[Ezekiel Bathfire]

The Literal Meaning of Genesis
By Augustine of Hippo
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND HIS ANGELS
and to the frustration and astonishment of atheists and false Christian apologists.
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DE GENESI AD LITTERAM IMPERFECTUS LIBER

AUGUSTINE’S COMMENTARY ON THE BIBLICAL BOOK OF GENESIS
BOOK ONE: THE WORK OF THE FIRST DAY

CHAPTER 1
The interpretation of Scripture. The meaning of heaven and earth.
1. Sacred Scripture, taken as a whole, is divided into two parts, as our Lord intimates when He says: ”A scribe instructed in the kingdom of God is like a householder who brings forth from his storeroom things new and old.” These new and old things are also called testaments. In all the sacred books, we should consider the eternal truths that are taught, the facts that are narrated, the future events that are predicted, and the precepts or counsels that are given. In the case of a narrative of events, the question arises as to whether everything must be taken according to the figurative sense only, or whether it must be expounded and defended also as a faithful record of what happened. No Christian will dare say that the narrative must not be taken in a figurative sense. For St. Paul says: “Now all these things that happened to them were symbolic.” And he explains the statement in Genesis, “And they shall be two in one flesh,” as a great mystery in reference to Christ and to the Church.

2. If, then, Scripture is to be explained under both aspects, what meaning other than the allegorical have the words: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth?” Were heaven and earth made in the beginning of time, or first of all in creation, or in the Beginning who is the Word, the only-begotten Son of God? And how can it be demonstrated that God, without any change in Himself, produces effects subject to change and measured by time? And what is meant by the phrase “heaven and earth”? Was this expression used to indicate spiritual and corporeal creatures? Or does it refer only to the corporeal, so that we may presume in this book that the author passed over in silence the creation of spiritual beings, and in saying “heaven and earth” wished to indicate all corporeal creation above and below? Or is the unformed matter of both the spiritual and corporeal worlds meant in the expression “heaven and earth”: that is, are we to understand, on the one hand, the life of the spirit as it can exist in itself when not turned towards its Creator (it is by this turning towards its Creator that it receives its form and perfection and if it does not thus turn, it is unformed); and, on the other hand, bodily matter considered as lacking all the bodily qualities that appear in formed matter when it is endowed with bodily appearances perceptible by the sight and other senses?

3. But perhaps we should take “heaven” to mean spiritual beings in a state of perfection and beatitude from the first moment of their creation and take “earth” to mean bodily matter in a state that is not yet complete and perfect. “The earth,” says Holy Scripture, “was invisible and formless, and darkness was over the abyss” These words seem to indicate the formless state of bodily substance. Or does the second statement imply the formless state of both substances, so that bodily substance is referred to in the words, “The earth was invisible and formless,” but spiritual substance in the words, “Darkness was over the abyss?” In this interpretation we should understand “dark abyss” as a metaphor meaning that life which is formless unless it is turned towards its Creator. Only in this way can it be formed and cease being an abyss, and be illumined and cease being dark. And then what is the meaning of the statement, “Darkness was over the abyss?” Was there no light? If there was any light at all, there would be a great abundance of it, for that is the way it is in the case of a spiritual creature that turns to God, the changeless and incorporeal Light.


CHAPTER 2
How did God say, “Let there be light”?

4. And how did God say, “Let there be light?” Was this in time or in the eternity of His Word? If this was spoken in time, it was certainly subject to change. How then could we conceive of God saying it except by means of a creature? For He Himself is unchangeable. Now if it was by means of a creature that God said, ”Let there be light,” how is light the first creature, if there was already a creature through which God spoke these words? Are we to suppose that light was not the first creature? Scripture has already said: “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” and God might have made use of the heaven He created to produce an utterance subject to time and change when He said, “Let there be light.” But if this is so, God created material light to be seen with the eyes of the body when He said, “Let there be light,” using a spiritual creature He had already made when “in the beginning He created heaven and earth.” In this way, through the inward and hidden action of such a creature, the divine words, “Let there be light” might have been uttered.

5. And was there the material sound of a voice when God said, “Let there be light,” as there was when He said, “Thou art my beloved Son?” In this supposition did He use a material creature which He had made, when “in the beginning He created heaven and earth,” before there existed the light which was made at the sound of this voice? And, if so, what was the language of this voice when God said, “Let there be light?” There did not yet exist the variety of tongues, which arose later when the tower was built after the flood. What then was that one and only language by which God said, “Let there be light?” Who was intended to hear and understand it, and to whom was it directed? But perhaps this is an absurdly material way of thinking and speculating on the matter.

6. What then shall we say? Is it the intellectual idea signified by the sound of the voice, in the words, Let there be light,” that is meant here by the voice of God, rather than the material sound? And does this belong to the Divine Word, referred to in the statement, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God? When it is said of the Word, All things have been made through Him, it becomes quite clear that light was made through Him when God said, Let there be light, and so this utterance of God is eternal. For the Word of God, true God in the bosom of God and the only Son of God, is co-eternal with the Father; and yet through this utterance of God in the eternal Word, creation has been brought about in time. It is true that the words “when” and “sometime” refer to time, but the when of something that must be created is eternal in the Word of God; and it is created when in the Word there is an exigency for its creation. But in the Word Himself there is no when and no eventually, because the Word is in every way eternal.


CHAPTER 3
What is the light which God created?

7. What is the light itself which was created? Is it something spiritual or material? If it is spiritual, it may be the first work of creation, now made perfect by this utterance, and previously called heaven in the words, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth.” In this supposition, we must understand that when God said, ”Let there be light,” and light was made, the creature, called by its Creator to Himself, underwent a conversion and illumination.

8. Why, moreover, is it stated, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” and not, “In the beginning God said, ‘Let there be heaven and earth,’ and heaven and earth were made”? For in the case of light, the words are: God said: “Let there be light,” and light was made. Are we to understand that by the expression, “heaven and earth” all that God made is to be included and brought to mind first in a general way, and that then the manner of creation is to be worked out in detail, as for each object the words “God said” occur? For whatever God made He made through His Word.


CHAPTER 4
The formation of a formless being.

9. But perhaps there is another reason why the expression, “God said, ‘Let there be... ‘,” could not be used in reference to the creation of formless matter, whether spiritual or material. God in His eternity says all through His Word, not by the sound of a voice, nor by a thinking process that measures out its speech, but by the light of Divine Wisdom, coeternal with Himself and born of Himself. Now an imperfect being which, in contrast to the Supreme Being and First Cause, tends to nothingness because of its formless state, does not imitate the exemplar in the Word, who is inseparably united to the Father. But it does imitate the exemplar in the Word, who exists forever in immutable union with the Father, when in view of its own appropriate conversion to the true and eternal Being, namely, the Creator of its own substance, it also receives its proper form and becomes a perfect creature. And so, when Scripture declares, “God said, ‘Let there be…’,” we may understand this as an immaterial utterance of God in His eternal Word, as the Word recalls His imperfect creature to Himself, so that it may not be formless but may be formed according to the various works of creation which He produces in due order. In this conversion and formation the creature in its own way imitates the Divine Word, the Son of God, who is eternally united with the Father in the perfect likeness and equal essence by which He and the Father are one. But it does not imitate this exemplar in the Word if it is turned from its Creator and remains formless and imperfect. Hence, when Scripture says, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” mention of the Son is made not because He is the Word, but only because He is the Beginning; for here the origin of created being is indicated still in its imperfect and formless state. But there is mention of the Son, who is also the Word, where Scripture declares: “God said, ‘Let there be. . . ‘.” Thus, in Him who is the Beginning, Holy Scripture places the origin of created being, which exists through Him but still in an imperfect state. But it shows that to Him as the Word belongs the perfecting of created being, which is called back to Him to be formed by a union with its Creator and by an imitation, in its own way, of the Divine Exemplar, who, eternally and unchangeably united with the Father, is of necessity identical in nature with Him.


CHAPTER 5
An intellectual creature is formed by turning to the Word of God. The Spirit of God stirring above creation.

10. The Divine Word and Son of God does not live a formless life. In His case not only is being the same thing as living, but living is the same thing as living wisely and happily. But a creature, although it has a spiritual nature endowed with intellect or reason and seems to be quite close to the Word of God, can have a formless life. In the creature’s case, being is the same thing as living, but living is not the same as possessing a life of wisdom and happiness. For when it is turned away from changeless Wisdom, its life is full of folly and wretchedness, and so it is in an unformed state. Its formation consists in its turning to the changeless light of Wisdom, the Word of God. The Word is the source of whatever being and life it has, and to the Word it must turn in order to live wisely and happily. The Beginning of an intellectual creature’s life is indeed eternal Wisdom. This Beginning, remaining unchangeably in Himself, would certainly not cease to speak by interior inspirations and summons to the creature of which He is the Beginning, in order that it might turn to its First Cause. Otherwise such a creature could not be formed and perfect. Hence, asked who He was, the Divine Word replied: “I am the Beginning, for I am even speaking to you.”

11. But what the Son speaks, the Father speaks, because in the speech of the Father, the Word, who is the Son, is uttered according to God’s eternal way - if we can use the term “way” in describing God’s utterance of His eternal Word. Now, God has a benevolence that is sovereign, holy, and just; and it is not out of any need but out of His goodness that His love is directed towards His works. Hence, before the words, God said, “Let there be light,” Sacred Scripture first says: “And the Spirit of God was stirring above the water.” We might say that by the term “water” the sacred writer wished to designate the whole of material creation. In this way he would show whence all things that we can recognize in their proper kinds had been made and formed, calling them water, because we observe all things on earth being formed and growing into their various species from moisture. Or we might say that by this term he wished to designate a certain kind of spiritual life, in a fluid state, so to speak, before receiving the form of its conversion. Certainly “the Spirit of God was stirring” above this creation. For all that He had begun and had yet to form and perfect lay subject to the good will of the Creator, so that, when God would say in His Word, “Let there be light” the creature would be established, according to its capacity, in the good will and benevolence of God. Quite rightly, therefore, did it please God, as Scripture indicates: “And light was made; and God saw that the light was good.”


CHAPTER 6
The Trinity manifested in the beginning of creation and in the formation of creatures.

12. Hence, in the very beginning of creation in its inchoate state, which has been called heaven and earth because of what was to be produced from it, it is the Blessed Trinity that is represented as creating. For, when Scripture says, “In the beginning God created heaven and earth,” by the name of “God” we understand the Father, and by the name of “Beginning,” the Son, who is the Beginning, not for the Father, but first and foremost for the spiritual beings He has created and then also for all creatures; and when Scripture says, “And the Spirit of God was stirring above the water,” we recognize a complete enumeration of the Trinity. So in the conversion and in the perfecting of creatures by which their species are separated in due order, the Blessed Trinity is likewise represented: the Word and the Father of the Word, as indicated in the statement, God said; and then the Divine Goodness, by which God finds pleasure in all the limited perfections of His creatures, which please Him, as indicated by the words, “God saw that it was good.”


CHAPTER 7
Why the Spirit of God is said to be stirring above the waters.

13. But why does Scripture first mention creatures, still, of course, in their unfinished state, and then the Spirit of God? The sacred text says: “The earth was invisible and formless, and darkness was over the abyss;” and then it adds: “And the Spirit of God was stirring above the water.” Now, love is generally needy and poor, so that its outpouring makes it subordinate to the objects that it loves. Hence, when there is mention of the Spirit of God, whereby the Divine Goodness and Love are to be understood, perhaps He is said to be stirring above creation, so that God may be thought of as loving the work to be produced not out of any need or necessity, but solely out of the largeness of His bounty. The Apostle, Saint Paul, has this in mind when he begins his discourse on charity by saying that he will point out “a superior way;” and in another place he speaks of “the charity of Christ superior to knowledge.” Since, then, it was necessary to represent the Spirit of God as stirring above, it was only natural to introduce a work already begun, over which He might be said to stir by the transcendent excellence of His power and not by any spatial relation.