In the Beginning, God...
- Jul 23, 2019
- 5 min read
During my quest to read through the Bible in one year, I managed to read all of Genesis and the first 5 chapters of Job. Today, I will talk about only the first 3 chapters of Genesis. There is a lot here:
The 6 days of creation
Man and woman in the garden
The temptation and the fall
I had a few questions:
Who wrote Genesis and when?
Moses
Most likely written during Israel’s wandering in the wilderness (1445 – 1406 BC)
How old is the earth? There are 3 schools of thought and evidence.
Old Earth Creation
The measurement of the expansion of the universe suggest an ancient universe
The Hebrew word for day (Yom) does not always refer to 24 hours.
What we see in nature, powerfully suggests an ancient creation.
Young Earth Creation
The usual meaning Yom is a 24-hour day.
Evening came, and then morning suggest a literal 24-hour day
With God being eternal, time has no significance
Hybrid – It started with a bang and then evolution took over. For the reasons stated below, Christians should reject a hybrid creation; God started the big bang and then set the evolutionary process in motion.
Despite these differences, Christians should not break fellowship with these issues (Romans 14:1). We should come together and support common ground such as intelligent design.
What about evolution?
There is too much evidence against Darwinian Evolution
How does life emerge from non-life? The more we learn about the complexity of cell, the more difficult it is to explain.
If evolution were true, we should find millions of transitional forms of life; they are not there.
We see evidence of natural selection in a species, but not between species; they are not there.
Critiquing evolution does not make one anti-science. We just want to go in the direction of the evidence.
If God knew Adam and Eve would sin, why did He put the tree there?
The all-powerful creator does not need to always explain His reasoning to us. Also, it was described only as fruit not an apple.
God wanted people to freely choose to follow Him. Without free-will, we are robots. God had a plan to redeem us thereby bringing beings who truly want to follow God.
In the beginning God created the universe. The Hebrew word for “God”, Elohim, is plural. That does not refer to gods but is a reference to the Trinity. Although the word Trinity, never appears in the Bible, we can infer that it is the God the Father, Jesus the Christ and the Holy Spirit. This is clarified further in the New Testament and later in this chapter when man is created. God created everything by speaking it into existence; and it was all good. Here is how it went down by days:
“Let there be light”. He called the light day and the darkness night.
Separated the water above (sky) from the water below.
God created dry land with vegetation.
God makes the sun, moon, stars and heavenly bodies
God creates all life that lives in the water. Any life of any kind that lives in the water is made at this point. God also makes all the birds. All these creatures are made with the ability to perpetuate their species by reproduction. The creatures made on Day 5 are the first creatures blessed by God.
God creates all the creatures that live on dry land. This includes every type of creature not included on previous days and man. God makes man in the image of God (men and women both bear this image) and is special above all other creatures. To emphasize this, God places man in authority over the earth and over all the other creatures. God blesses man and commands him to reproduce, fill the earth and subdue it (bring it under the rightful stewardship of man as authorized by God). God announces that man and all other creatures are to eat plants alone. God will not rescind this dietary restriction until after the flood.
God rests. I don’t think He was tired, but creation was completed. This 7-day period is reflected in our week. God carried this pattern to people knowing we need at least one day to rest and reflect on God.
The Garden of Eden
I find it fascinating that of the four rivers surrounding the garden, two still have the same names; Tigris and Euphrates. The other 2 rivers, Pishon and Gihon have not been located. God set one rule: “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. After that, Adam had a job to do; name every animal and bird. But Adam was lonely, so God made the perfect complement of man; woman. God then established marriage. “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh” (Gen 2:24). Jesus and Paul refer to this verse when they affirm marriage is between a man and woman (Matthew 19:5; Mark 10:7; Ephesians 5:31).
The temptation and the Fall
“The serpent was craftier than any other beast”. The snake is not identified as Satan until the New Testament. The serpent challenged the woman’s (she didn’t get the name Eve until Gen 2:20) understanding God’s instructions by saying, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” This is how most deceptions begin. Be careful with, “Did God actually say…”. Her reply was not accurate. She said, “We may eat from any tree except the one in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die’.” God did not say that you cannot touch it; just not eat it. Paraphrasing the serpent replied, “No! You will not die. God does not want you to become wise!” So, she touched it, ate it and gave some to Adam. Immediately their eyes were opened and they both realized they did wrong. At that moment, they died spiritually; physical death would come later. When questioned them about their sin, Adam blamed his wife and she blamed the serpent. This is what most of do when we are off track; find something or someone to blame. The immediate consequences were the woman would experience more pain in childbirth and the man would rule over her. Adam would have a tough time providing for his family. They were then driven out of the garden and never returned.
Genesis 3:15 alludes to the ultimate remedy for mankind; Jesus. “I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel”. Romans 16:20 refers to this verse.
Lessons carried forward
The universe did not evolve but was created by God.
God created both man and woman in His image
God told them to have many children, fill the earth and subdue it.
Adam and Eve demonstrated how easy it is to be deceived. Therefore, be on guard and test everything against what God has spoken in the scripture to see if it is right.
God said, “Your desire will be for your husband”. The Hebrew word for desire is teshuqah which connotes desire to control or conquer. However, Eve was also told that your husband will rule over you. Thus, began the battle of the sexes which continues to this day. The proper way for men and women to relate will be discussed at another time.
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