《The Sermon Bible Commentary – Genesis》(William R. Nicoll)
Editor
Sir William Robertson Nicoll CH (October 10, 1851 - May 4, 1923) was a Scottish Free Church minister, journalist, editor, and man of letters.
Nicoll was born in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, the son of a Free Church minister. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and graduated MA at the University of Aberdeen in 1870, and studied for the ministry at the Free Church Divinity Hall there until 1874, when he was ordained minister of the Free Church at Dufftown, Banffshire. Three years later he moved to Kelso, and in 1884 became editor of The Expositor for Hodder & Stoughton, a position he held until his death.
In 1885 Nicoll was forced to retire from pastoral ministry after an attack of typhoid had badly damaged his lung. In 1886 he moved south to London, which became the base for the rest of his life. With the support of Hodder and Stoughton he founded the British Weekly, a Nonconformist newspaper, which also gained great influence over opinion in the churches in Scotland.
Nicoll secured many writers of exceptional talent for his paper (including Marcus Dods, J. M. Barrie, Ian Maclaren, Alexander Whyte, Alexander Maclaren, and James Denney), to which he added his own considerable talents as a contributor. He began a highly popular feature, "Correspondence of Claudius Clear", which enabled him to share his interests and his reading with his readers. He was also the founding editor of The Bookman from 1891, and acted as chief literary adviser to the publishing firm of Hodder & Stoughton.
Among his other enterprises were The Expositor's Bible and The Theological Educator. He edited The Expositor's Greek Testament (from 1897), and a series of Contemporary Writers (from 1894), and of Literary Lives (from 1904).
He projected but never wrote a history of The Victorian Era in English Literature, and edited, with T. J. Wise, two volumes of Literary Anecdotes of the Nineteenth Century. He was knighted in 1909, ostensibly for his literrary work, but in reality probably more for his long-term support for the Liberal Party. He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 1921 Birthday Honours.
01 Chapter 1
Verse 1
Genesis 1:1
I. What is meant by creation? The giving being to that which before was not. The expression, "the heavens and the earth," is the most exhaustive phrase the Hebrews could employ to name the universe, which is regarded as a twofold whole, consisting of unequal parts. Writing for men, Moses writes as a man. The moral importance of the earth, as the scene of man's probation, is the reason for the form which the phrase assumes. The truth of the creation governs the theology of the Old and New Testaments, and may have influenced the formation of heathen cosmogonies, such as the Etruscan and the Zendavesta. Creation is a mystery, satisfactory to the reason, but strictly beyond it. We can modify existing matter, but we cannot create one particle of it. That God summoned it into being is a truth which we believe on God's authority, but which we can never verify.
II. Belief in the creation of the universe out of nothing is the only account of its origin which is compatible with belief in a personal and moral God.
Creation suggests Providence, and Providence leads the way to Redemption. If love or goodness were the true motive in creation, it implies God's continuous interest in created life. By His love, which led Him to move out of Himself in creation at the first, He travels with the slow, onward movement of the world and of humanity, and His Incarnation in time, when demanded by the needs of the creatures of His hand, is in a line with that first of mysteries, His deigning to create at all. Belief in creation keeps man in his right place of humble dependence and thankful service. A moral God will not despise the work of His own hands, and Creation leads up to Redemption.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 38.
The Bible spoke in the language and through the knowledge of its time. It was content to reveal spiritual truth, but left men to find out scientific truth for themselves. It is inspired with regard to principles, but not as regards details of fact. The principles laid down in this chapter are: (1) the unity of God; (2) that all noble work is gradual; (3) the interdependence of rest and work; (4) that man was made in the image of God.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, p. 222.
I. Man naturally asks for some account of the world in which he lives. The answer of the text as to the creation of the heavens and the earth is: (1) simple; (2) sublime; (3) sufficient.
If God created all things, then (a) all things are under His government; (b) the heavens and the earth may be studied religiously; (c) it is reasonable that He should take an interest in the things which He created.
II. Biblical theology teaches: (1) that creation is an expression of God's mind; (2) that creation may form the basis for the consideration of God's personality and character; (3) that God's word is its own security for fulfilment; (4) that the word which accounts for the existence of nature accounts also for the existence of man.
Parker, People's Bible, vol. i., p. 118.
The whole Trinity, each in His separate office, though all in unity, addressed themselves to the work of creation: (1) the Holy Spirit brooded over the watery chaos; (2) the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was that power, or "Arm of the Lord," by which the whole work was executed,—"In the beginning was the Word;" (3) the Father's mind willed all, planned all, and did all. God created only "the heaven and the earth." He provided a heaven, but He did not provide a hell. That was provided, not for our world at all, but for the devil and his angels. If we ask why God created this universe of ours, three purposes suggest themselves: (1) it was the expression and out-going of His wisdom, power, and love; (2) it was for the sake of His noblest work, His creature, man; (3) the heaven and the earth were meant to be the scene of the exhibition of His own dear Son. Remember, that marvellously grand as it was, that first creation was only a type and earnest of a better.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 15th series, p. 37.
References: Genesis 1:1—H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 205 (see Old Testament Outlines, p. 1); J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol. ii., p. 320; H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv., p. 1; A. P. Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 333; J. Cumming, Church before the Flood, p. 79; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 87, vol. iv., p. 420; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xx., p. 19, vol. xxii., p. 82; S. Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 1; J. E. Gibberd, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 249; M. G. Pearse, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life, p. 25; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 112; C. Kingsley, The Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 1; R. S. Candlish, The Book of Genesis, Discourses, vol. i., p. 18; B. Waugh, The Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 59. Genesis 1:1-3—F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 1. Genesis 1:1-5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 660.
Verse 2
Genesis 1:2
We should be sure we understand both Nature and Scripture before we pronounce certainly on their agreement or disagreement, and it can hardly be said that either is quite understood. To attempt to reconcile all the expressions in this chapter with the details of science is a mistake. It has certain true things to declare, facts of nature which have a religious bearing, and are a needed introduction to the revelation which follows; and these facts it presents in the poetic form natural to the East, and most suited to impress all kinds of readers. The "six days" are fit stages in a poetical account of the great evolution, even as a play acted in a few hours represents the events of years. Three great lessons are impressed in this chapter: (1) that God is the Maker of heaven and earth; (2) that by means of His operation on dead and formless matter the order and beauty of the varied and living world were produced; (3) that the change was gradual. The Spirit of God brought order and development to the material world. We cannot see the Intelligence, the Mind which directs the works of nature; but it is equally true that we cannot see them in the works of man. It is truer to say that the Invisible Mind, the unseen Spirit of God, moved upon the formless earth and brought it to its present ordered form, than to say it happened so. The Spirit of God moved, i.e., brooded as a bird over her young. This indicates the quiet, untiring ways in which God works in the heavens and the earth. The Spirit of God must bring order and development (1) to the spiritual world, (2) to the individual soul. The Spirit of God must move or brood upon the worse than darkness of sinful and godless hearts.
T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 1.
References: Genesis 1:2—R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 88; Sermons for the Christian Seasons, 2nd Series, vol. ii., p. 593; R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, p. 237; Bishop H. Browne, OldTestament Outlines, p. 2; A. P. Stanley, Good Words (1875), p. 273; B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 63. Genesis 1:3—A. P. Stanley, Church Sermons, vol. i., p. 171 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p. 3); B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 61. Genesis 1:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1252; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 5; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, pp. 5, 192; Parker, Pulpit Notes, p. 148; Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 113.
Verse 5
Genesis 1:5
John 4:4
(1) One of the first lessons which God intends us to learn from the night is a larger respect for wholesome renovation. Perhaps this may not show itself in any great lengthening of our bodily life, but rather in a more healthy spirit, less exposed to that prevailing unrest which fills the air and which troubles so many minds. (2) The night is the season of wonder. A new and strangely equipped population, another race of beings, another sequence of events, comes into and fills the world of the mind. Men who have left their seal upon the world, and largely helped in the formation of its deepest history,—men whose names stand up through the dim darkness of the past, great leaders and masters, have admitted that they learned much from the night. (3) The next thought belonging to the night is that then another world comes out and, as it were, begins its day. There is a rank of creatures which moves out into activity as soon as the sun has set. This thought should teach us something of tolerance; senses, dispositions, and characters are very manifold and various among ourselves. Each should try to live up to the light he has, and allow a brother to do the same. (4) Such extreme contrasts as are involved in light and darkness may tell us that we have as yet no true measure of what life is, and it must be left to some other conditions of existence for us to realize in anything like fulness the stores, the processes, the ways of the Kingdom of the Lord which are provided for such as keep His law. (5) Let us learn that, whether men wake or sleep, the universe is in a state of progress, "the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together." (6) Let us learn to use day rightly and righteously, to accept the grace and the forces of the Lord while it is called today, and then the night shall have no forbidding, no repulsive significance.
H. Jones, The Family Churchman, Oct. 20th, 1886.
References: Genesis 1:5—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 153; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 193. Genesis 1:5-6—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. vi., p. 38. Genesis 1:11.—B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 65.
Verse 14
Genesis 1:14
There are few words much oftener in our mouths than that short but most important word, "Time." It is the long measure of our labour, expectation, and pain; it is the scanty measure of our rest and joy. And yet, with all this frequent mention of it, there are, perhaps, few things about which men really think less, few things upon which they have less real settled thought.
I. Two remarkable characteristics make up the best account which we can give of time. The one, how completely, except in its issue, it passes from us; the other, how entirely, in that issue, it ever abides with us. We are the sum of all past time. It was the measure of our opportunities, of our growth. Our past sins are still with us as losses in the sum of our lives. Our past acts of self-denial, our struggles with temptation, our prayers, our times of more earnest communion with God,—these are with us still in the blessed work which the Holy Spirit has wrought within us.
II. Such thoughts should awaken in us: (1) deep humiliation for the past; (2) thankfulness for the past mercies of God; (3) calm trust and increased earnestness for the future.
S. Wilberforce, Sermons, p. 73.
References: Genesis 1:14.—H. Macmillan, Two Worlds are Ours, p. 18. Genesis 1:14, Genesis 1:15.—A. P. Stanley, Good Words, 1871, p. 453. Genesis 1:14-19—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. vi., p. 39.
Verse 16
Genesis 1:16
It is noticeable that while this chapter does not profess to be a scientific account of creation, not only is creation represented as a gradual process, but the simpler living forms are introduced first, and the more advanced afterwards, as the fossil remains of plants and animals prove to have been the case. God has seen fit to appoint, in the world of mind as well as of matter, great lights, and lesser lights, and least lights, answering to the daylight, moonlight, and starlight of the heavens.
I. Consider the lights of angels, of men, and of animals. The angels behold the face of God and watch His plans from age to age. Compared with us, they live in the blaze of day: we have the lesser light of human reason, which relieves, but does not banish, the night. There are around us other conscious creatures, endowed with still feebler powers, who grope in the dim starlight of animal existence. God is the "Father of all lights."
II. The lights of Heathenism, Judaism, and Christianity. What a glimmering starlight of religious knowledge is that of the heathen millions! How partial and imperfect was the knowledge that even the Jews possessed! At last "the Sun of Righteousness arose with healing in His wings." The world has not exhausted, it has scarcely touched, the wealth of spiritual light and life in Him.
III. The lights of childhood, manhood, and the heavenly state. The faint gleam of light in childhood develops into the stronger light of manhood, but even that does not banish the night. "In Thy light we shall see light.
T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 16.
References: Genesis 1:21.—Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 191. Genesis 1:24.—Clergyman's Magazine, vol. vi., p. 40. Genesis 1:24-26.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 371.
Verse 26
Genesis 1:26
It is not too much to say that redemption, with all its graces and all its glories, finds its explanation and its reason in creation. He who thought it worth while to create, foreseeing consequences, can be believed, if He says so, to have thought it worth while to rescue and to renew. Nay, there is in this redemption a sort of antecedent fitness, inasmuch as it exculpates the act of creation from the charge of short-sightedness or of mistake. "Let us make man in our image," created anew in Jesus Christ, "after the image of Him that created him."
Notice three respects in which the Divine image has been traced in the human.
I. "God is Spirit," was our Lord's saying to the Samaritan. Man is spirit also. This it is which makes him capable of intercourse and communion with God Himself. This it is which makes prayer possible, and thanksgiving possible, and worship possible in more than a form and name. Spirituality thus becomes the very differentia of humanity. The man who declares that the spiritual is not, or is not for him, may well fancy himself developed out of lower organisms by a process which leaves him still generically one of them; for he has parted altogether from the great strength and life of his race.
II. Spirituality is the first Divine likeness. We will make sympathy the second. Fellow-suffering is not necessarily sympathy. On the other hand, sympathy may be Where fellow-suffering is not. Love is sympathy, and God is love. Sympathy is an attribute of Deity. When God made man in His own likeness, He made him thereby capable of sympathy. Spirituality without sympathy might conceivably be a cold and spiritless grace; it might lift us above earth, but it would not brighten earth itself. III. The third feature is that which we call influence, the other two are conditions of it. Influence is by name and essence the gentle flowing in of one nature and one personality into another, which touches the spring of will and makes the volition of one the volition of the other. It is indeed a worse than heathenish negation of the power and activity of God, the source of all, if we debar Him alone from the exercise of that spiritual influence upon the understanding, the conscience, and the heart of mankind, which we find to be all but resistless in the hands of those who possess it by His leave. "God said, Let us make man in our image, after our own likeness."