GENESIS

Genesis means beginnings, the beginnings of the human race and the beginnings of Abraham's covenant with God and Israel. I call the first part Pre-history, because it is difficult or impossible to date. The second part is about the Patriarchs, or Fathers of Israel and includes Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his 12 sons, each of which fathered one of the 12 tribes. Joseph's story plays a leading role in preparing for the Exodus.

Genesis sets forth several basic ideas:
 
   Creation: only God creates. Man only makes. God also makes, but the Hebrew word, barah, only has God as its subject throughout the OT.

   The image of God: man is somehow created “in the image of God.” George Caird in  a book by that name concludes the image is man's ability to be addressed by God. Lately, I have begun to compare this to a “back door” in a computer program, a private way for the designer to get back into the program to make changes. I believe God opens the capacity for humans to hear Him and respond.

    Covenant: The Lord  is a covenant making God. In the ancient world, the greater power, such as a king, offers a covenant to his subjects. We find the isolated covenant with humanity after the flood. But the foundational covenant comes to Abraham in chapter 12. ...Leave your people to a land I will show you, and I will bless you and make your name great, even among the nations who will also receive blessings through you and your seed. All Israel adopted this covenant at the foot of Mt Sinai, and there was a similar covenant with “the House of David.” This is a foundational idea throughout the Bible, esp the OT. The NT gospel offers a new covenant.

For Sunday we have time to focus on two groups of verses. First,  the very beginning. We will not deal with the Big Bang nor evolution because both would require college courses, first to discuss the science and then to discuss theology and metaphysics. You should know that there are Christian scientists who accept both theories as being the way God created.

In the beginning – I take it to mean creation ex nihilo, from nothing. Others sometimes treat it as a title. Still a few others believe there is a gap between verses  1&2, making room for dinosaurs before a tragedy threw the world back into chaos. It doesn't read that way to me.

After creation, Genesis pictures a world “without form and void.” Chaos. Excellent OT scholars believe Israel thought they were surrounded by chaos that was eternally trying to break back in. Morally, that meant evil was always trying to overcome the Lord's way. (On their west – ocean. Other three sides – desert.)

Then God said “Let there be light, and there was light.” Note that even here God creates by speaking, by His Word. When John wrote “In the beginning was the Word,” he was referring back to Genesis. I've also been amazed that light was the first specific creation mentioned. Modern particle physics now says the photon and its cousins, the neutrino et al, are the basic building blocks of everything.

Skip now to verse 26.

God created man (Adam) in His own image. Again we find the word create. Three times the word shows up. In the beginning, in the origin of life, and the creation of humans. The word “Man” here is Adam. You might want to play with translating verses the other way. Note that He also created us male and female, BOTH in His image. 

The first blessing God gavve us was sex! He said fill the earth and gave us sex to do it. Some say sex did not begin until they were kicked out of the garden, because Chapter 3 begins “Adam knew his wife and she conceived.” Conception happened out of the garden, but there's no reason to think that was the first time they had sex.

God also gave us work to do. He put the man he had made into the garden and told him to “dress and keep it.” He expects us to take care of the earth in which He put us. The Bible is full of working people and skilled artisans.

The heavens declare the glory  of God... The book of Psalms echos the creation over and over in songs of praise and faith. Try Psalm 18.

Finally the most important take-away: YOU were created by God and endowed with specific talents and abilities. He has purposes for you that will not be filled if you don't carry them out. Once you grasp this deeply it makes all the difference.