The Language and Metaphors of Creation
Metaphors
Themes
The Language of Creation
An important place to start in understanding God�s creative action as it is put forth in Genesis 1-2 is through analysis of the language used to describe creation, and specifically to look at the relationship between the Hebrew words for �create� and �make.� For Fretheim, this distinction is vital to fully understanding the meanings of these metaphors. Genesis 1:1 and 2:4 identify God as creator. Fretheim points out that it is significant that �Only God serves as the subject of this verb in the OT, and the verb has no object of material or means, �[and] may be a technical term used to speak about the fundamental newness and uniqueness of what God brings into being.� Thus, the verb �create� speaks of something that only God does. The lack of objects for the verb also testifies to the radical character of this action. In some sense, �creation� is an act only fitting the divine, and not the human sphere.
Even as Fretheim notes the unique character of this action, he strongly stresses that this view can be taken too far. He asserts that this fact that the verb �create� is only used with God as subject �is so stressed that any connection between divine and human creativity is denigrated, or even denied.� To counter or complement this understanding, Fretheim points out that the verb �make� is also used with God as subject in the creation accounts, and that this verb does have analogy in the human sphere. Humans are the subjects of this verb as well. Other metaphors for the divine action in creation in chapter 2, such as God as builder and God as potter, also point to the fact that God�s activity has human analogy. God�s acts of creation should not be viewed as something completely unrelated to the human sphere, but at the same time, should not be identified wholly with it. As Fretheim concludes, ��no analogy from the human sphere can exhaust the meaning of God�s creative activity.�
Kenosis and the Language of Creation
Out of this discussion of language, we can begin to formulate an understanding of kenosis in creation. The Genesis creation accounts begin with the statement, �In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth� (Genesis 1:1). From the outset, we are given information about God and about the world which informs all of the discussion to come. We are first told that in the beginning, God created. Unlike the verb to make, used elsewhere in the creation account, to create has no human analogy. This is an act that only God can do. Thus, our first statement is one of dependence upon God, and one which proclaims the cosmic power of God. Yet it is also followed by statements about �making� and �forming,� for example, which point to God�s creation as having analogy with the human. At this point, intimations of kenosis can begin to be seen. The first way kenosis is seen is in the existence of an �other� to which God�s creation can be analogous, a theme we shall develop more completely below. A second, more direct self-limitation seen in the use of �create� and �make� language is that it demonstrates God�s activity to be both like and unlike that of humans. In a sense, God�s divine activity is both unlimited, in the working to create in a manner only proper to divinity, and limited, in making in a manner analogous to the activity of humans or other creatures. These hints of kenosis are certainly not compelling, but they begin the development of a picture of self-limitation which shall be developed in more detail as we progress.
The Metaphor of God as Speaker in Genesis 1-2
Returning to Fretheim�s thought, another important aspect of the text of Genesis is the metaphor of God as speaker. This key idea in the text illuminates many aspects of God�s creative action. First, speech demonstrates the deliberate nature of creation. It is not accidental, but intentional. The use of speech also �personalizes the activity.� God is not merely a creative force, but is depicted as speaker of the Word. Third, the metaphor of speaker testifies to the transcendent nature of God, who creates not by emanation or birth, but instead demonstrates the �separatedness of God from the created order� through speech. It is important to acknowledge at the same time, though, that speech also testifies to divine vulnerability. In speaking, God is not isolated but related, choosing to communicate with others, making room for others, and at the same time taking on the risks that this brings.
When analyzing the metaphor of God as speaker, Fretheim emphasizes the importance of the relationship between speech and action. �God�s speaking does not stand isolated from God�s making. �The word itself does not explain sufficiently what comes to be.� God�s speech is often followed by God�s action. In verse 6, God speaks of the separation of the waters, and in verse 7, it says, �So God made the expanse and separated the water�� (Gen. 1:7). Thus, speaking and acting should not be collapsed into one event. It is also important that divine speech is often speaking with that which has been created �in such a way that the receptor of the word helps to shape the result.� God�s speech of creation invites the participation of the creation, and thus utilizes that which has been created in the further development of creation. In verse 11, God speaks to the earth, saying �Let the earth put forth vegetation�.� In verse 12, the earth does this, bringing forth vegetation. This does not mean that God is not involved in the creation of vegetation, but testifies to the way in which God creates, working from within creation, as opposed to from without. Welker similarly lifts up the participation of creation in the activity of creation. He writes, �The creature�s own activity, which is itself a process of production, is not only a consequence and result of a creation that is already completed. Rather it is imbedded in the process of creation and participates in that process (cf. esp. Gen. 1:11ff.).� God creates along with creatures, in what Welker asserts is an interdependent way.
Another important aspect of the divine speech that Fretheim analyzes is the use of the phrase �let us� in verse 26 with regard to the creation of humankind. He puts forth the interpretation of this plural speech as referring to a divine council or heavenly court. This means that in creating humans, God creates in consultation with other beings. The creation of the human is a �dialogical act� rather than a �monological one.� God shares the creative process with others, and this insight informs our understandings of God, and thus of the image of God in which human beings are created. God is not a detached and static being, causing creation out of a divine whim, but instead is a relational being, creating in dialogue, and sharing the creative process.
Kenosis and God as Speaker
Fretheim�s description of God as speaker is an important point at which kenosis can be understood to describe God�s action in creation. At its most fundamental level, kenosis in creation is the self-limitation of God so as to allow the �other� to exist. To better understand the relationship of self-limitation and creation, we look to Jurgen Moltmann. In God in Creation, he speaks of the relationship between self-limitation and creation in his discussion of creation out of nothing. He speaks of creation as being first an inward act, as God is committing himself, and as an outward act, as God brings into being the other. Moltmann, connecting kenosis to the idea of zimsum, asserts God must first cause to exist a nihil out of which to create, and to do this, �God makes room �by withdrawing his presence.� This means that where once there was God, there is now �literally God-forsaken space.� Speaking of self-limitation in creation shows God�s creative love at work, and is God taking the form of a servant in His creative activity. Thus, Moltmann asserts that God limits Himself through the concession of space for creation to exist. Not only is creation given �room� to exist, but it is understood to be detached from God, with �freedom of movement over against him. If God were omnipresent in the absolute sense, and manifested in his glory, there would be no earthly creation.� Here we see that God�s kenosis in creation is in giving space, but also is in God veiling His glory, in a continuing gift of freedom, and idea we shall discuss further below.
Moltmann provides for us a foundational understanding of kenosis in God�s act of creation. Yet, the idea of God conceding space must be dealt with carefully. In order for God, who is omnipresent and unimaginably powerful, to create that which is other than Himself, God must necessarily limit Himself in some way to allow for something genuinely other than Himself to exist. At the same time, though, kenosis is in no way meant to assert that God is absent from creation, for as Psalm 139 poignantly states, there is nowhere we can flee from God�s presence. Instead of absence, kenosis in creation asserts a certain type of presence, acknowledging that God is present in a veiled way, and continually gives otherness and freedom to that which God has created. Polkinghorne gets at this careful balance, when he refers to God�s self-limitation in this way: "Christian doctrine of creation is rightly concerned with the self-surrender of divine all-inclusiveness in the creating of a world genuinely other, to which God can be �closer than breathing�, in the sense of continuously being aware of it and interacting with it, without being, even partially, identified with it." God is omnipresent, in the sense that God�s presence fills and permeates the entire creation, yet, the giving of otherness, being truly distinct from God, is also fundamental to creation. Ernest Simmons writes of this otherness, �The kenosis of God in creating allows for true relationship and community, by creating the �other� to which God can be related.� God allows something other than Himself to exist, and thus, must limit Himself.
God as speaker points toward the existence of an other, to which God chooses to be related, and also points to the relationship that God has chosen with that other. This understanding of creation as the self-limitation of God in the creation of that which is truly other points toward an understanding of creation that is ex nihilo. As Fretheim points out, ex nihilo is not explicitly mentioned in the account of Genesis 1-2. Instead, the primary focus of the text is the �ordering of an already existing reality.� A comprehensive understanding of creation as being ex nihilo must come from other passages. Although the understanding of creation as other, and thus, the use of kenosis as a model for creation, may fit well with an understanding of creation as being ex nihilo, it certainly does not depend on it. The �otherness� and �relationality� of God and creation are demonstrated in the Genesis 1-2 accounts apart from the idea of ex nihilo, as we see in Fretheim�s development of the theme of God as speaker. For Fretheim, God�s speech serves as an invitation to creation to participate with God. Welker similarly emphasizes the creature�s own activity in creation. This demonstrates a kenotic mode of creation, for in inviting the participation of the other in the creative act, God necessarily limits His own role in creation. God speaks to the earth, calling for it to produce vegetation, and the earth does it. This does not mean that God is not involved in the creation of vegetation, but seems to imply that the earth is involved in some formative way in the creative process. God has given power over to creation to participate, and thus, God has limited his own power, in allowing the other to exercise its power, a theme we shall develop further below in relation to Fretheim�s ideas of divine self-limitation.
As we discuss God as speaker, it is important to note that the theme of relationship is an important theme Fretheim lifts out of the text of Genesis 1-2, and one that he emphasizes with regard to the entire Old Testament. While this theme is not explicitly kenotic, nor is a kenotic way of understanding the only way to integrate relationship into a coherent theological picture of the world, the importance of relationship does resonate with a kenotic way of understanding. As we discussed above, the theme of creation as �other� is an important and central part of the understanding of kenosis in creation. God has chosen to limit Himself, creating something that is not God, something other. This means that, in addition to the relationality within the divine realm, God has chosen to create beings to which God can be related. The idea of self-limitation in creation is very conducive to understanding relationship, for in asserting kenosis in creation, we understand that God has not only chosen to create beings who are �other� than God, but God chooses as well to undertake a relationship of integrity with them, giving freedom and power over to them. This is demonstrated in the Genesis 1-2 accounts, in the participation of the creation, and specifically of the humans, in a formative way in the development of that which is created. God undertakes a relationship of integrity with creation by limiting Himself, allowing the other to exist, and to genuinely contribute to the relationship.
God as Evaluator in Genesis 1-2
The kenotic understanding of God undertaking a relationship of integrity with creation fits with the understanding that God plays a reactive, as well as an active, role in creation, a theme emphasized by Welker in his rereading of the creation accounts. He states very simply, �The creating God is not only the acting God, but also the reacting God, the God who responds to what has been created.� One of the principle ways this is demonstrated is in God�s role of evaluation.
Fretheim similarly points to God as evaluator as another of the important metaphors in the Creation accounts. He asserts that evaluation points to the ongoing and responsive nature of God�s action of Creation. The inclusion of �And God saw that it was good� repeatedly throughout the Genesis 1 creation account emphasizes this role of evaluator. Yet, it is important to note that �good� does not mean static or perfect. Instead, the command to �subdue� the earth in 1:28 implies an ongoing development of the earth, even within its state of goodness, and conveys �a sense that this creative order is not forever fixed.� Fretheim also makes the connection between evaluation and God�s ongoing activity. God responds to the created things by evaluating, and when necessary, making improvements. An example of this is in the account of the creation of woman out of man. In Genesis 2:18, God pronounces, �It is not good for man to be alone.� God sees creation as it stands, evaluates it and finds it lacking. As Fretheim simply notes, �God does indeed learn from experience.� God takes action in response the world and His evaluation of it, creating woman out of man. Thus, both Fretheim and Welker emphasize that in the Genesis 1-2 accounts God does not simply create in a monological act, but instead that God creates in a reactive and ongoing way.
Kenosis and God as Evaluator
Fretheim and Welker both emphasize that the creation accounts do not conform to the traditional abstraction of God as the actor and that which is created as passively coming into being. Instead, God is seen to interact with creation, giving over power to that which has been created to participate in the activity of creation, and to influence the outcome of creation. This demonstrates kenosis in God�s mode of creation, for God chooses not to be the sole actor of creation, dictating in His almighty power the outcome of creation. Instead, Genesis 1-2 produces for us an image of creation that involves action by both God and that which God has created. God acts, but so do creatures, and creatures play a role in such a way that God�s activity is also reactive, as the creaturely contribution is allowed to influence God�s actions. The pronouncement that it is �not good� for man to be alone in 2:18 and the ensuing creativity on God�s part demonstrate that God chose to limit Himself in creation in such a way that He reacts to creation, and is influenced to act further as a result of creation�s contribution. This is certainly not a picture of a traditional monological act of creation by causation and production, which Welker is seeking to move beyond. Instead, by creating in a kenotic manner, God allows and invites the input of creatures in the activity of creation, and reacts according to that input. Thus, God has chosen to limit His power, allowing the other to act, and has chosen to invite relationship, in a cooperative endeavor of creation.
Conclusion
We have begun our discussion of Genesis 1-2 through the analysis of the major metaphors in the creation accounts. God as creator and maker, God as speaker, and God as evaluator all play central roles in the text, and thus in our understanding of it. It is important to note that these are not the only metaphors in the text. God is also seen as one who separates, so that �God works with what has already been created to develop the creation still further�.� Again, God can be seen to be involved in an ongoing way with that which has been created. The metaphor of name-giver is also instructive, in that God names what He has created. This naming stands in parallel to the naming by the humans, showing a relationship between God as Creator and the human as playing a role in the development of creation. This whole group of metaphors deepens our understanding of the diverse actions and images attributed to God in the text, and helps deepen our insights into Creation. As Fretheim notes, �There are some twenty images of God the creator in these two chapters which, when seen in interaction with one another, provide for a more relational model of creation than has been traditionally presented.� With this observation in mind, we will now turn to theological insights that contribute to and come out of the understanding of creation in Genesis 1-2.
