Dick Fischer wrote:
>
> Peter Ruest wrote:
> > > Doesn't Scripture
> > > tell us He creates [bara'] individual human beings (Is. 43:7), who are
> > > fathered and borne by natural procreation?
>
> The "bara" you refer to pertains to "Israel" (Isa. 43:1), descendant from
> Adam, who was created (bara) in "the image of God." Generic human
> beings, outside of Israel, not descendant from Adam, are not included
> in this verse. This has been the tendency for Christian apologists,
> extending to all of humanity what was written for only one nation.
Dick, I agree that Is. 43:7 belongs in the context of vv.1 ff. which
speak of the people of Israel. In my above argument, I made a shortcut.
In a more complete form, it would read:
Is. 43 deals with God's promise to graciously redeem his people Israel
from the diaspora. In v.1, the entire nation is collectively named by
the name of its patriarch Jacob/Israel, using the singular, yet the
whole context indicates that many future individuals of the people of
Israel are meant. So, in vv.5-7, God says he will gather his sons and
his daughters (of the people of Israel dispersed among the nations),
namely "every one who is called by my name, whom I created [bara'] for
my glory, whom I formed [yatsar] and made [^asah]." Thus, terms for
God's activity used in Genesis 1-2 are here applied to many individuals
of the people of Israel (I suspect it might refer to believing ones
especially, as God refers to them as his sons and daughters).
In a further step, I extended to all humans the idea that God created
them individually. As it is clear that all of them are born by "natural"
means, yet the unique term bara' is used, I conclude that what is unique
and fundamentally new in each individual human is what is meant here.
This, of course, applies to Israelites as well as others. It has its
parallel in Gen. 1:26-27, where God both "made" [^asah] and "created"
[bara'] humans, the first term presumably referring to their "natural"
evolution, the second to their being created in God's image, i.e. a
fundamentally new, spiritual dimension (the third term "form" [yatsar]
is then used in Gen. 2:7, with the calling of Adam for his special
mission).
If you don't accept the extension to all humans, this doesn't affect the
argument itself, which I gave to just indicate that God has an active
hand in creating the personality of _individual_ humans (or Israelites),
not just the human species collectively, or all of creation as a whole
evolving system.
Peter
-- Dr Peter Ruest, <pruest@dplanet.ch> CH-3148 Lanzenhaeusern, Switzerland Biochemistry - Creation and evolution ----------------------------------------------------------------- Creative providence in biology (Gen.2:3): "..the work which God created (in order) to (actively) evolve it" -----------------------------------------------------------------
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