyone struggling with reconciling the Bible with the scientific evidence for an old earth or struggling with how to convince young earth creationists that young earth creationism is not the only possible way to interpret the Bible.

In addition to 80+ pages of text supporting compatibility of the Bible with an old earth through a careful examination of the words of the Bible, this book includes appendices on "Calvin on Creation," and "The Reformed Confessions on Creation." It is a worthwhile investment.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, June 7, 2006

By	Echo "ohcE" (Escondido, CA) - See all my reviews

This book is a very accessible and fascinating look at the creation account in Genesis. Dr. Godfrey challenges conventional thought by asserting an analogical view of the creation account. The point of the narrative is to direct us to understand the covenant of creation, and that God created all things because He wanted to enter into covenantal relations with mankind. Genesis is neither a science book, an anthropology book, nor a geology book. It is a book about God as He has revealed Himself through the covenants, not the least of which is the covenant of creation. This is a fascinating book and very easy to read. High School students should be able to read it just fine and get a lot out of it.

5.0 out of 5 stars a book of understatement and humility, August 24, 2009

By	A Reader (California USA) - See all my reviews

At first glance this book looks too simplistic to be all that helpful in understanding book 1 of Genesis. For there's little reference to max-min (e.g., Kenneth Kitchen's The Bible in Its World: The Bible and Archaeology Today or even On the Reliability of the Old Testament), unity-divergence (e.g., Before Abraham Was: The Unity of Genesis 1-11) biblical debates. After many glances and a much more thorough reading, however, the book exudes a close and faithful reading of scripture revealing its author an intelligent and reliable Christian witness. In fact, Godfrey's book must be carefully read to realize that it is written with learned simplicity that represents a lifetime of study and experience, which remains far too rare in Biblical discussions.

Also, this book does not in any way suffer from a jingoistically pro-modern and ultimately offensive, anti-Hebrew perspective that can be found in Jaki's Genesis 1: Through the Ages.