What Does “Create” Mean in Genesis 1?

“Create” may be the English word for bringing something into existence, notes scholar John Walton, but that English word isn’t in the Hebrew Bible.

Instead, the word is “bārāʾ.” So, if we are going to take the Bible at face value, the question we have to ask is what does “bārāʾ” mean?

The Old Testament is our best indication. It is always a divine activity. Its use in the Old Testament may sometimes be material creation, but it is frequently unambiguously speaking creation in terms of the functions of things.

Walton thinks we should think of the creation account…