"Two examples of design language in the Bible.
--One is from the Hebrew Old Testament yatsar יצַָר (Genesis 2:7),
--the other from the Greek New Testament poieō ποιέω (Acts 17:24-29).
This shows that Scripture does speak of God as a craftsman, perhaps as the potter of Adam in Genesis 2, and the author of life in Acts 17.
The same word, yatsar, is incidentally used for the creation of the animals and birds with Adam given the task of naming his fellow creatures. The metaphor used in Genesis 2 for the creation of Adam,
then, might appear to be one of God acting as a potter, where the imagery is that of God taking raw matter from the earth and shaping man directly from the ground and giving him the breath of life.
In the wider Old Testament passages the verb yatsar is sometimes specifically used to refer to the work of a potter in relation to God’s activity in shaping and forming the people of Israel. It appears as a noun to refer to the pottery of Israel that had been formed by God in Isaiah 29:16 (also Jeremiah 18:4-6).
Irenaeus, for instance, spoke of Adam as the ‘protoplast’ of humanity, ‘the first-formed,’ out of virgin soil; and it followed that Jesus also needed to be born without a human father in a virgin’s womb in order to act as the last Adam.
consider the context in his preaching to the Greeks in Athens.
While Paul moulds his speech to the Greek mindset, he presents a message of material discontinuity in relation to the creation and Resurrection that would have challenged the Greek ways of thinking.
So, creation, including Adam, did not arise through self-generation from lower life-forms, as the works of Homer suggested; rather, the whole of creation owes its existence to a special act of the divine will.
This is what God the Lord says—the Creator (Greek ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας) of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: (Isaiah 42:5).
The God who made (Greek ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας) the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth … because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24-25).
Paul’s quotation of the Isaiah passage correlates with his own stated commission that he was called as a “light to the gentiles” (Acts 13:47); a verse taken from Isaiah 42:6. Thus there is a link between Paul’s earlier calling and the Athenian speech, as Fudge notes. So, there appears to be awareness in Paul’s mind that in preaching to the Athenians he is fulfilling his calling to enlighten the Gentiles and lead them out of idolatry.
God as the author of life, and this is something beyond human skill or trade. In Paul’s mind there is something more sacred about the creation than the work of human crafts. God is also seen as the performer of the formed creation, which points to direct divine activity in creation, as opposed to the claims of those who hold that God must act indirectly through natural processes.
it is worth now looking at how poieō is used in the text of Acts 17.
--One is from the Hebrew Old Testament yatsar יצַָר (Genesis 2:7),
--the other from the Greek New Testament poieō ποιέω (Acts 17:24-29).
This shows that Scripture does speak of God as a craftsman, perhaps as the potter of Adam in Genesis 2, and the author of life in Acts 17.
Yatsar in Genesis and the Old Testament
In the second chapter of Genesis God is described as forming (Hebrew yatsar יצַָר) man from the dust of the earth (Genesis 2:7). The Lord God formed (yatsar יצַָר) the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.The same word, yatsar, is incidentally used for the creation of the animals and birds with Adam given the task of naming his fellow creatures. The metaphor used in Genesis 2 for the creation of Adam,
In the wider Old Testament passages the verb yatsar is sometimes specifically used to refer to the work of a potter in relation to God’s activity in shaping and forming the people of Israel. It appears as a noun to refer to the pottery of Israel that had been formed by God in Isaiah 29:16 (also Jeremiah 18:4-6).
Irenaeus, for instance, spoke of Adam as the ‘protoplast’ of humanity, ‘the first-formed,’ out of virgin soil; and it followed that Jesus also needed to be born without a human father in a virgin’s womb in order to act as the last Adam.
consider the context in his preaching to the Greeks in Athens.
Paul’s speech in Athens and poieō
In the Athens speech Paul seems to emphasize the language of poetry and workmanship by comparing analogically the works of mankind with that of God, but also highlights the relational aspect with mankind identified as ‘God’s offspring’.While Paul moulds his speech to the Greek mindset, he presents a message of material discontinuity in relation to the creation and Resurrection that would have challenged the Greek ways of thinking.
So, creation, including Adam, did not arise through self-generation from lower life-forms, as the works of Homer suggested; rather, the whole of creation owes its existence to a special act of the divine will.
This is what God the Lord says—the Creator (Greek ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας) of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it: (Isaiah 42:5).
The God who made (Greek ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας) the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth … because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24-25).
Paul’s quotation of the Isaiah passage correlates with his own stated commission that he was called as a “light to the gentiles” (Acts 13:47); a verse taken from Isaiah 42:6. Thus there is a link between Paul’s earlier calling and the Athenian speech, as Fudge notes. So, there appears to be awareness in Paul’s mind that in preaching to the Athenians he is fulfilling his calling to enlighten the Gentiles and lead them out of idolatry.
God as the author of life, and this is something beyond human skill or trade. In Paul’s mind there is something more sacred about the creation than the work of human crafts. God is also seen as the performer of the formed creation, which points to direct divine activity in creation, as opposed to the claims of those who hold that God must act indirectly through natural processes.
it is worth now looking at how poieō is used in the text of Acts 17.
[24] The God who made [poiēsas and cheiropoiētois] the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands [xeiropoiētois χειροποιήτοις].
[25] And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
[26] From one man [of one blood ἐξ ἑνὸς αἵματός] he made [epoiēsen ἐποίησέν] every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
[27] God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
[28] ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets [poiētōn ποιητῶν] have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
[29] Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design [technēs τέχνης] and skill. (Acts 17:24-29).
