Why Is Creation So Important for Understanding the Bible?

A Story That Begins and Ends with Creation

When we think about the message of the Bible, we have a story that can be summarized by creation, fall, redemption, and new creation. At the beginning and end of the message—the story of the Bible—we have creation. God created, and God will create all things new one day.

Tracing the Theme

Even as we trace the story throughout redemptive history, we have this repeated emphasis on God's creation power. For instance, after the flood, we see Noah and his family coming off the ark and there's a great deal of language that sounds a lot like creation.

The point is that God is the one who is still using his creative power. God is still the one who is strong and in charge, and he's also commissioned his people to continue to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth with his glory.

The God who creates is also the God who redeems.

We see creation language when he brings Israel up out from Egypt, as if he's creating a new people again for his glory. Then we see creation language when he brings his people back from their captivity in Babylon. For his glory, he's creating a people.

Uniting Creation and Redemption

Ultimately, the biblical creation theme appears when Jesus dies and is laid in the tomb for three days. On the third day, he rises from the dead as a new creation—the beginning of God's ultimate new creation. He is the firstfruits of that new creation, as Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 15. So we see God's creative power in redemption.

The Whole Message of the Bible in 16 Words

Chris Bruno

This accessible overview of biblical theology traces the development of sixteen key themes from Genesis to Revelation, showing how each theme contributes to the one main storyline of Scripture.

Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:6, “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” God's creative power and his redemptive power cannot be separated. The God who creates is also the God who redeems. And he does both with the same power for the same reason—ultimately for his glory.

Chris Bruno (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as assistant professor of New Testament and Greek at Bethlehem College & Seminary in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He previously taught Bible and theology at Cedarville University and Northland International University and served as a pastor at Harbor Church in Honolulu, Hawaii. Chris and his wife, Katie, have four sons.