Some help comes from another discussion, in which Dennis D. wrote:
<<The first step in hermeneutics is to consider the range of possible meanings
a text COULD HAVE CONCEIVABLY HELD for its original hearers.>>
This is absolutely right, as Denis L. agrees:
<<Amen! And that implies leaving the 20th century baggage back in the 20th
century.>>
Double Amen!
So...what would the Hebrews have thought about the original creative acts of
God? As creation ex nihilo? Or as using some "pre-existing" material?
The answer is unequivocally the former. We must place the creation of Adam in
context. What is that context? Creation ex nihilo.
Since Scripture interprets Scripture, we see from Hebrews 11:3: "By faith we
understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen
was not made out of what was visible."
The universe (for the Heberews, everything that has material existence) was
formed out of nothing, coming from the WORD of God. "By the word of the Lord
were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth." (Ps.
33:6).
This is orthodox theology, both Catholic and Protestant. The First Vatican
Council states that God created everything, including life, "by entirely free
design *formed out of nothing* from the beginning of time at once both the
spiritual creature and the corporeal, that is to say, the angelic and the
worldly, and thereafter the human, as if jointly constituted of spirit and
body."
Louis Berkhof, one of the 20th Century's foremost Protestant theologians,
wrote: "Creation in the strict sence of the word may be defined as that free
act of God whereby He, according to His sovereign will and for His own glory,
in the beginning brought forth the whole visible and invisible universe,
*without the use of preexistent material* and thus gave it an existence,
distinct from His own and yet always dependent on Him." (Systematic Theology,
1939, p. 129).
Donald Bloesch states: "On the basis of the scriptural testimony the church
through the ages has affirmed the doctrine of creation ex nihilo (out of
nothing). This means that the world was created by divine fiat; God did not
have to mold the world out of a material that was preexistent or coeternal."
(Essentials of Evangelical Theology, Vol. 1, p. 25).
Thus, the context of creation ex nihilo ruled for the ancient Hebrews. The use
of "preexisting materials" for the creative acts of God in early Genesis were
not entertained.
This interpretation is even stronger given the literary style of Genesis 1.
The majesty of God (Elohim) cannot be captured in mere prose. We are lifted
out of corporeal paradigms by this chapter. That is exactly what it intends!
So, yes, the Bible in context affirms the de novo creation of man. Praise the
Lord for his creative power!
Jim