?The Sermon Bible Commentary ? Genesis?(William ... - ccbiblestudy

?The Sermon Bible Commentary - Genesis?(William R. Nicoll)

Editor
Sir William Robertson Nicoll CH (October 10, 1851 - May 4, 1923) was a
Scottish Free Church minister, journalist, editor, and man of letters.
Nicoll was born in Lumsden, Aberdeenshire, the son of a Free Church
minister. He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and graduated MA at
the University of Aberdeen in 1870, and studied for the ministry at the
Free Church Divinity Hall there until 1874, when he was ordained minister
of the Free Church at Dufftown, Banffshire. Three years later he moved to
Kelso, and in 1884 became editor of The Expositor for Hodder & Stoughton, a
position he held until his death.
In 1885 Nicoll was forced to retire from pastoral ministry after an attack
of typhoid had badly damaged his lung. In 1886 he moved south to London,
which became the base for the rest of his life. With the support of Hodder
and Stoughton he founded the British Weekly, a Nonconformist newspaper,
which also gained great influence over opinion in the churches in Scotland.
Nicoll secured many writers of exceptional talent for his paper (including
Marcus Dods, J. M. Barrie, Ian Maclaren, Alexander Whyte, Alexander
Maclaren, and James Denney), to which he added his own considerable talents
as a contributor. He began a highly popular feature, "Correspondence of
Claudius Clear", which enabled him to share his interests and his reading
with his readers. He was also the founding editor of The Bookman from 1891,
and acted as chief literary adviser to the publishing firm of Hodder &
Stoughton.
Among his other enterprises were The Expositor's Bible and The Theological
Educator. He edited The Expositor's Greek Testament (from 1897), and a
series of Contemporary Writers (from 1894), and of Literary Lives (from
1904).
He projected but never wrote a history of The Victorian Era in English
Literature, and edited, with T. J. Wise, two volumes of Literary Anecdotes
of the Nineteenth Century. He was knighted in 1909, ostensibly for his
literrary work, but in reality probably more for his long-term support for
the Liberal Party. He was appointed to the Order of the Companions of
Honour (CH) in the 1921 Birthday Honours.

01 Chapter 1

Verse 1
Genesis 1:1
I. What is meant by creation? The giving being to that which before was
not. The expression, "the heavens and the earth," is the most exhaustive
phrase the Hebrews could employ to name the universe, which is regarded as
a twofold whole, consisting of unequal parts. Writing for men, Moses writes
as a man. The moral importance of the earth, as the scene of man's
probation, is the reason for the form which the phrase assumes. The truth
of the creation governs the theology of the Old and New Testaments, and may
have influenced the formation of heathen cosmogonies, such as the Etruscan
and the Zendavesta. Creation is a mystery, satisfactory to the reason, but
strictly beyond it. We can modify existing matter, but we cannot create one
particle of it. That God summoned it into being is a truth which we believe
on God's authority, but which we can never verify.
II. Belief in the creation of the universe out of nothing is the only
account of its origin which is compatible with belief in a personal and
moral God.
Creation suggests Providence, and Providence leads the way to Redemption.
If love or goodness were the true motive in creation, it implies God's
continuous interest in created life. By His love, which led Him to move out
of Himself in creation at the first, He travels with the slow, onward
movement of the world and of humanity, and His Incarnation in time, when
demanded by the needs of the creatures of His hand, is in a line with that
first of mysteries, His deigning to create at all. Belief in creation keeps
man in his right place of humble dependence and thankful service. A moral
God will not despise the work of His own hands, and Creation leads up to
Redemption.
H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 38.
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The Bible spoke in the language and through the knowledge of its time. It
was content to reveal spiritual truth, but left men to find out scientific
truth for themselves. It is inspired with regard to principles, but not as
regards details of fact. The principles laid down in this chapter are: (1)
the unity of God; (2) that all noble work is gradual; (3) the
interdependence of rest and work; (4) that man was made in the image of
God.
S. A. Brooke, Sermons, p. 222.
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I. Man naturally asks for some account of the world in which he lives. The
answer of the text as to the creation of the heavens and the earth is: (1)
simple; (2) sublime; (3) sufficient.
If God created all things, then (a) all things are under His government;
(b) the heavens and the earth may be studied religiously; (c) it is
reasonable that He should take an interest in the things which He created.
II. Biblical theology teaches: (1) that creation is an expression of God's
mind; (2) that creation may form the basis for the consideration of God's
personality and character; (3) that God's word is its own security for
fulfilment; (4) that the word which accounts for the existence of nature
accounts also for the existence of man.
Parker, People's Bible, vol. i., p. 118.
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The whole Trinity, each in His separate office, though all in unity,
addressed themselves to the work of creation: (1) the Holy Spirit brooded
over the watery chaos; (2) the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, was that power,
or "Arm of the Lord," by which the whole work was executed,-"In the
beginning was the Word;" (3) the Father's mind willed all, planned all, and
did all. God created only "the heaven and the earth." He provided a heaven,
but He did not provide a hell. That was provided, not for our world at all,
but for the devil and his angels. If we ask why God created this universe
of ours, three purposes suggest themselves: (1) it was the expression and
out-going of His wisdom, power, and love; (2) it was for the sake of His
noblest work, His creature, man; (3) the heaven and the earth were meant to
be the scene of the exhibition of His own dear Son. Remember, that
marvellously grand as it was, that first creation was only a type and
earnest of a better.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 15th series, p. 37.
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References: Genesis 1:1-H. P. Liddon, Penny Pulpit, No. 205 (see Old
Testament Outlines, p. 1); J. Van Oosterzee, The Year of Salvation, vol.
ii., p. 320; H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. iv., p. 1; A. P.
Peabody, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 333; J. Cumming, Church
before the Flood, p. 79; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 87, vol. iv.,
p. 420; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. xx., p. 19, vol. xxii., p. 82; S.
Leathes, Truth and Life, p. 1; J. E. Gibberd, Christian World Pulpit,
vol. xvii., p. 249; M. G. Pearse, Some Aspects of the Blessed Life, p.
25; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 112; C. Kingsley, The
Gospel of the Pentateuch, p. 1; R. S. Candlish, The Book of Genesis,
Discourses, vol. i., p. 18; B. Waugh, The Sunday Magazine (1887), p. 59.
Genesis 1:1-3-F. W. Robertson, Notes on Genesis, p. 1. Genesis 1:1-5.-
Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 660.
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Verse 2
Genesis 1:2
We should be sure we understand both Nature and Scripture before we
pronounce certainly on their agreement or disagreement, and it can hardly
be said that either is quite understood. To attempt to reconcile all the
expressions in this chapter with the details of science is a mistake. It
has certain true things to declare, facts of nature which have a religious
bearing, and are a needed introduction to the revelation which follows; and
these facts it presents in the poetic form natural to the East, and most
suited to impress all kinds of readers. The "six days" are fit stages in a
poetical account of the great evolution, even as a play acted in a few
hours represents the events of years. Three great lessons are impressed in
this chapter: (1) that God is the Maker of heaven and earth; (2) that by
means of His operation on dead and formless matter the order and beauty of
the varied and living world were produced; (3) that the change was gradual.
The Spirit of God brought order and development to the material world. We
cannot see the Intelligence, the Mind which directs the works of nature;
but it is equally true that we cannot see them in the works of man. It is
truer to say that the Invisible Mind, the unseen Spirit of God, moved upon
the formless earth and brought it to its present ordered form, than to say
it happened so. The Spirit of God moved, i.e., brooded as a bird over her
young. This indicates the quiet, untiring ways in which God works in the
heavens and the earth. The Spirit of God must bring order and development
(1) to the spiritual world, (2) to the individual soul. The Spirit of God
must move or brood upon the worse than darkness of sinful and godless
hearts.
T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 1.
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References: Genesis 1:2-R. M. McCheyne, Additional Remains, p. 88; Sermons
for the Christian Seasons, 2nd Series, vol. ii., p. 593; R. W. Evans,
Parochial Sermons, p. 237; Bishop H. Browne, Old Testament Outlines, p.
2; A. P. Stanley, Good Words (1875), p. 273; B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine
(1887), p. 63. Genesis 1:3-A. P. Stanley, Church Sermons, vol. i., p.
171 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p. 3); B. Waugh, Sunday Magazine
(1887), p. 61. Genesis 1:4.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1252;
Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 5; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p