Can God Create Imperfectly?

I had a run-in with The Lord’s Recovery last night at one of their informal meetings. They were talking about how mainstream Christianity was ignorant of many of the teachings of the Bible, including the Gap Theory. Since it was an informal discussion, I tried explaining to them why I do not accept the Gap Theory. However, I was thoroughly refuted from the writings of their late founder, Witness Lee, and sharply rebuked for a good twenty minutes for not “being in the spirit”!

One objection that was raised against me was: “So, are you saying that God created the earth ‘formless and void’? Then, you are implying that God imperfectly! How could that be true? God is perfect, so how could he create imperfectly?” Their assumption, of course, is that since God is perfect, then he cannot possibly create imperfectly. However, this is an unbiblical assumption. Although it is true that God is perfect, it is not beyond his ability to create imperfectly.

Genesis 2:18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that [Adam] is alone...

When God first created Adam, he created him alone. According to God himself, this was “not good!” In fact, Creation was incomplete (and therefore imperfect) until the seventh day when “God finished on the seventh day the work which he did.” (Genesis 2:2) Therefore, there is no Biblical basis to believe that God cannot create imperfectly!

The Imperfect Creation and us

So what does it matter that God created imperfectly? What difference does it make? This truth is significant because the Apostle Paul refers to each Christian as a “new creation” in Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:17 Such that, if anyone is in Christ a new creation, the old things have passed away. Behold, new things have become!

Paul sees the Original Creation as an analogy of the believer in Christ in the sense that after we were saved, “the old things have passed away. Behold, new things have become!” It is therefore necessary to correctly understand the Original Creation. Verse 2 of Genesis chapter 1 provides background information on the state of the earth when God created it in verse 1. In other words, when God created the heavens and the earth,

1. The earth was formless and empty.
2. Darkness was upon the surface of the depth.
3. The spirit of God was hovering upon the surface of the waters.

Let us now draw some parallels from the Creation of the Original Creation to our creation as new creations in Christ:

1. The earth was formless and empty.

When God first created the earth, it started off imperfect. It was both “formless” and “empty”. Over the period of the next six days, God gave form to the earth and filled it up with more created things. This forming and filling of the earth was not instantaneous; it was a process which took time.

Similarly, when we first became new creations in Christ, we started off imperfect. God did not wave a magic wand to make us perfect. Just as the earth was, we were “formless and empty” in Christ. Over a the span of a lifetime, God would continually form us into the image and likeness of Christ, and fill us more and more with Christ.

2. Darkness was upon the surface of the depth.

When God first created the heavens and the earth, there was darkness because there was not yet any light. This was the first problem that God would solve. Before he began forming and filling the earth, he first called light into existence with the words “Let there be light!”

Likewise, before we were saved, we were in darkness, blinded to the truths of God, and averse to the Gospel. Before God began the process of forming and filling us, he first enlightened us in the Gospel. In 2 Corinthians 4:6, the Apostle Paul likens our enlightenment in the Gospel to the creation of light at Creation:

2 Corinthians 4:6 God, the one who said, From darkness, light shall shine! is the one who shone in our hearts...

This shining of light in our hearts is the “illumination of the Gospel” spoken of in verse 4. When we were unsaved, this “illumination of the Gospel” did not shine on us because we were blinded and there was nothing we could do about it. That is why God had to be the one to call forth the “illumination of the Gospel” to shine in our hearts, just as he called forth light to shine at the Original Creation!

3. The spirit of God was hovering upon the surface of the waters.

After giving us two bleak descriptions of the earth at the beginning of Creation, Genesis 1:2 gives us a third piece of information: Yes, the earth was formless and empty, but the spirit of God was there. Yes, darkness was upon the waters, but so was the spirit of God. The earth will not remain in its sorry state; things are about to change!

Likewise, the Holy Spirit is our hope that we will not remain in our sorry state of sin. When we were unsaved, we were dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1, 5; Colossians 2:13). When God saved us, he raised us to life from being dead in sin—how?—through the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5 says that “[God] saved us through washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

We have already seen that in 2 Corinthians 4:6, our enlightenment in the Gospel was the result of God shining the “illumination of the Gospel” in our hearts. However, just a few verses prior (3:16–17), we learn that it is through the Holy Spirit that the veil was taken off, allowing God to shine the “illumination of the Gospel” in our hearts.

But the work of the Holy Spirit does not stop there. The next verse says that “we are being transformed into the image itself... according as from the spirit of the Lord” (3:18). In other words, our growth in Christ—signified by the forming and the filling of the earth during the six days of Creation—is accomplished through the Holy Spirit as well!

Concluding Thoughts

You see, if we believe that God only creates perfectly, then we would be perplexed when we do not find ourselves perfect when we became new creations in Christ! Fortunately for us, this is not the case. I strongly believe that God had intentionally created the earth imperfect for our encouragement. The calling forth of light is a reminder to us that our enlightenment in the Gospel was the initiative of God. The forming and the filling of the earth is a reminder to us that we are God’s continuous work in progress.

The presence of the spirit of God in the formlessness, emptiness and darkness of the earth, is a reminder to us that the Holy Spirit is here for us in our imperfections, working in us on those imperfections, giving us hope that one day—signified by the seventh day, when God rested from his work of Creation—we will be perfect in the New Creation.