Original Perfection? No, chaos!

Hi dear friends, I want to draw your attention to Gen 1:1-3. Rashi, a 10th century Rabbi, suggested something profound and translated this verse as follows:

“At the beginning of the Creation of heaven and earth when the earth was without form and void and there was darkness … God said Let there be…”

His argument, which many translators are now supporting, is that ‘the beginning’ is a subordinate clause to the act of creation that begins when God speaks. In other words Gen 1:1 is not the first act of creation, but rather verse 3 where God speaks for the first time. The theological implications of such a reading are enormous, but I want to focus on one aspect, namely the nature of chaos.

This chaos is already present when God begins creation. And there is nothing in the text that suggest this chaos to be evil, or an enemy, or in any way contrary to God’s act of creation. In fact, it seems to be the very stuff from which the newly created order emerges.

Remember that in one of the first videos we questioned the idea of an original perfection. Well, these verses show that we began not in perfection, but in chaos. It’s out of chaos that God creates new meaning, new beauty, new order.

This text communicates much more than a historic event called creation, rather, they explore the way in which God always creates. Creation is ongoing.

What does this practically look like when applied to my human existence? I can no longer imagine ‘self’ being a substance that was created according to some static blueprint – the ideal form – but rather, self is a dynamic relationship always in the process of being created. Relationship with the Creator therefore takes on a much more living form.

Instead of creation being a past event, it becomes an ongoing, unfolding, living relationship.Instead of a nostalgic longing for a lost perfection, I can participate in the wonder of ongoing creation in the midst of chaos. Right here, right now, even in the midst of chaos, something beautiful and meaningful is possible.