CREATION.—The beginning of the world, as the earliest starting-point of time, is mentioned in Matthew 24:21, Mark 13:19. The other Gospel references to this subject include one by an Evangelist and two by our Lord Himself. The first (John 1:3) teaches that the Divine Word, who afterwards became incarnate in Jesus (John 1:14), was the direct Agent in Creation (cf. Colossians 1:6, Hebrews 1:2; and see following art.). The second (John 5:17) occurs in a discussion on the Sabbath. In the words ‘my Father worketh hitherto,’ Jesus shows that the divine rest following the work of creation has been a period of continued Divine activity. His primary object is to justify His own works of healing on the Sabbath day, but He shows incidentally that the seventh ‘day,’ and therefore also the other ‘days,’ of Genesis 1 need not be understood in a literal sense. In the third allusion (Matthew 19:4 ff., Mark 10:6 ff.) the words of Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:24, describing the original creation of man and woman, are quoted in support of Christ’s ideal of marriage (cf. Ephesians 5:31).
James Patrick.