Bible Commentary

Genesis 1:2

The Pulpit Commentary on Genesis 1:2

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Chaos an emblem of the unrenewed soul.

I. WITHOUT ORDER: existing in a state of spiritual ruin, and requiting a special process of rearrangement to evolve symmetry and beauty from its confusion (2혻Corinthians 5:16).

II. WITHOUT LIFE: being dead in trespasses and sins (); absolutely "void" in the sense of being untenanted by lofty thoughts, pure emotions, holy volitions, spiritual imaginations, such as are the inmates of sinless and, in great part also, of renewed souls.

III. WITHOUT LIGHT: shrouded in darkness (); walking, perhaps, in the sparks that its own fire has kindled (), but devoid of that true light which is from heaven ().

IV. Yet NOT WITHOUT GOD. As the Spirit brooded over chaos, so does God's Holy Spirit hover over fallen souls, waiting, as it were, for the forthcoming and insounding of the commanding word to introduce light, order, life.

Recommended reading

More for Genesis 1:2

Continue with other commentaries and DiscipleDeck content connected to this verse, chapter, or topic.

No additional mapped reading is available for this passage yet.