Could it be that God Created the World as His Temple?
Early Christians most likely took the Genesis creation story literally, believing the world was created in seven days.
But modern science has since provided more insight into the world’s development.
Today’s theologians often interpret the Genesis creation story as more of a poem than a literal account.
They suggest that the “six days” of creation might not represent literal 24-hour days, but rather six undefined periods of time.
The time we now live in is considered the “seventh day.”
Ancient Temples and Creation
Interestingly, the construction of ancient temples can shed light on this interpretation.
Temples were complex structures, and their construction was broken down into stages that couldn’t be measured in time due to unforeseen complications.
Many such temples were built in the ancient Far East for the various gods.
The first Jewish Temple in Jerusalem was built by King Solomon in 1000 BC and was destroyed in 586 BC.
A second Jewish temple was built between 516 and 350 BCE, but it was destroyed in the Roman-Jewish war of 66 CE.
It was believed that only the specific gods could inhabit these temples, which served as a bridge between humans and the divine. And that the authors of Genesis might have used this temple-building process as a metaphor for God’s creation of the world.
Regardless of how the world was formed, I believe God instilled a seed of his spirit in humanity at some point, either during evolution or at the beginning of creation.
Creation is God’s Temple : Romans 1:20
Many theologians today argue that God created the world as his ultimate resting place, a temple more beautiful than anything humans could imagine.
In Romans 1:20, St Paul wrote that God’s power, though invisible, can be seen in the natural world, leaving no excuse for people not to recognise it.
Yet, some people still refuse to acknowledge the God of Abraham as the original creator and choose to follow other gods and idols.
But prominent theologians today argue that God built a beautiful temple when he created the world, filling it with a wide variety of wildlife, ecosystems and animals, with humans to care for it all.
This line of thinking concludes that God had ultimately planned to release his Holy Spirit into the world to awaken the spirit within us, turning us into the living stones of his temple.
In this way, God’s divinity was meant to flow freely throughout the world, and not be confined within man-made temples.
The God of Abraham Created a Beautiful World as His Ultimate Temple
So, it could be argued, that the Book of Genesis describes a benevolent God who created a good world as his temple, and I find the idea of the world as God’s temple entirely plausible.
Because God doesn’t want to overpower us; he wants to work with us to fulfil his purpose for all creation.
So Christians today strive to improve God’s creation by making our communities better places to live, thrive and flourish.
We do this by sharing our knowledge of Jesus and demonstrating his grace in our daily interactions.
And despite the world’s corruption, Christians believe it will eventually be renewed and restored through Jesus’s work.
This belief gives us hope that we can also be renewed in God’s image and shine his grace and truth into the world as we ultimately become all that he created us to be.
