What does it mean that God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:18)?

Answer

Seven times in Genesis 1, God observes His creation to be good. In Genesis 1:4, after He had spoken light into existence, He declared it to be good. In Genesis 1:10, after separating the water from the land, He called that good. After creating plant life, in Genesis 1:12 He saw that it was good, also. In Genesis 1:18, after putting in place a system for lighting the earth and for separating night from day, He calls that good. In Genesis 1:21, after creating animals to populate the water and the air, He observes that to be good. In Genesis 1:25, after populating the land with animals and insects, He calls that good, too. Finally, after creating humanity as the capstone of His creation (Genesis 1:26-30), He observed all He had made and declared it to be not just good but very good.

The Hebrew word translated as “good” in English is tov. The term rendered “very good” is hennah tov, which could be translated as “certainly good” or “surely good.” It is noteworthy that the word good is never actually defined in the Bible—the concept is simply assumed. It does seem, though, that the kind of good referenced in Genesis 1 is a qualitative sense of functionality. Due to the success in design and execution of all that was created, it could be that God was calling things good because they were effective for fulfilling the function for which He designed them. If so, this would reflect an instrumental good.

It is also worth noting that in each of these instances it is said that God “saw” that it was good. That God was observing that these things were good implies that He had a design and purpose in mind and that the created products met His approval—He judged them to be effective for serving His purpose. As the Creator, God has the right to define and judge. He assessed that which He had created.And determined it was good. This serves as a valuable reminder for us that, due to His possession of the authority that only a sovereign Creator can possess, we should seek Him to gain insight into His judgments and evaluations. If He deems something to be good (or not good), then it unquestionably is so.

It is reassuring to realize that we can rely on God to impart truthful and precise information to us. As He is making assessments like this—evaluating the quality of all created things—and if we can have faith in Him in that regard, then a clear precedent is established that we can trust Him in all matters. He is the arbiter of what is good and what is not. This is one reason why Satan’s assertion in Genesis 3:4 (that God was either mistaken or deceitful and that Eve would not face death if she consumed the fruit that God had forbidden) was evidently false. God had established what was good and what was not, and He conveyed that to Adam «but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. », (Genesis 2:17). Regrettably, Adam and Eve neglected to acknowledge that, as the Creator, God possessed the authority to define, evaluate, and judge. It is simple for us to make the same error, but God has graciously granted us access to His creation account so that we can understand that He is the Definer, and we can rely on Him—we must indeed trust Him. If we fail to do so, we are succumbing to the same snare that Satan laid for Eve: placing trust in someone else’s judgment when God has defined, determined, and communicated. Wouldn’t it be beneficial if we learned from our errors and refrained from repeating them?