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Bible does not open with an abstract argument for the existence of a First Cause; He is
presented to us at work. It is not possible for any man to prove the negative statement,
"There is no God", for to be able to do so would demand the omniscience of God
Himself. For the atheist to prove that there is no God, he must have traversed all space
and all time, for unless he has investigated every nook and corner of the universe, and
seen with eyes that not only take in the visible but the invisible, he cannot be sure that the
necessary evidence to prove the existence of God is not somewhere to be found, even
though he has not yet found it. The argument from design, as exemplified in Paley's
famous illustration, we must considered later. For the moment, let us concentrate our
attention on the word translated "create" in the Hebrew Scriptures. The word is bara,
and its first occurrence Gen. 1: 1. Let us see how it is used elsewhere.
"And God created great whales" (Gen. 1: 21).
"So God created man . . . . . in the image of God created He him, male and female
created He them"(Gen. 1: 27).
It is evident that the word bara in these occurrences does not bear the meaning "to
create out of nothing".
Associated with bara there are two other words: asah, "to make" and yatsar, "to
form". We find the three words used together in Isa. 43: 7: "I have created (bara) for
My glory: I have formed (yatsar); yea, I have made (asah) him." While Gen. 1: 27
uses the word bara, "create", Gen. 2: 7 uses yatsar: "And the Lord God formed (yatsar)
man of the dust of the ground."
Coming back to Isaiah, we read in 45: 18:
"For thus saith the Lord that created (bara) the heavens, God Himself that formed
(yatsar) the earth and made (asah) it; He hath established it, He created it not in vain, He
formed (yatsar) it to be inhabited."
The Scripture uses the word "create" both of the heavens and of the earth, but seems
to change here to "form", "make" and "establish" when the purpose of habitation is in
view.
In this same chapter of Isaiah we read:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do
(asah) all these things" (Isa. 45: 7).
Here it is evident that "to make" (asah) includes both "creating" and "forming". So,
in the N.T. we read:
"We are His workmanship (poiema, from poieo, to make) having been created (ktizo)
in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2: 10).
God is spoken of in the O.T. Scriptures as "The Creator" (Bara) in Eccles. 12: 1
(where the word is plural), Isa. 40: 28 and Isa. 43: 15. He is referred to as "The