Genesis 1:3

The First Day

3. And God said Observe here that the spoken Word is the only means employed throughout the six days" Creation, cf. Psalms 33:6; Psalms 33:9, "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made.… For he spake, and it was done: he commanded, and it stood fast." Creation by a word combines the idea of perfect facility with that of absolute power.

It is only through the Revelation of the N.T. that we learn to identify the work of Creation with the operation of the Personal Word (John 1:3): "All things were made through him (ὁ Λόγος); and without him was not anything made that hath been made," cf. Colossians 1:16, "For in him [the Son] were all things created … all things have been created through him, and unto him." Hebrews 1:2, "through whom [his Son] also he made the worlds."

Let there be light This command, in the Hebrew, consists of two short words, y'hi "ôr. Light is the first created thing, that upon which depends all life and growth known to us on earth.

For "light" as the symbol of the Divine presence in the Revelation of the N.T., cf. John 1:4, "in him was life; and the life was the light of men," cf. Genesis 1:9, and Genesis 8:12, "I am the light of the world."

and there was light Literally, "and light came into existence." Apparently the primitive conception of the Hebrews was that light and darkness were separate things, incomprehensible indeed, but independent of the sun, cf. Job 26:10; Job 38:19, "where is the way to the dwelling of light, and as for darkness, where is the place thereof?" The unscientific notions of the Israelite have received in regard to light an unexpected illustration from modern discovery; but we must be careful not to suppose that there is any resemblance between the Hebrew picture of the creation of light, and modern theories respecting light and the ether of infinite space. The Hebrew view of the universe was (cf. Genesis 1:6) extremely limited; the modern scientific view of the universe is practically infinite in its capacity for development, and is continually being enlarged. There is little room for comparison between them.