God the creator
Christian Religious Studies SS2 First Term
Week 1
Topic: God the creator
Performance objectives:
Pupils should be able to:
- Explain the meaning of sovereignty
- Discuss the sovereignty of God over his creation
- Explain what it means to submit to God’s sovereignty over their own lives
Content
A. God the creator of man and all things (Gen.1&2, Ps.19:1-6)
The account of God’s creation of the earth, as contained in the book of genesis, is narrated in two ways:
The account of the first story of creation indicates that God first created the heaven and the earth. The earth was without form and void and darkness was upon the earth, and the spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.
On the first day, God separated light from darkness, he said “let there be light” and there was light. He called light day and darkness night.
On the second day, God created the firmaments in the midst of the waters.
On the third day, God created the sun, seas, and the earth. He made the waters under heaven to be gathered together into one place and the dry land appeared. He called it to earth and the water that gathered he called the seas. Then he said let the earth put forth trees, plants, and their fruits and it was so.
On the fifth day, God created the living creatures, the fishes and other sea creatures, and the birds of the air.
On the sixth day, he created animals of different kinds. On the same day, he created man in his own image to control and have dominion over all the things created on earth.
On the seventh day, he rested.
Second Story of the Creation
After heaven and the earth had been created, there was no plant on earth, no rain, except the dew that watered the earth from heaven and no man to till the land. God formed the first man, Adam; out of the dust from the ground, breathed into his nostrils and the breath of life, and man became a living being. God created the Garden of Eden and made it a living place for Adam. The Garden of Eden was made beautiful with all kinds of trees, flowers, and rivers to water the plants and the trees. The rivers were divided into four Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. Pishon flows around the whole land of Havilah where there was gold. Gihon flows around the whole land of Cush. Tigris flows east of Assyria. Inside the Garden of Eden was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and God commanded Adam not to eat out of it or else he would die.
So that he should not be alone, other living creatures, the beast, and the birds were created and a man gave them names by which they should be called. To get helper fit for the man, He caused man (Adam) to fall into a deep sleep and he took a rib out of a man and created a woman (Eve). Eve was called a woman because she was created out of the ribs of a man.
B. Sovereignty of God over his creation
i. God has total power and control over all the things He had created.
ii. We can learn from the creation activities that all the things God created came through the words of mouth, “let there be”.
iii. It equally shows that God is the controller of the universe.
C. Sovereignty of God over individual lives
i. No creature determines its own nature but God.
ii. God delegated power to man, e.g man was made in God’s image to have power over all creatures.
iii. God was not created by anybody. He is the Alpha and Omega.
iv. God is a God of order, not of anarchy.
v. Creative action did not stop, it continues with the innate power of creation.
vi. God is God of perfection; all that He created was good.
vii. God has sovereignty over all creations God has control over situations.
viii. God’s spoken words translate into visible reality.