Genesis 1:9-13

Day Three; Lands and Seas, Plant Life (Genesis 1:9-13)

And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and. it was so. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good. And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good. And. there was evening and there was morning, a third day.

1. Need it be pointed out here that there had to be light, and there had to be an atmosphere, before there could be any vegetation upon the earth. Moreover, the earth itself had to be put in order to receive and to nourish this vegetation from the time of its first appearance. Hence we have here, in all likelihood, a description of the steps necessary to this end: the partial condensation of the vapors enveloping the earth's surface, at this stage in the Creative Process, together with the cooling of the earth's crust, resulted, of course, in the outlining of continents and oceans. Hence, at this point something entirely newa new increment of powerentered into the progressive development of the Creation. This something new was the appearance of the first forms of life, those of the plant world. This marked the crossing of the great divide between the world of physiochemical energy and the world of living things.
2. Just as there had to be light, and there had to be an atmosphere, so there had to be plant life before there could be any form of animal life. Plant cells differ from animal cells in the fact that they alone contain the pigment chlorophyll, which is responsible for the green color of plants and which is best known for its mysterious action in photosynthesis, the amazingly subtle and complex process by which plants convert the energy of the sun's rays into stored food energy that is necessary to the existence of all living things. Scientists have not yet been able to break this process down, to learn exactly how it works. It is a scientific fact, however, that with the creation of plant chlorophyll, photosynthesis commenced and the plant kingdom began to flourish, sucking in sunlight and dumping out oxygen. E. V. Miller (WLP, 117): With few exceptions all life on this planet owes its existence to the fact that green plants are able to store up the energy of the sun. Light is known to be the sole source of energy for this process of photosynthesis. Other necessary factors are water, carbon dioxide, oxygen, and temperature of varying degrees. (In oceanic life, the microscopic organisms known as plankton carry on photosynthesis, like their relatives on the land, and so supply fish and other marine animals with food.) Thus the Genesis Cosmogony is again found to be in accord with present-day biological science.
3. On Day Three the Creative Process moved upward from the astronomical beginnings to the geological and biological phases. As we have already noted, on Day Two, the earth, when it became detached from the parent sun, began to cool. It would seem that as it cooled, the solid portions gathered at the center, with the liquids resting upon them, and the gases forming the outer envelope. As this cooling of the earth's crust continued, the elements were thrown off which comprise our atmosphere, and the entire mass became surrounded by dense vapors. This expanse (atmosphere) separated the earth below, not only from the parent sun, but probably from the other planets as well, all of which were in process of being formed in the same way. Science could hardly improve on the brevity and comprehensiveness of this description. Then on Day Three, the partial condensation of the enveloping vapors, and the continued cooling of the earth's crust, brought about the genesis of lands and seas, and so paved the way for the appearance of vegetation. Everest (DD, 150): The earth shrank upon itself as it cooled, continents and mountains were lifted up, ocean beds were depressed, and the waters flowed together. Evaporation began, the windwafted clouds passed over the lands, the rains fell, the rivers dashed down the slopes, and another great wheel began to revolve and flash in the presence of the Master Mechanist.
4. Let the earth bring forth, etc. (1) Various commentators hold that the classification of flora here is threefoldgrass, herbs, and trees. Skinner (ICCG, 24), thinks it is twofold, based on two different methods of reproduction, the one kind (grass, verdure, herbage, terms designating all plants in the earliest stages of their growth) producing seed merely, the other producing fruit that contains the seed. (2) And it was so. This oft-repeated formula is simply an affirmation that whatever the Creator spake,that is, willed, ordained, orderedwas done, that whatever He commanded, stood fast (Psalms 33:9). (3) Note the threefold description of the trees here: their specific nature, fruit-bearing; their peculiar characteristic, seed enclosed in fruit; and their external appearance, rising above the ground. (4) After their kind. Surely this means, not that God made every kind of plant, tree, or seed, outwardly and directly; it means, rather, that He instituted the causation, in the form of seminal power, from which each individual of a kind or class (genus, species, etc.) proceeds to grow and to reproduce its kind. Since it is the form which is embodied in the seed, it is the form (the principle of specification, e.g., the oakness of an oak tree, or that which makes it an oak tree and not some other kind of tree) which determines the structure, and not the structure which determines the form. Hence an oak tree is an oak tree and cannot be a birch tree, any more than a poppy seed can be planted and a mustard tree be produced from its germinal seed. This principle of each after its own kind is one which prevails today as always, and no doubt will continue to do so, among all living things. If this were not true, taxonomythe classification of animals and plants on the basis of their natural relationshipswould be impossible, as indeed would be all the biological sciences. Note that the Genesis account makes it clear that the causative power is in the seed, a causative power which requires light, soil, atmosphere, moisture, etc., to actualize it. Note also the clear implication of secondary causation (as described in the form of laws of nature) in the repeated formula Let the earth put forth grass, etc., Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, etc. In a word, God provides the seminal power, but His power operates at the direction of His eternal decrees (Psalms 148:5-6). (5) And God saw that it was good. This formula (one might say, refrain), appearing at the end of each section of the Creation narrative, affirms that whatever God commanded, was done; and that the Divine purpose for which it was done was being realized. It was all good in the sense that each thing produced was doing what the Divine Will ordained it should do in the total structure of being.