In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light… —Genesis 1 Creation is the articulation of form in matter, of spirit in the letter of manifestation.
This would seem to more than imply that God creates the first seven days, and then the Lord God comes on the scene, coincident with this verse, Genesis 2:4. "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven." Thus, the Lord God is this other God with the creative power of the Word (Logos). Anthroposophy defines this other God, as Jahve, or Jehova, who is also Christ in His outer dimension.
I would like to draw attention to Genesis, chapter two, in order to attempt to convey that Nature accords to the "Second Testament", whilst the "First Testament" accords to the principle of what is Good. God creates in seven days, and each day is denoted as producing "good". Then, in chapter two, we have a certain line of demarcation. The first two paragraphs say:
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen. 2:1-9
This would seem to clearly indicate that the Lord God is the Nature God, and God is the primordial Creator of all that is Good without evil in the first seven days. Thus, God's creation is one of Image, and comes out of His Mind. As such, it serves to set the platform for the actual material manifestation, which becomes the originating work of the Lord God, and indicated in the verses from 2:4. Thus, it seems to me that we need to consider a Greater Demiurgos, and a Lesser Demiurgos in the total creative response. This rationale helps to make comprehensible what the beginning of the Gospel of John says:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 'a' God."
I appreciate the comment and it’s an interesting idea, maybe correct. vis-à-vis the question of nomenclature, I would still call Nature “the First Testament.” The Good might be too close and inherent to the essence of God to be a testament at all. In other words, it is less a testament to him than an expression and feature of him—one of his energies, to invoke the Palamite distinction. but if it must be called, let us call it “the Ur-Testament.”
Anyway, maybe you know this but the Septuagint renders the same Hebrew term which appears in English as “Good” not as might be expected—as ἀγαθός (agathos)—but rather as καλός (kalos), which is to say, “beautiful,” or more literally and etymological, “that which calls.”
It seems worth noting here in Genesis 2:4, a certain distinction between "God" and "Lord God":
"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground."
Thus, God creates, and the Lord God makes. This dichotomy is also upheld in the Indian classical system of Samkhya, in which God is termed, "Purusha", and the Lord God, "Prakriti".
It is here, in the description of the 6th day of Creation that something of profound significance occurs:
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1
So, my question has always been, "who is Us"?, and, "what is Our"? This pondering for years became the incentive for the Evolutionary-Teleological Perspective, and the whole issue of "Image", and "Likeness".
This goes in the category of 'saved' posts, Max. Thank you.
Rudolf Steiner cites John 1:1-5, with a slight variation, but it is a significant one:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was a God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through It and save through It was not anything made that was made.
In It was Life and Life was the Light of men.
And the Light shone into the darkness but the darkness comprehended it not.
https://rsarchive.org/Lectures/GA103/English/AP1962/19080522p01.html
This would seem to more than imply that God creates the first seven days, and then the Lord God comes on the scene, coincident with this verse, Genesis 2:4. "This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven." Thus, the Lord God is this other God with the creative power of the Word (Logos). Anthroposophy defines this other God, as Jahve, or Jehova, who is also Christ in His outer dimension.
I would like to draw attention to Genesis, chapter two, in order to attempt to convey that Nature accords to the "Second Testament", whilst the "First Testament" accords to the principle of what is Good. God creates in seven days, and each day is denoted as producing "good". Then, in chapter two, we have a certain line of demarcation. The first two paragraphs say:
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2 By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. 6 But a mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 8 The Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Gen. 2:1-9
This would seem to clearly indicate that the Lord God is the Nature God, and God is the primordial Creator of all that is Good without evil in the first seven days. Thus, God's creation is one of Image, and comes out of His Mind. As such, it serves to set the platform for the actual material manifestation, which becomes the originating work of the Lord God, and indicated in the verses from 2:4. Thus, it seems to me that we need to consider a Greater Demiurgos, and a Lesser Demiurgos in the total creative response. This rationale helps to make comprehensible what the beginning of the Gospel of John says:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 'a' God."
I appreciate the comment and it’s an interesting idea, maybe correct. vis-à-vis the question of nomenclature, I would still call Nature “the First Testament.” The Good might be too close and inherent to the essence of God to be a testament at all. In other words, it is less a testament to him than an expression and feature of him—one of his energies, to invoke the Palamite distinction. but if it must be called, let us call it “the Ur-Testament.”
Anyway, maybe you know this but the Septuagint renders the same Hebrew term which appears in English as “Good” not as might be expected—as ἀγαθός (agathos)—but rather as καλός (kalos), which is to say, “beautiful,” or more literally and etymological, “that which calls.”
It seems worth noting here in Genesis 2:4, a certain distinction between "God" and "Lord God":
"This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made earth and heaven. 5 Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground."
Thus, God creates, and the Lord God makes. This dichotomy is also upheld in the Indian classical system of Samkhya, in which God is termed, "Purusha", and the Lord God, "Prakriti".
It is here, in the description of the 6th day of Creation that something of profound significance occurs:
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1
So, my question has always been, "who is Us"?, and, "what is Our"? This pondering for years became the incentive for the Evolutionary-Teleological Perspective, and the whole issue of "Image", and "Likeness".
https://open.substack.com/pub/spiritlogic/p/humanity-as-the-crown-of-creation?r=2kbdzg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email