"Creatureliness" (Genesis 1:4)

[4] And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.

Second only to the message that God is in complete control, Genesis 1 tells us about who God is. God is good. What He creates is good. And He is active in maintaining the “goodness.” in His creation.

For the first time here on day one, we see some patterns that will reoccur throughout the creation story, and for that matter, in recorded history.

First, God declares that which He has created (also through a declaration) to be “good.” So things come into being because God wishes them to be, and they are also good—i.e. proper, correct, as intended—because He declares them to be so. Not only that, but God then separates what He has created (the thing, light) from that which He has not created (the no-thing, darkness). God imposes order in His creation. He is not a God of chaos. Things exist in their proper place. They exist for their purpose. And that order and purpose have huge importance.

We will see this idea restated again and again in this creation hymn. Everything God makes, in its place and fulfilling its purpose, is good. And everything He creates has a place and a purpose. Our goodness is/rests in who we were created to be and in the purpose we were created to fulfill.

As the story progresses, we will see that the key problem will arise in the loss of “creatureliness.” When humanity ceased to accept who they were created to be, and tried to impose their own identity and purpose over and above the one given and intended by the Creator, everything fell apart for humanity. For Creation.