The Hebrew word for created, 'bara,' is used in Genesis 1:1 and implies that the creation was a perfect and beautiful order and system, not chaos and confusion. Initially, God created the heavens and the earth in a state of orderliness, as He would not create anything in disorder only to straighten it out later. Isaiah confirms that God did not create the earth in 'tohu,' meaning chaos, but Genesis 1:2 shows that the earth became chaotic and in confusion after its initial creation, as a result of sin.

In the beginning of the book of Genesis, it is explained that God was the present and active force behind all of creation. In nine verses in Genesis 1, the statement "and God said" appears, followed by descriptions of creation, translated from the Hebrew word "bara," meaning 'called into being without prior existence.' This was not a renewal but a formation of something entirely new. God created the heavens and the earth merely by commanding it to be so, using His Spirit power. As stated in Genesis 1:2, the Spirit of God was there, the power used to bring physical matter to life, demonstrating that God's eternal Spirit life gave life to inert material.

The new man is a new creation, renewed in mind and conduct, walking toward perfection. This renewal is essential for true reconciliation, whether between God and man or among men themselves. The new man is spiritually circumcised, not through physical means, but by obeying God's command to circumcise the foreskin of the heart, being renewed in the spirit of the mind. The new man is the New Covenant man, characterized by a new heart and a new spirit within, which is God's Holy Spirit, enabling him to walk in God's ways. This parallels the concept of a renewed mind, emphasizing the choice to adopt the Christian way of life. Daily, the new man must choose to put on this way of life, akin to choosing clothing, feeling so at home with it that he refuses to take it off. The creation of the new man is a collaborative effort between God and man. God initiates by giving a new heart and placing a new spirit within, yet man must also take responsibility to cast away transgressions and make a new heart and spirit through actions. This involves keeping God's law and doing His commandments, preparing oneself as a living sacrifice for the promises of the New Covenant. God works in man to will and to do for His good pleasure, while man must work out his salvation with fear and trembling, nurturing the new man through this partnership.

Open your Bible to Genesis 1:1. In the beginning God. . . . God was before all. The next word in the King James version is created. God created. He created the heaven and the earth. But the very next verse says this: The earth was without form, and void. The Hebrew words for without form, and void are tohu and bohu. Translated into English they mean chaotic, in confusion, waste, and empty. When God created the heaven and the earth, did He create this earth originally in a state of confusion? Did He create it all topsy-turvy and chaotic? We read in I Corinthians 14:33 that God is NOT the author of confusion. God is the author of peace. God is the author of order and of law. Why would He create it in disorder and then have to straighten it out? That doesn't make sense! One scholar points out that the Hebrew word for created, bara (H1254), used in Genesis 1:1, implies that the creation was a perfect work. That very word created implies a perfect and a beautiful order and system, not chaos or confusion! The book of Job shows God talking with Job about the creation. God is saying to Job: Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? There is the implication here that Job had directed the building of some very great edifice such as the great pyramid of Giza in Egypt. Job was righteous and somewhat proud of his accomplishments. God was whittling him down to humility by a comparison of accomplishments. God continues, Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened margin, sunk? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7) It is significant that the great pyramid is a building where the corner stone is not laid in the foundation, but the final stone to be laid at the pinnacle. The morning stars are light- (truth-) bringing angels and archangels, according to biblical interpretation of symbols. As creations of God, they also are referred to as all the sons of God. So this, too, implies a perfect and glorious creation of the earth. Then how did it become chaotic? In Genesis 19:26, the same Hebrew word hayah is used which is translated was in Genesis 1:2. (See also Genesis 2:7 and 9:15.) And there it is translated into the English word became. In the first three chapters of the Bible, and many other places where you find the word hayah, in almost every case it denotes a condition that was different from a former condition. In other words, the earth BECAME chaotic. It had not always been that way. Plainly the word was (hayah) here has the meaning of became. The Rotherham translation of Genesis 1:2, out of the original Hebrew language, is this: Now the earth HAD BECOME waste and empty. It hadn't always been that way. In Jeremiah 4:23, Isaiah 34:11, and in other places in the Bible, you find the same words, tohu and bohu, meaning chaotic and in confusion. In every case that condition is a result of sin. Notice Isaiah 45:18. Thus saith the Eternal that created the heavens, God himself that formed the earth and made it, he hath established it, he created it not in vain. In vain is an inappropriate translation. In your Bible, if you have the marginal references, you will find in the margin a preferable translation, waste. The original Hebrew word there is TOHU. This Hebrew word is the identical word used in Genesis 1:2, meaning confusion, or emptiness, or waste a result of disorder, a result of violation of law. In Isaiah 45:18 we have the plain statement that God created the earth NOT tohu, that is, not in confusion, not in disorder. But in Genesis 1:2, the earth was (because it had become) chaotic and in confusion! Then it became that way after it was created. Now, what could have caused that confusion that disorder? What sin could have wrecked the earth and brought it