Why, and Not When

Biggmann, my friend in cyberspace and real life posed this controversy. He has been perking this one as though it were an old coffee percolator, and now the issue splashes into the dome of the lid.

To be precise, he has often told me of his disdain for biblical translations that are askew. His recent proof text has been Genesis 1:1. He contends that more modern versions- especially those embraced by liberals and revisionists- now read, "In the beginning when God created...." Which, admittedly, is different from the translations in which God created ex nihilo, and began time thus: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Period. Paragraph. Time starts out of nothing. And he does have a point, and I'll get to it once the earth cools a bit. But we decided to have a little fun.

Bigg said recently, "I think I have stumbled onto a conspiracy of publishers and retailers. Just you go out, before you label me a kook, and compare 'em. With few exceptions, the publishers seem to have that "WHEN" in versions liberals enjoy, and bibles that are endorsed by Focus on the Family and other conservatives don't have it! See? You compare 'em, see if I'm not right! It's a code word! You look it up in a bookstore, and you know exactly what bible to sell to a liberal or a conservative."

So... OK. First step in the experiment is as follows.
OLD CONSERVATIVE TEXTS that omit "WHEN:"
Good Old KJV (Gideon); NKJV; NIV (Korean/English!); the CEV; 1899 Central publ., Ohio "Heilige Schrift" (Luther); 1972 Nelson RSV; the 1989 "Beginners Bible" (Zondervan)

BIBLES that include "WHEN":
The New English Bible (my personal favorite!!); NRSV; The 1973 "Children's Living Bible"; The Living Bible (Tyndale, 1973)

-- and on, and on! This begins the list, and there are, of course, many others. These are just the beginnings of a list- books I could easily grab off my library shelves.
But one does see a trend. At about 1973, "when" crept into Gen. 1:1 ! Those were heady days. Women were entering the pulpit, and scholastic biblical criticism was coming into its own in a big way. And archaeology was proving the new translations and challenging us at the same time, too.

I don't know if any publisher is savvy enough to use "When" as a purchasing code for his clientelle. It seems like something that would have to not be secret to be effective. I would have heard the train coming if it were intentionally on the track. But something else emerges from Gen. 1:1, if you let it.

According to scholars like Walter Brueggemann, there are at least two sources going on at the start of Genesis. The writer in verse 1 begins a new relationship with creation by being the creator. All is made out of nothing. The creator creates creation, and you cannot reverse this. In verse 2, though, creation comes from an already existing chaos! The rub is, friends, when it comes to strict scholastic analysis, both are valid meanings. The grammar does not imply that either is right, simply that God begins, and keeps on creating!

Quelling the chaos is an ancient story thread and may well be inherited from Israel's neighbors. But the story begins out of nothing. There is a reason for that. At this point there is no such thing as Israel, or Israel's history. They have been carted off, exiled in Babylon. The surrounding culture discourages one from being a follower of the God who has no name. In fact, the world surrounding the exiles believes in a world wherein God must be served, sacrificed to, and feared.

Genesis 1, and most of the books of Moses stand this world view on its ear, and give us a much better alternative. With creation, out of nothing, a LORD truly rises to partner with a creation in a way that does not reach its zenith until Easter Day. As Brueggemann and others say, the lesser gods of "must be" are replaced by a creative, gracious God of "Let it Be." Then in a wise way we rarely note anymore, the Genesis writer leaves in the "when" option in verse 1 and the (already existing) formless chaos version in verse 2. How great is that! That is to say, that God creates order in our lives, chaotic as they are. Chaotic as we are, He masters us.

Reality comes from partnering with, living alongside a gracious creator who has a will for us. It still goes on, as it did in the first place for the exiles, weeping by the rivers of Babylon. The value is in the story as it speaks for us and for them. The crime would be in debating the mechanics, the "how's", much like ignoring the beauty of a painting by focusing unduly on the mechanics of the brushstrokes. Same for Genesis 1:1. The real code is how much better our covenanting God is than the brutish puny gods of our lives that demand sacrifice. We should ignore them, and stay focused on the provident God who made us, along with the dumb idols, and the Babylonians, and the liberals. The true question is not when, but why.

Thanks, Bigg! I haven't read Brueggemann's commentary that he did for John Knox press in the 1980s in a long time. I love to, but sometimes we all get preoccupied in our exile.

The Big Fisch
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(Swimming by the waters of Babylon)